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mrpepsi

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 21, 2002
27
0
Oklahoma
I just got a new 15 inch PowerBook with an 867MHz G4, and I have noticed the fan kicks in when under practically no load.

Right now as I'm typing this, I only have Safari open, and both the rear and the right hand fan are going full blast. Is this normal?

The fan comes on after a few minutes use and stays on. It has never cycled off. It's quite annoying. The battery life is not quite what I expected either, probably due to the fans.

It's beginning to make me miss my 600MHz iBook that I traded up from.

Any help would be appreciated.
 
Originally posted by MrMacman
Is your house so heated that the fans need to run all the time?

I can't find a real reason for this...

My house is about 69 to 72. I've tried all the obvious things like setting the Processor Performance to "reduced".

As a network admin I work with several other pc laptops and iBooks, and never had this happen. This is my first PowerBook though.
 
I have a PB 867 and my fans rarely come on. I can not speak for everyone, I have only had mine for about two weeks.
 
I agree with MrPepsi, I have noticed that my fan does kick in when there is no load and stays on till... well erm... forever (or at least till I put my computer to sleep). Anyone have any recommendations or any answers as to why this is?
 
I don't understand how with some powerbooks like nospleen's can run normally while others don't. I wonder if it's a plant quality issue, or perhaps simply differing qualities of G4's.
 
Open up Process Viewer and see if there are any hidden processes that are hogging the CPU. Also, I've heard of heat sinks becoming unseated. I think Apple could help you out here if you called them.
 
Originally posted by alex_ant
Open up Process Viewer and see if there are any hidden processes that are hogging the CPU. Also, I've heard of heat sinks becoming unseated. I think Apple could help you out here if you called them.

You might want to try one of those Coolpad risers...they do a decent job at dissapating heat buildup on the bottom of a laptop.
But I agree...a computer that has minimal or even no active apps should not get that hot. The idea about a poorly affixed heat sink seems like a good possibility.

G
 
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