Fans Running High

MJedi · Sep 22, 2011

Just recently my 13-inch MBA Core i5 started to run its fans higher than before, even when the CPU is idle. I recall that it used to hover between 2000 to 2500 RPM. Now it's 6500 RPM and up. It might have been due to the last EFI update. I've already repaired permissions, reset PRAM and SMC. Here is the current reading from iStat Menu. Does anyone have any insight or solutions? Is my MBA running hotter than usual? Can I reinstall the EFI or try reinstalling Lion? Thanks.

GGJstudios · Sep 22, 2011

Reset the SMC.

MJedi · Sep 22, 2011

GGJstudios said:
Reset the SMC.

Thanks, but I already tried that. Should I try it again? I wish there was a way to know if the SMC procedure was successful. There is no visual indicator if the keyboard presses took or not.

GGJstudios · Sep 22, 2011

MJedi said:
Thanks, but I already tried that. Should I try it again? I wish there was a way to know if the SMC procedure was successful. There is no visual indicator if the keyboard presses took or not.

Yes, I'd try it again. As the link I posted states:

After performing normal troubleshooting, these symptoms may indicate that an SMC reset may be necessary:

Fans
The computer's fans run at high speed although the computer is not experiencing heavy usage and is properly ventilated.

Your temps are not high enough to justify that fan speed. Therefore, the SMC reset is appropriate.

Beaverman3001 · Sep 22, 2011

Is spotlight indexing? That always gets my fans going pretty good.

MJedi · Sep 22, 2011

Okay, I've reset the SMC. Let's see what happens over time.

I don't think Spotlight is indexing. When I open Spotlight, there is no progress bar saying the drive is being indexed. Plus, the Activity Monitor shows less than 15% CPU usage, and only because of Firefox.

Thanks everyone.

orfeas0 · Sep 22, 2011

MJedi said:
Okay, I've reset the SMC. Let's see what happens over time.

I don't think Spotlight is indexing. When I open Spotlight, there is no progress bar saying the drive is being indexed. Plus, the Activity Monitor shows less than 15% CPU usage, and only because of Firefox.

Thanks everyone.

Even if it's indexing, your temperatures are quite low for such a high RPM.
You should try SMCfan control (or just fan control). They're apps that let you choose your minimum-maximum fan speed and other things. Try reducing the minimum and average fan speed and tell us what happens.

MJedi · Sep 23, 2011

Well even after an SMC reset, over time the fans came revving back up. Same low CPU usage and temps. I don't think controlling the fan with software is the fix, rather only a temporary workaround. I suspect it was the EFI update that broke it. And it seems to only happen when the MBA is woken up from sleep. I wish I could go back to the previous EFI.

Thomas Davie · Sep 23, 2011

Mjedi; I had exactly the same problem as you. Fans were going nuts for no reason (nothing sucking up the cpu a all), so I copied 'Extended Fan Control' from my 2009 MBP17 to my 2011 MBA13, set the program, and now my web surfing with wifi and bluetooth on I'm getting fan speeds of 1992-2000 and temperatures of 43 and 44C(111F) on the cpu cores (i7).

The program lets you set the trigger temperature (at which the fans activate), the rate of fan speed increase (you can set up a shallow or steep fan speed increase as a function of temperature), and the minimum fan speed. I've got mine set to 2000 and that's what they are. But you can set them as high as 6000.

I know you don't want to use a software fix, but there it is. Until they acknowledge and fix and EFI issue that is.

Tom

MJedi · Sep 25, 2011

Thomas Davie said:
Mjedi; I had exactly the same problem as you. Fans were going nuts for no reason (nothing sucking up the cpu a all), so I copied 'Extended Fan Control' from my 2009 MBP17 to my 2011 MBA13, set the program, and now my web surfing with wifi and bluetooth on I'm getting fan speeds of 1992-2000 and temperatures of 43 and 44C(111F) on the cpu cores (i7).

The program lets you set the trigger temperature (at which the fans activate), the rate of fan speed increase (you can set up a shallow or steep fan speed increase as a function of temperature), and the minimum fan speed. I've got mine set to 2000 and that's what they are. But you can set them as high as 6000.

I know you don't want to use a software fix, but there it is. Until they acknowledge and fix and EFI issue that is.

Tom

I've used Fan Control on my old MacBook Pro so I know how it works. What are your settings for Slowest Speed, Lower Temp Threshold and Upper Temp Threshold? I'm experimenting with those settings right now, and I can't get the fans to go as low as how it is after a reboot.

I just hope Apple acknowledges the issue in the first place.

MJedi · Oct 3, 2011

Just wanted to add a weird workaround that I discovered over the last few days.

If I wake up my MBA while it's not plugged to power, and then plug it in after it wakes up, the temperature and fan stays normal.

I already submitted feedback with Apple, but I hope more people submit this problem so they will actually fix it.

Shapethelola · Oct 3, 2011

MJedi said:
Just wanted to add a weird workaround that I discovered over the last few days.

If I wake up my MBA while it's not plugged to power, and then plug it in after it wakes up, the temperature and fan stays normal.

I already submitted feedback with Apple, but I hope more people submit this problem so they will actually fix it.

Have you checked it with another user already? If you don't have one, just create one and check it out

bp1000 · Oct 3, 2011

I've just had the fans go nuts but also a lot of heat too.

However, nothing in the activity monitor was sucking any cpu. It was around 0.5% - 4% average.

