1. The use of the P4 chip that was intended for desktop PCs. This necessitated a massive power unit, and generated a lot of heat. Compare it to the thermally efficient chips that were coming out around that time to see the difference.
2. The consequential use of very tight vane interspacing in the heat sink in an attempt to achieve thermal dissipation. Pull one apart, look at the vane spacing, and then compare it to the vane spacing in a desktop P4 heat sink. The problem with this poor solution is that it rapidly clogged with dust.
3. The use of bottom fans – necessitated to achieve the fan size and air vent requirements to try to cool the CPU. They were blocked when the laptop was used on a knee, and rapidly sucked up dust and dirt of tabletops and desks.

The upshot of these three bad decisions was a laptop that had a serious reputation for clogging up with dust and consequentially overheating. The first sign of this overheating was a weakening of the solder on the joints of motherboard – especially the power plug to MB joints.

Devilguy doesn’t seem to understand some basic engineering principles. But then again he fixes old laptops for a living. ….

None of my Ibm machines, or Compaq machines gave me this sort of grief. When it works, it is a nice machine to use. But getting it to post and then boot is a problem.

Any ideas out there?

Thanks

“Its all your fault you stupid user, laptop makers never make a mistake! Now pay me money for putting the fire out in this laptop!”

What a jerk.

Pushupma

“I see no point in continuing a discussion on this subject(1). Clearly we have a difference of opinion on the design of the A70(2). Thousands of other owners feel the same way that I do(3). Doubtless they are reassured to read you tell them that they are stupid whiners(4).”
1. I note you are backing out without providing supporting technical data.
2. You own one of these units, your opinion is biased regardless of your qualification.
3. Thousands? Just out of interest do you know how many of these units they sold and what the perceived percentile of failure was, I do.
4. Some people just need to be told straight. Althought I was not just refering to the case of the A70.

“In my personal opinion as an engineer the A70 was poorly designed(5). The massive number of complains on the internet, the sheer fact that a Class Action was raised and was successful tends to support my opinion(6). I don’t see much opinion to support your point of view(7).”
5. Does that permit you to defame Toshiba products.
6. This is a matter of Public Relations, not of poor product engineering.
7. Is there anywhere on the internet where people actually say anything positive about products, when was the last time you let a company know how much you appreciate their product?

Thank you for this interesting discussion. I wish you well with your future notebooks.

In my personal opinion as an engineer the A70 was poorly designed. The massive number of complains on the internet, the sheer fact that a Class Action was raised and was successful tends to support my opinion. I don’t see much opinion to support your point of view.

Toshiba did veriy that some versions of the fan modules had faulty ICs in the fan PCBs, this was addressed with a Engineering Notice requiring replacement of the fans and if required PCB.

Just remember, the squeaky gear gets the oil, doesn’t mean its at fault.
This is why they agree to peace offerings such as warranty extenstions and vouchers.

Take a lesson from Gregory House, people LIE, a lot. Most people claim to have suffered far more hardship from their unit failure than they truly have. Exageration goes well with the initial desire to whinge.

http://www.mommamuse.com/2006/11/14/class-action-lawsuit-against-toshiba/

If it was as you say the problems were caused by user abuse and meglect why did Toshiba extend warranty and give back money. You may well fix laptops, I am an Engineer and trust me, I know what i am talking about. there were serious design faults on to CPU cooling system on this laptop.

The two fans are perfectly acceptable, there are many units, even centrino that have two fans or in some cases more. All machines will suffer from dust build up if not regularly serviced. Most customers will use the unit until it switches off, let it cool and start it up again, which is just asking for trouble. Getting the fans cleaned is like having your engine oil changed.

Most units will turn off due to overheating protection before the solder on the board melts. If Toshiba made any mistake, I would say it was the length of the barrel plug on the AC adapter cable, it allows too much leverage on the DC jack and cracks the power pin solder joint on the board. Once removed, cleaned, re-installed and re-inforced this is no longer an issue.