2008 MB w/ SSD and 8g RAM getting overheated all of a sudden

[DisplacedMic]

hello all,
My computer is getting so hot it crashes and then won't come back on until it cools down.
no heavy usage going on. running mac mail and chrome. no indexing etc.

not too long ago i upgraded to a SSD and upgraded the RAM to 8 gig. could that be related?

i don't see any runaway apps and from what i am pretty sure the fan is working fine.

i might crack it open and check the vents/airflow but barring that i'm at a loss.

any advice?

 

[madmacfan]

hello all,
My computer is getting so hot it crashes and then won't come back on until it cools down.
no heavy usage going on. running mac mail and chrome. no indexing etc.

not too long ago i upgraded to a SSD and upgraded the RAM to 8 gig. could that be related?

i don't see any runaway apps and from what i am pretty sure the fan is working fine.

i might crack it open and check the vents/airflow but barring that i'm at a loss.

any advice?

Check that your SSD has been optimised for use with the OS you're using on that MB. if you're running lion use trim enabler. Other things to recommend would be to Reset the SMC, open it up and clean out the vents, fan and the heat exchanger. Change the thermal compound on the heatsink.

 

[seveej]

hello all,
My computer is getting so hot it crashes and then won't come back on until it cools down.
no heavy usage going on. running mac mail and chrome. no indexing etc.

not too long ago i upgraded to a SSD and upgraded the RAM to 8 gig. could that be related?

Hi.

Firstly, although this is second hand knowledge, mac's should not be able to overheat (in normal operations) to such an extent that a crash would result. Thus the SMC, the operating system and the thermal paste are suspect.

Secondly, if you could supply some temperatures, that would be swell...

Thirdly, the recent updates are suspect. If you can "roll back" the upgrades and verify whether the problem persists, that would help...

RGDS,

 

[DisplacedMic]

Check that your SSD has been optimised for use with the OS you're using on that MB. if you're running lion use trim enabler. Other things to recommend would be to Reset the SMC, open it up and clean out the vents, fan and the heat exchanger. Change the thermal compound on the heatsink.

i have trim enabler, but upon opening it i realized there is an update. so i did that and now it's running. Stupid question, does that app need to be always running?

i went ahead and opened the hood and blew everything out - took the fan out and gave it a good clean and blew out under the LB.

For a frame of reference, the heat seems to be coming from the left top portion of the logic board (where the magsafe plugs in) - so i don't think it's either of the drives. will monitor now and see how it does now that it's clean (or at least cleaner)

----------

Hi.

Firstly, although this is second hand knowledge, mac's should not be able to overheat (in normal operations) to such an extent that a crash would result. Thus the SMC, the operating system and the thermal paste are suspect.

Secondly, if you could supply some temperatures, that would be swell...

Thirdly, the recent updates are suspect. If you can "roll back" the upgrades and verify whether the problem persists, that would help...

RGDS,

the hardware upgrades were over a month ago so hopefully it's not that.
what is happening is it gets EXTREMELY hot and slow. it hasn't shut down on it's own, but it won't turn back on after i shut it down until it cools. i get a grey screen but no apple logo... once it's cool it's fine until the cycle repeats.

i will monitor now that it's cleaner and will post temps if it happens again.

thanks to you both!

 

[DisplacedMic]

answered my own question - looks like it's NOT necessary to have TE running for TRIM to be active.