Even after closing all problems nothing stopped the heat / fans... until i rebooted.

alecgold · Oct 3, 2011

bp1000 said:
I've just had the fans go nuts but also a lot of heat too.

However, nothing in the activity monitor was sucking any cpu. It was around 0.5% - 4% average.

Even after closing all problems nothing stopped the heat / fans... until i rebooted.

Had the same today as well. odd.

OP, beter not to try to go back one EFI, IIRC it won't install and if you mess it up, it might go FUBAR. I once had an EFI going wrong and it took a new logic board to get that thing working again. Luckily it was within a year, so Apple paid it, but ever since I'm reaaaaaly scared of EFI updates. (having an Apple Tunderbolt Display made it necessary more or less).

MJedi · Oct 4, 2011

Creating and using another user didn't resolve the issue.

As for the EFI, I did attempt to reinstall the latest one but it did not want to be installed because I already had the latest version. Hey, if it broke my motherboard, then maybe I could've gotten the old EFI on the replacement and then ignore that update. Oh well.

So there are 2 workarounds: either reboot, or wake up the Mac while unplugged then plug it back in.

Never had a problem with the EFI before, so I'm a bit bummed.

JJHello · Oct 5, 2011

Macbook Air '11 13inch i5.
Same problem here. When I wake up from sleep, fans go crazy, even when CPU is idle.

I think it might be because after the update.

Only solution--reboot. Which is annoying..

MJedi · Oct 27, 2011

Apple just released an EFI update. Has anyone installed it and noticed if it fixed the issue I describe in this thread? I am wary to install it after the last update caused this problem.

Astrofox · Nov 1, 2011

Weird, I'm suddenly having a problem similar to this after the EFI update.

1% cpu/idle, no programs open- but CPU temp is hovering around 72% with fans on at 3500rpm, this have never happened before... its usually dead quiet at idle, under 2000rpm.

Thing is, my case feels warm too. So the cpu seems to be a lot hotter than normal even though its not being used.

Unseated thermal paste?

Astrofox · Nov 1, 2011

Ok, reboot fixed it.

This looks like a bug so:

Recently upgraded to the new EFI.

I had been using the computer on battery all day, it was opened and closed a few times- no problems at that point.

As mentioned above it seemed to start heating up only after I brought it home and plugged it in. And the cpu was hot, not just reporting as hot or fans on for no reason.

Oh and I use the desktop monitor app to get my stats.

nebrot · Nov 1, 2011

Astrofox said:
Ok, reboot fixed it.

This looks like a bug so:

Recently upgraded to the new EFI.

I had been using the computer on battery all day, it was opened and closed a few times- no problems at that point.

As mentioned above it seemed to start heating up only after I brought it home and plugged it in. And the cpu was hot, not just reporting as hot or fans on for no reason.

Oh and I use the desktop monitor app to get my stats.

I was a little disappointed about the fan noise of my i7, but after EFI 2.2 it got definately much better. Before, when videoskyping the fans kicked in to about 6000 rpm after 5 min. with no other apps running. It was so annoying that i used a PC instead for skype. After the EFI installed the fans now only run to 3000 rpm, which is a good improvement to me. The Air is great and is getting better and better, Apple is and will be working on bugs and I'm confident they will sort out the most annoying ones to ensure customer satisfaction.

MJedi · Nov 2, 2011

Astrofox said:
Ok, reboot fixed it.

This looks like a bug so:

Recently upgraded to the new EFI.

I had been using the computer on battery all day, it was opened and closed a few times- no problems at that point.

As mentioned above it seemed to start heating up only after I brought it home and plugged it in. And the cpu was hot, not just reporting as hot or fans on for no reason.

Oh and I use the desktop monitor app to get my stats.

So you updated to the latest EFI, and it's still exhibiting the same issue I described?

joshaarons · Nov 2, 2011

with the unit plugged in and off, hold down the power button until you see the sleep light rapidly flash. then let go of the button. This will force a power manager reset and re-load the EFI boot loader. If it still persists, since it's new take it to apple. Sometimes for reasons you can't see the fans do need to come on high

MJedi · Nov 2, 2011

joshaarons said:
with the unit plugged in and off, hold down the power button until you see the sleep light rapidly flash. then let go of the button. This will force a power manager reset and re-load the EFI boot loader. If it still persists, since it's new take it to apple. Sometimes for reasons you can't see the fans do need to come on high

Isn't this referring to the installation procedure for new firmware?

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1557

Besides, this does not seem to apply to the new MacBook Airs, as the article above does not mention them. And since the MBA does not have a sleep light, how will we know when to let go of the power button?

MJedi · Nov 21, 2011

So I installed EFI 2.2, and the problem still exists. I am so disappointed in Apple's lack of support for this issue right now. I'm going to submit feedback again. I suggest everyone else who is having this problem do the same.

http://www.apple.com/feedback/macbookair.html

kaskone · May 30, 2013

hi there

i am having same issue as you had on mbp early 2011

all software is updated (10.7.5)
Model Name: MacBook Pro
Model Identifier: MacBookPro8,2
Processor Name: Intel Core i7
Processor Speed: 2.2 GHz
Number of Processors: 1
Total Number of Cores: 4
L2 Cache (per Core): 256 KB
L3 Cache: 6 MB
Memory: 8 GB
Boot ROM Version: MBP81.0047.B27
SMC Version (system): 1.69f4

but only right cooler is on 6900 rpm (left one 2000 rpms)

you have any tips to give?
=> i cleaned coolers from inside => but didnt help much

Fans Running High

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