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MacBook Pro (late 2008 unibody) runs extremely hot when running XP via BootCamp
- Thread starter majicman
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id say the keyboard gets hotter while gaming because the GPU is seeing more action, it is situated around there so i guess that is why the keyboard heats up a ton.
I have almost the exact same problem... but no answer.
I've been finding lots of forums discussing this issue on Google. But no one (more importantly Apple) seems to have a good solution.
Using MacBook Pro 15.4 inch Unibody, 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2GB RAM, 250GB HD, Mac OS X 10.5.6
Installed Windows XP SP2 on 25GB (FAT 32) partition to run some work programs. And all the latest Apple drivers are installed.
When booting into the Windows XP OS, my MBP aluminum body just above the "esc", F1, F2, F3, F4 buttons gets extremely HOT. Usually within the 30 minutes. I mean so hot you don't can't keep your hands on it. The opposite side (above F10-F12 and "eject") is warm, but not as hot. This happens even while idle, sleeping, and with minimal programs running in background. Switching quickly to Mac OS and running iStat Pro, the CPU A temp is in the mid 60 degrees. Much hotter than the usual 45 degrees in Mac OS X. If I run Parallels virtualizing Windows XP, I note the temperature does not get that hot. I am too scared to run my Bootcamp Windows XP for longer than 1 hour.
My keyboard lights also will not completely turn off. I doubt the keyboard light is what is causing the excessive heat... but who knows.
This is really annoying because it seems like a software issue. If the Mac OS can "access the fans", "throttle the video GPU", or whatever else people are suggesting is causing the excessive heat, shouldn't there be some sort of Apple driver or software solution to run in Windows XP? Plus, it really limits the usable time when booting into Windows XP
SMCFanControl v1.23 states that my MBP is not supported. That sucks...
Bottom line... Apple should address this issue. You pay top dollar for an amazing machine (in some respects) and there are some really terrible design flaws also. Definitely not an Apple fan and I miss my Thinkpad.
I've been finding lots of forums discussing this issue on Google. But no one (more importantly Apple) seems to have a good solution.
Using MacBook Pro 15.4 inch Unibody, 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2GB RAM, 250GB HD, Mac OS X 10.5.6
Installed Windows XP SP2 on 25GB (FAT 32) partition to run some work programs. And all the latest Apple drivers are installed.
When booting into the Windows XP OS, my MBP aluminum body just above the "esc", F1, F2, F3, F4 buttons gets extremely HOT. Usually within the 30 minutes. I mean so hot you don't can't keep your hands on it. The opposite side (above F10-F12 and "eject") is warm, but not as hot. This happens even while idle, sleeping, and with minimal programs running in background. Switching quickly to Mac OS and running iStat Pro, the CPU A temp is in the mid 60 degrees. Much hotter than the usual 45 degrees in Mac OS X. If I run Parallels virtualizing Windows XP, I note the temperature does not get that hot. I am too scared to run my Bootcamp Windows XP for longer than 1 hour.
My keyboard lights also will not completely turn off. I doubt the keyboard light is what is causing the excessive heat... but who knows.
This is really annoying because it seems like a software issue. If the Mac OS can "access the fans", "throttle the video GPU", or whatever else people are suggesting is causing the excessive heat, shouldn't there be some sort of Apple driver or software solution to run in Windows XP? Plus, it really limits the usable time when booting into Windows XP
SMCFanControl v1.23 states that my MBP is not supported. That sucks...
Bottom line... Apple should address this issue. You pay top dollar for an amazing machine (in some respects) and there are some really terrible design flaws also. Definitely not an Apple fan and I miss my Thinkpad.
Install the latest version of SMCFancontrol, manually set the fan speed to something between 3000rpm and 4000rpm (so noise stays within limits) and then reboot in XP, should keep your laptop a bit cooler. Still, it does get very hot in Windows compared to OSx. This is mainly because Windows isn't optimised for Mac and in Windows you always use the 9600GT at full speed (which causes the heat).
I only (and rarely) use Windows on my MBP to play games and it does get very hot but using the smcfancontrol trick helpded quite a bit.
I only (and rarely) use Windows on my MBP to play games and it does get very hot but using the smcfancontrol trick helpded quite a bit.
