Fan runs constantly.... 60 C +

Hi all,

please can someone help me?? I have a 1.83 GHz Intel Core Duo MacBook running 10.4.11 that is literally 11 months old...

Since traveling with it last week for the holidays, I have found that the fan runs constantly... before this, it pretty much never ran. My girlfriends never runs either so i know something is wrong!! I'm worried it was knocked or something. I have got smcFanControl now and found that the fan runs at around 4000 rpm and the temp is 58 minimum but usually around 60+

Can someone tell me what I should do? The keyboard is really really warm around the F2 and F3 keys and above...

PS I am only ever running Firefox and maybe skype... HELP!!

Much appreciated

Mike

60+ isn't super bad but I would check the activity monitor to see if there are any programs running that is using the cpu to a significant degree at idle. I run at around 50-55 at idle.

Done that... about 85-90% of the CPU is idle.

The main thing that I'm worried about is that the keyboard is now really hot and I think that something is making it overheat... Like I said, its because I have never had the fan on before that worries me.

Oh the fan has been on in the past, it's always running even at low temps and idle. I'm running at 1800rpm at 49 degrees right now.

63 degrees and 2400 rpm

iamsmithy said:

63 degrees and 2400 rpm

Click to expand...

If you are really worried take it to a mac store and have them look at it after you booted it up. Shop around, buy something new I'm sure they won't mind looking at it.

Is it covered by applecare?

70 degrees and 6200 rpm....

someone must have an idea as to why for me? Surely two firefox windows shouldn't be doing this!!

When you were traveling it is possible that the temperature sensor connection got loose or something and now your computer thinks it is at 70 degrees so the fans are running at 6200 rpm. As for the keys being warm mine are warm all the time.

are you talking in fahrenheit or celcius?

celcius...

you might be right. had a bit of a google and that is one of the theories although not many people seem to have had the problem... 200 rpm would be fine but 6000 is starting to annoy me noisewise!

i'll take it to a store tomorrow and see what they say and let you know

iamsmithy said:

celcius...

you might be right. had a bit of a google and that is one of the theories although not many people seem to have had the problem... 200 rpm would be fine but 6000 is starting to annoy me noisewise!

i'll take it to a store tomorrow and see what they say and let you know

Click to expand...

One question, if you have the istat pro widget installed what do your other temps look like besides the top CPU temp. My heatsink A and B are just slightly below the CPU temp (about 5c)

You would think each temp monitor would have it's own sensor, this is for the theory that your CPU monitor might be faulty.

No. 6 on the Top Widget list - just getting it....

smcFanControl - 58

right.
CPU A - 59
Heatsink A - 53
Heatsink B - 52
Enclosure Bottom - 36
North 1 - 50
North 2 - 52
HD - 37

all Celcius

fan slowed right down as soon as i installed this... spooky...

i have no idea.

Those numbers compare well to mine in drops from he CPU temp. Keep an eye on the fans for the next little while and report back. You are a bit higher in temp but of course since you are in UAE it might be much hotter where your laptop is sitting compared to me.

And one more question does the font size look fine in the istat pro? One sure sign you can have a widget problem that makes your cpu run wild is the fonts are bigger than they should be and overlap.

Fonts should be this size

my mbp always runs around 50-6- degrees celcius.is that wrong?and the fans are about 2000rpm all the time. is there anything wrong here?

Thanks Gbeav.. mine is identical size wise... inside with A/C it has never been an issue. I think i'll just take it in and see. For the last couple of hours just browsing and the temp has not dropped below 56 ish so the extra 30 degrees worries me
The other thing is the 17 days left of a year warranty!

shadyboi said:

my mbp always runs around 50-6- degrees celcius.is that wrong?and the fans are about 2000rpm all the time. is there anything wrong here?

Click to expand...

That is what it should be.

iamsmithy said:

Thanks Gbeav.. mine is identical size wise... inside with A/C it has never been an issue. I think i'll just take it in and see. For the last couple of hours just browsing and the temp has not dropped below 56 ish so the extra 30 degrees worries me
The other thing is the 17 days left of a year warranty!

Click to expand...

All the temps you have posted from iStat parallel what I have seen in both my MB and MBP for a year.
As have almost all other posts I have seen. There is no extra 30 degrees.
I don't believe the iStat Gbeav has posted above is from a MacBook nor a MBP. Looks to be from a Mac Pro - notice the Drive Bay temp stats.
Yours will look more like this....

Bob I was just posting what the icons should look like, and yes what I posted is way too low but we already discussed what they should be.

Gbeav said:

Bob I was just posting what the icons should look like, and yes what I posted is way too low but we already discussed what they should be.

Click to expand...

Yes I am aware (you're doing a great job), but the OP wasn't, as he/she was questioning in his last post the extra 30 degrees he is seeing on his vs the one you posted merely to show the font size. Am only pointing out to iamsmithy, there is no 30 degree difference. iamsmithy, your temps are in the proper range for a MacBook. And the fans at minimum, will always be in the 2000 rpm neighborhood.

iamsmithy - if you are seeing temps at 70c with nothing running but firefox (you would need to look at activity monitor to verify what all is running, not trusting your eyes that that's all you have open) - and can reproduce this - then I would suggest taking it to the Genius bar and have them look it over. If it is not reproducible, there will be nothing for them to look at.

ok so my macbook should be around 60 degrees C then thats fine...

Its just the fan that is bugging me in that case so maybe a connection is making it kick in too much / early.

I have activity monitor open bob as well as firefox and that it. Literally 5% is being used with then fan going **** for leather! I'll try my local Mac place.

update later - thanks for all the help - keep it coming!

I'm at 61 degrees and 3160 rpm...

Just take it in and let apple check it out. Ask them if they could reseat the heat sinks. With my PC's i would use arctic freeze heat sink paste and use around the size of a grain of rice on the cpu and spread it nice and evenly. Didnt MBP have an issue with too much heat sink paste?