HomeI own a Toshiba Satellite A75 notebook and after a while it started experiencing the overheating problems. Even with the laptop raised with plenty of air flow, it still shuts down sometimes.
What type of cooling pad or stand should i get? Is there a certain model that i should get? Should I get someone to open it up and clean it? Would this make a difference?
The overheating is a common issue with Toshiba Satellite A70 and A75 notebooks. It happens because the heat sink gets easily clogged with dust and it stops air flow. Instead of buying a cooling pad, try cleaning the heat sink first. Find an air compressor or buy a can of compressed air and blow off the heat sink as it shown on the picture below.
1. Spray air inside the intakes on the bottom
2. Spray air inside the heat sink grill on the back side
Change the air direction few times until all dust is gone. After the cleaning test the notebook and see if the overheating problem is gone.
If the laptop overheats because of a failed cooling fan, it’s necessary to take it apart and replace the fan.
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February 18th, 2008 at 12:11 am
[...] By the way, if your laptop overheats and shuts down without any reason, check the heatsink. Most likely it’s clogged with dust and lint. You can clean the heatsink with compressed air. [...]
February 18th, 2008 at 1:35 pm
[...] Alternatively, you can clean up your laptop without taking it apart by blowing off fans and heatsink with compressed air. This is not the best way to fix the problem because some dust will stay inside the laptop but it will work. By the way, if you’ve been using your laptop for a few yeas, it might be a good idea to replace thermal compound on the processor. It will help to keep your laptop cooler. Here’s another resource with covers laptop overheating in more depth. [...]
June 11th, 2008 at 9:58 pm
[...] Before you disassemble the laptop, try cleaning cooling fans with compressed air. [...]
July 28th, 2008 at 1:13 pm
I actually did everything as described. Had to replace the fan. Still overheats and most of the time the fan refuses to spin. Spins a few seconds on startup and shuts down. Ideas?
July 29th, 2008 at 8:50 pm
Alex,
Did you remove the heat sink? Did you apply new thermal grease on the processor?
Do you get any video on the screen at all when you restart the laptop?
September 13th, 2008 at 5:00 pm
My Toshiba was experiencing the overheating for some time. After a couple days of normal use without the overheating, it just would not start. The battery charges and when I push the on button, nothing happens. If I push the music controls, the lights come on and the fan blows for a second then shuts off. What is that all about?
September 19th, 2008 at 4:22 am
I’ve had the same problem in the past, Heres an easy solution.
Get the hose of your vacuum cleaner an place it at the bottom of your computer where your fans are at. Turn on vacuum and suck out the dust at the same time use the canned air (keep it upright)to blow through the exit vent on the back and side of your computer and you will see most of your dust collected on the heat vent removed.
Overheating problems solved.
Joe
December 3rd, 2008 at 5:21 pm
I tried the suggestion below . Now the fan makes noise . Maybe the vaccum cleaner messed it up . What do I do next ? – Thanks
“Joseph Vu Says:
September 19th, 2008 at 4:22 am
I’ve had the same problem in the past, Heres an easy solution.
Get the hose of your vacuum cleaner an place it at the bottom of your computer where your fans are at. Turn on vacuum and suck out the dust at the same time use the canned air (keep it upright)to blow through the exit vent on the back and side of your computer and you will see most of your dust collected on the heat vent removed.
Overheating problems solved.
December 4th, 2008 at 8:45 am
Pete,
Apparently, your fan was on the brink of failure and cleaning the fan with a vacuum killed it. You’ll have to replace the fan.
December 25th, 2008 at 11:55 pm
I had this problem. From what I was told by the authorized Toshiba dealer repair guy, that Toshiba had put a desktop processor in a laptop frame with this model, thus the fans would not be powerful enough to cool it off. He further stated Toshiba had a little known recall on it. I took it in, and they completely swapped out the board AND the processor. Problem solved.
December 28th, 2008 at 1:05 am
Shedrick,
Your problem was solved because they cleaned the cooling module.
It’s possible that he replaced the CPU as a precaution but he installed exactly the same type of CPU back.
February 14th, 2009 at 10:02 pm
PUT NEW HEATSINK IN TOSHIBA SATELLITE A75 AND IT STILL CUTS OFF ANYONE KNOW WHY……CALL ME 646 330 5921
June 2nd, 2009 at 9:19 am
This laptop is a problem with shutting off. Rite now I am worried it will turn off as I type this message. I should have gotten a dell.
June 24th, 2009 at 12:34 pm
dos anyone no were is thr restart button on a tashiba a75 please someone help
June 24th, 2009 at 12:39 pm
judy,
What is the restart button? What are you trying to do?
June 24th, 2009 at 12:45 pm
my computer locked and it need a new bios password so im tryin to restart it
June 24th, 2009 at 1:23 pm
judy,
There is no restart button. You cannot unlock the laptop simply by pressing on some secret button.
August 4th, 2009 at 12:49 pm
i took my laptop in last week and paid $30 to have it cleaned… they told me there was A LOT of dust in it, but they were able to remove it all and my computer should be faster. it did get slightly faster, but my laptop still overheats… the fans seem to run just fine… so i’m really confused what it could be?? do i need to replace the heat sink? all my programs are running much slower i think because of this and now i keep getting messages that the virtual memory is too low… i never had problems with this in the past. any ideas?
September 6th, 2009 at 11:15 pm
There is a possibility that the CPU has been overheated too many times and is now more susceptible too overheating shutdown more than normal….
But like they say, take it apart and redo the thermal paste.. The heatsink sits right on the CPU and the paste that holds them tight together gets overheated and dryes out and of course gets less efficient with heat transfer. I know you took to a shop to get it done, but you don’t know for sure what was done unless you do it..
You would be suprised the amount of dust bunnies that live in the heat sink/fan…
I found this site very helpful just read the “Before you start” section
http://www.irisvista.com/