Issues with Toshiba A300D laptop

Hey everyone,

I'm new to the forum, but I'm not new to the amounts of issues that I've been having with my laptop.

I own a Toshiba Satellite A300D (was purchased roughly a year ago, runs on Vista Premium) and I am having some serious issues with it suddenly turning off on me (figured that it was from over-heating so I bought a cooling base fan... no help). BUT! that's just the tip of the iceberg.... more recently, during start up when I reboot my laptop, my comp takes like 30 mins to start up and when I finally get to Windows, Window is in some sort of "safe mode" looking theme and not the regular theme (Round start button at bottom left is the old school rectangle). To further complicate things, my control panel won't open when I click on it and now I can't get updates! Other than that, the comp is fast and runs pretty good

I've defrag'd, used WinASO Registry Optimizer, disk clean-up, deleted Norton360 (using Kaspersky now).... I've searched high and low on google.... I'm almost ready to smash this thing (well not really, but I'm sure somebody is feelin' me).

Can anybody help me with this? Any advice would be very very appreciated . I'm just trying to DIY this problem and if all fails, I guess I'll have to take it in to get looked at:cry

Please......... somebody throw me a bone!

Thanks in advance,

Jaxon

 

Thanks DomLuc, I'll give your suggestions a whirl and see what happens. I'll post again once I've done some of these things.

Thanks again,

Jax

 

Hey DomLuc and anyone else following,

Here is what I've done so far and the results that I've had.

1)Action - Norton removal tool downloaded
Results - Norton has been removed from my computer, but no other noticeable change to my computer.

2)Action - Downloaded CCleaner and used the Cleaner option to clear out some files and used the Registry cleaner to delete the errors.
Results - Removed some unwanted files and registry errors.

3)Action - Downloaded Smart Defrag and used it to defrag my computer (please read see below. This a bit long, but please bare with me through the description of what I did and how I got there.)

I then moved onto your third suggestion and clicked on the link for the Read & Run Me 1st Guide: I started reading and I got down to the part that says, " * A slow PC is not always caused by malware. It could just be due to what you run!
* Try the tips in the below link first for slow PC issues. Note these tips are not necessary for nor are they part of normal malware cleaning:
o Basic computer maintenance everyone should do (link, http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=106650
* If they do not resolve your slow PC problems, continue on to the below malware removal procedures."

So I clicked on that link and read through the Basic Comp Mainten. as written by Major Attitude and went through that list of things to do for maintenence. I get down to the Defrag section of his write up and I select/click on the first link,
"IObit SmartDefrag is a newer, free program that works great:
http://majorgeeks.com/IObit_SmartDefrag_d5318.html".
I go on to defrag my computer using Smart Defrag....... THIS, is where things get funny. The time that it says it will take to defrag my computer reads 2hrs 21mins to complete! So there it goes defragging and my internal fan is working like crazy.... and then my laptop goes BLACK! As, I mentioned before, my computer just turns off by itself when the CPU and the fan are working hard .

RESULTS for #3 - Laptop suddenly turned off in the middle of defragging.

New questions
1) Does my computer "crashing" in the middle of defrag hurt my computer?
2) Should I try to defrag again?
3) Why does my computer just turn off like that?

Thanks in advance for any help that can be offered....

Jaxon

 

To me this screams overheating. The fan tries to keep it cool and when it fails, the laptop shuts off to protect the CPU.

Contact Toshiba (via email or live chat if offered) and tell them you think you have a serious heat problem. There might be a known problem with your laptop that they will repair.

Some other owners with the overheating problem.
http://forums.computers.toshiba-europe.com/forums/message.jspa?messageID=163008

 

Hey DomLuc,

I tried to run a Ram test yesterday and my computer shut down on me again . I'm scared to try it again, b/c I used my comp for work and it takes up too much time for it to restart (up to 30mins, never less than 20mins).

I'm going to try the Read&Run today if I have enough time. I'll get back to you.

Jaxon

 

Wow, thanks for the link to that Toshiba forum. Now I know that there are others like me! I'm not ALONE!!! I'm starting to think that it may just be my model of computer (A300D)... Gonna try to email them and see what they say. Thanks Plodr!

Jaxon

 

I was just on the Toshiba website and I searched for updates that are available for my computer model. The update that comes up that seem interesting to me is an BIOS update.

Should I update my BIOS and what does it do??

Jaxon

 

I never advise doing a BIOS update unless you have particular prolems because a bad flash can turn your computer into a brick.
Download the BIOS, extract it and if there is a Readme file. Read that. It will tell you what issues the BIOS update fixes. If you do not see anything about your issue, forget trying to flash your BIOS. If you do see a fix, go to the Toshiba forum and ask if anyone has done this update. Get the pros and cons.
Does your computer have a floppy drive? I've owned 11 computers and have only updated the BIOS twice to solve prolems. I have never done it on a computer without a floppy drive so I can't help if you have to flash using a CD.

 

Thanks Plodr

Sometimes I get really fed up with this computer and I just want to start updating and deleting stuff lol.. Probably not in my best interest tho!

Jax

 

Your laptop could be overheating due to dust accumulation. It will shut off to prevent the CPU from cooking itself.
On this page :http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090430074015AAygOHk
I found: http://icrontic.com/articles/clean_laptop_heatsink).
You should be able to use compressed air to clean out the heat sink and fans although you may disassemble it per the instructions if you feel comfortable doing so. Don't forget to block the fans from spinning when using compressed air.

 

hey guyz> I'm new here, got here by looking for issues affecting Toshiba Satellite A300D-18I since I want to buy this machine. It comes with:

1. AMD Turion™ X2 Dual-Core Mobile Processor RM-70
   (2.0 GHz 2nd level cache : 1 MB )

• 320 GB SATa 5400 rpm

• 2048MB DDR2

Its a good machine for me since it has both S-video and firewire which are inmportant in my work. Its just that I've never used AMD before and since it only comes with 1MB L2 cache, I was wondering if its the best for me (couldnt find info about FSB speed). I have read about AMD overheating and such issues. ALso concerning the power consumption/battery life. Any thoughts will be appreciated.( I can get it for $688.)Do I buy or not?