This Toshiba Satellite A135-S4656 laptop was given to me with the complaint
that it shuts off after a few hours. I had it on for a few hours last night
and it worked fine. The owner said that before it shuts off, the mouse
pointer starts behaving erratically and the entire system slows down. To me
this sounds like the heat sink might be getting clogged with dust causing an
overheating problem. I also noticed that the fan is quite noisy at times and
you can hear the speed vary. Before I take it apart I'd like to know, are
there any other common issues with this model that would cause shut down
problems?

Thanks for your reply.
--
David Farber
Los Osos, CA

On 2/10/2013 9:56 AM, David Farber wrote:
This Toshiba Satellite A135-S4656 laptop was given to me with the complaint
that it shuts off after a few hours. I had it on for a few hours last night
and it worked fine. The owner said that before it shuts off, the mouse
pointer starts behaving erratically and the entire system slows down. To me
this sounds like the heat sink might be getting clogged with dust causing an
overheating problem. I also noticed that the fan is quite noisy at times and
you can hear the speed vary. Before I take it apart I'd like to know, are
there any other common issues with this model that would cause shut down
problems?

Thanks for your reply.
Sounds like a fan/dirt/heat sink compound problem.
I've found thick gun oil to be good for noisy fan bearings.

On Sunday, February 10, 2013 9:56:35 AM UTC-8, David Farber wrote:
This Toshiba Satellite A135-S4656 laptop was given to me with the complaint

that it shuts off after a few hours.

from your excellent description it sounds like you need to replace the fan along with cleaning any dust accumulation in the heatsink ... fans go bad from wear and there is no way to lubricate them back to being operational except for maybe a short period of time ... try to find an original replacement fan because most of generic replacements are junk and will not last.

wrote:
On Sunday, February 10, 2013 9:56:35 AM UTC-8, David Farber wrote:
This Toshiba Satellite A135-S4656 laptop was given to me with the
complaint

that it shuts off after a few hours.

from your excellent description it sounds like you need to replace
the fan along with cleaning any dust accumulation in the heatsink ...
fans go bad from wear and there is no way to lubricate them back to
being operational except for maybe a short period of time ... try to
find an original replacement fan because most of generic replacements
are junk and will not last.

I was able to remove the keyboard after lots of nudging with several small
screwdrivers. I'm not down to the bare motherboard yet but at first glance,
I don't see much dust in this case. A new fan is going to be at least $20.
Throw in a couple of hours for labor and testing and this nearly seven year
old laptop may not be economical to repair. The part about the erratic
behavior of the mouse makes me think that there may be an additional
hardware failure other than the heat problem.

Thanks for your reply.
--
David Farber
Los Osos, CA

On Sun, 10 Feb 2013 09:56:35 -0800, "David Farber"
wrote:

This Toshiba Satellite A135-S4656 laptop was given to me with the complaint
that it shuts off after a few hours.

Sounds like a dying fan or it's clogged with dirt. If you're going to
tear it apart, you might was well replace the fan.
http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-Satellite-A135-S4656-Compatible-Laptop/dp/B007RC3JZC
One common problem with this style of fan and associated heat pipe
radiator is that dirts, dust, and hair get stuck BETWEEN the fan
outlet and the radiator fins. Tring to clean out this dust with
compressed air blowing inward or outward doesn't work. The filth gets
stuck in place and needs to be mechanically removed with a brush,
tweezers, or scraper. Photo:
http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx62/ivanaraujov/DSC06343.jpg
The heat pipe radiator is to the left of the fan. The dirt is
probably in between the radiator and the fan.



--
Jeff Liebermann
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

On Sun, 10 Feb 2013 13:46:03 -0800, "David Farber"
wrote:

I was able to remove the keyboard after lots of nudging with several small
screwdrivers. I'm not down to the bare motherboard yet but at first glance,
I don't see much dust in this case. A new fan is going to be at least $20.

The dust is inside the fan shroud, in the heat pipe radiator, and
jammed in between the fan and radiator. Also around the intake on the
bottom of the machine. Hit it with compressed air and watch the dusty
fly.

A new fan is going to be at least $20.

$6 if you don't mine used. $15 for new.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/330723494250

Throw in a couple of hours for labor and testing and this nearly seven year
old laptop may not be economical to repair.

Right. Just toss it because you can't find a way to get rich fixing
it. Repair is always better than recycling:
http://www.ifixit.com/Manifesto

The part about the erratic
behavior of the mouse makes me think that there may be an additional
hardware failure other than the heat problem.

It's caused by either too many mouse drivers installed or a broken
"enhanced" pointer precision:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-GfJC4YGr4

--
Jeff Liebermann
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

Jeff Liebermann wrote:
On Sun, 10 Feb 2013 13:46:03 -0800, "David Farber"
wrote:

I was able to remove the keyboard after lots of nudging with several
small screwdrivers. I'm not down to the bare motherboard yet but at
first glance, I don't see much dust in this case. A new fan is going
to be at least $20.

