# Toshiba Laptop--fan problem



## Stoner

I bought my mother a Toshiba Satellite about 9 months ago.
Overall it has been a good experience with no problems other than the cooling fan becoming very noisy. The bearing wore out and the blades rubbed the fan cage.

To replace this fan is easier than most laptops. On the bottom of the case is a small access panel held by three screws.
Then two screws hold the fan inplace.
The replacement is less than 5 minutes.

Now to the warrenty. An owner must send the whole computer into Toshiba for repair. Downtime--one to two weeks, estimated.

Now I know Toshiba demands to do the repair themselves, but for such a simple thing I would think customer satisfaction would be considered first.
Thru Gateway, I have recieved a CD rom and installed it myself, so a fan is no big deal.

The reason Customer Service demanded the repair inhouse, I might contract a virus and accidently put it in the computer( I kid you not  )

I replaced the fan at my cost. Shipping was two days while the computer was still in use.
Called Toshiba Customer Service( in India ) and asked If they would reconsider and refund the cost.
They nixed that.
Then I asked if they would exchange the old fan for a new one. 
Nixed that.
Then I asked to talk to a supervisor 
They nixed that.........
The person I talked to, Lara ( yes-Indian accent) was rated a 'customer relations case manager' and had no supervisor or any official above her position in India. When requested to provide a name, telephone # , or address of some official of Toshiba, she gave me an address in California.

I'm going to follow this further and see what happens.

So...is any one else with a Toshiba having trouble with a noisy fan?




Jack


----------



## the_nerd

My Satellite Pro A10 has a really loud fan at the moment. Noise seems to come and go as the days go by, and also seems to depend on the amount of pressure applied to the unit (no pressure is quite quiet, typing with wrists resting on the unit loudens it, but squeezing the fan area from both sides of the unit quietens it again at the moment - but this changes as the days pass).

I took out the fan and blew through it, and it was making noise there, so it seems that the fan is not grating on the side of the machine, but rather hitting something inside the fan unit itself.

No luck finding a replacement fan unit yet. Or, for that matter, seeing where the fan actually connects to the MB so it can be disconnected and replaced by the new unit if I ever find one (this is not visible under the fan housing - I'll probably have to take the entire back off the machine to see it)


----------



## Dark Star

I wasn't sure on the exact model # of the Toshiba Satellite but I hope this can be of some help ...

http://store.yahoo.com/impactcomput...gory-internal-components-fan---heat-sink.html

DS


----------



## the_nerd

My SPA10 has model number PSA15E-03U7V-EN
I don't find it listed on that site, unfortunately.


----------



## Deathblow

Have you tried to locate an authorized Toshiba repair location nearby? I know when I had problems with my laptop, the local Compusa was authorized to do all the warrantied repairs on it, took 2 days.


----------



## the_nerd

No luck there - the only place listed on the Global site is Toshiba UK, and the Toshiba UK list seems to be down at the moment.


----------



## Dark Star

Jack,

Deathblow just made an excellent suggestion about looking for a local Toshiba authorized repair location nearby... I found these listed by city based on your profile.

OH / Dayton

UCR - Ohio 1332 Woodman Drive 45432 (937)-253-8898

Comp USA 221 Pringboropk 45449 (937)-436-5858

If you want to look up any other Toshiba authorized repair locations....

http://www.csd.toshiba.com/cgi-bin/tais/su/su_gaspLocator.jsp?subs=tais

Good Luck

DS

the_nerd,

I'm sorry that the link I posted didnt show any fans that will work on your Toshiba ... I see they do have a telephone listed and a live chat client on the website so you may want to give that a try, it can't hurt.

DS


----------



## Stoner

Hi Dark Star 

Actually, the manager of CompUSA near the Dayton Mall checked into the situation.
However, the repairs would not have been done at his store. Toshiba required the repair centers to ship to the same 'official' Toshiba center as I originally was. 
The fan for my laptop was not available thru his warrenty sources. He got me the fan number and I purchased the fan from an approved Toshiba Parts outlet.

The thing is with my laptop, the access to the fan is almost as easy as the battery.
Just a small pannel to remove and two screws on the fan. Easier than installing software 
The new fan is in and the machine is as quiet as new. 
I've turned off many of the unused services to see if that reduces heat output and keeps the fan from working as much.

