It cant be the end just yet

[comda]

MODS: This is a post about an Early Intel Macbook. I understand it does not really fit here, however the Power PC community seems to know best on how to keep older machines working with todays needs, rather just to tell me to upgrade and therefore i am posting this here. Thanks

Power PC users. I am frustrated. I love apple products but its amazing how fast apple releases these amazing products and how fast they get discontinued and no longer supported. I own a Macbook 3,1 (computer in my signature) and it was left in the dust after mountain lion was released. As a university Student, im trying to get at least 3-4 more years out of it. Yet im running into issues and ive invested too much into this machine to pass it on just yet.

My first is fan speed/temperature. In lion the system would idle around 60 degrees Celsius, so im still using snow leopard, and temperature seems to vary on the websites im on. I redid the thermal paste last summer and noticed temps drop since the apple configuration. However even scrolling through Canadacomputer.com and other content pages my temp soars to 70-80 degrees celsius making my battery drop. I purchased a new battery last year so i want to get those next few years out of this. The sad part is while i had Mountain Lion the fans remained at a low pace all the time. In slow leopard it varies all the time. So should i redo the thermal paste again? Or any broswer you suggest? i got rid of flash and it helped a lot already. im using Firefox but switch between chrome. Facebook and or youtube is a no go on battery the fans will just fly and ill be dead soon.

Bootcamp- This really irritates me. A LOT. At the store i work at we still sell referb off lease systems with intel i3's, and late model Core 2 Duos and they run windows 7,8,8.1, 10 absolutely fine! I had windows 7 home on this system and it seemed to struggle. I have an SSD and it runs like its on a mechanical drive. I was told these systems use IDE mode in bootcamp, and had to trick it to run 64bit when apple made the drivers only 32bit. Now ive upgraded to windows 10 and the fans also vary but their a lot quieter then OSX. But the issue here is the bootcamp drivers are messed up and it wont let me use the function keys, and i cant change brightness from windows control panel by the battery. Other then that its quite nice actually. I watch Popcorn time full Hd with fans only at 2000RPM and temp at 60. So i want to know what bootcamp driver to disable to get the brightness back to windows control not the driver and what can i do to get the most battery life out of the windows side. On the Mac if im in office/web i get between 4.5-5.5 hours on a new battery.

It just seems like this machine is being bogged down. Like somethings wrong. I have an old IBM desktop i use and it has a Intel Core 2 Duo 4300 (2mb Cache running at 1.8Ghz) while this one has a Core 2 Duo 7400 running at 4mb cache at 2.2Ghz. Yet my IBM is much faster in windows 10 then this system is with its SSD either in windows or OSX.


Lastly, Because i have an SSD i had to get TRIM enabled on this system. I downloaded a Trimenabler for Snow leopard but ive noticed since then the update manager crashes. Although there are no more updates for snow, i was given ilife from the apple store and want to download all the garageband loops and it just crashes and freezes up on me.

ANY suggestions are accepted, i just need this system going. Much appreciate your help. You guys can keep decade PowerPC machines going so i figure this forum can and did help before. Thanks

 

[eyoungren]

Have you tried smcFan Control?
How about optimizing Firefox (see the link about TenFourFox in my signature)?
The rest I can't really help with, as I'm not really proficient with Bootcamp or TRIM.

But I am typing this on a 2006 17" MBP with really no issues.

 

[poiihy]

I love apple products but its amazing how fast apple releases these amazing products and how fast they get discontinued and no longer supported.

That's why Apple is so bloody hell rich.

 

[Intell]

That's why Apple is so bloody hell rich.

Not really. Macs are a very small part of Apple's overall profit. iPhones are the largest part and they have some of the longest software support of any phone by an OEM.

 

[Altemose]

@comda I have a couple of ideas that may work well for you...

I would begin by re-doing the thermal paste with either Arctic Silver 5 or Ceramique 2. I prefer Ceramique 2 due to its thicker consistency but to each their own. Those Core 2 Duo MacBooks run HOT and as a result, I have taken machines apart where the thermal paste was more burnt than a car that was on fire. That being said, the fans are critical for these machines and if the bearings are worn they will make a terrible racket and have trouble getting up to speed. I can post tips on oiling the fans if you would like me to.

As for browsing, Google Chrome is going to be quite possibly the worst thing you can use. I love that browser on my Chromebook and my MacBook Pro, but for machines of your vintage and even my own I would have to say go with Firefox if on Snow Leopard. I actually took @eyoungren's advice and used his tweaks on my Firefox install. I excluded the tweaks about animations and what not as a Core 2 Duo can certainly handle that better than my PowerBook, but I did take the basic set of his tweaks. I have a separate prefs.js file that I can send you to give you a hand with Firefox, but I recommend that you only use it on Firefox and not machines running TenFourFox. I use these tweaks on my mid-2012 classic MacBook Pro with an i5 and 16 GB of RAM and I still see a night and day difference.

