A toshiba that's overheating

[Denholm]

Hey everyone,

I'm working on yet another neighbor's computer that is having difficulties. The computer is a Toshiba Satellite P35 (PSP30U-01S001) Laptop. The problem is that the laptop shuts down after about 30 minutes of uptime. He told me that he previously took the laptop to Circuit City where they (under warranty) replaced his motherboard claiming that it was faulty. My first idea was that the computer is overheating (most likely the processor) forcing the system shutdown. I ruled out any issues with a virus because I'd expect more symptoms than just an immediate shutdown. My friend also mentioned that he has worked on some Toshiba laptops that have some BIOS issues in the form that the BIOS is programmed to turn up the fan speed when the temperature reaches such a high level that the processor would've melted before it ever reached that point.

So I took the liberty of installing some heat-monitoring utilities such as SpeedFan, Everest Home, and RealTemp. The issue is that the motherboard either doesn't have a sensor on the processor, or the BIOS can't find it. For none of the utilities listed the CPU temperature when two of those three utilities listed the CPU temperature on my computer.

My question is in determining if this issue is heat-related, and if so, if an updated BIOS would fix the issue?

His laptop has a Toshiba EEQ00/EFQ00 Motherboard with a Phoenix BIOS V1.30. I did a bit of googling yet didn't find anything explicitly mentioning the Motherboard or the BIOS as the source of the overheating problem.

[Fulmar]

My wife has a Toshiba Satellite P15 laptop.  Her's would shut down as you described.  I did the same thing as you and installed sensor software and her's did not have any sensors either (at least readable).

I googled and found this site.  www.irisvista.com

It showed me step by step instructions on how to clean the intake fan (which was very clogged).  It has instructions for a lot of different toshiba laptops and I again used the site to install her a new hard drive.

Here is how to do it for the P35
http://www.irisvista.com/tech/laptops/ToshibaP35/SatelliteP35_fix_overheating_1.htm

*Note, looking at this looks like it is tougher than the P15.

Also, updating the BIOS will not give your access to the sensors.  I tried this as well.

It takes about 2-3 years for her laptop to develop the overheating symptoms.  It would shut down and the fan would run at high speed at idle.  Also, the keyboard area would get noticeable warmer.

[Denholm]

I was asking about the BIOS update for the sake of the fan running before the processor overheats. Thanks for the info on cleaning the in-take fan. The neighbor mentioned that the computer ran fine for about 2 1/2 years before he replaced the Motherboard, now 2 1/2 years later the same issue.

I'll see if we can use those instructions, we'll get back to you later with the results.

[Fulmar]

No the BIOS updates on these machines rarely give you any more functionality, but I can't find anything about what the BIOS version fixes.  It could change the fan parameters, but I doubt it.  I'd imagine there is a nice wall of dust that is obstructing airflow.  The one on my wife's was probably 3 inches long and 1/8" thick.

[Denholm]

I'm sure there's some dust in there, we'll check it out tomorrow. Thanks again.

[SectorNine50]

No the BIOS updates on these machines rarely give you any more functionality, but I can't find anything about what the BIOS version fixes.  It could change the fan parameters, but I doubt it.  I'd imagine there is a nice wall of dust that is obstructing airflow.  The one on my wife's was probably 3 inches long and 1/8" thick.

If there are several reported cases of overheating, then I'd be willing to bet that the BIOS update does change fan parameters, but they tend not to talk about it in the update notes.  HP did the same thing for me and my buddy's laptop, very noticeable difference in running temp.

Toshiba's have had a long history of overheating, not sure why that is.  I'm assuming they are trying to keep them as quiet as possible, but in the process are sacrificing cooling performance.  The average user has much more crap running on their computer than they will ever need, this ups the heat in the case and can cause other problems.

If cleaning the fan/heatsink/airways doesn't fix the problem, I would poke around for a BIOS update.

[Denholm]

I'm still planning on it, however not looking forward to it as it would be my first attempt at updating the BIOS of a motherboard. I'll talk to the neighbor today to find out how it's running. I showed him the website last night and I think he might have went ahead and tried to clean out the fan after disassembling the computer. If it still overheats (I'll run a CPU stress-test for 15-30 minutes) and forces a system shutdown, I'll start looking for a new BIOS update.

Thanks again for your help.

[SectorNine50]

I'm still planning on it, however not looking forward to it as it would be my first attempt at updating the BIOS of a motherboard. I'll talk to the neighbor today to find out how it's running. I showed him the website last night and I think he might have went ahead and tried to clean out the fan after disassembling the computer. If it still overheats (I'll run a CPU stress-test for 15-30 minutes) and forces a system shutdown, I'll start looking for a new BIOS update.

Thanks again for your help.

BIOS updates now days are almost fool proof, you just have to make sure the laptop doesn't decide to power down right as it's doing it.  I know it's going to sound silly, but put the laptop in the fridge or do the update somewhere cooler than standard house temperatures to keep it from overheating and shutting down during the update process (shouldn't take more than a few minutes).

I'm sure Toshiba has done the same thing as most company's have done now days and have created a program to flash the BIOS directly from the Windows GUI.  Should be able to find it on their website.

Best of luck!

[Denholm]

Thanks for the information SectorNine. I'm sure I could have done it, just not too confident about doing something for someone which I've never done before and which could-potentially-be dangerous if I make a wrong move. (get the wrong BIOS, install it wrong, etc...) However, on the bright side, I talked to my neighbor and he mentioned he took the laptop apart yesterday. He also mentioned that there was A LOT of dust in the fan and he managed to blow out a good amount of it. Now he's just playing with the wireless card as upon having reconstructed the laptop he had difficulty connecting to his wireless network.

Thanks again for all the assistance.

[SectorNine50]

Thanks for the information SectorNine. I'm sure I could have done it, just not too confident about doing something for someone which I've never done before and which could-potentially-be dangerous if I make a wrong move. (get the wrong BIOS, install it wrong, etc...) However, on the bright side, I talked to my neighbor and he mentioned he took the laptop apart yesterday. He also mentioned that there was A LOT of dust in the fan and he managed to blow out a good amount of it. Now he's just playing with the wireless card as upon having reconstructed the laptop he had difficulty connecting to his wireless network.

Thanks again for all the assistance.

Right on!  Glad cleanin' it out worked.

[Denholm]

We'll find out today when I torture-test the processor.

[MrRiplEy[H]]

I made the mistake of buying a few Toshiba Satellite laptops from a lease company, a large corporation cycled the laptops 2 years early and I thought I struck gold. I found out why they were cycled early - each one died in 6 months.

A couple years later Toshiba had a marketing campaign 'if your laptop dies you get a new one AND money back'.

Still didn't buy one.