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Hot Powerbook!

wheezy

wheezy

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Apr 7, 2005
1,280
1
Alpine, UT
I have a 12" PB 1Ghz that gets hot quite a bit, the fan kicks on often. I have a program that tells me various temps, and it usually kicks on about 140 degrees for the CPU, and 135 Degrees for the GPU (Farenheit). What does everyone else run???

(I do have one of those fan pads to set it on, those do a great job keeping it cool)
 
Sounds normal to me, in what situation do the fans come on a lot?
They usually do on soft surfaces (clothes, cushions, duvet, blankets etc), although my PB G3 Pismo's fan NEVER comes on, and subsequently the thing overheats if I play DVDs for a long time (the outcome of which is a complete freeze - mouse, screen, everything!)
I wouldn't worry unless it starts doing as described above!
Let it keep you warm on all those cool nights! ;)
 
What kind of aps are you running?

When I game or do anything really CPU intensive, then sure mine gets pretty hot. But in normal web browsing / email use (like right now), it's about 110-120.

Check your activity monitor, if some program is whoring your processor that could be your problem.
 
Your fan should kick on when the CPU temp hits around 125-130...if its not turning on till 140, that could be part of the problem. Also could be a program running too much.
 
joecool85 said:
Your fan should kick on when the CPU temp hits around 125-130...if its not turning on till 140, that could be part of the problem. Also could be a program running too much.
Click to expand...

I'll have to dbl check what temp it hits, maybe it was 120...Hmmm.

I run photoshop a lot safari and mail, usually not too many apps open at once though.

I did a clean install of Tiger to clean off any background 3rd party apps that maybe I didn't know about, that might have been hogging the processor. Everything seems normal though...so that's good.
 
I feel like I should know this, but how do you know at what temperature your 'books are running? Is there a temperature monitor? I've been wondering about this for a really long time...

Whenever my iBook got uncomfortably hot, I'd put it on a trivet and if I knew I was doing something REALLY processor-intensive (burning a DVD, rendering video), I'd put it on a ice pack. It never over heated and froze!

My powerbook hasn't had the overheating problem yet, thankfully. It only gets a little warm, just normal computing heat.
 
katie ta achoo said:
I feel like I should know this, but how do you know at what temperature your 'books are running? Is there a temperature monitor? I've been wondering about this for a really long time...

Whenever my iBook got uncomfortably hot, I'd put it on a trivet and if I knew I was doing something REALLY processor-intensive (burning a DVD, rendering video), I'd put it on a ice pack. It never over heated and froze!

My powerbook hasn't had the overheating problem yet, thankfully. It only gets a little warm, just normal computing heat.
Click to expand...
Yes there is. Just a side note, an ice pack probably isn't a good idea, because you could get condensation inside the computer, if you're not careful. ;)
 
hot powerbook?! try encoding a H264 video, with JUST your machine doing that. my 1.5ghz 12" PB could fry an egg (or a pencil? that'd fit) on the screens hinge. toasty!

still Tiger seems to have heated my system up. probably Core-Image's fault.
 
raggedjimmi said:
hot powerbook?! try encoding a H264 video, with JUST your machine doing that. my 1.5ghz 12" PB could fry an egg (or a pencil? that'd fit) on the screens hinge. toasty!

still Tiger seems to have heated my system up. probably Core-Image's fault.
Click to expand...

Yeah...that H.264 is pretty heavy stuff. I did just a lil one minute clip, and it sure was something to render. I have a Targus Chill Pad, it's great for keeping it cool though, the fan only kicks on sometimes..like, when I have every Firewire and USB plug used (with an extra 4 USB plug thing), I'm running a BT Mouse, USB Keyboard and mirroring on a 19"LCD, editing a video.

I love my Powerbook.
 
raggedjimmi said:
hot powerbook?! try encoding a H264 video, with JUST your machine doing that. my 1.5ghz 12" PB could fry an egg (or a pencil? that'd fit) on the screens hinge. toasty!

still Tiger seems to have heated my system up. probably Core-Image's fault.
Click to expand...
Hopfully this will be fixed in 10.4.1. :)
 
katie ta achoo said:
Whenever my iBook got uncomfortably hot, I'd put it on a trivet and if I knew I was doing something REALLY processor-intensive (burning a DVD, rendering video), I'd put it on a ice pack. It never over heated and froze!
Click to expand...

What's a Trivet?
 
leftbanke7 said:
Man, I thought this thread was going to be about how sexy Macs are. I am very much disappointed.
Click to expand...
Hahaha! I love it!!


WHEEZY- a trivet is what you put a hot pot on, so it doesn't melt the counter.
 
Well, it seems I didn't sucessfully use thet search function in these forums... I started a thread regarding this issue a few days ago (Link). Basically, my GPU seems to be the problem, it's always about 60°C hot... it's not the CPU... I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one with these problems. The 12" PB seems to be the only model affected... stupid NVidia graphics.

So, there are 3 threads on this issue now (This one too!), besides the ones that deal with the Virex/Tiger problem. Is there any way to merge them? (I know mods can do this, maybe some kind mod reads this :D )
 
I have also noticed that the GPU gets pretty dang hot too, maybe that's why I've seen the fan kick on at 120 CPU...and then eventually off at about 125, maybe it's been the GPU the whole time?

Scenario: I did some super use the other day with an external monitor, and my powerbook shut, sitting on a Targus Chill Pad...the fan hardly ever kicked on. I've also done the same thing, but with the Powerbook open, doing dual display, once again using hte Chill Pad, and the fan was on an awful lot...SO, it seems that if you mirror the display on an external, and keep the powerbook shut, it runs cooler. You lose the dual, but c'mon, a 19" LCD next to a 12" laptop screen doesn't make for cool dual! Literally!
 
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