Toshiba A215 Laptop overheating help??

Hello all.

Got a bit of a problem with my Toshiba Satellite A215-S5818.
The problem is overheating and shutting down - usually in the middle of games or downloads. Anything that stresses either the CPU or GPU can cause it to happen. The area around the touchpad becomes physically hot - uncomfortable to touch even.

Everything I've read online about this issue (which has been occuring occasionally since purchase of the laptop 2.5 years ago but has become much more frequent of late) points to this being a common issue with this series of laptop. It seems to be either a clogged fan / bad thermal paste on the CPU.

Now for my issue: I don't feel like paying $70 to have it looked at, possibly more, when it is a relatively easy fix if you like to tinker... but I can't get the darn shell apart. There are 17 screws labelled "B6" which I have removed, removed the battery, RAM chips, and small panels on the bottom front corners, and unclipped as many of the side panel clips over the DVD drive and networking ports, etc. I however canNOT get it to release from the area around the monitor hinge, and it seems to have something approximately in the middle of the keyboard that is still connected to the bottom of the case holding it down. I cannot locate what I am missing to take this apart. Anyone know what I am missing, or, preferably, know of a picture tutorial on taking it apart?

Thanks in advance.

Neil.

 

I've tried that but can't seem to get it in far enough to help, which is why I suspect the thermal paste may be part of the problem as well. I didn't see an excessive dust buildup in the case when I started to get it apart, but like I said, I couldn't confirm that since I couldn't fully remove the top bezel / keyboard.

Thanks for the input though.

Neil

 

I own a Dell Inspiron Mini 9 and I have been consistently experiencing the same exact thing. My touchpad becomes very uncomfortable to touch. It is worse when I have it charging.

 

have you tried to find the screw on bottom of laptop that holds the key board in.dont know much about toshiba but have took apart gateways and ibm's

 

rocketrod:

I can't find that screw - is it under something else, or one of the stickers on the units you're familiar with? As stated in the initial post, I even took the RAM out but couldn't find any such screw. Might have missed it, I'll give it another shot. Thanks for the input.

 

usualy it would be about in the middle of the case. ive only worked on a few of the older ones might have to do a web search to find out how to get the case apart

 

might check this out for help type your model in search box. hope this helps

 

I have the same laptop with the same problem. Follow this guide to get the keyboard out:
http://www.irisvista.com/tech/laptops/toshiba-satellite-a215/remove-wireless-card.htm

however, this does not provide access to the processor. I am frustrated as well. I want to replace the thermal paste and have my computer stop overheating!