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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August 1st, 2007 at 9:42 pm
Gudman,
Yep, it can be repaired but you’ll have to remove the motherboard (follow the link) and replace the broken power jack. Here’s a disassembly guide for DYI-ers. Unfortunately, sometimes it’s very hard to remove the broken pin from the AC adapter barrel. In some cases you’ll have to replace the adapter.
You’ll find some tips for buying a new power jack inside the disassembly guide.
August 1st, 2007 at 1:23 pm
I have Toshiba A65-S1067. The pin inside DC in (where you plug in your AC Adapter) broke
and came out with the AC Adapter. So, I can no longer
charge it.
Can it be repaired ? Any suggestions will be greatly
appreciated.
Thanks,
mgud@comcast.net
July 25th, 2007 at 10:25 pm
Amanda,
Test your laptop with an external monitor. If video on the external monitor appears to be good, most likely there is nothing wrong with the motherboard.
Check the video cable, make sure it’s properly connected to the motherboard.
July 25th, 2007 at 2:56 pm
I took apart my Toshiba A65 to clean the fan area but now I only get a white screen when it lights up. Ugh… any ideas what I could have done?
Amanda
July 22nd, 2007 at 2:50 pm
My computer has a ‘cosmetic’ issue I haven’t heard of anyone else having – something inside the computer caused the case to crack over top of the right speaker. The cracks are about an inch and a half long and that whole side is a little warped.
July 21st, 2007 at 12:56 pm
Alfred DeBose,
I wouldn’t spend this amount of money for a “new” refurbished motherboard for this laptop. These days you can find a brand new laptop much better hardware and one year warranty for about $600. Check out these notebooks. They start just $450!!! I think this is a great price for a well known brand.
I cannot tell you what is wrong with your Satellite A65 notebook, it can be bad AC adapter, CPU, memory, motherboard or something else. This post covers some startup problems, check it out.
July 19th, 2007 at 5:26 am
My sister gave me the Satellite A65 S126. It was in her closet for two years. She said it would not turn on. When I got it, it turned on for 2 days. It worked well. Now when I push the on switch button, it acts like it wants to come on but will not. Do you think I need a mother board ? They are expensive even on Ebay. $ 250.00 – 355.00
A.DeBose
July 15th, 2007 at 6:01 pm
excuse me for my English. I have a toshiba A65 and I have been having that problem of the memory, but the one that I noticed is that the problem only happened when I pressed the keyboard when calling and then he/she appeared some risks in the screen, then I disassembled him/it notices all and I tried resoldar the 8 modules of memory, he/she didn’t give right, when I passed the memtest and it pressed the modules of memory soon they appeared defective blocks in the memtest, if I left the test to run without pressing the memory he/she didn’t find mistake any, for that I thought that it went some bad contact. I removed one of the chips the 1st of the close right to HD and the notebook didn’t call, then I put of turn and it called again. I believe not to be problem of memory, but other thing, because the mistake happens in varied addresses the times with 8MB, other times with 192mb, 55mb and so on.
if somebody has some idea, it will be useful for many. Thank you
July 14th, 2007 at 10:27 am
hi i got a toshiba a60 motherboard, its no power at all the dc socket is good, i try test the voltage i read is 19v. but when i sw the button on there still no power, so can u help me for a schematic diagram, or flow charting of a60 motherboard and which parts i will check please…
Any thoughts or help would be greatly appreciated.
thanks in advance
July 13th, 2007 at 1:43 pm
Mike,
I think you can try installing a Pentium processor but not sure if it will be cheap. Pentium CPUs are expensive and unfortunately Toshiba doesn’t provide any information on upgrading processors. You’ll have to figure out which Pentium processor will work with your motherboard.