Hot, Hotter, mine is the HOTTEST!!!

knew2mack

knew2mack

macrumors regular
Hi everyone...

Mac OS X 10.5.8 13" Unibody

This machine is SO hot. I have installed iStatPro, I went out and bought Targus cooling thing, that connects thru USB. I bought it 3 weeks ago, and it's not working any longer. The connection into the cooling pad is not working.

Ok, so I'm going to return it. My main concern is how hot it's getting. I can have it open with 4 open tabs, on 1 window, and 3 on another window. I also have 2 things open in Adobe that I'm reading. Anyhow, I could have it open for 5 minutes and the temp soars up to 160 degrees F!!!!!!

I also have SMC Fan control with the rpms set at 4600. What am I doing wrong?? I'm just so afraid it's going to absolutely fry one of these days.

Does anyone have any suggestions to cool this thing off?? Aside from getting a new cooling pad?? Are there ones out there better than the Targus one, within the same price range??

Im a new one with computers and Macs, so when replying, please use layman's terms.

thanks
dawn
 
dont worry about the temperature, os x will do that for you. If needs be it will shut down the laptop to prevent damage.
 
Thanks

So really, that's not hot???? I can barely touch it. I've read elsewhere that anything higher than 50 C is dangerous, which is around 120F.

Again, I am so new to computers that I just thought that if I was unable to touch it....that it was possibly frying inside.

Activity Monitor - I have been sent there before, I thought it was/is sometimes not as fast as it once was, but when I get to Activity Monitor, I have absolutely NO IDEA what I'm looking at, much less, what to do.

If I quit some of the processes, would that help with temp??? What ones am I able to quit without damaging anything that the computer actually needs to run properly???

I took a screenshot, there are many many more processes that are running, I took the screenshot before it was finished loading.

PLEASE HELP!!!!

I don't want to ruin my computer due to my own ignorance & inexperience!!

Thanks

How hot is too hot then??
 

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MacBooks with Snow Leopard seem to be less hot...

Maybe upgrading (its 30 bucks) will help your laptop out.
 
knew2mack said:
Thanks

So really, that's not hot???? I can barely touch it. I've read elsewhere that anything higher than 50 C is dangerous, which is around 120F.

How hot is too hot then??
Click to expand...

120F is for the hard drive, which should never get that hot no matter what you do. Your processor can handle about 220F, which Leopard won't even let it get close to. You don't have to worry about it.

If you're running anything with video or flash embedded into it (which many websites have), there will be a lot of processor usage, making it hot. It sounds like you have an older MacBook, so your temps will be different, but mine will run around 145 when surfing the web, so not much different. Plus mine is aluminum which sucks heat out of the computer too.
 
alust2013 said:
120F is for the hard drive, which should never get that hot no matter what you do. Your processor can handle about 220F, which Leopard won't even let it get close to. You don't have to worry about it.

If you're running anything with video or flash embedded into it (which many websites have), there will be a lot of processor usage, making it hot. It sounds like you have an older MacBook, so your temps will be different, but mine will run around 145 when surfing the web, so not much different. Plus mine is aluminum which sucks heat out of the computer too.
Click to expand...

Processor is the CPU...right? I know, I know, everyone should know that....and the hard drive is which...I took a screenshot of iStat...which one listed is that??

I also have the aluminum, I got mine end of 08....isn't that when they pretty much came out?? I wasn't under the impression that a computer just a year and a half would be considered 'old'......

So, you suggest I buy Snow Leopard....it's only $30 and that will help??
Oh yeah, and I rarely run any videos and I never play games. Was hoping to start playing Portal, but now with the heat, I'm concerned....any suggestions?

In the meantime, is there any other suggestions to keep it a little cooler...or is it not hot enough to worry??
 

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Would you post another screen shot of Activity Monitor showing All Processes and sorting the by CPU %?

There's something using a lot of CPU time according to iStat.
 
Eidorian said:
Your fear intrigues me. What is there to be afraid of?
Click to expand...

What is there to be afraid of?? Deleting something that the computer needs to run. I know so very little about computers, that it's embarrassing.

As I mentioned, I don't want to quit a process or delete anything in activity monitor. I haven't the faintest as to what any of those processes are -
iavd;kernel_task;mds;distnoted;ntpd;......it all means nothing to me.

Can I go into activity monitor and just quit each & every process?? What abt cookies?? I don't really know what they are, other than pieces of each site I have visited....should I go thru and delete all of them??? Would they be responsible for it running slowly or slower??

I have notices that when I am typing, sometimes it takes a few more seconds for the letters to be on the screen and I have been getting the spinning beach ball too.

I appreciate all of everyone's help.

thanks
 
Don't be so nervous :) You won't break it.

But as my foreposter suggested, please take a screenshot of Activity Monitor with sorted by CPU % (click on the tab header) and post it here.
 
I don't know if this will help, but I was having a similar problem with my white Macbook (late 2006) with 10.6.3. My processor usage would constantly hover around 50% on both cores, temperatures soaring, and fans spinning at their max. I tried switching browsers with no luck. The problem went away when I booted into Windows 7, so I did an archive and install of OS X. No problems since then.

Good luck!
 
