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Macbook overheating?

W

willdahbe

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 5, 2008
3
0
Sorry if this has been discussed on here before, but i searched the forums and google with no cases similar to mine.

Ok I have a 2.0 macbook with 2g ram 80gb harddrive with 29gb free. My problem is that my macbook runs idle at around 130-140 degrees fahrenheit. When I go to Youtube it goes up to around 160 degrees and when I go to Google Books and open up a page my macbook reaches around 180 degrees:eek: I also do a lot of audio production and temperatures reach a steady 165-180 if I have a fair bit of processing going on.

What the hell is going on? I need to use google books for school and don't think it is safe to use my MB at such high temps. Also with all of the audio work I do I imagine that the lifespan of this computer will not last very long.

Has anyone else had this very strange overheating problem with Google Books? Or while connecting a external monitor? Or while watching simple videos via the web? Or while working on music sets that only are eating 45% of the cpu?

Oh yeah I have had my laptop for a little under a year. Do you think apple will fix this problem or give me a new laptop?

Sorry if this post is a bit redundant...
 
willdahbe said:
Sorry if this has been discussed on here before, but i searched the forums and google with no cases similar to mine.

Ok I have a 2.0 macbook with 2g ram 80gb harddrive with 29gb free. My problem is that my macbook runs idle at around 130-140 degrees fahrenheit. When I go to Youtube it goes up to around 160 degrees and when I go to Google Books and open up a page my macbook reaches around 180 degrees:eek: I also do a lot of audio production and temperatures reach a steady 165-180 if I have a fair bit of processing going on.

What the hell is going on? I need to use google books for school and don't think it is safe to use my MB at such high temps. Also with all of the audio work I do I imagine that the lifespan of this computer will not last very long.

Has anyone else had this very strange overheating problem with Google Books? Or while connecting a external monitor? Or while watching simple videos via the web? Or while working on music sets that only are eating 45% of the cpu?

Oh yeah I have had my laptop for a little under a year. Do you think apple will fix this problem or give me a new laptop?

Sorry if this post is a bit redundant...
Click to expand...

180*F is too hot. I would call Apple because I know that MB do not run IDLE at 140*F. Mine is running with 4 programs open at only 120*F. Sounds like a problem.
 
I'm assuming Google Books is using some form of flash? I don't know what to say but flash has a big problem on my macbook. I can't leave any flash running in Safari, because it will make the notebook heat up. Check activity monitor and take a screen shot ( :apple: + shift + 4) when this happens so we can see what's running.
 
My Macbook, even while watching a movie, does my MB get hot enough I cannot hold it on my lap. It can get warm, and maybe a bit uncomfortable but I have never needed to throw it off my lap.
 
When it gets to the point when its too hot that you cant touch it, its a fire/safety hazard and Apple has to take it back. There was a guy the other day on here who got 1st degree burns on his hand because she touched his iBook when it was charging.
 
Cool6324 said:
I'm assuming Google Books is using some form of flash? I don't know what to say but flash has a big problem on my macbook. I can't leave any flash running in Safari, because it will make the notebook heat up. Check activity monitor and take a screen shot ( :apple: + shift + 4) when this happens so we can see what's running.
Click to expand...

Here's an image.
pic1mf7.png

By willdahbe at 2008-01-05
 
The Airport cards in MacBooks are notoriously hot. Mine runs at a constant 150˚F+, even when I'm not surfing the net. Youtube and the likes will give you problems because you are overtaxing the card from the constant downloading of videos or books. When I surf YouTube for about an hour, mine can heat up to 170-180, but the rest of the machine stays fairly cool. I don't think Apple will be handing out new laptops for overheating MacBooks any time soon, they just run hot, and thats the sacrifice you make for the smaller size of the computer. I hate to see how hot the new sub-notebooks will run, knowing Steve history of just forgetting about fans all together to cut noise in the Apple III!!
 
We are talking about the macbook. Though the ibook does get warm it is a totally different line and series.

1. First thing make sure you aren't blocking the back of the macbook because that is the only place that allows airflow out.

2. Generally we measure computer components, in Celsius.

3. 120-140ºF is around 50ºC-60Cº.

4. I'll use the processor in my macbook as an example because it won't differ much from yours.

http://processorfinder.intel.com/details.aspx?sSpec=SLA44

Thermal Specification:

100°C


Intel States
The thermal specification shown is the maximum case temperature at the maximum Thermal Design Power (TDP) value for that processor. It is measured at the geometric center on the topside of the processor integrated heat spreader. For processors without integrated heat spreaders such as mobile processors, the thermal specification is referred to as the junction temperature (Tj). The maximum junction temperature is defined by an activation of the processor Intel® Thermal Monitor. The Intel Thermal Monitor’s automatic mode is used to indicate that the maximum TJ has been reached.
Click to expand...

