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2011 MBP, my first heat/fan problem?

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GuitarDTO

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Feb 16, 2011
687
110
Need some advice. 2011 MBP, 15" 2.2 i7, 500 GB 7200 RPM hard drive. ~2 months old or so (got it a few weeks after they came out). It's been an absolutely flawless monster of a machine thus far, but today I'm starting to notice the first signs of trouble.

-Had two beach ball freezes playing a song in Guitar Pro 6. After the 2nd time in a row, I opened iStat Pro and noticed the CPU was at 90 degrees. After I closed the program, it rapidly dropped to 65 degrees (in fact, it jumped down like 20 degrees in one refresh...which had me shaking my head a bit). The fans were only running at 2000 RPM. This got me paying a bit more attention to my fan speed and temperature.

-I opened Logic Pro and played a song with lots of effects to really get the CPU going. The CPU steadily climbed to ~80 degrees, but the fans never kicked in above ~2200 RPM. No freeze though and the temp peaked at around 80.

-I opened Aperture, and rapidly scrolled through a few large projects, which normally gets the fans running like a jet. Again, the CPU climbed to ~75 degrees but the fans never kicked in above 2000 RPM.

What is really concerning me, is for as long as I can remember any time I use Logic and Aperture the fans will kick in and out up to 4000 RPM to cool down the CPU, but now they don't seem to be doing that, and I'm concerned the CPU is overheating because of that (at least with GP6..no other programs have frozen it thus far).

Was overheating actually what was causing my freezing? Or could it just be a GP6 issue? Why arent my fans kicking in? Did a recent software update play with the fan programming?

I thought Id ask here before taking it in to the Genius'. Really don't want to replace something that isnt broken. Thanks for your help.
 
G

GuitarDTO

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Feb 16, 2011
687
110
Update already. I played through a whole song again in Guitar Pro 6 and this time the temp never went above 71. No freeze, but still no fans kicking in. I then redid the scroll test in Aperture, and when the CPU got in the mid 70's the fans picked up and climbed to around 3600 RPM like they typically do. Go figure. For the time being, I'm not going to worry too much about this unless more problems pop up. I find it hard to believe that playing a GP6 song could get the CPU going that much to overheat....so I'm wondering if some kind of a temp sensor glitch made the computer think it hit 90 degrees and froze the software, but the fans never kicked in because it really wasn't that hot.

Anyways, I'd still be curious if others have any thoughts or similar issues. Thanks
 
ECUpirate44

ECUpirate44

macrumors 603
Mar 22, 2010
5,750
8
NC
GuitarDTO said:
90 is fine? Shouldn't 90 kick the fans in?
Click to expand...

Were talking Celsius right? A sustained temp of 90C should kick the fans in after a few minutes, but that depends on the temps of everything else as well. As long as you don't go over 210F your fine, and your CPU is far from overheating. 2000RPM is the idle fan speed.
 
G

GuitarDTO

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Feb 16, 2011
687
110
ECUpirate44 said:
Were talking Celsius right? A sustained temp of 90C should kick the fans in after a few minutes, but that depends on the temps of everything else as well. As long as you don't go over 210F your fine, and your CPU is far from overheating. 2000RPM is the idle fan speed.
Click to expand...

Yes, 90C. I'm not disagreeing that these temps aren't fine, but I will say I've yet to see my computer reach 90 until now, which is that a coincidence that it was frozen at that temp?

Anyways, thanks for the tips....I'm not going to sweat this too much for now unless this starts to happen more often and with other software. If Aperture and Logic keep running fine then I don't think I'll have anything to worry about.
 
ECUpirate44

ECUpirate44

macrumors 603
Mar 22, 2010
5,750
8
NC
GuitarDTO said:
Yes, 90C. I'm not disagreeing that these temps aren't fine, but I will say I've yet to see my computer reach 90 until now, which is that a coincidence that it was frozen at that temp?

Anyways, thanks for the tips....I'm not going to sweat this too much for now unless this starts to happen more often and with other software. If Aperture and Logic keep running fine then I don't think I'll have anything to worry about.
Click to expand...

The app that you were using when it hit 90C could have caused the crash and not the temp at all. I really wouldn't stress about the temps. As long as your fans are running you are fine. The computer will shut it's self down if it gets too hot. I think 10.6.7 fixed any issues with the 2011 MBP's freezing.
 
thermodynamic

thermodynamic

Suspended
May 3, 2009
1,341
1,192
USA
ECUpirate44 said:
The app that you were using when it hit 90C could have caused the crash and not the temp at all. I really wouldn't stress about the temps. As long as your fans are running you are fine. The computer will shut it's self down if it gets too hot. I think 10.6.7 fixed any issues with the 2011 MBP's freezing.
Click to expand...

