Macbook fan/temp going crazy

Hey everybody. Long time reader, first time poster.
I have been checking forum after forum, but can't really seem to find an answer to my problem.
Basically my Macbook (2GHz, 2GB Ram, Mid 2006) running Leopard, seems to be operating at really high temperatures, and the fan seems to always be running super high, even when I'm barely doing anything.
This always happens when I plug in my firewire based Firewave (external sound card).
I am running it off AC power, and am using a USB wired might mouse.
The pictures were taken roughly 20 minutes after turning the computer on, after only using Word, Firefox, Messenger.
Please note the CPU and heatsink temperatures. Are those normal? Should the fan be running that high while doing such little work?

Flickr Photo Download: Picture 1
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Open up Activity Monitor - can be found in Applications / Utilities - check to see what is cranking up the processor - just had Firefox ramp mine up this morning (it did an update last night) - quit the offending program.

bobtomay said:

Open up Activity Monitor - can be found in Applications / Utilities - check to see what is cranking up the processor - just had Firefox ramp mine up this morning (it did an update last night) - quit the offending program.

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Did that, and there is no offending program...

Flickr Photo Download: Picture 4

It could be a few things. Are you viewing any pages with extensive Flash content? When was the last time (if ever) you cleared out the dust from the fans? If the fans get clogged up, they will blow harder and air won't be properly ventilated.

vansmith said:

It could be a few things. Are you viewing any pages with extensive Flash content? When was the last time (if ever) you cleared out the dust from the fans? If the fans get clogged up, they will blow harder and air won't be properly ventilated.

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Hey. The only sites I had open were Facebook, Hotmail, Kijiji, and the forum. None of those are flash intensive, as far as I know...
I have never cleared out the dust. I have upgraded the HD and the Ram myself, but that's about as far as my technical knowledge goes. You wouldn't happen to have a link showing how to do that, would you?
It could very well be the dust problem, as our place does get very dusty...

oilersrock99 said:

Hey. The only sites I had open were Facebook, Hotmail, Kijiji, and the forum. None of those are flash intensive, as far as I know...
I have never cleared out the dust. I have upgraded the HD and the Ram myself, but that's about as far as my technical knowledge goes. You wouldn't happen to have a link showing how to do that, would you?
It could very well be the dust problem, as our place does get very dusty...

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Get some compressed air and, gently to begin with, blow some air into the air vents. If you see a lot of dust come out, continue to blow in spurts to get all the dust out. Don't worry too much about any dust that goes into the laptop as it will be blown out over time. That said, don't blown directly in, blow at an angle.

You should be able to get some compressed air pretty cheap from a local computer store. I just did this for a roommate's HP laptop whose fans was blowing like crazy at the login screen. After doing it, the laptop is as silent as it was the day he got it.

I wonder... there's really no space (at least on my MacBook) where one could blow canned air into vents since there are no vents to speak of. The single fan which blows air across the CPU thermal assembly exhausts mostly by convection up through the keyboard and down around the left side.

I would imagine to clean dust from my MacBook that I would have to do some disassembly. Can anyone chime in and offer their experience with the procedure?

Like Van stated about the HP, my Toshiba notebook has vents on both sides which I can blow canned air into and clean out dust, but my MacBook is a horse of a different color!

Regards.

I bought some compressed air and blew that into the vents. I did see some dust come out, so hopefully that'll do the trick. I'll blow some more air in their a little later this afternoon too. Hopefully in a couple of days I'll see some changes.

Thanks for the help guys, I"ll let you know how it goes...

chscag said:

I wonder... there's really no space (at least on my MacBook) where one could blow canned air into vents since there are no vents to speak of. The single fan which blows air across the CPU thermal assembly exhausts mostly by convection up through the keyboard and down around the left side.

I would imagine to clean dust from my MacBook that I would have to do some disassembly. Can anyone chime in and offer their experience with the procedure?

Like Van stated about the HP, my Toshiba notebook has vents on both sides which I can blow canned air into and clean out dust, but my MacBook is a horse of a different color!

Regards.

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I can! . I blow some in the back, right about where the words "MacBook" are. I don't need to do it frequently but it helps to keep things clean.

oilersrock99 said:

I bought some compressed air and blew that into the vents. I did see some dust come out, so hopefully that'll do the trick. I'll blow some more air in their a little later this afternoon too. Hopefully in a couple of days I'll see some changes.

Thanks for the help guys, I"ll let you know how it goes...

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I forgot to mention that you should do it when the computer is off (sorry about that). You also don't have to wait - once you're done doing it, you should be good to go.

vansmith said:

I can! . I blow some in the back, right about where the words "MacBook" are. I don't need to do it frequently but it helps to keep things clean.

I forgot to mention that you should do it when the computer is off (sorry about that). You also don't have to wait - once you're done doing it, you should be good to go.

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Hmmm...It seemed like it was going good for a while there, but then the fan started going all out again. It doesn't seem like the fan should be going so hard when the cpu is 70% idle does it? The only windows I had open in firefox were facebook, this forum, hotmail, and kijiji again...

Any thoughts?

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If the CPU is over about 20-25% the temp is rising and yes, the fans are going to increase in speed.

If you're watching videos, you're also ramping up the graphics card which will start the fans to spinning.

And where do you have your MB sitting? On your lap, the bed, carpet? If so, you're blocking the venting out the back side of it at the hinge and this will increase temps and cause the fans to kick in.

bobtomay said:

If the CPU is over about 20-25% the temp is rising and yes, the fans are going to increase in speed.

If you're watching videos, you're also ramping up the graphics card which will start the fans to spinning.

And where do you have your MB sitting? On your lap, the bed, carpet? If so, you're blocking the venting out the back side of it at the hinge and this will increase temps and cause the fans to kick in.

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It normally sits on an iXoft gel pad thing on my coffee table. I don't think that blocks the vents. It has been better than normal the past few days, so I think it may have been mostly dust issues. I'll give it a puff every couple of days for the next week or so and see how it goes. It's definitely gotten a lot better, so thanks for you help

Also, on a side note, I just bought a 15inch Pro last night. It was the demo at Futureshop, and the last of their "old" 15inchers. I got a pretty decent deal on it, so I'm pretty happy