Ooops.. downloaded the wrong version. Just got v2.1.3.1 and works so far. We'll see if it keeps my Bootcamp cooler. Thanks for the help.
something I suspect is the cause. the same area of the MBP body gets warm when I switch from 9400 to 9600 video. (obviously in Mac OS) Still think there should be a software fix for this...
Fix for High Unibody MBP Temps
This is what I did to fix the high unibody MBP idle temps (I have only tried this on Windows XP).
1. Download the latest GeForce Notebook drivers from nVidia's website.
2. Run the installer. The installation will fail because it will not detect "Supported Hardware".
3. Go to Device Manager, Click on "Display Adapters", and open the properties window for the 9600M GT.
4. Click on the "Driver" tab, and choose "Update Driver".
5. A driver wizard should come up, choose "Install from a list or specific location" and click "Next".
6. Now pick "Don't Search" and click "Next".
7. Select "Have Disk" and browse to this folder "C:\NVIDIA\WinXP\*Driver Version Number*\IS\Display", and click "Ok".
8. A list of drivers should appear, don't click anything, just choose "Next".
9. A warning should pop up, click "Yes".
10. Let the installation finalize, then restart the MBP.
Now your system should idle at a noticeably cooler temp than before. The reason it would run hot while idling is the Apple drivers never let the GPU clock down, so the GPU was running at max power all the time. Before I changed the drivers, my GPU would run in the low to mid 70's C while idle. Now it runs in the high 50's C.
My MBP still gets hot while gaming (high 70's to low 80's C), but that is what computers do under load. nVidia's website says that the 9600M is designed to operate up to 105C, so 80C is clearly below that.
Hope this helps.
This is what I did to fix the high unibody MBP idle temps (I have only tried this on Windows XP).
1. Download the latest GeForce Notebook drivers from nVidia's website.
2. Run the installer. The installation will fail because it will not detect "Supported Hardware".
3. Go to Device Manager, Click on "Display Adapters", and open the properties window for the 9600M GT.
4. Click on the "Driver" tab, and choose "Update Driver".
5. A driver wizard should come up, choose "Install from a list or specific location" and click "Next".
6. Now pick "Don't Search" and click "Next".
7. Select "Have Disk" and browse to this folder "C:\NVIDIA\WinXP\*Driver Version Number*\IS\Display", and click "Ok".
8. A list of drivers should appear, don't click anything, just choose "Next".
9. A warning should pop up, click "Yes".
10. Let the installation finalize, then restart the MBP.
Now your system should idle at a noticeably cooler temp than before. The reason it would run hot while idling is the Apple drivers never let the GPU clock down, so the GPU was running at max power all the time. Before I changed the drivers, my GPU would run in the low to mid 70's C while idle. Now it runs in the high 50's C.
My MBP still gets hot while gaming (high 70's to low 80's C), but that is what computers do under load. nVidia's website says that the 9600M is designed to operate up to 105C, so 80C is clearly below that.
Hope this helps.
great fix or at least a major improvement
Wow, updating the nVidia WinXP driver, plus increasing the minimum fan rate to 3000 RPM has greatly improved the "over heating" problem in my Bootcamp Windows XP. Currently 30 minutes in Windows and not that hot. I can actually keep my finger tips on the aluminum body. You are my personal hero.
Wow, updating the nVidia WinXP driver, plus increasing the minimum fan rate to 3000 RPM has greatly improved the "over heating" problem in my Bootcamp Windows XP. Currently 30 minutes in Windows and not that hot. I can actually keep my finger tips on the aluminum body. You are my personal hero.
Thanks! A great idea (and even easier now that the nVidia site provides compatible notebook drivers that just load using the installer).
I also installed RMClock (a windows version of Coolbook) and configured it to undervolt the processor; after some fiddling, I was able to drop the max temp (created while running Orthos, a program designed to stress your CPU) from 83 C to 72 C. Potentially, I could have dropped the temps further but I didn't want to invest any more time in trying to decrease the voltages.
I previously used RMClock in my HP Pavilion and got similar results, a much cooler notebook.
For anyone who's interested, an excellent guide to undervolting can be found here:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/har...arket-upgrades/235824-undervolting-guide.html
