Toshiba Satellite Intermittent Freeze A75-S206 - Page 4

still going good

over 48 hours passed since I taped the speakers. Worked on laptop perhaps 10 hours in total. Not one hanging so far.

I think taping the speakers may work if done properly, but I also believe that there may be other areas on the machine that are problem areas as well. It would be nice to get some sort of inside schematic to see how the speakers are connected. Basically I am saying that the speakers are definitely a problem, but taping them may not solve all the issues. It is rediculous that this many people have to go out of their way to prevent freezing problems, i.e. wearing sandles intead of slippers, taping speakers, etc. Toshiba tech support blows! They completely deny the problem everytime I present it and I sent my computer back twice before and they still couldn't fix it. I have no faith in the service centers or in the Toshiba ticket traking system! If I could I would also bring back this model and get a new computer.

P.S. I also believe that their may be some underlying power issues with the power supply. Why not, it is obvious that they designed this model very poorly and if they aren't grounding things properly then yes, the power supply could be affected and may cause problems.

First I taped the speakers with vinyl tape and the problem persisted. I have now taped the speakers with 2 layers of thick special rubber electrical tape and the problem still persists. I think what troopdog posted regarding a power supply issue is probably true and it's causing a central problem that isn't just related to the speakers -- although the speakers are clearly the most sensitive part of the problem. What kind of an industrial design engineer places the left speaker in an area that is guaranteed to come to the contact with the left palm anyway? After taping the left speaker, it's uncomfortable to use the keyboard because it's raised/padded (which could result in a carpal-tunnel symdrome problem). What others have said about the absurdity of having to develop these short-term measures just to get the machine to work is true ... but I'm willing to try anything at this point. I'm surprised the damn machine is not crashing as I type this post! I'm sending a letter to customer service in Irvine; let's see what happens. Went to BestBuy today and saw my model (A75-S209) for $1,050; I paid $1,450 after rebate less than 2 months ago. Maybe Toshiba & BestBuy know about this problem and are trying to sell off their stock. This situation calls for a full product recall. Everyone should call and contact customer service about this problem. Maybe if enough people speak up, we'll get some resolution. Send inquiries/complaints to: Toshiba America Information Systems, 9740 Irvine Blvd. Irvine, CA 92618 or call 1-949-583-3000. This is the contact info that was given to me from a Toshiba tech support rep (after holding on the phone for 20 minutes)!

I just picked up an a75-s209 this week at bestbuy.com, well it locked up 1x at home, didn't think much of it - except my POS 3 year old dell doesn't do that.

I managed to lock it up about 3 times in 15 mins this morning sitting at my desk, so I put it away and went back to the other machine. At lunch I had some time and found this discussion page. I will be going to best buy tonight -hoping the store is out of these and I can exchange it for a different brand, or maybe get my cash back.

It sounds like a serious design flaw - if I take the sleeve of my wool sweater and rub it along the corner of the case from right to left the box WILL lock up every time. Hardware issue, no doubt.

For those that may not agree its HW- this is AFTER I have installed XP Pro from a Microsoft CD and have all of the latest toshiba drivers/utils from their site. And I can enter the BIOS on boot up, wipe my sleeve across the box and it will freeze, every single time.

A70/A75 Static issue

I have been following the posts in this forum since posting what I believe to be the major source of the A70 /A75 freeze, reboot, black screen issues and I may have over emphasized the speaker covers.

This issue is not limited to the speaker covers. The speaker covers seem to be the most sensitive area on the laptop with the left speaker being extremely sesitive but I have also reproduced this same screen freeze by walking up and touching the touchpad. I have never touched the touchpad and/or keyboard and had a reboot but it can and will freeze the system.

Taping the speaker covers, wearing shoes and increasing the humidity will reduce the possibility of a static discharge resulting in a freeze or reboot but is that really something we should have to do or be willing to do?

I am not making negative remarks or saying these things should not be done. After all, we have paid for a product and since Toshiba is, for the moment, ignoring it we have to do what we have to do. But, I personally cannot walk into a clients office and ask him/her to increase the humidity in the room or tape my speaker covers. It just doesn't give a professional impression opening up a laptop with tape on the speaker covers. It's like showing up with your glasses taped and hanging off one ear! Again, I mean no disrespect but we have to keep on calling Toshiba every day. There are more and more people doing this and as long as it continues Toshiba will reach a point where they realize fixing this will be in their best interest.

