Although, of course, all computers have the potential for overheating, laptops are particularly prone to this issue.  There are a lot of parts crammed together into a very small space, and that makes for less ventilation.  They do have cooling fans, but these get clogged with dust over time, and don’t work very efficiently.

Actually, what tends to get most clogged is the heatsink.  This is a metal piece that sits on the CPU and essentially “absorbs” the heat off the CPU.  The fan is then meant to blow through/across the heatsink and cool it.  But when it gets clogged with dust, the fan can’t get air through it and instead of cooling down, it just builds up heat.  Eventually, the failsafe kicks in and your laptop crashes because it’s too hot.  (This is actually a good thing, believe it or not, because it keeps the computer from getting hot enough that parts are actually damaged.)

The Toshiba Satellite A665

Now, I love my Toshiba laptop.  I had a Satellite before, and when it bit the dust (due, in part, to my own foolishness – I broke the screen) I intentionally went looking for another Toshiba.  (The Satellites just happen to be the line that fits my budget and meets my needs.)  I’m told that Toshibas have the longest average lifespan of any major-brand laptop, and I believe it.  However, they also – unfortunately – are made so that you have to disassemble pretty much the entire laptop to get to the heatsink.

I was a bit afraid to take my whole laptop apart – afraid I’d break something – but the overheating/crashing issue finally got bad enough that I broke down and did it.  Overall, it wasn’t too bad.  I did find the keyboard very difficult to get hooked back up completely (it took four tries and I think it’s actually still not quite solidly attached, so I need to try again).  But everything else went pretty smoothly.  I took pictures so you can see the process, in case it helps someone else out there.

Accessing the Toshiba Satellite A665’s Heatsink – a Tutorial

1.

Unplug the laptop and flip it over.

2.

Remove the battery.  (This is an electronic device.  You don’t want to have any power going to it when you open it up.)

3.

Remove the screws that hold the back of the case on.  (These are all marked “F8” on my case.  They call for a very small Phillips-head screwdriver.)  These screws include those holding on the covers to the hard drive and the memory cards.  You can go ahead and take these covers off if you like.  I did, but I’m not sure it was necessary.  I also eventually removed the hard drive.  (You slide it sideways to disconnect it.  Then it should just come up out of the compartment.  I set it aside.)

TIP –

Keep a small bowl or other container nearby to hold the screws.  That way you won’t lose any.

TIP-

To gain a better grip on the screwdriver, wrap its handle with a rubber band.  My screws were in tightly enough, and the screwdriver was small enough around, that I couldn’t get enough force on the screwdriver to break the screws loose until I did this.  With the rubber band, it was a piece of cake.

4.

Once the screws have all been removed from the back, you can slide the CD/DVD drive out.  Set it aside.  (I’m not sure if this is strictly essential, but it sure makes it easier to avoid breaking the drive.)

5.

Now that all of the screws are out, you can pop the back loose from the front.  Using a blade or a very small flathead screwdriver, gently separate the two.  There are “clips” in the battery compartment:

…and beside the hard drive compartment:

You will not be able to completely remove the back at this point.  Just loosen it all the way around.  (It won’t come loose around the hinges, either.)

6.

Now flip the laptop over and open it up.  The whole keyboard comes off, in essentially one piece.  Again using a blade or tiny flathead screwdriver, gently pop it loose around the sides and top, then slide it out from the bottom.  (There are tabs there.  And, by the way, if you’re aiming to only remove the keyboard, for some maintenance/repair other than the heatsink, you still need to remove the center four screws from the back of the laptop before you can pop this out.)

7.

Gently unhook the keyboard cable from the laptop and set the keyboard aside.

At this point, you can actually already see the fan, but you can’t quite get to the heatsink.

8.

Remove the two screws indicated here.  One is just below the open section that exposes parts.  The other is at the upper-right corner.

9.

There are two more cables here that must be unhooked, at the left side – one at the top and one at the bottom.  Gently unplug them.  They have little blue tabs you can use to hold onto them.  (I found that for one of them, the tab was sufficient.  The other had a slightly smaller tab and I had to grab it with a pair of large tweezers to unplug/plug it.  Needle-nose pliers should also work.)

10.

Almost there!  You should now be able to gently lift the surface of the laptop off of the back.  (You may need to wiggle it a little to get it to loosen from the hinges.)  Something is still wired together, but I was able to access the heatsink at this point, without having to unhook it.  I just kind of rotated it and set it off to the side a bit, and was able to see what you see in the picture above.  That’s the fan and heatsink.

11.

I had to gently, but firmly, lift the heatsink as far as possible without yanking it out, to get at the clogged area.  Look at all that dust!  No wonder the fan couldn’t get air flow through it!  I just used a soft, clean paintbrush and gently brushed that dust up and out of the computer.  (Of course, you want to try to avoid knocking it into other parts of the laptop.)  I also loosened the dust that was in the fan while I was at it.

Much better!

12.

Now you just have to reverse-engineer the process to put everything back together. 🙂

This post is being shared at Frugal Days Sustainable Ways, Penny Pinching Party.