Today while I was using my MacBook Air the temperature jumped really high for no apparent reason it reached 204 Degrees Celsius (CPU). Im not even sure how this is possible, I was just browsing Twitter on chrome with no other tabs open or any other programs. In iStat Menus the CPU was jumping really high, Finder was taking 140% of my CPU somehow. This kept on going for 10 minutes until Finder suddenly stopped sucking up the CPU usage should I do a clean reinstall of Mac OS Mavericks? This isn't the first time that this happened, this happened a couple days ago too.
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MacBook Air 204 Degrees C for no reason
- Thread starter Jonathanchasr
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It's not possible for it to reach 204°C, as your Mac would shut down once it reached 105°C. It sounds like it could be a faulty sensor.
I know you love to post canned responses but it doesn't shut off at 105c lol
anyways.. maybe OP meant 204F
I know you love to post canned responses but it doesn't shut off at 105c lol
anyways.. maybe OP meant 204F
My response was not canned, and 105C is Tjmax on the Intel processors used in Apple notebooks. There is no way the processor is getting to 204°C. The OP specifically stated "Celsius" in the body of the post and "C" in the title.
The Intel processors used in Macs are designed to automatically shut down to prevent damage if they truly overheat. CPU Tjmax = 105C (221F), GPU Tjmax = 100C (212F) on i3, i5, i7 processors. (Source: Intel)
And anyway, 140% CPU is quite normal (because it counts each core separately, so dual core CPUs can get 200%, quad core 400%, and quad core with hyperthreading 800%). Unless you wrap the MacBook into a blanket to avoid heat from escaping, 140% CPU usage doesn't do anything that hurts the Mac.
I meant he might have made a typo.
Sure. He might have made a typo, and the real temperature was 2040 degree Celsius. That's why he isn't responding anymore; he's incinerated to ashes by his MacBook.
% is not degrees
The usage percentage has nothing to do with the heat. The processor shuts down at 105C°, no matter if it's at 100% use, or 415% use.
To OP:
The Finder issue you're describing sounds a lot like a bug in the developer previews of Mavericks. It should have been fixed for the final release, and I have not heard anyone else mention it, but you might want to do a reinstall, if no important files are on your computer. Or just wait and see if Finder misbehaves again.
The usage percentage has nothing to do with the heat. The processor shuts down at 105C°, no matter if it's at 100% use, or 415% use.
To OP:
The Finder issue you're describing sounds a lot like a bug in the developer previews of Mavericks. It should have been fixed for the final release, and I have not heard anyone else mention it, but you might want to do a reinstall, if no important files are on your computer. Or just wait and see if Finder misbehaves again.
You are right, I forgot that Intel Processors shut down at a certain temperature... Its probably going to melt at this temperature, Im going to reset the PRAM and other things once I get home, Ill update you guys on what happens after.
I can't remember off the top of my head specifically, but an SMC reset will also reset certain aspects of the core components to the operating system. Sounds like you may have a faulty sensor on the heat sink, or something screwy going on. Try the PRAM reset and SMC reset before going full reinstall.