The Official "My MacBook/Air/Pro is overheating, what do I do?" Guide.

[parsifal56]

Macbook Air 11.6 overheating: An issue after 5 months

Hi, I bought the MBA in november 2010, but it is only the last week that the heat has been excessive. The usage of the machine have been the same all along, so why all of a sudden does the overheating happen? And do you guys trust the smcFanControl? And the Mackeeper? What should I do, try to turn it on to get a new one? What is the reason for the overheating (all of a sudden)? Thanks!






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MacBook Air 11.6 - 2GB/128GB
iPhone 3GS

 

[TattooedMac]

Hi, I bought the MBA in november 2010, but it is only the last week that the heat has been excessive. The usage of the machine have been the same all along, so why all of a sudden does the overheating happen? And do you guys trust the smcFanControl? And the Mackeeper? What should I do, try to turn it on to get a new one? What is the reason for the overheating (all of a sudden)? Thanks!






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MacBook Air 11.6 - 2GB/128GB
iPhone 3GS

Hi and welcome to the forums.

All of a sudden ?? Have you done a update lately ?? Have you tried to Calibrating your Battery ~ LINK?
Have you zapped PRAM and VRAM ~ LINK??
Need a little more info than just "It has Just Happened".

On smcFanControl if you read my posts on the 1st page i talk about it, but in particular post#7

I agree to the point that if people are maxing out there machine and the temp does rise up and they know it s from the intensive use, i put smcFanControl there for such people.
Yes if they have no idea why there machine is recording such high temps, then NO it not advisable to use until you can identify the underlying problem.

Cheers

Cheers

 

[parsifal56]

Hi! Thanks for reply. Yes; As stated initially in my post; all of a sudden - the last week/few days. And yes; I have participated in the last IOS-update the last week, so maybe that is the reason! Good point... But why would an update cause increase in heating; I would think that an update creates improvements, not the opposite.... Hmmm... So maybe the only thing I can do is wait for next IOS-update and assume that that one will bring temperature at normal usage back to normal?

 

[TattooedMac]

Now im confused, why would you do a IOS update for the MBA ?? If anything the update should be the latest SL Update being SnowLeopard 10.6.7 Combo Update.
If this is what you mean i would dl the combo update from the link i provided and install it again. Restart the MBA and see if it still overheats.
If its not what you meant, please explain further bc im confused as to why you would have the IOS update on your MBA

Cheers

EDIT : Updates do go wrong. I had to do a complete reinstall of my OS bc when i **STUPIDLY** updated while helping work on a project in Motion4, the 10.6.7 update had a Font problem and it caused untold problems for me and certain Word users. I backed up reinstalled using my install DVD and then updated to 10.6.6. Ill wait and see if 10.6.8 has fixed the problem before i update again.

 

[parsifal56]

Hi again! I live in Norway so there is a time difference, it is now 11 a.m. here. Sorry, I am fairly new at this, of course I have NOT done an IOS-update on the Mac, I mistook with with the recent updates last week for both the iPhone AND iTunes. Not the MBA. So - what do you suggest I do? The heating issue is as I mentioned only one week old, with no change in how I use the Mac in the meantime. Thanks.

 

[TattooedMac]

Wont hurt things but dl the combo update in my above post. Instal it then repair Permission via disk utility and then restart the Mac. If it still happens then i would personally take it back to the Geniuses and get them to look at it. Not matter what you are doing on it it should not be heating up only 3 Months old. . . . .

I need to ask what do class as being to hot. What temps is it showing. Remember  have a FailSafe shutdown if it gets too hot. In my world your hot might be cool for me .. . . . . If you know what i mean ??

Cheers

 

[parsifal56]

Hi! Yes, I have downloaded the temp-program, will start using it and gauge, and yes, it may be cold for you, but the weird thing is that it all of a sudden is so much warmer than two weeks ago, and I doubt it is healthy for the parts, it may shorten its lifespan significantly if it lasts... Ok, will try the update tomorrow, late here now, will let you know.
Cheers back!

 

[TattooedMac]

Have you actually read this thread from the 1st page ?? Monitor your Temps but as i said  have a built in FailSafe, to shutdown before anything is damaged. We have some big gamers in the forum and they have always HIGH temps and nothing goes wrong.
I would download iStat Menus .v2. Its free and you can get it HERE.
WARNING ::: Dont update this App as it will then take you to .v3 and you will need to pay for it.
This is a awesome app and sits in the top menu bar and its all there for you to see in drop down menu. I use this all the time and liked it so much actually bought the .v3 . . .
Download this app and get a screen shot like this

so we can have a look at them for you

Cheers

 

[vixyfluff]

There are many laptop stands designed to keep your machine cool - some as low as $15. Just type "laptop platform cooling" in yr search engine & you'll see what I mean. I haven't tried any yet, but am considering it. Anyone who has a recommendation or proviso, let's hear it.

