Constant fan

Okay, I've had my 2.16 GHz C2D Macbook pro for a year now. This summer, the fan started to run constantly during low intensity usage (internet browsing, music, etc.). It stayed like that for a week, and then it was gone. Then the constant fan came back a few months ago, stayed for longer, and left.

Now, after upgrading to Leopard it's back in full force. The fan goes up to full speed immediately after booting. At the moment, I'm simply writing a forum post and my fan (the jet-frickn' engine!) is blasting at 6000 rpm, while the temp is only 45 degrees C. I've installed Fan Control, smcFanControl, and the like... there's nothing out there that lets you actually lower the speed of your fans.

I mean, this is just ridiculous! It's competing with the construction going on outside my window... it's embarrassing to bring out to class! The fan just continuously runs at 6000 rpm, always! If I leave it on at night, the fan is still going full force in the morning, regardless of cpu usage. I've checked the activity monitor; there's nothing hogging cpu power. I've tried resetting the PRAM. No help there. I've even tried cracking open the case and cleaning out the fans, a high risk procedure... and no improvement.

Help please! If there is anyone else who's had the same problem (and I know you're out there) and has managed to get this fixed, please post here!!!

Thanks a lot!

Sounds like one of those cases where excessive thermal compound was applied. I would give Apple a call...

dkrelina, i am experiencing the same issue but with my macbook. did you ever give apple a call about the thermal compound? let me know if you were able to fix this issue. thanks a lot.

I have the same issue here after replacing a harddrive in my macbook pro. I hear the mac fan rev up right on startup before the OS gui is even fully up. Below I've pasted some istat info. Not sure what to do?

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/86998/Screen%20shot%202010-01-09%20at%2010.41.42%20AM.png

Also if it matters, the new drive is Western Digital Scorpio Black WD2500BEKT 250GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache 2.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s Internal Notebook Hard Drive

sucks because other than the fan speed now at 6k each, the drive is really fast.

Any ideas what could have gone wrong? I did just let the computer sit for a long time powered off (about an hour) and when I rebooted the fans didn't actually kick on 'right away' as they typically did even during the gray boot up screen.

I restarted the mac with command-V and nothing jumped out at me in the console dumped to the screen.

I'm a bit stumped since others with macbook pros seemed to install this drive without issues. (I've had no fan issues with the older drive that was going bad.)

My mbp:

Model Name: MacBook Pro
Model Identifier: MacBookPro2,1
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.33 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 4 MB
Memory: 3 GB
Bus Speed: 667 MHz
Boot ROM Version: MBP21.00A5.B08
SMC Version (system): 1.14f5
Serial Number (system): W8701215W0J
Hardware UUID: 00000000-0000-1000-8000-0017F2C6AA01
Sudden Motion Sensor:
State: Enabled

The HD:

WDC WD2500BEKT-00A25T0:

Capacity: 250.06 GB (250,059,350,016 bytes)
Model: WDC WD2500BEKT-00A25T0
Revision: 01.01A01
Serial Number: WD-WX30AA932622
Native Command Queuing: Yes
Queue Depth: 32
Removable Media: No
Detachable Drive: No
BSD Name: disk0
Rotational Rate: 7200
Partition Map Type: GPT (GUID Partition Table)
S.M.A.R.T. status: Verified
Volumes:
MacHD:
Capacity: 249.72 GB (249,715,376,128 bytes)
Available: 240.25 GB (240,248,717,312 bytes)
Writable: Yes
File System: Journaled HFS+
BSD Name: disk0s2
Mount Point: /

Try resetting the System Management Controller which takes care of thermal management: LINK

If that doesn't work, go back over the removal and replacement of the hard drive. You may have accidentally touched or knocked loose the connection which monitors the heat surrounding the hard drive and CPU. Folks who have had the same problem as you after replacing a hard drive have reported that as a reason for the fans going full blast.

Let us know.

Regards.

chscag said:

Try resetting the System Management Controller which takes care of thermal management: LINK

If that doesn't work, go back over the removal and replacement of the hard drive. You may have accidentally touched or knocked loose the connection which monitors the heat surrounding the hard drive and CPU. Folks who have had the same problem as you after replacing a hard drive have reported that as a reason for the fans going full blast.

