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Macbook air Overheating help

Mason Dulemba

Mason Dulemba

macrumors member
Original poster
Mar 16, 2016
83
15
United states
Hello everyone, I have a 2011 MacBook air and I am having some major overheating problems. I have already done a smc, pram reset, ran the fans at 6000+rpm, cleaned out the fans and distribution find for the heat sync out (very throughly), made sure the fan was spinning, and lastly removed the stock thermal paste and gave it some artic silver....
The specs on the MacBook are as follows; mid 2011 11" MacBook air 4gb ram i5 processor, 128gb ssd with OSX 10.10.5.
The battery is fine I'm guessing its an overheating because the back is toasty and it turns back on to a white login screen if you leave it sit out for a bit.

Thanks,
Mason Dulemba
-Lead Programmer for FRC robotics team 3266
-Tech at Eaton computer
-Registered Apple developer
-Sophomore in Highschool
 
Last edited:
You haven't mentioned whether you've been running Activity Monitor to see if there's a process driving that heat. Similarly, no mention of whether you've checked battery health via System Report > Hardware > Power, or run Diagnostics.

When you say it "turns back on to a white login screen" - does the system restart and leave you at system login, or that it's screensaver and you have System Preferences > Security & Privacy set to require a password after sleep or screensaver begins. Do you have Screen Saver set to a blank, white screen?
 
ApfelKuchen said:
You haven't mentioned whether you've been running Activity Monitor to see if there's a process driving that heat. Similarly, no mention of whether you've checked battery health via System Report > Hardware > Power, or run Diagnostics.

When you say it "turns back on to a white login screen" - does the system restart and leave you at system login, or that it's screensaver and you have System Preferences > Security & Privacy set to require a password after sleep or screensaver begins. Do you have Screen Saver set to a blank, white screen?
Click to expand...
About the white screen login thing Yes it does everything even the password reset thing and i didnt even press anything ....
about activity monitor ive checked it but nothing is using very much power, right now just at idle its at 3930 and at around 45C.
 
This happened to our daughter's 2012 13-in MBA. The repair shop said the previous repair shop (for a different repair that required opening the case) had incorrectly applied thermal paste, re-did the job, and that seems to have fixed it.

Before she took it in an on-campus repair said it was a bad logic board. I walked her through Activity Monitor, plus PRAM et al resets.
 
So the thermal paste seemed to fix it ???
kohlson said:
This happened to our daughter's 2012 13-in MBA. The repair shop said the previous repair shop (for a different repair that required opening the case) had incorrectly applied thermal paste, re-did the job, and that seems to have fixed it.

Before she took it in an on-campus repair said it was a bad logic board. I walked her through Activity Monitor, plus PRAM et al resets.
Click to expand...
[doublepost=1462662380][/doublepost]
Significant1 said:
Try installing Macs fan control:
http://www.crystalidea.com/products?ref=fancontrol_mac
It display several temperatur sensors so you can narrow it down. You might also gain control of the fan, if it not because of heat. 45C is nowhere near overheating.
Click to expand...
Yes im using it already its pretty helpful..... may try el capitan and hope they included a smc update for my MBA :/
I know 45C is nowhere near overheating but at around 200F it seems to shut off (again just assuming its overheating not 100% sure its the issue, just seems logical)
 
Last edited:
Am surprised you did all that wo having firm temp readings from the sensor's chips. BTW we all deal with computer temp readings in Centigrade, so there is no confusion.

At 170F=76c, OK, that's on the high side but shutdown? At this temp, the fan should be spining near 6,000 RPM, does it? That's normally what should happen. At 6,000 you WILL hear the roar in addition to looking at the monitor.
 
Yes as said before I set the fans to a
Mrbobb said:
Am surprised you did all that wo having firm temp readings from the sensor's chips. BTW we all deal with computer temp readings in Centigrade, so there is no confusion.

At 170F=76c, OK, that's on the high side but shutdown? At this temp, the fan should be spining near 6,000 RPM, does it? That's normally what should happen. At 6,000 you WILL hear the roar in addition to looking at the monitor.
Click to expand...
Yes as said before I set the fans to a constant 6500 RPM and it still overheats around 160-170F
 
Mason Dulemba said:
Hello everyone, I have a 2011 MacBook air and I am having some major overheating problems. I have already done a smc, pram reset, ran the fans at 6000+rpm, cleaned out the fans and distribution find for the heat sync out (very throughly), made sure the fan was spinning, and lastly removed the stock thermal paste and gave it some artic silver....
The specs on the MacBook are as follows; mid 2011 11" MacBook air 4gb ram i5 processor, 128gb ssd with OSX 10.10.5.
The battery is fine I'm guessing its an overheating because the back is toasty and it turns back on to a white login screen if you leave it sit out for a bit.

Thanks,
Mason Dulemba
-Lead Programmer for FRC robotics team 3266
-Tech at Eaton computer
-Registered Apple developer
-Sophomore in Highschool
Click to expand...

Find these files and delete

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2017-08-27 00:27:20 - /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.quoroden.plist - Unknown

2017-09-01 20:53:31 - ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.gavotte.plist - Unknown

2017-09-01 20:53:45 - /Library/LaunchAgents/com.cataclysm_blockishly.plist - Unknown

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[doublepost=1504280272][/doublepost]Find these files and delete

Files deleted by EtreCheck: ⓘ

2017-08-27 00:27:20 - /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.quoroden.plist - Unknown

2017-09-01 20:53:31 - ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.gavotte.plist - Unknown

2017-09-01 20:53:45 - /Library/LaunchAgents/com.cataclysm_blockishly.plist - Unknown

2017-09-01 20:53:45 - /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.iIeSfVDG.plist - Unknown
 
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