I know it's a hassle and takes time but call, and call and call again. Every single day. I am and I know of dozens of other people doing the same. Send emails, post in laptop forums and contact Toshiba directly. It's the only thing to do. Toshiba needs to do what is right. They do know about this issue. If you call and they say they never heard of it, they are lieing and you should point it out to them. Tell the rep you want it noted in your account that you feel Toshiba knows about this issue and is stonewalling.

Good luck to all and I will post anything new I hear.

P.S. There was a post from someone who said Toshiba told them to take A70 to an authorized Toshiba service provider and they would fix the speaker covers. Unofficially this is the tact Toshiba is taking when you get their technical support to admit to the issue. Toshiba should pay for shipping to and from Toshiba and it should be done on a rush basis since they have known about this for well over a month.

If you are interested in a clas action suite against Toshiba please post a yeah or neah here in this forum.

Emailed a complaint about A75-S209 freezing due to speaker/static electricity problem at CSD.Customer.Service@tais.toshiba.com and received a phone call this morning from a Customer Relations Case Manager. Told her I wanted a full refund; she responded: “Toshiba doesn’t allow replacements, exchanges, or give refunds.” She advised me to have the computer repaired through Toshiba authorized repair center. When I told her that I had contacted a repair center and was informed me that this kind of a repair was not covered under my basic warranty and that I needed a letter from Toshiba to have the repair done … she told me that I would have to pay. I then stated: Are you telling me that I am expected to pay for a repair on a product that was defective at point of purchase? .. she basically said yes. Why should I have to pay to repair defective merchandise (and I’m certainly not confident that it could be repaired anyway). Everyone on this forum needs to make repeated calls and emails to the appropriate addresses. If enough of us do this, either Toshiba will relent and take steps to resolve the problem … or at least it will lay the foundation for class-action lawsuit. At this point, after much haggling with this mighty and powerful corporation, that may be our only recourse – since they are going to continue to stonewall us. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I don’t have another $1500 to replace the machine or the luxury of the time to have a machine in a repair shop (at my cost)! In the meantime, make sure your voice is heard by posting reviews of this product at sites which sell this model.

I say yes to a lawsuit! I agree I don't have time to mess around with returning the laptop and waiting for it to come back. Like I said before. I sent my older one back to Toshiba twice and they didn't fix the problem. I am going to write them a letter as well!

Best buy took mine back - and they gave me a full refund after I told them I didn't want another toshiba and showed them the wool sweater reboot trick on a new out of the box machine. They had a compaq there which looked comparable, but more expensive - so I now have a pocket full of cash and my trusty 4 year old dell latitude (very scary). The search goes on...

Good luck to everyone out there - I will be sending a letter & spreading the word about toSHI%ba!

Yes, I agree that we should sue Toshiba.

Another thing I noticed is the AC adapter: if you listen closely,
you will hear a loud sound as if it sparks inside. Sometimes you even
hear beep. Has anyone noticed this also?

Yet another problem is that more than 50% of the time, after
resuming from hibernation, the speaker does not work. One had to
power off once and then it works.

Toshiba A75 - Bad

I have always thought that the Toshiba Laptops were very hardy and well built. I told my brother-in-law this and he bought one for his son. He of course got the A75. He got it on Christmas Day and has already returned the first one because of the lockups and eventual black screen and death. Circuit City mysteriously could not get anymore of this model, so they gave him the display and some extra rebates.

I read this forum and called him at home. He walked around on the carpet and touched the touchpad. The darn thing went black and he had to reboot to continue the restore from the factory setup. WOW!

I have instructed him to take it back and get another name brand. I guess since Toshiba is not taking responsibility for this, I cannot suggest them to anyone else.

I bought a Medion laptop myself and have not had a single problem in over a year. Not too shabby...

