High fan speeds issue on MBP 2011

[KimHansenDK]

I have an old MBP (early 2011) that I run in clamshell mode together with a thunderbolt display. In the last few months I have noticed the fans speeding up when downloading, installing apps etc. And sometimes it just happens randomly.

When checking Activity Monitor there is nothing that stands out. I have reset the SMC and installed SMC Fan Control. Nothing has helped.

The temperature is around 60-70 celsius when the fans speeding up.

Any ideas???

 

[K4LK]

I have an old MBP (early 2011) that I run in clamshell mode together with a thunderbolt display. In the last few months I have noticed the fans speeding up when downloading, installing apps etc. And sometimes it just happens randomly.

When checking Activity Monitor there is nothing that stands out. I have reset the SMC and installed SMC Fan Control. Nothing have helped.

The temperature is around 60-70 celsius when the fans speeding up.

Any ideas???

That's exactly what my 2011 was doing until it died hard last Monday 1/12. It has the widespread AMD discrete graphics card failure. There is a huge thread on Apple's discussion forums that has close to 12,000 replies and 3.3 million views.

 

[Xeridionix]

I would recommend removing the bottom panel and cleaning the fans out with some compressed air as a preventative measure. It's a fairly straight forward process, you'll need a #00 Philips head screwdriver. Just make sure that you keep track of the screws as a few of them are longer than the rest and need to go back in the correct spot.

 

[K4LK]

When my MBPS died, I removed the memory upgrade, hard drive upgrade (returning it stock), the fans had a little dust. Cleaned, reset PRAM and the SMC. When I power it up, the fans go full speed. It is now a big paperweight.

 

[arcite]

Try pulling out the fan to check for dust, could be clogged.

Another more radical solution to try is apply arctic silver.