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MacBook Pro Overheating Issues

C

campeao

macrumors newbie
Original poster
So, I believe my Macbook Pro 2.4Ghz, late 2008 model may have an overheating problem. I'm not sure what specific part it may be, but the computer gets INCREDIBLY hot on the top left corner of the keyboard.

keyboard.jpg


Basically, everything above and to the left of the D key.

I first noticed the problem when I started dual booting recently so that I could play Modern Warfare 2. The game runs gorgeously, but after for a bit (sometimes its 30 minutes, sometimes its two hours) the game will just immediately quit out on me, with Vista popping up with a message that an error occurred.

So, as it froze on me again just now for the same aforementioned reason, I immediately booted back into my Mac partition to check temperatures, and it said my processor was at around 87 degrees Celsius, which, if quick Google searches are to be trusted, is MUCH too high.

On a somewhat related note, I find that my fan will start going to its maximum power for no reason whatsoever at times, like when I'm writing an essay or just checking my email (which I'm pretty sure are tasks that don't require much power.

So, any advice?

Thanks beforehand.
 
campeao said:
I first noticed the problem when I started dual booting recently so that I could play Modern Warfare 2. The game runs gorgeously, but after for a bit (sometimes its 30 minutes, sometimes its two hours) the game will just immediately quit out on me, with Vista popping up with a message that an error occurred.
Click to expand...
It sounds like the fan drivers for your Windows partition isn't doing a good job. I don't know if that's a Vista issue or if it's the Apple drivers. You might want to see if you can find a fan control program on Windows to keep your fans at a steady blast while playing games in order to keep your computer cool.

campeao said:
On a somewhat related note, I find that my fan will start going to its maximum power for no reason whatsoever at times, like when I'm writing an essay or just checking my email (which I'm pretty sure are tasks that don't require much power.
Click to expand...
Is this problem happening in Mac or Windows? If this problem is happening in your Mac partition then your overall problem might be hardware related since you said your problem has only been happening recently. There are a few fan control applications for Mac so you might want to try them out also. If the problem persists then you should think about taking in your computer to a Mac store.

If it's only happening in Windows then it's probably the issue I mentioned above. Try and find a fan control program for Windows and see if that solves your problem.
 
Programs only turn off in Windows due to overheating, but under my Mac partition, the fans start going to their maximum speed and the computer gets very hot even when doing menial tasks.
 
campeao said:
Programs only turn off in Windows due to overheating, but under my Mac partition, the fans start going to their maximum speed and the computer gets very hot even when doing menial tasks.
Click to expand...

Concentrate on the mac side getting hot even when doing menial tasks because that isn't right.

1. Are both fans spinning?
2. Use istat nano or something similar to see the temps inside your machine when doing menial stuff.

3. Check the activity monitor to see if any programs are unexpectedly busy.

If none of the above are out of wack a call or visit to apple might be in order.
 
Hopefully this won't come across as a stupid suggestion...

Have you tried cleaning out your MBP's heatsink? If there's a build-up of dust in there, that could cause your laptop to run hot; a couple of (careful!) blasts of compressed air up into the vent under the hinge should help to clean it out if that's the problem.
 
I had the exact same problem with my umbp. It's indeed the Windows drivers that are nit turning up the fans. The only fix I found is this:
before you boot in to windows, boot in mac. There, use SMCfancontrol to set your fans to the maximum. Now, you reboot your mac into Windows. Note: don't shut down, but reboot, that will keep the fanspeed at it's max.
 
campeao said:
So, I believe my Macbook Pro 2.4Ghz, late 2008 model may have an overheating problem. I'm not sure what specific part it may be, but the computer gets INCREDIBLY hot on the top left corner of the keyboard.

keyboard.jpg


Basically, everything above and to the left of the D key.

I first noticed the problem when I started dual booting recently so that I could play Modern Warfare 2. The game runs gorgeously, but after for a bit (sometimes its 30 minutes, sometimes its two hours) the game will just immediately quit out on me, with Vista popping up with a message that an error occurred.

So, as it froze on me again just now for the same aforementioned reason, I immediately booted back into my Mac partition to check temperatures, and it said my processor was at around 87 degrees Celsius, which, if quick Google searches are to be trusted, is MUCH too high.

On a somewhat related note, I find that my fan will start going to its maximum power for no reason whatsoever at times, like when I'm writing an essay or just checking my email (which I'm pretty sure are tasks that don't require much power.

So, any advice?

Thanks beforehand.
Click to expand...

I have the same computer. I game under OS X some, and when I do it gets quite hot in just that spot, so I crank smc fan control to full blast which helps tremendously. I cannot recall ever seeing a reading as high as 87 C, however. 😱 The crappy Flash player is another temperature culprit.

I believe that one can do that in OS X and then booth into Windows and the fan setting will remain.
 
