Late 2006 MBP high fan speeds

[paragonj]

Hello all,

I am experiencing a problem with my Late 2006 2.16MHz 15" MBP. Sometimes when it is plugged in, my fans will start to slowly build up speed and continually get faster. Using iStat, I've seen fan speeds reaching 6k rpms. I can only assume that this is not normal, since I usually am only running four apps during when this happens (Finder, Adium, Mail.app, and Firefox). Does anybody know of a solution to this, or what the problem is? If I contact AppleCare (computer is less than a year old) do I have a chance of getting a replacement?

Thanks.

 

[JWest]

What are your temps like? High fan speeds aren't necessarily a bad thing, it just means your computer is getting hot and it's trying to cool itself down. Wait for the fans to get that fast and then post your temps.

 

[metrocon]

If your CPU isn't being taxed, something isn't right. My late 2006 MBP only revs up to 6000 rpms when I'm doing very CPU-intensive work. If your CPU is working a lot with just those apps running, something software/OS related is wrong.

Something may have gone bad with your thermal control unit, it happened to my Powerbook G4 a few years ago. I had a really hard time convincing the Apple Store Geniuses that it was a problem though, they told me that the full-blast fan was 'normal behavior'. I was able to convince them to send it in to have the keyboard replaced though, and when I got it back, the note said the thermal control unit had been replaced as well, and it went back to normal non-hairdryer behavior.

 

[bmcgrath]

Call them up and see what they say. Are you near an Apple store?
Btw they won't just replace your machine. I've tried that method.

 

[xeux]

Let's stop and take a look at the obvious stuff.

If your MacBook Pro hasn't had hardware over heating related issues until now that's very unlikely.

So let's open "Activity Monitor" from the utilities folder and find out what is taxing your CPU.

Report back with a screenshot or reply of the top 5 hungry CPU processes.

(Be sure to sort by CPU Usage and Compare, Also don't forget to check when your fans are screaming.)

 

[xeux]

Should look something like this :

 

[paragonj]

Screengrabs of Activity Monitor and iStat attached. It says I'm using 73% of the CPU, but the top processes don't add up to anywhere near that. You can see the CPU usage jump in iStat. I believe that happened when I plugged my MBP in. Any suggestions?

 

[Totty]

I know this is a shot in the dark, especially considering that it is showing 0.0% cpu on your shot, but are you using the newest version of Mozy? I was using an older version on a macbook and it ate up the cpu and constantly froze my computer. I would make sure that is updated, and, if the problem persists, try disabling it temporarily to see if the newest version is bugged as well.

No offense Mozy guys, if any of you happen to see this... I love your stuff.

 

[paragonj]

I'm downloading the new version of Mozy now (0.9.1 -> 0.9.2), but this problem started occuring before I used Mozy.

 

[Totty]

Open activity monitor back up and set the Show dropdown to All Processes instead of just My Processes and lets have another look at a screenshot.

 

[paragonj]

Oops...didn't catch that. I restarted my machine and it's not exhibiting the behavior right now. Next time it happens, I will post the new shot.

 

[xeux]

Oops...didn't catch that. I restarted my machine and it's not exhibiting the behavior right now. Next time it happens, I will post the new shot.

Let us know.... More than likely you have a process eating away at CPU resources raising the temps.

On the bright side, your machine has nothing wrong with the hardware.

 

[paragonj]

Well, it looks like Norton Anti-Virus is causing the problem (see screenshots) ...so I guess I have two questions.

1) Why would it only happen when the computer is plugged in?
2) Do I really need Anti-Virus?

 

[xeux]

Well, it looks like Norton Anti-Virus is causing the problem (see screenshots) ...so I guess I have two questions.

1) Why would it only happen when the computer is plugged in?
2) Do I really need Anti-Virus?

1) Maybe Norton is triggered to start when the machine is on AC power for a full scan?

2)Please do yourself a favor and remove all things norton. They are complete crap on the mac and pc. Not sure why you would even want anti-virus hogging resources on a mac.

Also understand that your Norton is a Power PC Process which is making the machine emulate and work even harder.....

 

[paragonj]

I guess I'll take it off. The only reason I put it on is because my company's IT policy is that you can't VPN into their network unless you have Norton installed.