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MBP getting extremely hot after hard drive replacement

T

Tyrion

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Oct 15, 2002
508
5
So I decided to buy a new 500 GB hard drive for my 2007 SR MBP - a WD Scorpio Blue. I put it in, booted from the Snow Leopard-DVD, formatted it and am currently using Time Machine to restore my backup. One thing strikes me as weird though: the left palm rest - the area directly over the hard drive - is extremely hot to the touch, and I do mean extremely, as in: I can't touch the surface of the MBP for more than a few seconds or it will be quite painful. What's the problem here? I'm sure the hard drive is put in (and screwed in) correctly; it was recognized and formatted, the top case sits flush, no screws are missing or in the wrong place... So what's causing this heat? Also, is it normal that this Time Machine restore says it will take five more hours (never done it before)?

Thanks in advance for your advice.
 
I will as soon as Time Machine is done. I was just wondering if this is normal - or maybe something inside the case is touching something it shouldn't? It's really weird.
 
Tyrion said:
I will as soon as Time Machine is done. I was just wondering if this is normal - or maybe something inside the case is touching something it shouldn't? It's really weird.
Click to expand...

It's easier to help when the temperature is known as then I can tell is it normal or abnormal. It'll also show the fan speed
 
Definitely check the temp of the HD w/ iStat Pro or iStat Menus and report back... But I'm thinking that there's no way it should be hot like that.

I just replaced the drive in my brand-new 15" i5 MPB with a 500GB, 7200 RPM Hitachi, and the left palm rest isn't even warm.

My HD temp, BTW, is currently 34° C.
 
Oh man now the restore is just frozen at 96% with 6 minutes to go; it's been like this for about 20 minutes - the progress bar isn't moving and the beachball is spinning like crazy... :( Should I just keep waiting?
 
Tyrion said:
Oh man now the restore is just frozen at 96% with 6 minutes to go; it's been like this for about 20 minutes - the progress bar isn't moving and the beachball is spinning like crazy... :( Should I just keep waiting?
Click to expand...

Depends how hot the computer feels.
I think you've got a broken harddrive
 
So I aborted the restore and rebooted. It gets to the Apple logo (so obviously SOMETHING was "restored") and then it just shuts right off. Palm rest is still to hot to even touch.
 
cluthz said:
Depends how hot the computer feels.
I think you've got a broken harddrive
Click to expand...

Really? But the drive manager recognized and formatted it without any problems. If it were broken, wouldn't it simply not work at all?
 
OK, different strategy - I managed to boot from the DVD and will just install 10.6 and restore later. Seems to be working so far, but the palm rest is still at LEAST 80 degrees celsius. I really don't understand this. I put in the new drive exactly the way it was before - no errant cables, everything was snug, every screw in place... So what the hell is getting so hot?
 
I managed to do a clean install! But this is definitely NOT normal... iStat shows me that my new HD is running at a nice constant 87 degrees celsius. Something is wrong here. The weird thing is, everything works, so what could be fishy about this HD that makes it run hot (but lets everything else work fine)?
 
AHA! I opened the MBP up again and found the problem - it's kind of embarrassing, actually: the lower screw holding the HD was pressing on (and actually ripping up) the cable from the optical drive. That must have caused something to go haywire. I rearranged the cable and everything is running coolly now. It's currently restoring. I may have bricked the optical drive though.. Eh, doesn't matter, I don't use it anyhow.
 
brand said:
Even more of a reason to move your HD to the optical drive bay and put a SSD in the HD drive bay.
Click to expand...

I would do that, but eh... Don't want to invest more time and money into an all but obsolete SR-MBP. I would have upgraded anyway if the Arrandale-MBPs weren't so incredibly underwhelming. So I'm waiting for the true "next level"-refresh and only got this new HD to tide me over :)
 
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