Overheating?

Early last year, while lifting my Macbook Pro to take to another room, I had to put it down smartly, as it burnt my fingers. I couldn't switch it off so, as I had this problem before, I went to remove the battery. It was so hot it had curled up at the edges, and I could see the elements underneath. After a lot of fuss, I did get the battery replaced for free. However, since then, the i-sight has packed up, it continually shuts me out, black lines come across the screen and the screen goes completely black. Has anyone else had this problem? If so, any idea what the solution might be? Although the book is under three years old, Apple do not accept that it is their problem and unfortunately I did not take out extended warranty. I have bought a notebook cooler pad.

You might think about running SMCFanControl on your MBP and keep a close eye on the temperatures. Link You can also set SMCFanControl to ramp up the fan speed to provide additional cooling.

Regards.

Some MacBook Pro models had a factory mistake where excessive thermal paste was applied to the major heat generating chips on the systemboard. The pictures are absolutely astounding - thermal compound should be applied sparingly in a razor-thin coating, whereas these machines had a glob the size of a nickel.

If this is the case with your machine, it can dramatically increase temperatures. The procedure to correct is fairly simple, but it does take some know-how.

Another thought it is that a lot of people aren't aware how much CPU usage some of their programs use. If you're running any games or heavy hitter applications while the unit is on your lap, you can certainly expect much higher than normal temps (exagerated by the aluminum casing, which is a very good conductor). So, try to limit the heavy-hitter apps to times where you can keep the machine on a perfectly flat, smooth surface, where air can circulate beneath the machine.

Thank you both for replies to help solve my problem. I am too old to ever use my lap top to play games and it has always been used on a flat wooden surface! However, there has been a vast improvement since purchasing my fan cooler pad last week, and switching it off whenever I leave it . I was interested in finding a way to check if I have this big glob of stuff spread on my works, as my son bought the same machine, around the same time, but has had not trouble with his battery or overheating (and he uses it a lot more than I do!) but how do I do that?