The dust is inside the fan shroud, in the heat pipe radiator, and
jammed in between the fan and radiator. Also around the intake on the
bottom of the machine. Hit it with compressed air and watch the dusty
fly.

A new fan is going to be at least $20.

$6 if you don't mine used. $15 for new.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/330723494250

Throw in a couple of hours for labor and testing and this nearly
seven year old laptop may not be economical to repair.

Right. Just toss it because you can't find a way to get rich fixing
it. Repair is always better than recycling:
http://www.ifixit.com/Manifesto

The part about the erratic
behavior of the mouse makes me think that there may be an additional
hardware failure other than the heat problem.

It's caused by either too many mouse drivers installed or a broken
"enhanced" pointer precision:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-GfJC4YGr4

Hi Jeff,

First of all, I value your opinion quite highly. I mentioned the "not
economical to repair" part because I wasn't sure the motherboard was stable.
I try as hard as anybody to keep things running for as long as possible.
Since you said it's more likely the mouse problem is a software issue then
the motherboard should be in good shape and it will be economical to repair.
I didn't want to go to the trouble and spend my customer's money and time
replacing the fan and finding out a few weeks later that the motherboard was
not stable.

Thanks for your reply.
--
David Farber
Los Osos, CA

On Sun, 10 Feb 2013 18:26:38 -0800, "David Farber"
wrote:

First of all, I value your opinion quite highly.

Careful. I've been very wrong in the past. Nobody can guess(tm) as
much as I do and also have a perfect record. Caveat Emptor.

I mentioned the "not
economical to repair" part because I wasn't sure the motherboard was stable.
I try as hard as anybody to keep things running for as long as possible.

Good. I'm somewhat of a fanatic on the topic of repair and recycling
(in that order).

Repairing a minor problem on a laptop, and then finding a more serious
problem is an all too common risk. There was a point in my life when
I decided that I would never accept another laptop for repair because
of all the mechanical failures (BGA soldering problems mostly). They
would leave my shop fixed, but then come back 30 to 180 days later,
usually with a dead motherboard. I did my share of BGA solder reflow
repairs, but they were generally not worth the time effort. I think
my batting average was about 1 success in 5 tries. About 4 years ago,
which coincided with a massive "Nvidia recall" epidemic of failed
laptops from all them major brands, that I had to provide a written
disclaimer over failures specifically covered in the recall. Things
are not much better these days, where the soldering of large BGA chips
and the mechanical securing of motherboards still seems to be a
problem.

I can't offer much advice as to which laptops are worth fixing and
which are an invitation to a financial loss. In general, I look for
potential high cost damage, such as overheated CPU's, overheating
video chips, dead batteries, dying hard disk drives, and intermittent
motherboards. A few questions to the owner (flashing display,
unexpected shutdowns, failure to boot, sticky keys, loose power jack,
etc) are usually sufficient to uncover these potential future
failures. If it's too much, stop before it's too late.

There's also the matter of profit. I charge $75/hr for shop time. It
takes me at least 1.0 hrs to tear apart a laptop making $75 my minimum
charge for fixing nothing. I could probably do the fan for double the
cost of the fan plus $75 labor if there was nothing else wrong. The
problem is that there's always something else wrong, both in hardware
and in software. Dead batteries are the most common. Dying hard
disks (use a S.M.A.R.T. util) are a close second. The potential cost
could easily approach the cost of a replacement laptop. In the past,
I would buy the laptop from the customer, rebuild it, and sell it for
a profit. However, with $350 entry level laptops and $200 Chromebooks
commonly available, that's no longer an option.

Since you said it's more likely the mouse problem is a software issue then
the motherboard should be in good shape and it will be economical to repair.

I don't know for sure if it's a software problem. Flaky motherboards
have very different symptoms. Hangs, power shutdowns, flickering or
weird display, boot failures, dead ports, corrupted data on the HD,
and general strangeness in ALL programs, are more typical failing
motherboard symptoms. You can look for these yourself, but it's easy
enough to ask the customer first.

I didn't want to go to the trouble and spend my customer's money and time
replacing the fan and finding out a few weeks later that the motherboard was
not stable.

That's why there's an estimate fee. You check out the machine for a
small price. That doesn't eliminate your risk, but certainly does
reduce it. However, in my case, I'm stupid and don't charge for
estimates. That's because most of the estimates turn into repairs,
and the not worth repairing are obvious at first glance.

Incidentally, there's an easy way to tell if the customer is
interested in fixing the laptop or is quietly shopping for a
replacement. Ask if they want a new or used fan. If used, then
they're either cheap, or planning a replacement.



--
Jeff Liebermann
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558