Fans don't kick in when playing WoW, Temps 100° C+

[mousouchop]

Okay, having a bit of an issue. Just purchased the 2.8Ghz Macbook Pro, and am loving it. However, I have been faced with a bit of an issue.

When I play WoW (a main reason for upgrading from my Unibody Macbook), the fans don't pick up. My CPU temp, as reported by iStat Menus, just climbs, and climbs, and climbs, with no aid from the fans. The fans continue to spin at 2000RPM... I have seen the temp go to 105° C before I force quit the app. It has done it every try but once. I have been able to play by installing SMCFanControl and set a high minimum speed. But, I have played on systems in the past without having to manually set the fans myself.

I have done other things that have taxed the CPU, encoding video with Handbrake, encoding MP3s with iTunes-- the fans come on and keep the CPU around 80° until the work is done-- I have never seen SL push the fans above 4000RPM.

Idle temps are much lower, running Adium and FF right now I am at 44° on the 9400, same situation with the 9600 might be in the mid to high 50s. With flash videos-- I usually see temps go hover around 60°. I have come to believe that these temps are average and acceptable.

I know that is it an issue on the new MBPs/SL with the fans waiting longer to cool the CPU than they used to... my fans don't go above 2000RPM with temps lower than 80° (which I think is normal).

I don't know what is up. Kinda of odd that it is just with the one app that this behavior occurs. My only point of reference is my Unibody Macbook that ran Leopard and used the 9400. That system ran WoW at about 78-85° C-- fans usually blasting, like they should be under that kind of load.

I might try to play another game and see how the fans react, or maybe install Leopard and see how it handles the fans. WoW couldn't have an error that could make the fan management under SL to fluke, would it? Any insight into any route of testing/remedy would be great.

EDIT: I should mention I have already reset PRAM and SMC.

 

[Eidorian]

Snow Leopard runs a little hotter and Apple's thermal behavior on their notebooks in the past year has been questionable at best.

It's nothing new. Threads on hot Apple notebooks are just a fact of life. Nowadays it's the fact that the fans don't spin up until you're over 90-100° C that bugs most people.

 

[mousouchop]

Snow Leopard runs a little hotter and Apple's thermal behavior on their notebooks in the past year has been questionable at best.

It's nothing new. Threads on hot Apple notebooks are just a fact of life. Nowadays it's the fact that the fans don't spin up until you're over 90-100° C that bugs most people.

Are you telling my if I waited a few more degrees past 105°, the fans would indeed kick in?! haha. I don't think that sounds right at all. 0.o

 

[Eidorian]

Are you telling my if I waited a few more degrees past 105°, the fans would indeed kick in?! haha. I don't think that sounds right at all. 0.o

iStat Pro and other monitoring applications are going to have a certain margin of error.

On the Unibody notebooks I've seen the fans don't kick in until you're nearing 100° C.

 

[iLog.Genius]

My Late-2008 MacBook Pro, fans kick in around 70C+. I would try to reset SMC and if that doesn't work, wouldn't hurt to install some sort of fan control.

 

[Theclamshell]

those max temps are not right at all, 105c is 221f and the computer would start to smoke at that temp, i would make an appt at the apple store

 

[mousouchop]

those max temps are not right at all, 105c is 221f and the computer would start to smoke at that temp, i would make an appt at the apple store

While it is certainly a very high temperature, I do know that I have seen temps close to mine reported in instances of high CPU usage-- whether it be encoding or otherwise. I am worried by the lack of intervention from the fans however. I know that the system would shut down before it reached a temperature that could cause permanent physical damage. And even if it didn't-- I am under warranty! All would be repairable at no cost to me.

 

[ayeying]

those max temps are not right at all, 105c is 221f and the computer would start to smoke at that temp, i would make an appt at the apple store

Not even close to melting point yet. Those temps will do damage, but it'll damage other components on the logic board before damaging the CPU usually if temps are allowed to remain that high.

 

[mousouchop]

Not even close to melting point yet. Those temps will do damage, but it'll damage other components on the logic board before damaging the CPU usually if temps are allowed to remain that high.

Haha. They definitely didn't remain at that temp for very long. Probably took only 1 min to get from 95-105 at which point I instantly stopped the app.

 

[ayeying]

Haha. They definitely didn't remain at that temp for very long. Probably took only 1 min to get from 95-105 at which point I instantly stopped the app.

I normally don't worry about high temperatures, especially since I keep my MacBook Air at 80-85 deg C constantly unless I'm in the class or library or in public areas. When I'm at home, the CPU's at constant 100% with temps at low to mid 80s.

Try these few things:

1) Use a canned air to clean out the vents. Dust is a huge issue.
2) Reset PMU/SMC (Yeah you did it already, but I'd recommend unplugging the internal battery and resetting via that method)
3) Reapply Thermal Paste (Not recommended unless you're comfortable with working inside your system)
4) Disable any fan speed altering programs such as smcFanControl or FanControl (they might interfere with normal fan conditions)

Just some small suggestions.

 

[mousouchop]

I normally don't worry about high temperatures, especially since I keep my MacBook Air at 80-85 deg C constantly unless I'm in the class or library or in public areas. When I'm at home, the CPU's at constant 100% with temps at low to mid 80s.

Try these few things:

1) Use a canned air to clean out the vents. Dust is a huge issue.
2) Reset PMU/SMC (Yeah you did it already, but I'd recommend unplugging the internal battery and resetting via that method)
3) Reapply Thermal Paste (Not recommended unless you're comfortable with working inside your system)
4) Disable any fan speed altering programs such as smcFanControl or FanControl (they might interfere with normal fan conditions)

Just some small suggestions.

