Macbook Air 13 Fan Noise

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Hey everyone,

I have a Mid 2011 Macbook Air 13 inch model which I purchased April 2012. In December 2012 I had a water spill which I had posted about and followed all the advice. I was really, really lucky and after 3 days of drying my laptop was working perfectly.

It's been a little over 7 months since the accident. In the last month however I've noticed my fan seems a bit nosier than usual. It only happens sometimes like when I was using photoshop now. But my fan RPM stays below 3000 and even after a restart it was still noisy till I left it in sleep mode for like ten minutes and came back. Sometimes I've even heard a sort of grinding sound during these noisy periods.

I haven't been experiencing any slowness or over-heating so I might just be being paranoid. I've been in America for the last month and I've been spending time in REALLY quiet neighborhoods compared to my usual environment. Maybe that's why I'm noticing the noise? Is this sort of stuff typical for a Macbook AIr?

I made the mistake of mentioning it to my father, and we'll be taking it to a shop to be checked out. He doesn't know about the spill, and I'm afraid the Liquid Contact Indicators may give me away (though I have no way of knowing if they ever were actually triggered). I'm afraid Apple may just blame it on the spill. Should I be worried or am I making a mountain out of a molehill?

Thanks
 

pigoo3

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In December 2012 I had a water spill which I had posted about and followed all the advice. I was really, really lucky and after 3 days of drying my laptop was working perfectly.

It's been a little over 7 months since the accident. In the last month however I've noticed my fan seems a bit nosier than usual.

Sometimes I've even heard a sort of grinding sound during these noisy periods.

It's possible that there is dust/fuzz in the fan...making it seem to be making a different sound. If you think that you are hearing a grinding sound...it's always possible that some of the liquid from that liquid spill got into the fan bearings...some rust has formed...and the rust is now helping to make the grinding noise.

Should I be worried or am I making a mountain out of a molehill?

Well...maybe. But since this is a sound related thing...it's hard to say...since we cannot hear it.

Plus...maybe you've been doing something different with your computer that you weren't doing previously (stuff that is making the computer have to work harder)...which leads to higher temps...which leads to faster fan speeds...which leads to sounds that you may not have experienced before with this computer (sounds that may be totally normal).

Or maybe you have been simply paying more attention to the sounds your computer is making...sounds that were always there.

Hey...be very very very happy this computer is still working after a liquid spill. And yes...maybe you should have posted here FIRST...BEFORE saying anything to Dad!!!;)

- Nick
 
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Plus...maybe you've been doing something different with your computer that you weren't doing previously (stuff that is making the computer have to work harder)...which leads to higher temps...which leads to faster fan speeds...which leads to sounds that you may not have experienced before with this computer (sounds that may be totally normal).

Or maybe you have been simply paying more attention to the sounds your computer is making...sounds that were always there.

Thank you for the quick response! Yeah it really is a tough call. When I was hearing those grinding noises I was running a fairly big psd file (around 500MB) and after a while I got a low disk space message. I cleared up about 20GB and delete extra layers in the file. The grinding noise stopped after a while, and it hasn't come back. I had been hearing clicking noises a couple of weeks prior to this incident, but that again had stopped after about a week of it happening now then. Photoshop however is something I used often both before and after the spill, but never such a big file. Maybe that's what the problem was plus with low disk space.

The loud fan today was the first time in about a week . There were no other noises as far as I could tell, but it was loud enough to have me doing frantic google searches. At that point I had just opened that psd file, and my battery was about 49 percent. Now I'm plugged in with a full battery and working with that same file, and my fan's pretty quiet.

Do you think it's worth it to take it to an Apple shop? The one near where I'm staying is very helpful. I'll be back in Pakistan in a few days; the apple representatives there are no where near the same caliber when it comes to hardware issues. So this might be my last chance to get a proper assessment, at the risk of being exposed however :/ . Or do you think I should try and move on with my life? I'm sorry if I'm putting you in a tough position , kind of like a patient asking a doctor 'what would you do?' ;) I'd appreciate any advice you can give me however.

Hey...be very very very happy this computer is still working after a liquid spill. And yes...maybe you should have posted here FIRST...BEFORE saying anything to Dad!!!;)

- Nick

I know I feel like such a fool! I had tried lots of searches , and checked random posts here and there, but I didn't think about coming to this forum! And then finally I remembered and decided to post here.

I truly am very grateful my laptop is still working. I've read many posts and I know I was extremely lucky! I'm extra anxious about my father finding out because my sister had a coffee spill about a month ago...her laptop did not survive. (we probably sound like a very careless family, but I swear we're not! =p) I don't think telling him about another spill would be a good idea... Especially with exam results around the corner, I was to stay in his good books ;)

Anyway thanks for the help and for having the patience to read my long posts! This is honestly one of the most helpful forums I've posted in! The quick and cheerful responces are a welcome change to the frequent bashing I've witnessed in other places :p
 

pigoo3

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Do you think it's worth it to take it to an Apple shop? The one near where I'm staying is very helpful. I'll be back in Pakistan in a few days; the apple representatives there are no where near the same caliber when it comes to hardware issues. So this might be my last chance to get a proper assessment, at the risk of being exposed however :/

If you still have remaining Applecare...and you will be heading to Pakistan shortly...then sure...make an appointment for the Apple Store to look at it.

But...don't take your dad with you!!!;) AND...since you had a spill (not sure how large)...be prepared for the Apple folks to possibly see those indicators showing exposure to liquid...and the Apple folks refusing to service it for free via Applecare.

- Nick
 
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But since this is a sound related thing...it's hard to say...since we cannot hear it.

I managed to record one of the sounds! It's not very loud, it's possible I only heard it because I'm in a very quiet place, but if you don't mind take a listen please. You'll have to use headphone possibly. It's the constant grinding/clicking sort of noise. Any other sounds are background noise.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/tyoexs2krvyfxwq/Audio Recording 11.m4a
 

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