5. Based on the temperatures you are getting, you are well under the specified maximum temperature. My macbook has hit 80ºC when I encode dvds. I feel that there may be a problem with the applications you are running, that's why it is best to see how much of the cpu they are using. Higher cpu processes = higher temperatures.

6. Ignore the other posters comments about sending it back to apple for replacement. The macbook is working perfectly fine and is well within the range for it's normal temperature. Even as I type with safari opened I am at 50Cº.
 
willdahbe said:
Here's an image.
at 2008-01-05
Click to expand...


Ah, as I expected. Safari is using a significant amount of the cpu. The only thing I can recommend is to use firefox with google books. There is no problem with your computer; Safari has a problem and this frequently happens to me. Also forgive the other long post, I posted without seeing your post.
 
Hey thanks cool6324 I will try firefox and see how that works out. Also thanks to everyone else for the info. ;)
 
You should install smcFanControl and run it between 2,500 and 3,500rpm

it'll keep your laptop really cool and not do any damage to your fans

That's what i've been doing with my MacBook Pro and i've noticed a big difference
 
mine runs very hot as well. i have a Macbook1 1.83ghz, 2gb ram and i upgraded to a 320gb hdd. PM me and ill send you this SMC Fan Control App. i run my fan at full 6200 RPM all the time, keeps the temp around 109-111 degrees F.
 
Well I've been having this issue for a little under a year with my 2.16ghz Macbook Core 2 Duo and finally found my solution. simply, there was an enourmous amount of dust clogging up the passage from the fan to the heatsink, so much so that you couldn't even see the heatsink my fans were running at 6000RPM and 80C until i cleaned out the heatsink and now i'm back down to 1000RPM-2500 RPM and 55C to 68C be very careful if you want to do this on your own but check out ifixit.com for instruction on how to remove your fan once you remove it you'll be able to see all the dust and lint.
Hope this helps
I think it took me so long to do this because I didn't want to take my computer apart but taking apart this macbook is much easier than my old G4 powerbook.
Oh and using SMC Fan Control while my comptuer was like this almost broke my fan, in fact I may end up having to buy a new one at some point after usign that program for a couple weeks. so just go get it dealt with.
 
very angry

I asked for the best mac laptop at the shop to run World Of Warcraft.and he suggested this macbook pro 13" 2.26gHz
i am super angry because while i was playing the temp got up to 92 degrees celcius :eek: ,i quit immediately cause i heard stories about them catching fire. i have it on wood, and a raised back for heat to escape, but it still got that high :( what do I do? get a refund? :(:confused:
 
ameliamay said:
I asked for the best mac laptop at the shop to run World Of Warcraft.and he suggested this macbook pro 13" 2.26gHz
i am super angry because while i was playing the temp got up to 92 degrees celcius :eek: ,i quit immediately cause i heard stories about them catching fire. i have it on wood, and a raised back for heat to escape, but it still got that high :( what do I do? get a refund? :(:confused:
Click to expand...

Why? What is wrong with it? Did the fans not spin up? If that's the case, take it to the Genius Bar so they can check it out. Otherwise, you'll be fine. It's not going to catch fire.
 
I've played World of Warcraft on my MacBook for about 7 months of the three years I've owned it. During those 7 months I learned a lot of things to keep the temperature of my laptop low enough to run the game (it would start to get glitchy after about 165℉ or 72℃). Here are some things that can help keep it more around 140℉/60℃:

  • Play in a cool room, around 70℉/21℃ or lower.
  • Keep the back vents unrestricted.
  • Elevate the bottom of the laptop from any surface.
  • If it is resting on your lap, spread your legs a bit so that just the edges are on your thighs.
  • Use smcFanControl... it works miracles.
  • Keep background applications to a minimum, i.e. no iTunes.
  • Remove the battery. This has rarely failed me.
 
fixed mine with thermal compound

My old A1150 started getting up to 118 degrees celsius before shutting down. I removed the ugly gobs of thermal compound from the CPU and applied arctic silver. Now my temperature is back down to 51 degrees celsius. It bothers me that Apple never fessed up to this defect. There should have been a class-action lawsuit (was there one?). Details here:

http://www.ynform.org/w/Pub/MacbookProA1150OverheatingProblem
 
My solutions

I play World of Warcraft and had this overheating problem too. I play on a Macbook Pro Duo, one of the first ones. I ended up getting Fan Control, CoolBook, and a platform fan. I also have the door to the express card slot open to allow more airflow across the Airport Extreme. Seems to work just fine now :) I also remove the battery.