Also with my MacBook Pro I've noticed that when it's plugged into the AC charger it gets much, much hotter than when it's running on battery. Since the ideal way to use a battery (based on info direct from Apple) is to 'exercise' it but not drain it completely, but also not leave plugged in all the time, maybe one tip for keeping it cool is to unplug for periods of time if you tend to leave it plugged in.

Apple offers tips for reducing drain on battery, wonder if some would also impact how hot laptop gets? Things like reduce screen brightness to lowest comfortable level, turn off wireless BlueTooth & Airport when not using (these draw battery power even if you're not doing anything with them), eject disks if not using, tweak your Energy Saving settings, disconnect peripherals you're not using. All this stuff is a good idea anyway so may be worth a try in your quest to cool down.

 

[nearlyworks]

Overheats only with battery in situ

I have a first generation macbook pro 15" that was my wifes but when she got a new one I added a hybrid SSD/7200 momentous hard drive and upgraded the memory to the max of 2gb. I also bought a new battery (3rd party). When I do any intensive stuff like rendering audio or video, the temp of CPU according to istat nano creeps up to over 120c then shuts down. Other temps (battery/GPU/HDD) all stay normal. It can sometimes be avoided with SMC control but that means running the fans at about 6000. It only happens with the battery in and I assumed this was because more was getting to the logic board area but it doesn't happen with the old mac battery in (which only holds 5 minutes of charge). So I assumed it was a battery problem (the battery never feels at all hot to the touch) so I coughed up £100 for a new battery from the mac store- same overheating (happens if mains plugged in or not). So I went to the genius bar to ask if the battery was faulty, they kindly ran all sorts of checks and concluded the battery was fine and the machine was also fine and had no idea why it was happening. They said they couldn't do any more to help as it was a "vintage mac". I can understand the mac is 6 years old but vintage?. Admittedly it can't handle 64 bit OS but it runs ableton and premiere and FCP very well, but I can't use a new battery to do labour intense stuff. All software has latest updates and there are no other crashes and glitches and without the battery it never gets above 65C even video rendering. I understand the mac is a bit dated but surely there is a solution for it..

2gHz core duo
2Gb 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM
Mac OS X 10.6.8 (10K549)
Kernel Darwin 10.8.0

Many thanks

Michael

 

[hellothere100]

2007 Macbook Pro overheating - unfixable?

I have the exact same issues. I think my pro is a 2007. I can't burn dvds, watch videos online, update software, run games, or anything without the cpu burning up to 120 degrees C and shutting down. do you also get those black lines across the screen sometimes? i paid a couple hundred bucks for computer repair guys to tell me it was my 3rd party battery's fault because it ran ok without the battery in. but when i put my old apple battery back in, same thing happened. i bought this pro second hand, when i bought it it was running fine. just over time, the overheating got worse and worse. I have learned to live with having to run high-CPU processes without the battery in.

several people i have spoken to since then have told me it is just hardware faults with these models, cannot be fixed, will only worsen over time. so now i don't know whether to buy a new pro or an air. apparently the new airs don't have these overheating issues. if anyone else has any insight, i would also be keen to hear it.

probably unrelated, but lately i bought a 3rd party charger, and it has completely melted the casing around the charger port on the laptop. (so lesson learnt there the hard way!)

I have a first generation macbook pro 15" that was my wifes but when she got a new one I added a hybrid SSD/7200 momentous hard drive and upgraded the memory to the max of 2gb. I also bought a new battery (3rd party). When I do any intensive stuff like rendering audio or video, the temp of CPU according to istat nano creeps up to over 120c then shuts down. Other temps (battery/GPU/HDD) all stay normal. It can sometimes be avoided with SMC control but that means running the fans at about 6000. It only happens with the battery in and I assumed this was because more was getting to the logic board area but it doesn't happen with the old mac battery in (which only holds 5 minutes of charge). So I assumed it was a battery problem (the battery never feels at all hot to the touch) so I coughed up £100 for a new battery from the mac store- same overheating (happens if mains plugged in or not). So I went to the genius bar to ask if the battery was faulty, they kindly ran all sorts of checks and concluded the battery was fine and the machine was also fine and had no idea why it was happening. They said they couldn't do any more to help as it was a "vintage mac". I can understand the mac is 6 years old but vintage?. Admittedly it can't handle 64 bit OS but it runs ableton and premiere and FCP very well, but I can't use a new battery to do labour intense stuff. All software has latest updates and there are no other crashes and glitches and without the battery it never gets above 65C even video rendering. I understand the mac is a bit dated but surely there is a solution for it..

2gHz core duo
2Gb 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM
Mac OS X 10.6.8 (10K549)
Kernel Darwin 10.8.0

Many thanks

Michael

 

[gonecrawfishin]

To me, "fine" means functional. My computer can barely function when it gets hot (before this automatic shutoff, which has never happened). I certainly can't stream anymore, because it lags too much. I'd try the no battery idea, but my magnetic charger falls out too frequently, which is why my battery has already crapped out once. Fortunately, Apple made it nearly impossible for me to figure out what model battery I needed to replace. Boo Apple.

