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Hummer

macrumors 65816
Original poster
At idle my 15 inch 2.53 GHz MacBook Pro is running between 60°C and 70°C. The issue has been going on since I got the unit, but recently, I would let it for hours, with all user processes terminated through activity monitor. The sleep indicator would be solid and not pulsating. When I do go into iStat, at complete idle, the system and user processes read zero, but alternate between 0% and 10% even though virtually nothing would be running. The fans are blaring constantly and the casing is scolding hot. All of this persists after completely formatting my drive and reinstalling Snow Leopard. I'm not sure what the issue could possibly be. Any insight would be great.
 
At idle my 15 inch 2.53 GHz MacBook Pro is running between 60°C and 70°C. The issue has been going on since I got the unit, but recently, I would let it for hours, with all user processes terminated through activity monitor. The sleep indicator would be solid and not pulsating. When I do go into iStat, at complete idle, the system and user processes read zero, but alternate between 0% and 10% even though virtually nothing would be running. The fans are blaring constantly and the casing is scolding hot. All of this persists after completely formatting my drive and reinstalling Snow Leopard. I'm not sure what the issue could possibly be. Any insight would be great.

Reset the SMC. I have the 2.4ghz and it's running at 56C with word, mail, safari, address book, MSN messenger, preview, and text edit open.

Report back.
 
If you're in a hot room that could be the cause, but try resetting the SMC anyway. It could also be a poor application of thermal paste, which would be unfortunate.
 
Reset the SMC. I have the 2.4ghz and it's running at 56C with word, mail, safari, address book, MSN messenger, preview, and text edit open.

Report back.

Thank you.

After trying that, my MacBook Pro at idle runs between 55C and 62C, averaging exactly 57. I guess that's better than before.
 
I too have had my MBP (late 2008) running hot and loud since upgrading to Lion (not sure if this is a cause or just a coincidence). I followed the instructions to reset the SMC and am running the follow temps (with Mail, NetNewsWire, Chrome, Word and Acrobat running)

HD: 37-39˚ (avg. 38˚)
CPU: 66-72˚ (avg. 69˚)
CPU Heatsink: 54-57˚ (avg. 56˚)
Fan speeds are sitting around 2000 rpm.

The temps don't seem all that different from before resetting the SMC, but the fan speeds are at least 1000-2000rpm slower, so at least that is nice. Still, is high 60s normal for the late 2008? I thought it would be high 50s/low 60s.

At least half of my issues have been solved, so thanks for that.
 
^?

That isn't hot. Hot is 85 and up for doing practically nothing.

You have the normal operatig temperature for a laptop.
 
I too have had my MBP (late 2008) running hot and loud since upgrading to Lion (not sure if this is a cause or just a coincidence). I followed the instructions to reset the SMC and am running the follow temps (with Mail, NetNewsWire, Chrome, Word and Acrobat running)

HD: 37-39˚ (avg. 38˚)
CPU: 66-72˚ (avg. 69˚)
CPU Heatsink: 54-57˚ (avg. 56˚)
Fan speeds are sitting around 2000 rpm.

The temps don't seem all that different from before resetting the SMC, but the fan speeds are at least 1000-2000rpm slower, so at least that is nice. Still, is high 60s normal for the late 2008? I thought it would be high 50s/low 60s.

At least half of my issues have been solved, so thanks for that.
Chrome is a resource hog, running each tab as it's own process. Quit it and watch your temperatures drop.

I personally think your temps are fine considering what's running.
 
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