The laptop is for my mother who is 90 years young. I just didn't have the heart to take it away from her for a couple weeks for repairs, especially if I could repair it in short order.

The concept of outsourcing customer service seems..... flawed.........




Jack


----------



## Dark Star

Jack,

Hey, You done it!!! I'll bet she's one happy Mom. I would have done just as you did. Thanks for the update its good to know that you've got it handled. 

Its amazing ... you need only a part, they have the part and you know you can install it, but Noooooooooo. They're going to insist that you jump through all of their hoops. Patience is a virtue and all that good stuff but if you didn't know better you might be inclined to think they're having to re-invent the wheel after a session with Lara.



> The concept of outsourcing customer service seems..... flawed.........


Yes, it sure is.

DS


----------



## riversrock

My Satellite 1755 is having the same kind of fan problem (noisy), and I am having trouble locating a part for it. One company on the internet had a fan, but it had some other numbers and letters following 1755, so I wasn't sure if it was the right part. I e-mailed them and asked, but received no reply. Any help would be appreciated.


----------



## Stoner

riversrock said:


> My Satellite 1755 is having the same kind of fan problem (noisy), and I am having trouble locating a part for it. One company on the internet had a fan, but it had some other numbers and letters following 1755, so I wasn't sure if it was the right part. I e-mailed them and asked, but received no reply. Any help would be appreciated.


Hi riversrock 

National Parts Depot is an authorized outlet for Toshiba parts.
You might try calling them at 1 800 524 8338.

I actually got a part number from CompUSA, as they are also an agent for Toshiba(repairs). CompUSA couldn't order the part as it was such a recently built laptop, the partnumber wasn't in their supply line, but was on their parts lists.

Be ready to give them the model # and the serial # of the laptop.

Good luck 

Jack


----------



## riversrock

Thanks for your help. It seems I've spent a lot of time on something that's seemingly a small problem. Glad I found you.

Linda


----------



## b4uv1

Try checking out this page for Toshiba service centers. Hope it helps.

http://www.csd.toshiba.com/cgi-bin/...BV_EngineID=cccdadcllgeledecgfkceghdgngdgli.0


----------



## Tartenon

I have the same problem with my Toshiba, so I decided to open it and see what's going on. I found that if I remove the screws from the fan it will work a little longer, however I've noticed that the fan got very hot at the spindle, so i removed the sticker and drop a very little drop of Oil, voila!!! No more noise and the computer works great!!

Please spread the word, it may save you a couple of bucks and it's very easy to do.


----------



## JohnWill

Guys, not that this thread is four years old.


----------



## Tartenon

It may be 4 years old but the problem seems to persist. And this is a very cheap way to fix it.


----------



## bp936

might be old, by Toshiba users might need any information, experience, others had. Searches bring up old and new info.


----------



## edinathens

So what if this thread is 4 years old?? How old is Windows XP? And people still like it better than Vista. Some of us don't need or can't afford the latest and greatest. There's useful info here, and for me it was finding out how difficult it was to replace the fan myself. My Toshiba Satellite was nearly 3 years old and almost out of its extended warranty, when the fan started failing. The authorized repair facility replaced the entire motherboard, but yet one year later (and out of warranty) the fan has started failing again. I don't want to pay for a one year repair, when I could do it myself for less.


----------



## edinathens

One other thing. Charitable organizations often refurbish older computer equipment to donate to those in need, which is another reason for keeping around "old information".


----------



## Stoner

Just a passing comment.
The first replacement fan also failed at about the year mark of use, but the second replacement ran at a slower speed and still continues to function correctly and quietly.

Mon is 95 years old, still uses and loves that laptop.
Uses it every day to read the news and weather off the internet and play a few games.
The only other problem was a failed hard drive after about 4 years.

That Toshiba has the original factory XP install on it.


----------



## LauraMJ

Abel1337,

Your post on here was neither helpful nor necessary, but it was rather rude, and therefore it has been removed. Please refrain from unnecessary comments in the tech forums of you do not have anything constructive to contribute to a thread.


----------