Yeah, I'm under Windows right now, and the computer overheated again and it shut off Modern Warfare 2.

Maybe I should play it under worse graphics settings?
 
I don't think the fans got any slower after I restarted.

Collider said:
Hopefully this won't come across as a stupid suggestion...

Have you tried cleaning out your MBP's heatsink? If there's a build-up of dust in there, that could cause your laptop to run hot; a couple of (careful!) blasts of compressed air up into the vent under the hinge should help to clean it out if that's the problem.
Click to expand...

Definitely not a stupid question.

I tried it though a few days ago though, unfortunately to no effect :/
I only ended up doing it because I told a friend about the overheating problem, and he told me to try and blast any dust out of it.
 
Collider said:
Hopefully this won't come across as a stupid suggestion...

Have you tried cleaning out your MBP's heatsink? If there's a build-up of dust in there, that could cause your laptop to run hot; a couple of (careful!) blasts of compressed air up into the vent under the hinge should help to clean it out if that's the problem.
Click to expand...

Definitely not a stupid question.

I tried it though a few days ago though, unfortunately to no effect :/
I only ended up doing it because I told a friend about the overheating problem, and he told me to try and blast any dust out of it.
 
Isn't it were the second video card is?
I get the same with Windows 7, I always thought that's it's just the 9600 mgt, and wrong windows 7 drivers)))lol
 
mine gets really hot while viewing video on internet (flash) or video chat on ichat.it uses up the processor significantly (40-50%).is it normal?what's the function of integrated video card then?mine is 13 inch MBP..haih
 
This has been covered by many people on many websites.

The mac fans do not spin up fast enough to cool the machine before it overheats. You need to install a program that adjusts the minimum fan speeds.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/macfan/

Install this program and set your fans to 5,000 before playing games. You will not have another problem with overheating assuming your fans working.
 
I had the overheating issue too. The fans would constantly run at full speeds even though I wasn't doing something really CPU intensive. I opened up my macbook pro and cleaned out the dust. Here are some pictures.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/yashrg/4111583521/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/yashrg/4111583329/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/yashrg/4111583123/

And it seemed to ease the problem for a bit.
Cleaned the macbook pro fans again this summer as it has started getting more unstable as it heats up. But I guess it is just showing its life now. :/
 
Definitely sounds like the fans aren't kicking up - you can also try putting some books under the back end of the macbook so the bottom of the case can get ventilation.
 
Do what I do and place your laptop on a large upside-down iron skillet.

It works as a giant heat sink. The bigger the skillet, the better.

I have the earlier model and it has a terrible 90nm 8600 GT chip that not only has defective solder (a faulty part Apple refuses to replace), it also is made with an inefficient 90nm process.

I consider the laptop basically unusable without the skillet if I'm doing anything that uses the card's 3D functionality.
 
Hello there. I thought I had the exact same problem as you.

I went to the Apple Store yesterday with my MacBook Pro and asked them to check if all my fans were functioning properly. They ran this program that made both my processors run at 100%. We left it for about 10 mins, and when we came back, we used Temperature Monitor and saw my processor was at 105 degrees celsius! I though "holy crap!" but the man at the store said this was completely normal. We turned the program off, and the processor cooled down to 80 degrees within seconds.
MacBook Pro's just get hot... they're portable computers, not laptops!
My MacBook Pro also overheated whilst gaming on XP... I guess it's just bad Windows drivers!
 
A USB notebook cooler does wonders.

The Antec Notebook Cooler to Go works well with my Macbook Core Duo (pre unibody, first Intel MBPs)

I'm not sure about the vents on your MBP, but for my purposes and the way the vents are on my MBP, this cooler works well.

Just something to look in to.
 
Loops said:
Do what I do and place your laptop on a large upside-down iron skillet.

It works as a giant heat sink. The bigger the skillet, the better.

I have the earlier model and it has a terrible 90nm 8600 GT chip that not only has defective solder (a faulty part Apple refuses to replace), it also is made with an inefficient 90nm process.

I consider the laptop basically unusable without the skillet if I'm doing anything that uses the card's 3D functionality.
Click to expand...

Going along your iron skillet theory, any laptop coolers/stands that are made of a conductive metal should also help in dissipating heat from the bottom of the laptop.
I recently purchased this http://amzn.to/aC6kS4 which is made of aluminum. Haven't gotten it in my hands yet but I hope it works just as well as your skillet.
 
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durruti said:
A USB notebook cooler does wonders.

The Antec Notebook Cooler to Go works well with my Macbook Core Duo (pre unibody, first Intel MBPs)

I'm not sure about the vents on your MBP, but for my purposes and the way the vents are on my MBP, this cooler works well.

Just something to look in to.
Click to expand...

Really? I hear that they don't do all that much. I think they're just weird and bulky 🙁
 
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