Let’s talk about problems typical for Toshiba Satellite A60 and A65 notebooks. Do you own one of these laptops? Is it working fine for you?
Here are some typical issues I’ve notices with this model.
1. First of all – overheating
Does your laptop shuts down without any reason when you ran CPU intensive programs? If yes, then most likely it happens because the laptop overheats. It happens because overtime the heatsink gets clogged with dust. A layer of dust collects between the cooling fan and the heat sink (dashed line on the picture) and heat produces by the processor gets trapped inside the laptop. As a result of that, the processor overheats and the laptop shuts down.
There are two different way to clean the heat sink and fan in these models:
- Buy a can of compressed air or find an air compressor and blow off the heat sink through the air intakes on the bottom of the laptop.
- Remove the keyboard (steps 5-9) and you’ll get an access to the cooling fan. Blow off dust from the fan and the heat sink.
In some cases the laptop overheats because of defective cooling fan. The fan should start working as soon as you power up the laptop. If the fan will not star, most likely it’s bad and must be replaced. You can find a new heat sink cooling fan for Satellite A60 and A65 notebooks by the following part number: V000042110.
2. Defective onboard memory
Here’s another common problem – bad onboard memory. This memory is integrated into the motherboard and if it goes bad you’ll have to replace the entire motherboard.
If your laptop starts with some weird characters or lines of dots on the screen, most likely you have a faulty onboard memory. If you test the laptop with an external monitor, you’ll see the same defective video on the external monitor too. You can test the onboard memory with Memtest86+ utility. Remove any external RAM modules and run the memory test. If the onboard memory fails, you’ll have to replace the motherboard.
The integrated memory module is located close by the memory extension slot, under the foil.
UPDATE: If you have bad memory, you should read comment 93 submitted by Daniel on September 28th, 2007.
3. Last but not least – power jack issue.
With Satellite A60 and A65 notebooks this problem is not as common as with Satellite M30X, M35X, A70 and A75, but it’s still a problem. Overtime, the power jack might get loose and the positive pin stops making a good contact with the motherboard anymore. As a result, the laptop switches to the battery power even though the power adapter is still plugged in. Usually you can temporally fix the problem by adjusting the power adapter plug on the back of the laptop, but after some time the problem reappears.
In this case you’ll have to disassemble the laptop, remove the motherboard and resolder the power jack. I’m buying new power jacks here.
Do you experience the same problems or you have another issue with your Satellite A60 or A65 notebook? Please share your experience.
Instructions for replacing laptop power jack yourself
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February 19th, 2008 at 12:13 pm
hi i have a toshiba satellite a30. ive had it for 3 years now and it was running fine, but the other day, if just crashed. so i turned it off, and now when i turn it back on, i can hear the fan going, but the screen just stays blank, even when i connect it to an external monintor, the screen still doesnt work
February 15th, 2008 at 11:08 am
Hi,
Thanks all of you for posting all those useful tips. I have question if those “weird lines and dots” when computer is booting could be coused by failure of additional memory module? I’ve run MemTest without additonal RAM and it passed, no errors. Thanks in advance.
February 14th, 2008 at 3:08 pm
Hi There,
I have a toshiba A60 when ever i plug it to recharge it does a sound bip bip bip with the charger.. or do spark when i try to plug it.. Yes i did change the power jack. but it do the same thing… anyone having the same problem.. i am so sure my motherboard is burned.. my friend played Sims 2 lol.. overheating of course it closed.. after taht i heard a bip bip bip from teh charger when ever i plug it.. anyone know what i need to do? i have a lot of experiance in computer / laptop repair but i can’t find the problem of this one i’m sure it’s the motherboard but o well if anyone know ? let me know please
Thank you
February 4th, 2008 at 5:55 am
tried to upgrade the bios on my equium a60.The battery went flat and it turned off rendering the laptop dead,now when I try to turn it on I just get a series of bleeps then shutdown,any ideas to get it running again?
cheers
Paul
February 1st, 2008 at 10:37 am
Thank you reseating the cable worked.
Another problem I have noticed is the laptop will run on battery but not mains. As soon as the battery is exhaused the laptop will cut out even though it is still plugged into the mains outlet.
January 31st, 2008 at 7:48 pm
Ray,
You can try reseating the keyboard cable on the motherboard. It’s possible that the previous owner assembled it incorrectly.
There could be something wrong with the keyboard (you’ll have to replace the keyboard) or with the keyboard controller (you’ll have to replace the motherboard). You cannot tell witch one is causing the problem until you test the laptop with another working keyboard.
Try reinstalling the operating system too. Could be software related issue.
January 29th, 2008 at 6:54 am
I have a problem with an A60 I bought on ebay. The keyboard works on some keys and not others. It look as if the previous owner may have been inside as the base plasic has lifted at the side where is connects to the silver plastic.
DoI need a new keyboard?
January 20th, 2008 at 1:10 pm
Arlmoe,
Link to the disassembly guide was mentioned in the post. You can find instructions at http://www.irisvista.com/tech/
January 20th, 2008 at 5:56 am
Hi guys,
really appreciate if anyone can tell me ways of removing Toshiba Satelite A60 memory modules.
Thank you
January 4th, 2008 at 12:02 pm
Donald,
It shouldn’t matter, but white is main and the black one is auxiliary.