Toshiba A70 S-256 Review

Overall Rating

Light weight feature rich

Very bad design

This is regarding the Toshiba Satellite A70 and the Toshiba Satellite A75 model laptops only....It may apply to others but it is a reproducable problem and has been reproduced at will on these two models.

There is a serious design issue with the Toshiba A70 / A75 laptop notebooks that is responsible for random freezing and/or rebooting of the system.

After reading many posts on various forums and newsgroups throughout the web in which Toshiba A70 /A75 owners search for a reason to explain this seemingly random freezing and/or rebooting of the system, myself and several other computer technicians have discovered what is causing this. It is reproduced easily under the correct conditions. An A70 /A75 owner can do this themselves and can then contact Toshiba and demand a recall or compensation.

Turn on a Toshiba Satellite A70 S256 or A70 S259 models or the Satellite A75 models and let it boot up. Once windows has finished loading completely, stand up and walk around on a carpet for a minute or less. Touch either metal speaker cover but the left speaker cover is much more sensitive than the right. Now try and move your mouse or type on the keyboard. 7 out of 10 times the system will be froozen or it will reboot. When conditions are ripe for static electricity to build up, you will not even have to walk around on a carpet to generate static in your body. Just moving your hands from the touchpad to the keyboard is often sufficient to create the freeze or reboot. Sliding your finger over the case between the touchpad and the left speaker cover will also freeze and/or reboot the system under these conditions.

I have several of these models at my disposal and can readily reproduce this issue on every one. In an office setting in which a forced air heating system is present (this is the most common heating system for medium to large office buildings) the problem renders the laptop un-usable. Data is often lost and when a reliable running laptop with reliable running software is the difference between working and not working or getting paid or getting fired, this model Toshiba is a definite drain on your ability to get paid, not get fired and to work without constant freezing and reboots.

Those of you who live in a part of the world in which you do not experience cold temperatures and forced air heated buildings should be lucky enough to experience this design flaw very infrequently if at all. Static electricity is funny. Sometimes you can discharge it from your person my holding the desktop as you seat yourself in a chair but at other times it builds just by moving your fingers and hands as you type until you come in contact with something that will conduct it and the metal speaker covers on the A70 /A75 are just the sort of thing that can and does conduct static electricity to your laptop.

Static electricity is nothing new. There are standards manufactures adhere to in an effort to minimize the dissipation of static electricity through a laptop frame into the motherboard, memory and so on.

That's why hardware technicians (the good ones) always stand on a static pad that is grounded and wear a wrist strap that is grounded to a static pad under the laptop. Static discharge will damage memory, motherboard circuits and other wiring harness components.

IMHO the average consumer should not be expected to wear additional static disappating equipment or stand on static dissipation pad to engage in normal everyday use a laptop.

If you do not believe me check the various newsgroups and laptop forums on the Internet. Look for how many messages are posted in regards to the A70 / A75 Toshiba Satellite models freezing and/or rebooting randomly. Some owners of this laptop have been updating the BIOS, disabling tapping on the touchpad, setting the touchpad to the lowest sensitivity possible, turning off hyperthreading and more in an effort to resolve this issue.

If you own a Toshiba Satellite A70 or a Toshiba Satellite A75 laptop and you are experiencing random freezing and/or rebooting, please contact Toshiba and tell Toshiba you have discovered the source of your problem. These laptops have been designed in such a way that normal everyday static electricity levels in the user will cause the system to freeze and/or reboot when the left speaker is touched and sometimes when the right speaker is touched and sometimes when you move your hands from the touchpad to the keyboard and still at other times when you slide your finger over the frame between the touchpad and the speaker covers.

This is a serious and potentially damaging situation for the laptop. Do not delay. Try it yourself and then contact Toshiba if you can reproduce the issue and demand a recall.

Members' Comments ontufop's Review

• crosswise on 4th Mar 2005

  This problem appears to be some type of grounding problem.
  
  If you run the A70 on power and touch either speaker (the left is stronger) with the sensitive underside of your wrist, you will feel a slight tingling similar to sticking your tongue on a 9V battery. It should be able to be metered easily enough too.
  
  I agree we need to report this issue immediately.

• lilymuriel on 19th Apr 2006

  I have the SAME problem with my a70. i actually called toshiba and they said to send it in because there is nothing they cannot fix! how do i demand a recall?? everybody that has this computer should complain so we can all get a recall or reimbursement!! somebody help!!