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  • Toshiba Qosmio X300

    Ok. So I know this laptop is notorious for sucking. But I have it. Bought it 4 years ago and it was actually a pretty bad ass laptop.


    It's actually still a pretty good unit for how much I actually use it (do some music recording, general messing around, some skyrim and guild wars 2 since my desktop is down pending a motherboard swap....yeah. Didn't unplug it during a video card swap and arced out the mobi during a video card swap due to a poorly located cooling reservoir...feel free to laugh at the rookie mistake :P)

    Anyways. Recently I'm getting what I believe is the GPU overheating. After an hour of more intense games or 2-3 hours of video (like YouTube) screen goes black and the sound goes garbled. With the only solution being a hard reset. Then it happens quicker the second time .etc.

    I've got it on a cooling mat and that doesn't help at all. So I'm looking for any solutions to that issue and also any suggestions on how to upgrade this thing (I've got little to no experience digging in a laptop but ill try it out. Hell. I'm not sure I CAN do anything)

  • #2
    I wouldn't try to upgrade the laptop (except maybe RAM) - even if you do find parts, they'll be expensive.

    As for overheating, get a can of compressed air (or if you have, use a compressor), and blow through all holes. If the laptop has a removable bottom plate, remove that, too, and blow around, it's likely that there's a dust buildup in there (don't bother with vacuum cleaner, since they usually don't have enough power to suck the dust from heatsinks).

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    • #3
      also might want to check to make sure the fans are working properly & that they're cleaned out etc.

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      • #4
        Fans are all working (not even noisy) and I've taken air to every area I can reach

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        • #5
          Looking up the specs, that machine appears to have a GeForce 9000M series GPU - which might also be subject to the thermal stress cracking problem that is definitely associated with GeForce 8000M series GPUs. Essentially, over time some of the connections between the chip and the m/board start to break, with predictable effects on functionality. Fixing this problem requires specialist equipment which (it's safe to assume) you don't have. The manufacturer probably won't touch it either if it's out of warranty.

          Older laptops with high-end components can also be subject to problems with the thermal interface material between the main chips and their heatsinks. Unfortunately, fixing that problem - while potentially cheap in terms of materials - is not at all for the faint-hearted or inexperienced. It invariably involves removing and replacing major parts of the laptop's internals which tend to be rather deeply buried and surprisingly fragile. Don't do it unless you have a spare machine to use and a good take-apart manual.

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          • #6
            Ok. Got a new mobo for my desktop (main gaming machine)

            My intent for the toshiba is a mobile recording platform for my band. Now. I'm willing to take some risk with it, since really, it's not up to date enough to just throw some ram in and use (I could be wrong).

            Now. I figure I have a few options.

            Attempt the repairs myself (thermal goo as has been suggested)

            See about adding new components (I am somewhat desktop savvy. No laptop experience)

            Or use the case for a ground up build (I love that cheezy case. Lots of artists loved it in the studio. Keyboard is perfect for me -I like the clicky noises lol- and the screen and sound system is out of this world for mobile recording)

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            • #7
              I realise it's a little late for a reply but someone might find it useful in the future. I encountered a very similar problem with an HP Envy I bought for Kideo. It would overheat and shut down after about an hour of gaming. The solution I came up with was to underclock it slightly using MSI Afterburner - there are other clocking programs out there, I was just already familiar with this one. I brought it down to about 90% capacity and that did the trick while maintaining a more-than-decent framerate. It still gets warm but no longer shuts down.

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