12-26-2010, 04:03 PM

recently i noticed that i have smoke marks that have arisen from inside my macbook. there are black smoke marks from behind the fan at the crease of the screen, and there is a grey smoke stain right where it says 'macbook' below the screen. there are also grey smoke marks in the center of my keyboard, like smoke came up from underneath.

there are no other changes in the macbook's performance (knock on wood). it is a 13" macbook, bought in 2007.

needless to say, this is freaking me out. does anyone know what causes this or any preventative steps i could take to avoid damage? i would appreciate any thoughts on what is going on here.

12-26-2010, 04:06 PM

Needless to say...smoke coming from any electronic device is not good!

- Are you using the proper power adapter/power brick for your MacBook?
- Did you spill any food or liquid on your MacBook?
- Is your MacBook's battery extremely warm (warmer than it should be)?
- Is your battery swollen?

- Nick

12-26-2010, 04:08 PM

Have you ever cleaned out the fans / vent on the machine? That might help.

12-26-2010, 04:44 PM

Originally Posted by pigoo3

Needless to say...smoke coming from any electronic device is not good!

- Are you using the proper power adapter/power brick for your MacBook?
- Did you spill any food or liquid on your MacBook?
- Is your MacBook's battery extremely warm (warmer than it should be)?
- Is your battery swollen?

- Nick

Thanks for your response, Nick.
Yes, I have the proper adapter, which I replaced about a year ago. I haven't spilled anything on it, but I do use it a lot.
The battery does get pretty warm, but I'm not sure how warm is too warm. I keep a board underneath it when I work on it because it gets too hot for my lap. But I thought that was typical.
The battery had been swollen, and started losing charge quickly about a month ago. I replaced the battery, and the charge has been fine since then, and not swollen.
I'm at a loss!

12-26-2010, 04:46 PM

Originally Posted by s2odin

Have you ever cleaned out the fans / vent on the machine? That might help.

No, I've never done that. Is that something I could do myself or do I have to take it in to the store? Sounds like that would be a good idea to do in general, too.

12-26-2010, 04:52 PM

Originally Posted by labyrinthian

No, I've never done that. Is that something I could do myself or do I have to take it in to the store? Sounds like that would be a good idea to do in general, too.

You can do it yourself.
Just get a can of compressed air from Officemax, Best Buy, Fry's, MicroCenter, anywhere that has them. Just take the back cover of your macbook off and the fans should be at the top. Just do short, controlled bursts of air from inside the macbook to the outside of the case at the top (you want to spray the dust through that crack / vent). And you can spray from the crack inside the machine, which will clear that vent, but you will then need to spray it back outside the machine.

And be warned, 3 years of not cleaning it, it will be pretty disgusting in there.

12-26-2010, 04:55 PM

Originally Posted by labyrinthian

Thanks for your response, Nick.
Yes, I have the proper adapter, which I replaced about a year ago. I haven't spilled anything on it, but I do use it a lot.
The battery does get pretty warm, but I'm not sure how warm is too warm. I keep a board underneath it when I work on it because it gets too hot for my lap. But I thought that was typical.
The battery had been swollen, and started losing charge quickly about a month ago. I replaced the battery, and the charge has been fine since then, and not swollen.
I'm at a loss!

Yeah...a warm battery is not necessarily a problem...since the most of the bottom of the notebook can get warm. What I meant was...was the battery by itself seemingly getting much hotter than the surrounding areas.

Two things you mentioned sort of set off "red flags".

- What was the reason the power adapter was replaced a year ago...loose wires on the adapter?...or charging issues?
- You mentioned the previous battery was swollen...this is never a good thing.

Basically if you have a 13" 2007 MacBook...you should be using the 60 watt power adapter.

- Nick

12-26-2010, 04:56 PM

Originally Posted by s2odin

You can do it yourself.
Just get a can of compressed air from Officemax, Best Buy, Fry's, MicroCenter, anywhere that has them. Just take the back cover of your macbook off and the fans should be at the top. Just do short, controlled bursts of air from inside the macbook to the outside of the case at the top (you want to spray the dust through that crack / vent). And you can spray from the crack inside the machine, which will clear that vent, but you will then need to spray it back outside the machine.