Boot Camp is going to leave you at Apple's mercy when it comes to support. That being said, it may be a good time to start fresh and zero your drive and reinstall Snow Leopard. If you need DVDs of iLife and iWork for Snow Leopard then shoot me a private message.

 

[MagicBoy]

Fan speeds - Apple tend to run the CPUs hot to keep the fan noise down. 60C is fine - the CPUs are rated to 100/105C. The firmware will spool the fans up quickly at 80C+. OS X Graphics acceleration is limited in the Core Duo/Core 2 Duo machines with Intel graphics - for example there's no hardware acceleration for H.264 video so Video, Flash or HTML 5 will spin the fans up quickly due to CPU activity.

Boot Camp - The last supported version from Apple is Windows 7 32-bit, which incidentally is supported until 2020. If you run Windows 8/10 or 64-bit that then it's uncharted waters as Apple don't support it. Windows 7 drivers might work for some devices, but from experience of dealing with other manufacturers PC laptops of the same era Power Management and Hotkey support are problem areas as they're non-standard devices and interface with the firmware of the laptop. Common components like Chipsets, Graphics, WiFi and Audio are often supported by inbox drivers supplied with Windows.

Performance - depends on the SSD model. With lack of TRIM support some drives may experience slowdown if the garbage collection is poor and the drive is at 85%+ capacity.

I'd backup your data, secure erase the SSD with the manufacturer tools and re-install from scratch, using Windows 7 32-bit and whatever version of OS X you are happiest with.

 

[comda]

Have you tried smcFan Control?
How about optimizing Firefox (see the link about TenFourFox in my signature)?
The rest I can't really help with, as I'm not really proficient with Bootcamp or TRIM.

But I am typing this on a 2006 17" MBP with really no issues.

The pros had dual CPU coolers for the video did they not? And yes i use SMC but i need the battery life.

@comda I have a couple of ideas that may work well for you...

I would begin by re-doing the thermal paste with either Arctic Silver 5 or Ceramique 2. I prefer Ceramique 2 due to its thicker consistency but to each their own. Those Core 2 Duo MacBooks run HOT and as a result, I have taken machines apart where the thermal paste was more burnt than a car that was on fire. That being said, the fans are critical for these machines and if the bearings are worn they will make a terrible racket and have trouble getting up to speed. I can post tips on oiling the fans if you would like me to.

As for browsing, Google Chrome is going to be quite possibly the worst thing you can use. I love that browser on my Chromebook and my MacBook Pro, but for machines of your vintage and even my own I would have to say go with Firefox if on Snow Leopard. I actually took @eyoungren's advice and used his tweaks on my Firefox install. I excluded the tweaks about animations and what not as a Core 2 Duo can certainly handle that better than my PowerBook, but I did take the basic set of his tweaks. I have a separate prefs.js file that I can send you to give you a hand with Firefox, but I recommend that you only use it on Firefox and not machines running TenFourFox. I use these tweaks on my mid-2012 classic MacBook Pro with an i5 and 16 GB of RAM and I still see a night and day difference.

Boot Camp is going to leave you at Apple's mercy when it comes to support. That being said, it may be a good time to start fresh and zero your drive and reinstall Snow Leopard. If you need DVDs of iLife and iWork for Snow Leopard then shoot me a private message.

I guess i shall redo the thermal paste. I think it was with arctic but im not sure. It was not silicone based for sure. And i will defiantly try the tweeks. As for a clean install what do you mean by zero'ing out my drive? Snow leopards corrupt?

 

[comda]

Fan speeds - Apple tend to run the CPUs hot to keep the fan noise down. 60C is fine - the CPUs are rated to 100/105C. The firmware will spool the fans up quickly at 80C+. OS X Graphics acceleration is limited in the Core Duo/Core 2 Duo machines with Intel graphics - for example there's no hardware acceleration for H.264 video so Video, Flash or HTML 5 will spin the fans up quickly due to CPU activity.

Boot Camp - The last supported version from Apple is Windows 7 32-bit, which incidentally is supported until 2020. If you run Windows 8/10 or 64-bit that then it's uncharted waters as Apple don't support it. Windows 7 drivers might work for some devices, but from experience of dealing with other manufacturers PC laptops of the same era Power Management and Hotkey support are problem areas as they're non-standard devices and interface with the firmware of the laptop. Common components like Chipsets, Graphics, WiFi and Audio are often supported by inbox drivers supplied with Windows.