UPDATE: On a hunch I went back to OSX 10.5.8 via TimeMachine. I dont have those overheating issue now, and dont even need FanControl that much. Oh and I can have my battery in :p
 
Hi Everyone

First flash plugins problem exist and we are waiting for response from adobe.

Second you have this perfect tutorial about how to prevent your macbook get hot.

For watching tutorial click over here.

FOR Downloading and installing SMCFANCONTROL click over here.

For downloading coolbook in case you don't like smcfancontrol click over here.


After successfully following all instructions on video tutorial I have shown you , wait at least a couple of 5 hours , so your computer system explain to your hardware what order it recived from user, and until it regulat u will need to wait a couple of hours but dont worry your macbook will run perfect , and if you have between 60C and 70C try to undrestand that probably your macbook also got a little older and aswell meybe you are doing heavy works on your macbook and it is getting older faster then others, it is hot outside and my macbook cool down from 115C to around 70C and 60C by this tutorials help, and I am using heavy applications at the time and my macbook 13" is 1 years old and I find it respectful.

Also try to watch your stream videos on divx it works better and eat less of your CPU %, and also when you have an application for example such as video converters active dont try to look around to watch some flash videos , becous the image quality will be really low. So stop killing your macbook aswell specially when it is macbook pro or any other mac laptop.


I hope this helped you out , an also dont be scared to open your macbook for cleaning fan , honestly dont be sure your mac fan is clean , it depends how and where u keep it , so go and clean it before forcing fan with applications such as smcfancontrol it really works if you try to follow instructions.
 
overheating macbook stuffed heatsink: Resolved!

Hi Everyone,

I just registered to share this fix as it has done it for me after weeks of hell!!:mad:
My laptop has been increasingly overheating and shutting down as soon I was doing anything more than email checking (movie, skype, etc..) to the point it became un-usable and so boiling you couldn't keep it on your knees. Searching for a solution through the threads I was reading on the web, I then installed SMC fan monitor to find out my macbook was quickly heating to 85C before shutting down and ultimately bought CoolBook 1.8 in order to drop the voltages.

It didn't work.

Putting the values as low as possible didn't do much as my problem was somewhere else... The heatsink.
[I still believe Coolbook is a very smart app by the way it can extend the battery life especially when you want to enjoy ur laptop on a long flight journey].

So, the culprit was the heatsink. When I opened my laptop following some step by step tutorial (Ifixit has been pretty useful), I was shocked by the quantity of dust stuffed between the fan and the heatsink. Just removed it and cleaned it very carefully with a small hover. Since it's heaven!!!:p

Running 2 videos at the same time, my favourite dj software, skype, multitab web, itunes all at the same time and it barely exceeds 50C !!

My macbook rocks again!!, I hope it will help you out!.

Check out:
www.mediafire.com/imageview.php?quickkey=985qp3q73r5oa22&thumb=4

PS: Although its pretty easy to do, I highly recommend to have this manipulation done by a professional. Good Luck!:cool:
 

Attachments

  • Dust on the macbook .jpg
    Dust on the macbook .jpg
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Overheating Problems

I am brand new to the Macbook world and am just about to purchase one for the coming school year....

Is there any difference in the overheating issue between the model years (i.e. the 2.2 GHz/7 hour battery model and the new 2.4 GHz/10 hour battery model).

I seem to recall hearing that one was better than other but I am coming up empty on searches for some reason.
 
brokejumper said:
I am brand new to the Macbook world and am just about to purchase one for the coming school year....

Is there any difference in the overheating issue between the model years (i.e. the 2.2 GHz/7 hour battery model and the new 2.4 GHz/10 hour battery model).

I seem to recall hearing that one was better than other but I am coming up empty on searches for some reason.
Click to expand...

I assume you are talking about the 13" in which case I am pretty sure there is no significant difference. They share the same internal design and CPU heat dissipation.
I own a 2009 and have had discussions with 2010 owners on here so I am fairly confident.

If you are asking about 15" and 17" it is possible the newer ones will run a bit hotter, the i5 and i7 CPUs generate more heat at full load than the Core2Duos in the older models.

I really wouldn't worry about overheating, the thermal design is well proven (millions sold!) and works well. If you run artificial stress tests the CPU can get quite hot, Apple's fan control algorithm is designed that way. But the CPU always stays within Intel specifications. If the warm CPU makes you paranoid you can run SMCfancontrol to increase cooling when eg gaming. No problems.
 
Macbook overheating?

hello, friends i am new to this forum.It's just the way they run. Mine gets so hot I can't touch the bottom sometimes, I have to really watch it. thank you so much.









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