Thanks, s2odin, I'll definitely try that.
Anyone else have any experience with smoking problems? Are there any ways to control or moderate temperature for MacBooks?

12-26-2010, 05:01 PM

Originally Posted by pigoo3

Yeah...a warm battery is not necessarily a problem...since the most of the bottom of the notebook can get warm. What I meant was...was the battery by itself seemingly getting much hotter than the surrounding areas.

Two things you mentioned sort of set off "red flags".

- What was the reason the power adapter was replaced a year ago...loose wires on the adapter?...or charging issues?
- You mentioned the previous battery was swollen...this is never a good thing.

Basically if you have a 13" 2007 MacBook...you should be using the 60 watt power adapter.

- Nick

The power adapter issue was because the cord got a little finicky and would go in and out of functioning, so I think it was a wire issue. I've been using the new power adapter for about a year now, and i havent had the weird smoking problem until yesterday.

Yes, the swollen battery was strange. I would occasionally have issues clicking on the mouse pad, like it wouldn't click down all the way. Only occasionally, though. I read about it here on the forum as being a symptom of battery issues. sure enough, the battery was strangely swollen. since i replaced it, i havent had problems with the mouse either. could a swollen battery impact the level of heat inside the machine, or cause smoking? do you think the replacement battery could be defective?

thanks again for your feedback.

12-26-2010, 05:03 PM

One thing you can do to get an idea if your MacBook is dirty (before cleaning as "s2odin" has suggested)...is install a program like "Temp Monitor":

Temperature Monitor: Description

Usually a Macbook/MacBook Pro doing some low demand tasks like posting messages on an internet forum should have temps around 48-55°C (and you probably shouldn't have much in the way of fan noise. If you were watching YouTube videos (much more demanding)...your MacBook's temps would be in the 70's+°C or higher (even approaching 90°C)...and your fans would be in "high gear".

So what I'm saying is...if you're doing low demand tasks (internet forum posting)...and your Macbook's temps are high & the fans are loud....then you could definitely have a dirty MacBook.

- Nick

12-26-2010, 05:04 PM

Just wondering if you saw smoke coming from the MB ?? Or you just see the marks ... Are you sure its smoke as fine fine dust particles can look like a smoke stain ... Just saying

You can use SMCfanControl to manually change the rpm of the fan speeds ..... Just dont forget you have it activated. But its only really for those that know why there machine is over heating. You should find the underlying problem 1st .....

12-26-2010, 05:05 PM

Originally Posted by labyrinthian

Anyone else have any experience with smoking problems? Are there any ways to control or moderate temperature for MacBooks?

Smoke is ALWAYS a BAD thing...this just shouldn't be happening!

- Nick

12-26-2010, 05:09 PM

Originally Posted by labyrinthian

could a swollen battery impact the level of heat inside the machine, or cause smoking? do you think the replacement battery could be defective?

A swollen battery could most definitely impact the heat level inside the computer...if it is not functioning properly. If your current battery is just 1 month old (according to your earlier post)...it could be defective...or not 100% compatible. Was this a "genuine" Apple replacement battery...or a different brand?

- Nick

12-26-2010, 05:11 PM

Originally Posted by TattooedMac

Just wondering if you saw smoke coming from the MB ?? Or you just see the marks ... Are you sure its smoke as fine fine dust particles can look like a smoke stain ...

Great suggestion/thought!

@ OP...if you see little black streaks of "stuff" coming out of the Macbooks vents...that could just be very fine dirt (as TattooedMac suggested)...of course if you actually see smoke or smell smoke...that' a different matter.

- Nick

12-26-2010, 05:13 PM

Listen, I know it gets said on boards all the time, but you need to take the machine in for a check. If you do have smoke evidence, why take a chance with your expensive machine by blowing air into the fans? If you are wrong, a potentially good laptop could be permanently damaged.

Get it checked out properly, and you will know exactly what is wrong and what is necessary to fix it.