 

[anonymust]

Gracias

 

[Dre Sage]

There are many laptop stands designed to keep your machine cool - some as low as $15. Just type "laptop platform cooling" in yr search engine & you'll see what I mean. I haven't tried any yet, but am considering it. Anyone who has a recommendation or proviso, let's hear it.

I viewed this thread just to view if anyone has mentioned cooling laptop fans and see if anyone had any experience with them. I would be more interested in using this kind of setup to cool down the MacBook Pro since tinkering with apps seems a lil too dangerous.

 

[donraskopf]

MBP overheating = video card failure

My 2006 MBP showed the dreaded fractal plaid screen this summer after I stupidly left it sleeping in my bag - all the time. I was able to start in single user mode but still showed checkerboard image superimposed on screen and MBP would not recognize airport, speakers or any peripherals - sort of a "Tommy - deaf, dumb and blind kid" mode. Ethernet and printing worked when plugged in. More research led me to extensive posts about cooked GPU/video cards - more accurately solder failure under the card. Tried the heat gun/aluminum foil method of solder reflow repair which worked! Installed smcFC which is both a thermometer and thermostat allowing monitoring and control of temp. In pulling motherboard and fans I noticed an inherent design flaw - the air intake and fan exhaust are grills 1/16" from the cover hinge. Just as covering a car's radiator makes it run hot I believe this restricted air flow is a fundamental design flaw in a a great laptop housed in an aluminum frying pan.
Case was too hot to touch pre fan app, smcFC showed 170 F @ 1100 rpm, 5 minutes at 6000 rpm pulled temp down to 100, 3300 rpm running a slight fever of 112 which is a bearable balance of noise/bare leg comfort.

 

[mr.wilson]

Overheating Macbook Pro

I do not agree with the comment that it is safe as long as the temp auto shut off doesn't kick in. That is like relying on your car's idiot lights to indicate when to top up the oil.

I have a 2007 Macbook Pro that started having overheating problems in 2009. The wifi card was destroyed due to overheating so I took it into a third party Mac repair dealer. They replaced both fans and replaced the wifi card. Overheating continued and ended up burning out the video card. I went through three video cards as it continued to overheat. The auto shut off has never been activated and top temps are around 95˚c. I have also had to replace the charger two times as it too overheats. The battery swelled up and was replaced by Apple after warranty. The hinge and bezel were also replaced recently, as it never did hold the screen in position without slumping down. I eventually gave up and wrote the Macbook Pro off as a lemon.

I still have my 2000 G4 and 2005 G5 and have never had any hardware issues. I purchased a Macbook Air in 2011 and it has been problem-free as well. I recently decided to get the old Macbook Pro fixed one last time to have as a back-up computer. I'm now on my forth replacement video card and this time they replaced the whole board to be safe. I am still running SMC Fan Control @ 6000 rpm, and operating temps creep up to 97˚c. I'm also using a laptop cooler. I'm worried about burning out the video or wifi card again so it looks like I'm taking it back for more expensive repairs. At this point I'm really throwing good money after bad

 

[pigoo3]

Overheating continued and ended up burning out the video card. I went through three video cards as it continued to overheat.

Technically speaking...since the video hardware on Apple laptops is soldered onto the logic board...you're really not going thru video cards. "Video cards" suggests something that can be separately replaced (which is not the case). The logic board is what needs to be replaced when the video hardware goes bad.

As far as your overheating issues. Maybe the one or more sensors is/are bad...thus the computer is not shutting off properly when it gets too hot.

I still have my 2000 G4 and 2005 G5 and have never had any hardware issues.

Not exactly a fair comparison. Comparing two desktops to a laptop...is not an "Apples to Apples" comparison. Laptops almost always have more issues with cooling...and operating at higher temps.

- Nick

 

[mr.wilson]

Not exactly a fair comparison. Comparing two desktops to a laptop...is not an "Apples to Apples" comparison. Laptops almost always have more issues with cooling...and operating at higher temps.

- Nick

Agreed. That's why I included my good experience with the Air in the next sentence.

I just wanted to clarify that I'm still a Mac fan, even though my apple was a lemon

 

[pigoo3]

I just wanted to clarify that I'm still a Mac fan, even though my apple was a lemon

Sounds like you definitely had an individual "lemon" machine. Since as far as I know...the issues you had are not common amongst any individual MacBook model.

Glad to hear the MBA is being good to you!

- Nick

 

[mr.wilson]

I'm willing to accept that it was a one-off bad experience. Since the problems were all heat related, there must be a single source. I'm taking it in for service tomorrow. I'll get them to look at the fan influent/effluent since I have had hinge issues and the plastic between the hinge and keyboard is popped out a bit.

I'm also testing without the battery as it is a replacement and a previous poster suggested this as a possible cause of overheating issues.