Tom71 said:
Don't be so nervous :) You won't break it.

But as my foreposter suggested, please take a screenshot of Activity Monitor with sorted by CPU % (click on the tab header) and post it here.
Click to expand...


I guess I didn't do that for my last message.....this is what you're talking about right?? Had to take 2 pics
 

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DJLC said:
I don't know if this will help, but I was having a similar problem with my white Macbook (late 2006) with 10.6.3. My processor usage would constantly hover around 50% on both cores, temperatures soaring, and fans spinning at their max. I tried switching browsers with no luck. The problem went away when I booted into Windows 7, so I did an archive and install of OS X. No problems since then.

Good luck!
Click to expand...

An archive and install??? All foreign computer lingo I don't understand.....sorry. I don't plan on getting Windows 7, so any other suggestions??

thanks
dawn
 
Reinstalls Mac OS X without deleting your data.

But luckily for you, I have an easier solution. A process called iavd is sucking up 96% of your processor, which very well could be the cause. I won't attack you for having AV on a Mac (you shouldn't need it), but I would recommend you disable the iAntiVirus background protection (I think the setting is called "Protect my Mac"). Hopefully that will speed things up and make your temps go down.
 
I agree with you. I think anything over 160 is getting a little too hot in a lap top for extended periods of time. It is not going to die but again this is on the hot end. How old is your unibody? I have opened up a bunch that have had the cooling paths blocked with a ton of dust. This prevents the cpu from cooling properly. Try killing that process that us using all of your cpu power like the above poster said. If that does not work we can look at other things.
 
knew2mack said:
I guess I didn't do that for my last message.....this is what you're talking about right?? Had to take 2 pics
Click to expand...

The screenshots are all good, but please click on the CPU tab to sort by CPU. You left it at the default settings so it sorts by name. But we want to see which processes consume a lot of CPU power. Therefore, please click on the CPU tab so that the higher numbers are on top.

Also we can already see that firefox is using a lot of CPU, how many tabs do you have open? Using Flash?

Tom
 
Tom71 said:
The screenshots are all good, but please click on the CPU tab to sort by CPU. You left it at the default settings so it sorts by name. But we want to see which processes consume a lot of CPU power. Therefore, please click on the CPU tab so that the higher numbers are on top.

Also we can already see that firefox is using a lot of CPU, how many tabs do you have open? Using Flash?

Tom
Click to expand...

Ok, here goes. I went ahead and quit Antivirus and that other one, temp went down 10 degrees pretty fast. Here is a screenshot with it sorted like you said.

Right now, I have 5 tabs open in 1 window, 3 in another and 2 ebooks in Adobe. Not running anything with Flash.
 

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Oh yeah, in Activity Monitor, the left column called PID.....what is that? Wondering cause for Firefox alone there are 2679 PID???? 2981 pmTool, 2980 Activity Monitor, 2996 BrowserPlusCore.....any of these possibly responsible for running hot OR slow??
 
PID = Process ID. It's just the number OS X uses to keep track of the program.

Anyway, your usage percentage looks MUCH better without anti-virus running. I'd bet that was your biggest problem as far as temperature goes.
 
knew2mack said:
Processor is the CPU...right? I know, I know, everyone should know that....and the hard drive is which...I took a screenshot of iStat...which one listed is that??

I also have the aluminum, I got mine end of 08....isn't that when they pretty much came out?? I wasn't under the impression that a computer just a year and a half would be considered 'old'......

So, you suggest I buy Snow Leopard....it's only $30 and that will help??
Oh yeah, and I rarely run any videos and I never play games. Was hoping to start playing Portal, but now with the heat, I'm concerned....any suggestions?

In the meantime, is there any other suggestions to keep it a little cooler...or is it not hot enough to worry??
Click to expand...

Thats fine, my CPU runs at 60C and some times tops 80C.
 
knew2mack said:
Ok, here goes. I went ahead and quit Antivirus and that other one, temp went down 10 degrees pretty fast. Here is a screenshot with it sorted like you said.

Right now, I have 5 tabs open in 1 window, 3 in another and 2 ebooks in Adobe. Not running anything with Flash.
Click to expand...

Firefox still looks like it's using a lot of CPU - 23% in the snapshot you posted. That will make the CPU quite warm. Quit Firefox, let it cool for a couple of minutes, then look at the temperature. You should see about 120 - 130 F

Flash version 9 uses a lot of CPU. Many sites use Flash for ads even if you're not aware of it.

Adobe has a beta of Flash 10 which uses less CPU. You can download it from the Adobe site. Also you can download a flash blocker for Firefox which will make a big difference.

PS you really shouldn't worry about temperatures, if you really tax your CPU it will probably go up to about 212 F or maybe a little more. The CPU is happy up to 221 C.
 
Pax said:
PS you really shouldn't worry about temperatures, if you really tax your CPU it will probably go up to about 212 F or maybe a little more. The CPU is happy up to 221 C.
Click to expand...

Ha, I wouldn't necessarily say it's happy, but it puts up with it.

OP, is your macbook still under warranty? If not, you may want a more experienced friend to help you changed the thermal paste on your CPU. Layman's terms = open up your macbook and replace something that will make it cooler.
 
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