Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Processor Problems w/ Toshiba s504 & s507 Laptops?

Posted by Cliff on from the when-hardware-manufacturers-don't-own-up dept.

Diridari asks: "The are some serious overheating problems with the Toshiba 5005-S504/S507 notebooks that Toshiba will not officially confirm. Many people been sending their boxes to the Toshiba depot more then once, but nothing was fixed. Since this notebook has a GeForce4go and is advertised as a desktop replacement, it should definitely be a nice gaming/multimedia notebook, but it isn't. The problem is that the CPU is a desktop CPU and during a Direct3D gaming session, or any CPU stressing application, it gets hot (Toshiba's cost reduction strategy by using the desktop CPU; I call it design flaw). I had a temperature of 65-73 Celsius during a test gaming session of DarkAgeOfCamelot with hmonitor. At 75 the box would shut down. The BIOS update from Toshiba throttles the CPU speed from 1.1G to 500MHz as a 'solution', which is not acceptable for a box that costs $2000. If I just wanted to read emails on this box, I would have spend $800 for a notebook." Has anyone had luck either getting Toshiba to properly handle this situation to their satisfaction, or via some form of workaround?

"If you want to read more about these problems, you can check Compuserve's Toshiba Forums [C: expect long load times] and search for "Still overheating" and Google for more information and user comments.

The Toshiba customer service is not helping at all. What can be done? How can I get the box that was actually advertised by Toshiba and not a very-expensive 500Mhz-for-email-only box? Do I have rights as a customer?"

2 of 30 comments (clear)

  1. Standard response by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative
    1. Talk to the retailer you bought from. They may be able to accept the return esp. if you are a corp. account
    2. A number of states and localities have trade boards or other tools if it does not perform as advertised you might have a case
    3. Talk to your state or locality's Attorney General's office (or equivalent) If Toshiba has property in your state or locality you might be able to get some help.
    4. Try a small claims court case if doable or start a class action law suit.
  2. Dude you shoulda got a Dell! by qurob · · Score: 3, Informative

    We've got the Dell's with the insane NVIDIA chipset to do 3D presentations, and they don't skip a beat. They get warm, but they don't act like the Toshibas. A colleague sent his back (he ordered from PC Mall and they were cool about returning it for that problem. I do believe he ended up talking to Toshiba in the end.