A75-S206 Freezing up also

I have a Toshiba Satellite A75-S206 that I bought a few months back. I’m having a really bad problem with freezing/locking up thing. I have an extended warranty through Best Buy where I bought the laptop from, and have brought it in to them 4 times within the last 2 ½ months. It has been gone for 2 of those months. They have tried everything they could possibly think of. They ran software tests, hardware tests, opened up the computer, cleaned it out, ran “burnin” tests, etc. That didn’t work. They seemed to not believe me and told me they can't fix "imaginary problems". I tried some things of my own – I updated the bios from Toshiba’s website, updated power management software, updated all other programs. Nothing has worked for me yet either. After reading this, I realized that my freezing up problem was probably directly associated to this static electricity, so I ran around on the carpet and touched the left speaker and, sure enough!! So if anyone has any solutions, please be sure to fill me in!!

I own a Toshiba Satellite A70-TS1, and guess what.... same problem. I got it 3 months ago at Future Shop. Last week, I had to get the motherboard replaced because the computer wouldn't even boot up. One week after the repair, the same problem came back....

shit this sux... i just got this comp.. and truthfully i'm kinda afraid to test it at the moment (the static thing that is) does anyone have this comp and it not freeze?

Yes, I'm all for suing Toshiba.

I have an A75-S206 and I started experiencing freezing problems about a month after I purchased it. My problems aren't so much with the speakers; I randomly get a freeze when the laptop is moved. I only get freezes when I have the machine on my lap or on the bed, never when it's on the desk. Fortunately, it doesn't seem to happen too often...usually only once a day if at all. I do think it's related to static electricity, but the machine has got other problems as well. When the computer gets really worked up and overheated, it tends to freeze a bunch of times in a row. It's newest trick is shutting itself down in the middle of a reboot when it's really gotten worked up.

I got a new iPod for Christmas and I had a bunch of problems installing and getting it work correctly. I had to plug it into the USB ports into the back...it just wouldn't work in the front USB port. I wonder if there is some sort of issue there as well. All other devices work fine in the USB port, but the iPod needs a high-powered one to work. Anyone else have any problems like this?

I bought the extended 3-year warranty and accidental damage plan from Toshiba, but I haven't sent it in yet. I've been monitoring this forum since it started to see if anyone has any luck with sending it back to Toshiba, but it doesn't seem like anyone has. I, like everyone else, don't want to be without my computer for a month just so they can not fix the problem and send it back to me. However, I think it's important to let Toshiba know what's going on and send it back to them just to prove that they knew about the problem and didn't fix it. We also need to call, email, and write to them if we have any hope of getting these issues resolved. Be sure to document all your correspondence with Toshiba to prove you contacted them about the issue. Get the names of people you talk with on the phone and record dates/times of conversations. Keep copies of all letters/emails/responses. This hopefully will lay the grounds for a class action lawsuit. Anyone know a good lawyer?

iPods are wack. Mine works in the front USB port (I have an A75-S209, which I'm pretty sure is exactly identical to yours except for a different CPU) and it charges from it, so the problem isn't power (although Apple lies about what the iPod really requires to work anyway--the computer I had before I got this POS had USB 1.1, which Apple insists will not work, but it worked without a hitch, just slow.) iPods are definitely known, however, to have pretty frequent connectivity issues with USB/Windows--I had some major ones with the last firmware update that required me to completely restore (ie format) my iPod. If I were you I'd be inclined to blame that one on Apple, not Toshiba.

Anyway, having calmed down somewhat since my last post here...

Has anyone having this problem actually measured the humidity in the places where they've had it? According to the specs, the computer should only be operated at relative humidity between 20% and 80%, and for me at least, the problem was *much* worse (crashing every time I picked the computer up off my lap, set it aside, then picked it back up again--and then some) at my parents' and my grandparents' house--incidentally, the humidifiers on the furnaces in both those houses were broken, and humidity was either right around 20% or even lower. Now that I'm back at my own apartment (and it's been raining for days) I haven't had a single crash and actually can't crash it if I try.

I agree that the thing should absolutely be designed and built better than this, but has anybody just tried putting a small humidifier (or a pan of water on the radiator) in the main room where they use their computer? Has this helped any? Has anyone confirmed that they're having crashes at humidity above 20% (I doubt a class action lawsuit would get far without being able to provide evidence of this)?