Performance - depends on the SSD model. With lack of TRIM support some drives may experience slowdown if the garbage collection is poor and the drive is at 85%+ capacity.

I'd backup your data, secure erase the SSD with the manufacturer tools and re-install from scratch, using Windows 7 32-bit and whatever version of OS X you are happiest with.

That is why i have stayed with Snow leopard. Lion seemed to have issues running anything with video. Mountain Lion didnt struggle one bit but because of it being ML POST FACTOR my wifi at school refuses to work.

I have a Kingston 300v 240GB model and i do have TRIM enabler install in snow leopard and windows installed TRIM itself. Is there a reason you are suggesting return to windows 7 and 32bit? 64 ran much better on the system and thanks to another member here i got the bootcamp drivers to work in 64 bit. Now they have issues thanks to windows 10 but still quite satisfied with 10's performance. My fans idle at 1800 even while watching pop corn time in HD (720 or even 1080p) the only issue is my brightness level, and the fact it crashes when i access the mac partition whilst in windows.

 

[MagicBoy]

The pros had dual CPU coolers for the video did they not? And yes i use SMC but i need the battery life.

MacBook Pros have two fans, and a shared heatsink design for the CPU, Northbridge and dGPU. MacBooks require less cooling as they lack the dGPU so only require a single fan. I wouldn't anticipate that SMC Fan Control would impact battery life significantly.

I guess i shall redo the thermal paste. I think it was with arctic but im not sure. It was not silicone based for sure. And i will defiantly try the tweeks. As for a clean install what do you mean by zero'ing out my drive? Snow leopards corrupt?

You need to secure erase the SSD if possible. It sets the drive back to as new condition.

That is why i have stayed with Snow leopard. Lion seemed to have issues running anything with video. Mountain Lion didnt struggle one bit but because of it being ML POST FACTOR my wifi at school refuses to work.

I have a Kingston 300v 240GB model and i do have TRIM enabler install in snow leopard and windows installed TRIM itself. Is there a reason you are suggesting return to windows 7 and 32bit? 64 ran much better on the system and thanks to another member here i got the bootcamp drivers to work in 64 bit. Now they have issues thanks to windows 10 but still quite satisfied with 10's performance. My fans idle at 1800 even while watching pop corn time in HD (720 or even 1080p) the only issue is my brightness level, and the fact it crashes when i access the mac partition whilst in windows.

It doesn't help that there's multiple versions of the Kingston 300 over a couple of year span, some of the later ones have weak performance.

I'd go back to Windows 7 32-bit - we know it works. If you can live with the Windows 10 issues then so be it, but don't expect a fix.

 

[Altemose]

I guess i shall redo the thermal paste. I think it was with arctic but im not sure. It was not silicone based for sure. And i will defiantly try the tweeks. As for a clean install what do you mean by zero'ing out my drive? Snow leopards corrupt?

Try the Ceramique 2 as it may be easier for you to get a good coat. Of course, make sure you completely clean the surfaces before applying. Do you want the separate Firefox prefs.js file I have? Wipe the drive fully in Disk Utility before installing Snow Leopard again.

 

[comda]

Try the Ceramique 2 as it may be easier for you to get a good coat. Of course, make sure you completely clean the surfaces before applying. Do you want the separate Firefox prefs.js file I have? Wipe the drive fully in Disk Utility before installing Snow Leopard again.

Would zero-ing out the drive be repartitioning it using disk utility within the snow leopard installer? or would this be third party? ive done a lot with computers however this is my first SSD..

As for OSX, aside from newer software, why else would i go to Lion? or should i just stick with Snow? So far the only unsupported piece of software that is use is Teamviewer and due to an older version on OSX i can no longer connect to my PCs. Aside from that, i use office 2011, adobe CS4, firefox (latest updates still work in Snow for now) google drive, skype, SMC fan control, VLC etc. I used to use parallels desktop but the fans get way too loud and the Virtual machine is just too slow.. Would there be anything better in Lion other then more software support? This is mainly a school machine..

 

[MagicBoy]

For the third time - Secure Erase : http://www.kingston.com/en/communit...SSD-Data-Wiping-Sanitize-or-Secure-Erase-SSDs

 

[Altemose]

Would zero-ing out the drive be repartitioning it using disk utility within the snow leopard installer? or would this be third party? ive done a lot with computers however this is my first SSD..

Partitioning will not help. You need to securely erase the drive either using the steps @MagicBoy posted or by using a tool like PartedMagic.