Let us know.

Regards.

Click to expand...

Tried the smc reset a TON of times. It never fixed anything.

With a friend, we removed the drive and put it back in place and looked around for anything 'odd.'

Here was the interesting thing, when I ran off a superduper backup (not even using the HD), the fans still ran super high.

We think now what happened was when we had the computer apart and I sprayed some air to clean things that I somehow messed up the temp sensors and maybe they are now really borked. I sprayed more air now into the back vents and more dust came out and it seems to start out much better - it will start out and seem to remain a nice 2k rpm - and remain 'nice' when starting out cold and not doing anything...

However, the problem is once a few apps are open and the cpu temp raises some, the fans start really climbing and the big issue is that even when I close the apps and the cpu temp drops back down - the fans still remain spinning at way too high a speed (often at max) and will remain that way. Even when nothing running (activity monitor showing nothing really hitting the cpu) the fans never drop back down to 2K rpm, they'll remain at at least 5k with the cpu idle - so something is definitely wrong.

I'm guessing the next step is to take it to someone that can look at the sensors and the heat sinks. Possibly, taking it apart and spraying around did enough to mess things up. That's what through me off with all this is that the fans were behaving fine BEFORE I changed out the HD - it looks like now the issue is really unrelated to the HD.

To continue the saga in case others search and come to this forum post...

Took the mpp to a shop that deals with only Mac repairs (the mbp is about 3.5 years old.. not under AppleCare), and it turns out (according to them) that a temperature sensor near the harddrive (on a cable that's connected to the logic board) is bad. They said that unfortunately they can't get a replacement for just that sensor and that it would take a new logicboard if I wanted it fixed. They suggest I just use it with the high fan speed, since obviously a logicboard isn't cheap.

My question now is, assuming I can put up with the loud noise of my fans running at full blast non stop, will the fans just burn out on me or are they pretty durable? They're the original fans as it is, so I can't imagine the life left in them running at 6k rpm on a laptop that is used for work and home.

Also, I don't have a reason to doubt the repair guys (they were very nice and aren't charging me even a fee to investigate the problem), but does that make sense that there is no way to get a hold of a new sensor for the on that is messed up?

It also seems odd/ironic that I hadn't noticed this issue until I replaced the HD, so I'm guessing maybe somehow during that repair I broke the sensor?

That's what I suspected when I wrote you my last reply. Probably not something you did but definitely related to the heat sensor connection.

As for the fans going at full RPM, it won't take long before they fail especially since your machine is already 3.5 years old.

What I suggest is try to locate a repair depot for Macs where they will repair rather than replace your logic board. Much less expensive that way. Hold on for a minute or so while I look in my latest MacWorld Mag. I saw an advertisement for such a repair place if I'm remembering correctly..............

Here we go. It was at the back of the Mag. Name of the company is

"MicroReplay" MicroReplay 1-800-960-1140

Give em a call and see what they say. Good luck and let us know.

Regards.

chscag said:

That's what I suspected when I wrote you my last reply. Probably not some
"MicroReplay" MicroReplay 1-800-960-1140

Give em a call and see what they say. Good luck and let us know.

Regards.

Click to expand...

Thanks!

However looking at the prices MacBook Pro 17-inch : MicroReplay I'm not sure I even want to put in 500 bucks to have it repaired when I can put that 500 into a new machine. I do software development for a living and my machine is now starting to show it's age - even in the ram department max it can support is 3GB. I'll still call them though to explain the problem to them and since I know exactly what the issue is possibly the price might be cheaper.

I checked my activity monitor just recently because my computer was:

a. running hotter than normal and
b. constantly noisy because the fan was ALWAYS running.

I saw that this random program, called "Adobe resources synchronizer" was taking up like 85% of my CPU usage. I clicked on 'quit process' and the fan started to slow down and the temp isn't as bad now.

I'm wondering, however, what's going to happen when my computer sleeps or is shut down. Is this adobe program going to just randomly kick in again and start taking up 90% of my comp. again? I'll be looking into this for sure.