13 macbookpro- bootcamp HOT

[Edge 540]

What could possibly make a macbook pro overheat before it is even booted?

I have bootcamp installed so I can run solidworks and a few misc programs in XP. The machine always runs a bit toasty for my liking under windows so I use smc fan control to crank the fan and then reboot into XP pro. This works great as long as I dont need to sleep the computer and re-open later. In this situation the fans dont resume the higher speed I specified and I get temps in the 70-80C range.

Thats not really the problem though. Today I started the machine (from a complete shutdown) and held option to bring up the bootcamp chooser. Meanwhile I was distracted with something at work so the computer sat like this for 15 minutes. No OS had booted, just the gray chooser screen. When I came back the fans were running full blast! The overheat protection had come on. I quickly booted into snowleopard and the temps were in the high 80-low 90's. After a minute it was back to normal 50's but I'm puzzled. All software is up to date.

Nothing was even running?!? How is this possible? Nothing should have been straining the system.

Any insight is welcome.

 

[nwbusa]

Poor ventilation? Where was the laptop at the time? And low 90's is not overheating, although its on the warmer end of the operating range.

 

[Edge 540]

No, it was sitting flat on my desk with the screen open. I'm hoping someone will be able to tell me what process could possibly create enough strain on a 2.4ghz system to make it overheat without even booting the OS! Any ideas?

I had the case off a few weeks ago and excess dust is not the issue either. Doesnt make any sense at all.

 

[Ace134blue]

Apply new thermal paste, like Gelid GC- Extreme