10.6.7 has resolved a lot AND that the i7 can run at hotter temps than the Core2Duo, but it's still a very high temp. There are known issues with excessive thermal grease being applied.

http://my2011macbookpro.com/replacing-thermal-paste-on-the-cpu-and-gpu-results/

Being one such site.

In all fairness, I wouldn't stress out about temps either, UNLESS 3D rendering, fractal rendering, heavy or multiple virtual machine usage, or code compiling was done on a frequent basis, but the basic rule for anything electronic remains the same: The cooler it runs means the longer it'll last.

New laptop' processors can make for "desktop replacement laptops" possible, but the cramped space for all the chips to be put in combined with sub-par cooling design will likely shorten the lifespan of the laptop; the more frequently the temps get high, the greater the chance lifespan is reduced. Since engineering includes more than the case, reading on poorly applied thermal grease from Apple IS a cause for concern.

iFixit had a gripe about QC as well:
http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/MacBook-Pro-15-Inch-Unibody-Early-2011-Teardown/4990/2

* Holy thermal paste! Time will tell if the gobs of thermal paste applied to the CPU and GPU will cause overheating issues down the road.

* One thing that has us a little concerned about the new models is their quality control. A stripped screw near the subwoofer enclosure and an unlocked ZIF socket for the IR sensor should not be things found inside a completely unmolested computer with an $1800 base price.



I really wish Apple would re-apply thermal grease in their stores. Until then, AppleCare is the only way to go.
 
A

AdrianK

macrumors 68020
Feb 19, 2011
2,230
2
Apple's fan management is simply a joke. I've had my C2D hitting over 90C without the fans going over 2,000 RPM, which I why I have iStat display the temp in my menu bar so I can *manually* manage the fan speed w/ SMC when it gets too warm.

Worryingly, Lion DP2 sets the fan at a constant 5,200 RPM. I really hope that's not Apple's idea of fan management.
 
P

palpatine

macrumors 68040
May 3, 2011
3,130
45
AdrianK said:
Apple's fan management is simply a joke. I've had my C2D hitting over 90C without the fans going over 2,000 RPM, which I why I have iStat display the temp in my menu bar so I can *manually* manage the fan speed w/ SMC when it gets too warm.

Worryingly, Lion DP2 sets the fan at a constant 5,200 RPM. I really hope that's not Apple's idea of fan management.
Click to expand...

It seems to me that the fans generally don't speed up until the cpu temp climbs into the high 70s. I don't think I remember seeing my computer getting above that without the fans speeding up, but I will try to pay closer attention. Right now I am at 84 degrees / 3911.
 
8CoreWhore

8CoreWhore

macrumors 68030
Jan 17, 2008
2,653
1,191
Tejas
I take a pro active stance... I hate a hot laptop... so I use SMC Fan Control.

I leave it at 2500RPM... then if temps are going up, I raise the RPM's manually because OS X won't until it's too late in my opinion.

http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/23049/smcfancontrol

Heat kills batteries and god knows what else. I rather replace a fan someday than anything else.

Try SMC FC... ;)
 
A

AdrianK

macrumors 68020
Feb 19, 2011
2,230
2
rev.b said:
I use http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/23137/fan-control with custom lower and upper thresholds.

Sometimes I noticed temps around 90ºC and fans were quietly spinning at 2000 rpm.. :eek: Solved it with fan control.

Maybe it was running within specs, but I prefer a little more noise (not that much, actually) and peace of mind.
Click to expand...

That is absolutely perfect, thanks so much! :D

Seriously, why couldn't apple do this? Having the fan speed proportional to temps is perfect.
 
maclaptop

maclaptop

macrumors 65816
Apr 8, 2011
1,453
0
Western Hemisphere
8CoreWhore said:
I take a pro active stance... I hate a hot laptop... so I use SMC Fan Control.

I leave it at 2500RPM... then if temps are going up, I raise the RPM's manually because OS X won't until it's too late in my opinion.

http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/23049/smcfancontrol

Heat kills batteries and god knows what else. I rather replace a fan someday than anything else.

Try SMC FC... ;)
Click to expand...

I've used SMC as well, but I will admit I'm a bit uneasy with higher temps.

What's the difference between SMC, and Fan Control ?
http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/23137/fan-control

Which one is better?

Thanks
 
rev.b

rev.b

macrumors regular
May 1, 2009
232
0
Portugal
It's a matter of personal preference, but I found fan control more simple and less intrusive than SMC.

Either one should get the job done.
 
S

snaky69

macrumors 603
Mar 14, 2008
5,908
488
AdrianK said:
That is absolutely perfect, thanks so much! :D

Seriously, why couldn't apple do this? Having the fan speed proportional to temps is perfect.
Click to expand...

Yes Fan Control is an amazing little app. I've been using it for the last 3 years, I set my mimimum fan speed to 1000rpm so that when the computer's idle it's dead quiet, lower treshold is 55C and upper is at 80C
 
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