Feel my MacBook is running warmer than normal..

Basq

Over the last few days, I've been concerned my MacBook is running warmer than usual. Starts to feel warm after maybe 10 - 15 minutes of use (definitely not normal).

It's just over a year old and it may just be my imagination and all that would 40 to 50 degrees be the norm for a heatsink and CPU?

Definitely feels warmer sitting on my lap.

babypink

stupid question, but when was the last time it was restarted?

I'm just thinking that there might be a stuck process running, hogging one of the cores and causing this. Does activity monitor show anything? Or if you want to do it old skool.....in terminal, type: top -u

Basq

babypink wrote: »

stupid question, but when was the last time it was restarted?

I'd never leave it in sleep mode for longer than maybe 4 hours. Otherwise, it's shut down or restarted.

babypink wrote: »

I'm just thinking that there might be a stuck process running, hogging one of the cores and causing this. Does activity monitor show anything? Or if you want to do it old skool.....in terminal, type: top -u

Nothing odd to report. Firefox is using about 10% of my CPU but it's always a memory hog. Wouldn't blame that.

babypink

strange.........is it a gen 1 macbook? If you remember they did have an issue with mis-applied thermal paste on the motherboard causing heat issues on certain batches.....this has been solved by opening it up and re-applying the thermal paste.

I'm stumped at the minute....strange that it suddenly decided to get hotter, if yours was a bad-paste machine it would have exhibited symptoms from day one. Consider me confussed.

Basq

Not the Gen 1 Macbook.

It's only a recent problem though.. maybe since the weekend but it's sitting on my lap here and I'm definitely noticing it.

Fecking Apple and their shíte warranties.. they'd probably laugh at me if I did phone them!

WUSBDesign

It could very well be subjective...Stick in Temperature Monitor and plot out a history.

MDTyKe

Forget that

The best app is a little thing called smcFanControl, google it. It monitors your temperature in the menubar at the top, but you can also adjust the fan accordingly. Expect around 40-50C idle temperature on normal browsing, maybe Skype, Adium and iTunes. If you've VMWare open expect around 65C.

If a program craps out, it runs up to 70-80C and then its time to open Activity Monitor! But since it monitors nicely up there, it helps me know if a program has crashed or anything (I use a lot of betas).


GL!


Matt

Basq

WUSBDesign: Cheers for that. Installed it alright but have a nice little dashboard widget called iStatPro to monitor fan / HDD / network etc.

MDTyKe: Used to have smcFanControl but:

a) wasn't a big fan of changing the fan's default speed manually
b) i would imagine a serious degradation in battery life

I had it on for about 8 - 10 minutes this morning on my lap and it started at 30 degrees, and was up to early 40s when I shut it down. The actual temperature is one thing but what I'm really noticing it how warm it's getting on my lap.

muggyog

You will be delighted to know that the nickname for the MacBook is 'The Oven'!

For the fan oven option goto:

http://81.169.182.62/~eidac/software/page5/page5.html
http://www.lobotomo.com/products/FanControl/index.html

Bon Appetit!

Basq

Cheers muggyog.. but not a big fan of changing the fan speed as I know there's a problem as it wasn't getting nearly this warm so fast since recently - I'd rather discover and attempt to fix the cause of the problem.

luckat

Back up. Now. And ring Apple for advice.

WUSBDesign

Absolutely spot on in avoiding fan control utilities since the underlying cause of the seemingly extra heat is unknown.

Basq

Will ring Apple at lunch so!

Just after checking my order status.. bought it on May 17th last year, and I do take impeccable care of it. Not happy really.

heggie

they can extend a warranty if you need a repair, just say the problem has happened before the warranty ran out, i presume it has?

Basq

Well.. I first noticed it last Saturday (which would be exactly a year since purchase).

Sad Professor

Well my old ibook regularly runs at about 40 degrees and above and Macbooks are supposed to run a lot hotter. So it sounds about normal to me. There might just be a few extra background processes that were added recently. Are the fans kicking in?

But if you do ring Apple don't mention anything about using it on your lap or they'll tell you that's the problem.

SP

muggyog

I know their called laptops but I always use a table/desk. I have a thing about the 'family jewels' being set alight!.

Happens to MacBooks too!

And THATS why you don throw used batteries in the fire children!

Basq

The battery ain't warm.. it's the processor overworking i'd say.

Sad Professor

You could try creating and logging in with a new user account as a test. Use it for a while and see if it gets as hot.

SP

Basq

Good point Sad Professor.

Will give it a shot this evening and let you know the results.

muggyog

My point about the battery is just to be aware of laptop danger (usually while charging). The suggestions concerning the extra process checking like a new user account or use of the activity monitor are good ideas. I believe there are two fans in this Mac, maybe one has gone faulty? Maybe the vents are blocked? There is an obvious problem with the MacBook model because there is a market for this.

Also note the temperature chart at the bottom of the page without the fan, 48 degrees centigrade after an hour.

luckat

So did you call Apple? Do it fast if you're going to do it, because they may have a set period of days of grace...

Basq

Will phone them at lunch as I had another emergency yesterday!

Tried setting up a new user.. no real luck.

Used Onyx which complained my hard drive needed a repair.. which I did. I thought that may have been it (as the read / write heads may have been going mad trying to read / write on a patchy disk, hence the heat) but hasn't improved that much.

Went from mid - late 30's up to 70 from simple web browser over about 45 minutes yesterday.

srdb20

Have you tried giving it a blast with a can of compressed air along the vents etc.... (Possibly dust build up)

Just a thought!