MacBook Pro heating and freezing

MacBook Pro 15,1 (late 2008) 2.4 Ghz, 4 GB, 250 HDD, Lion 10.7.5
My machine has started some unruly behavior. It started to periodically freeze, mouse control becomes erratic (selects and drags everything it touches, left button does not work, etc), and it seems to be heating up without any real load on the CPU. After reading several posts and using a utility to check my hard drive, I thought the problem was my HDD so I have one on order. I am beginning to think the problem is heat related. Either dust in fan, fan not working, ??? When the computer first starts up after being shut down, it works fine. It doesn't take too long to heat up and freeze. My hard drive use is about 150 used, 100 free and activity monitor indicates I am using less than 1/2 of my RAM. I recently cleared my system caches which resulted in no changes. Any insights would be appreciated.

BigDWeav said:

I am beginning to think the problem is heat related. Either dust in fan, fan not working, ???

Any insights would be appreciated.

Click to expand...

These are two great places to look into. Fan may not be working (or working properly)...or the computer may be dirty inside.

You can check your fan rpms without having to open up the computer using a free program called "iStat Pro":

Apple - Downloads - Dashboard Widgets - iStat Pro

But to check on dirt/fuzz buildup...you've got to open the computer up to see things visually.

- Nick

Nick,

I started to open up the case but don't have the right size Phillips head. Will have to wait for the right one, also on order. I'll download the utility and check out the fans. So heat can cause the symptoms I am describing?

Thanks for the utility link.

BigDWeav said:

Nick,I started to open up the case but don't have the right size Phillips head. Will have to wait for the right one, also on order. I'll download the utility and check out the fans. So heat can cause the symptoms I am describing?

Click to expand...

Definitely get the proper screwdriver. You don't want to tear up those small screws. If they get messed up...they are then very hard to remove.

If excessive heat is the issue...it can cause many "weird" things.

You could also try doing an SMC reset:

Intel-based Macs: Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC)

- Nick

Nick, iStat Pro must no longer be freeware. The links on macupdate, and the widget store, and the developer website return a not authorized message or do not load. Any other utility you know of that will give a look at the fans. Could this be a browser issue? I am using Safari 6.0.5

Len

BigDWeav said:

Nick, iStat Pro must no longer be freeware. The links on macupdate, and the widget store, and the developer website return a not authorized message or do not load. Any other utility you know of that will give a look at the fans. Could this be a browser issue? I am using Safari 6.0.5

Len

Click to expand...

It's still free. I just tried things...and there's probably just a problem with the servers from the original developers website where the download file resides.

Just got to wait until things are fixed.

- Nick

Downloaded a copy of istat pro from mac.majorgeeks.com. Fans are both running at about 2000 rpm seems normal. CPU is heating up to 71 deg C, which seems a little high for very little load, just the browser, mail, and idle garmin app. Apple support tech specs say normal Operating temperature: 50° to 95° F (10° to 35° C). Looks like my fan may be clogged?

BigDWeav said:

Apple support tech specs say normal Operating temperature: 50° to 95° F (10° to 35° C).

Click to expand...

These temps refer to environmental temps...not computer temps.

Fan rpms at 2000 is pretty normal. 71°C is pretty ok as well (I've seen lower & I've seen higher).

BigDWeav said:

Looks like my fan may be clogged?

Click to expand...

I'm not sure if this is a "rhetorical" question. But as I mentioned earlier...the only way to know is to open up the computer and look.

- Nick

I have replaced my HDD and the issues are still nagging my computer. I thought overheating might be causing some problems but after downloading iStat Pro and monitoring my temp, the CPU stays at or below 71C. I thought the issues could be caused by low memory but the last time the system became unresponsive, I had 2GB of free memory. I'm running out of troubleshooting options. I did the SMU reset but the mouse is still freezing. When I installed the new HDD, I used Time Machine to restore the system. If the issue is software related, then I would have copied the bad files onto my new HDD.

Any other troubleshooting suggestions I could try.