1) System is not even a week old, so dust is not an issue.
2) SMC has been reset. As I said, fans do turn on for other CPU intensive apps-- WoW is somehow messing this up. I have yet to download another game that would allow me to test whether it is indeed WoW, or all games.
3) I will NOT be doing that. haha. I will take it in as it is still under warranty... I feel that thermal paste is fine seeing as all of my other temps check out well with generally reported temps.
4) SMCFanControl is now used when I play WoW and allows me to keep my CPU between 70 and 80.

I would like to return to not using an app like SMCFanControl and instead allowing the OS to handle the fans as I have in the past... I am thinking this weekend I may install Leopard on this system and see if the issue is simply SL and the way it handles fans.

 

[mrsir2009]

Snow Leopard lets the computer get hotter than previous OSX systems. The computer will shut off at about 170 degrees, so at 100 degrees your in no danger of harming your computer or it shutting off.

 

[mrsir2009]

those max temps are not right at all, 105c is 221f and the computer would start to smoke at that temp, i would make an appt at the apple store

Nah, it wouldn't melt. The computer shuts of at 170 C. So if that doesn't damage it them 100 C won't lol

 

[cluthz]

I always bump fans to 4500 rpm before playing wow.

Then they most likely stay at about 4500 rpm.
If i use stock settings (2k) they'll ramp up to 6000rpm after a few minutes then go down again, then go 6000 rpm again.
I just feel i's more comfortable to keep the fans at roughly the same speeds.

Ofc under heavy raiding and WG my fans are at 6k almost all the time tho.
My CPU or GPU is usually in the 80-90°C range. I think 93°C is highest i've ever seen.
(Dualboxing on the MBP )

 

[Azathoth]

Nah, it wouldn't melt. The computer shuts of at 170 C. So if that doesn't damage it them 100 C won't lol

I would expect the computer to shut off way before 170deg. C. Are you sure you don't meant degrees Fahrenheit? 170deg. C is above the glass transition temperature for most epoxy compounds used in the processor packaging and would lower typical complex silicon chips MTBF to 100s of hours (instead of millions).

BTW I don't see how lowering the amount of display colours would improve battery life, as you mention in your post. Care to eloborate?

 

[Ivan P]

Nah, it wouldn't melt. The computer shuts of at 170 C. So if that doesn't damage it them 100 C won't lol

From what I've read, a computer with a Core 2 Duo processor should automatically shut off at 105 C.

 

[Rampant.A.I.]

My MPP stays warm raiding Ulduar or ToC, propped up on a paperback book for a stand.

If your MBP is really getting that hot, you need to have it looked at ASAP!

 

[mrsir2009]

I would expect the computer to shut off way before 170deg. C. Are you sure you don't meant degrees Fahrenheit? 170deg. C is above the glass transition temperature for most epoxy compounds used in the processor packaging and would lower typical complex silicon chips MTBF to 100s of hours (instead of millions).

BTW I don't see how lowering the amount of display colours would improve battery life, as you mention in your post. Care to eloborate?

No one guy on this forum said his MBP shut off at 175 C. If thats the temp it shuts off at it must either be safe for it to reach that temp or there is something wrong with the thermostat in his computer...

What happens if the computer doesn't shut down and keeps getting far too hot?

 

[cababah]

I would expect the computer to shut off way before 170deg. C. Are you sure you don't meant degrees Fahrenheit? 170deg. C is above the glass transition temperature for most epoxy compounds used in the processor packaging and would lower typical complex silicon chips MTBF to 100s of hours (instead of millions).

BTW I don't see how lowering the amount of display colours would improve battery life, as you mention in your post. Care to eloborate?

Either way that is very wrong. 170C ~ 347F (That would melt things for sure)

170F ~ 76C (Way below threshold)

My only guess is that the cut-off limit probably is in the 105C range for the Core 2 Duo processors but I am thinking that the temperature reported in iStat has a margin of error.

 

[zw-gator]

From what I've read, a computer with a Core 2 Duo processor should automatically shut off at 105 C.

I'm starting to think iStat might be wrong. I've hit 105*C before and my MBP only jacked the fans to about 3.5k RPM.

Maybe at high temps iStat is inaccurate, because on my Dell/Vista laptop using "SpeedFan" (like iStat, but for windows) no matter what I threw at my computer, my CPU temp would NEVER go above 65*C

 

[ayeying]

It seems that coolbook reports an more accurate temperature than iStat or other programs. I've seen iStat hit 109 deg C and the system stayed stable, but Coolbook readings says only 101 deg C.

 

[zw-gator]

It seems that coolbook reports an more accurate temperature than iStat or other programs. I've seen iStat hit 109 deg C and the system stayed stable, but Coolbook readings says only 101 deg C.

I just installed Coolbook.

It's telling me my CPU is ~10*C cooler than iStat's estimate.

However, Coolbook's reading is fluctuating like crazy

 

[Blair230]

To go back to the original topic, Id also check out the Wow site and see if any other users report the same type of problem.

I would also call apple support (you have it, might as well take advantage of it) and tell them your problem. See what they have to say.

You should be able to correct the problem without having to install smcfan control.

Let us know how it goes!

 

[Eidorian]

Apple Support would tell you to reset your PRAM and SMC. After that it's probably a trip to the local Apple store.

 

[Smoothie]

Haha. They definitely didn't remain at that temp for very long. Probably took only 1 min to get from 95-105 at which point I instantly stopped the app.

I think that Apple uses an algorithm for the fans that monitors the rate at which the temp increases, the length of time it remains at the temp and the temp itself. If the run-up to 105 was rapid and took a minute in your case, it's likely that the fans would have kicked in after a little more time. If the run-up and been more gradual, the fans would have kicked in sooner. I've seen this same behavior. I don't like Apple's apparent focus on quiet fans over temp control, but that seems to be the way it is.