Keep Contacting Toshiba And Making Your Voice Heard

Selling defective products is nothing less than corporate fraud and abuse. Owners of these models (A75 and other models with unproperly grounded speakers/static electricity problem) must repeatedly contact Toshiba via email, phone, & snail mail ... and keep copies of all correspondence. Otherwise Toshiba will continue to ignore the problem. At this point, after hearing stories of other owners, I have zero confidence that the product can be repaired; I don't trust them. Furthermore, I am self-employed and use this machine to earn my income, and I can't be without a computer for any length of time. These models should be recalled but full refunds should be issued so owners can replace their machines before the implementation of any recall!

Here is another good site to look at. I found it directly from the Toshiba website. I trhink they need some techs to start reading these posts http://community.compuserve.com/n/pf...v=search&q=A75

A70 freezing

Thank god I found this website, I thought I was loosing my mind. I bought my A70 in early October and it started freezing the week after the 1 month return policy expired. Enventually took the unit back to a Toshiba repair depot and they replaced the main board. This did not help.

I originally looked on the Web in early November to see if there was any body else having this problem and couldn't find anybody. Now there seems to be an overwhelming number of people with this problem. Today I confirmed that touching the speaker grills after walking accross the carpet freezes my computer.

I have read that somebody is starting a website to collect names of owners who have this problem. Toshiba has lost a class action lawsuit before (2000) in regards to faulty laptop design and it is likely that there will be another one over this problem. Definitely count me in on this one.

If anybody has fixed this problem on their own please let the rest of know how you did it.

Derek991,

I have been working with this problem for the better part of three months and after realizing what was causing the problem I have found only one partial fix.

CDW sells a "static pad" that comes with a wire that snaps onto a corner of the pad with a regular metal snap you would find on a jacket. The pad has a matte finish on top and a black foam rubber bottom. The instructions said to ground the wire to a screw on the face plate of an electrical outlet faceplate.

After placing the mat on the table or desk, black foam rubber side down and snapping the snap end to the wire to the pad and then attaching the other end of the wire to the screw on an electical outlet faceplate, seat yourself at your laptop. place both palms down firmly on the pad which extends from either side of the laptop when it is centered on the pad. Then turn on the laptop and wait for it to bootup completely. XP gives you the desktop long before it has completed loading the entire operating system and starting a prog too quickly can cause a problem which is unrelated to this static issue.
Once XP has completed the loading itself, touch the pad with your finger tips once again and start using the laptop. Every so often touch the pad with your finger tips. I realize most users cannot whip out a rubber pad and get down on the floor to unscrew an electrical outlets face plate just to use their laptops. It's the type of thing that can make a sales call go all wrong....but....if you are in a situation that allows the use of such a pad it does eliminate most of the static related freezing. If you get into doing something and forget to touch the pad once in a while your back to crash city but if you have the luxury of being able to use something like this it is worth the $20 bucks until Toshiba does something about this.

I hope everyone is still emailing one email a day to Toshiba technical support and if time permits call technical support. Document who you speak to at Toshiba's technical support. Ask for an incident number or whatever number they are going to use to track your problem. Ask for a supervisor and/or engineer. If you get one take his/her name and post it here and we will start calling and asking for him/her. Document date, time of day, duration of call and/or email and take notes if it is a call while you are on the phone.

Toshiba lost a class action suit about 5 years ago and every owner got several hundred dollars which was the cost to make the system right. Document everything and please post everything and anything to this forum and any other one you come across!

There is a law firm soliciting information on Toshiba A70 /A75 freezing, crashing etc. due to static discharge for a possible class action suit against Toshiba.

From what I can gather, sending an email and/or visiting their web site does not create an attorney client relationship. I know nothing about this firm, who they are, if they are a firm or what their real motives are. They may be what they say they are but I have no knowledge of them. If anyone cares to check out the web site here is the URL.

http://www.lorisklar.com/toshad.htm

Remember this is the Internet. Anyone can put up a web site. Check them out before you sign up for a class action suit or anything else. You all know the old saying "buyer beware" and I bet we are all paying a little more attention to that bit of advice after buying an A70 or A75 model Toshiba!