2012 i7 Overheating?

drew.bowser said:

So whenever I am running a load on the CPU (IE - exporting in Lightroom 4 while watching HULU) the machine will come up with the grey screen with an error message that OSX needs to shut down.

I am running upgraded RAM 16gb of Adata RAM. Latest OSX update - 2x 24" Dell Ultrasharp displays.

Any Ideas?

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Use iStat Pro (free) or iStat Menus ($16) to get accurate readings of your temps and fan speeds. The shutdown may or may not be heat related.

I am really interested in a similar Mini setup w/ expanded ram. Please post if you have any results. I would be using it to run similar apps.

Does this still occur when only exporting in lightroom / no background app running? What other apps can recreate this crash?

Put back the Apple RAM and see if the problem goes away.

drew.bowser said:

So whenever I am running a load on the CPU (IE - exporting in Lightroom 4 while watching HULU) the machine will come up with the grey screen with an error message that OSX needs to shut down.

I am running upgraded RAM 16gb of Adata RAM. Latest OSX update - 2x 24" Dell Ultrasharp displays.

Any Ideas?

Click to expand...

GGJstudios said:

Use iStat Pro (free) or iStat Menus ($16) to get accurate readings of your temps and fan speeds. The shutdown may or may not be heat related.

Click to expand...

I did extensive testing of high temp issues with the 2012 i7 quad core.


power users of the cpu can overheat.



I can link you to my testing but a lot of people on this site got very angry about this thread


https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1490510/



I am a long time power user , tester, modder and seller of minis so if you read the thread realize I posted it for power users of the

i7 quad core minis. Ignore some of the snippy remarks traded.





You need to monitor temps GGJstudios has picked the correct 2 softwares to use.

first one is free if you run hot buy the second one for the 16$ and i can show how to set up a better fan control for heat.

also here is a link for a side mount stand.


http://eshop.macsales.com/item/NewerTech/NUSTALYMINI/



the side mount will drop temps 2 - 3 c. notice my mini is stacked on a laptop cooler along with the side mount.

philipma1957 said:

the side mount will drop temps 2 - 3 c. notice my mini is stacked on a laptop cooler along with the side mount.

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philipma, appreciate your comments are experience. So side mount drops temp 2-3 C and what about the laptop fan? Any idea what affect that has for your use?


One member on here mentioned they used the Ikea napkin holder as a side mount holder:



Sure it isn't the nicest looking option, but for $2 it would get the job done.


I would love to have someone CNC a nice aluminum version of this. Just a bit smaller than this.



http://www.instructables.com/id/Apple-Mac-Mini-Cooler-Made-with-Drawer-Slide-CNC/

my laptop cooler is worth 2- 4 c .

depends on my room temp.

I keep my house at 76f or 24.4 c . for the winter and the laptop cooler drops

me 4c.

When my house is warmer (80f in the summer)

the laptop cooler will lower temps 2c.

"also here is a link for a side mount stand.
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/NewerTech/NUSTALYMINI/ "

Have you tried using a "laptop cooling stand" with a single, large fan?

I was considering something like this:
http://tinyurl.com/aovqe73
The fan is about 7" in diameter.

Just take the bottom plate off the Mini, set it onto the cooling stand, plug in USB connector.

I have a Mini arriving on January 7, won't be able to test until then...

Fishrrman said:

"also here is a link for a side mount stand.
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/NewerTech/NUSTALYMINI/ "

Have you tried using a "laptop cooling stand" with a single, large fan?

I was considering something like this:
http://tinyurl.com/aovqe73
The fan is about 7" in diameter.

Just take the bottom plate off the Mini, set it onto the cooling stand, plug in USB connector.

I have a Mini arriving on January 7, won't be able to test until then...

Click to expand...

I used to use the laptop cooler and no black plate. got dusty and only did a 2-4 c drop. the side mount and the laptop cooler and setting the base fan speed at 2300 rpm gave me 13f drop or 10c. looks okay i posted the photo above.

A lot depends on your house temp. cooler the house the better this works.

drew.bowser said:

So whenever I am running a load on the CPU (IE - exporting in Lightroom 4 while watching HULU) the machine will come up with the grey screen with an error message that OSX needs to shut down.

I am running upgraded RAM 16gb of Adata RAM. Latest OSX update - 2x 24" Dell Ultrasharp displays.

Any Ideas?

Click to expand...

I don't think that you've proved the cause of the kernel panic is overheating. It could be something else.
See if you can find the panic logs in the Console utility. They may point towards the cause.

drew.bowser said:

So whenever I am running a load on the CPU (IE - exporting in Lightroom 4 while watching HULU) the machine will come up with the grey screen with an error message that OSX needs to shut down.

I am running upgraded RAM 16gb of Adata RAM. Latest OSX update - 2x 24" Dell Ultrasharp displays.

Any Ideas?

Click to expand...

I think we have pretty much the same setup. I have to admit that no matter what i have thrown at mine I have never had that error? I do have one less screen but have had Photoshop run some pretty long and complex tasks which pegged the CPU at around 96-100% for 15 minutes at a time and it never overheated.
Might be worth having it checked out.

These things do get hot. It's normal, don't worry. Look what I did to mine in order to reduce temps.

Temps dropped, no doubt about that, but in the end I was happier with the fact that my Mini is more silent now. All dressed up it'd get to 100ºC with fans at 5500rpm (max). It was like a Jumbo on fire.

Now it just hits 90ºC more or less at around 3000rpm. Much better.

My point being, these are hot machines. They could've made them so they had a better cooling solution, yes, but this works and won't fail because of overheating unless an isolated problem (as philip with his first quad 2012 mini).

drew.bowser said:

I am wondering this too, the computer is not at my office, but if I put the error message is there anyone that can make any sense of it on these boards?

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I'm sure someone on here will know something about it (probably not me). Have you tried googling it?

blueroom said:

Put back the Apple RAM and see if the problem goes away.

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This is easily the most sensible post in the thread. You have bad ram.

53x12 said:

Have you tried googling it?

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This is an excellent suggestion for any troubleshooting.

Make sure you get the exact text of any error message you see. Copy and paste it, if you can, or take a screen shot), then paste or type the exact text into a Google search. You'll likely find many others who have seen the same error message and found a resolution.

drew.bowser said:

So it is a Kernel Panic - I can post the diagnostic report, but wanted to make sure I wasnt posting anything sensitive - is there any information that should not be made public in the report?

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It's perfectly safe to post a kernel panic report.

If you get a screen that looks like this:
It's called a kernel panic. If it doesn't happen again, or very infrequently, you don't need to worry about it.

In most cases, kernel panics are not caused by an issue with your Mac. They are most likely caused by an issue external to your Mac. If the kernel panic doesn't happen again within a few weeks, you don't need to troubleshoot further.

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If it does happen again, this may help: