MBP running hot, real hot...

[HowBoutIt?]

I live in a new place where the AC/furnace and surrounding area has a way of letting a lot of dust/lint, in the townhouses. I can clean my desktop and the next day I can write my name with my finger in the dust. I keep my MBP closed but since I work from home and it is usually open I think it needs to be cleaned out. Is this something I can do if I am careful, have a can of compressed air and try to use it to clean the fans out without turning the blades and possibly taking off the back to get the areas free as much as I can. I have heard that taking of the back voids the warranty, but I think I can handle removing the back and using the compressed air lightly while trying to get rid of the dust. I have a feeling that this accumulation of dust/lint is what causes my MBP when I am watching some noes videos to run really hot.
any suggestions on this and other things I can do to clean the MBP and do a straight-forward maintaince check-up on the machine? does restarting while holding down the shift key do any kind of maintaince? I know it boots it in to Safe mode but there is a wand-type device below the moving gear while it is dong its thing when I hold down the shift key that shows some progress happening with something. Is this wand stick that slowly fills up as the reboot moves along telling me anything?
I know you do not need the install disk to use the disk utility but when I use the disk utility without using the DVD to boot to, the permissions are not repaired. If I boot up using the disk, the Disk Utility pretty much takes care of all of the permissions.

any other maintaince stuff that I should be doing?

thanks

I should say I do have Applecare but I called the Apple Store and they did not sound too excited about using compressed air to clean out the inside of the machine. Not sure if this was something they do not want to spend time on or what the reason was for their reaction to my request.

 

[ZipOnTrousers]

Hmmm, I don't think its dust causing this.

I'm guessing this only happens when you're watching videos that use flash?

I have tested this over and over and can consistently recreate the same problem on my MBP watching one or several flash videos. The fans really speed up and the underside gets real hot. If you take a look in activity monitor while one of these happens, and sort by %CPU, you will see the "Flash Player (Safari Internet Plugin)" , or whatever the equivalent is for your browser of choice, slowly taking over. If I force quit this process, after less than a minute or so, everything is back to normal.

Have a look at that next time it happens and see if its the same problem, yet to find a solution or cause though.

And there really isnt much you need to do with the MBP in the way of active maintenance. I ran the same installation of Tiger (on this MBP thats now running Snow Leapord) for a good 2-3 years and noticed minimal detrimental slowdown etc. I never felt like anything warranted the hassle of a re-image. The best maintenance you can perform in my opinion is:

Always use it on a flat solid surface so the heat can dissipate, never on beds, soft cushions etc.
Maybe clean screen now and then?

(Though I'm typing this right now on a bed with a filthy screen haha, still no problems)

Thanks
Zip

 

[BAC5.2]

How hot does it get?

My 15" 2.8GHz MBP will run in the 180˚F range when I'm running a bunch of things at once (VMWare running a 3D modeling program, iTunes, Mail, Camino, iCal, Pandora, Word, Excel, and a few others, plus an external monitor). After I finish a model, I'll shut down Windows for a little bit. It only gets that hot after I've been cranking away at a model while doing everything else at the same time.

Right now, just sitting on my lap while typing a report, the CPU is at 124˚F.

From what I've read, those temp ranges are perfectly normal.

I use iStat Nano on the dashboard for temp reporting (and other stuff).

 

[HowBoutIt?]

agree

yea good ole Flash. A big problem making Macs hot. This is like something new is happening to my child. it is not Flash. The fans slow down, turn off (when the temp is the hottest I have ever felt) and the machine turns of. the CPU temp rises, hot, 125-135 and my intuition tells me there is too must dust/lint in my aching that needs to be cleaned out. I started teaching in the classroom where the MBP is on and open for 12 hours a day. I would wipe a few of the desks before I left for the night, in the am I could write my name on the clean desks with my finger. I talked to maintaince to see if they could do their part and clean the vents, air filter, etc but I can see a lint ball in one of the fans. I have used some compressed air from a can lightly and was able to blow some of the crap out but I have to get too involved to really do a good job.

I should head back to the OR and leave the medical students to another teacher.

You know when your child runs a temp but one time during his childhood the temp just has such different characteristics, the child has different symptoms, etc. This "baby" the MBP, something is different, the hot"ness" that Flash causes will produce a "normal" response, but now with the dust and dust bunnies it cant behave the right way. I really think a good clean out would cue the problem. But since the machine is still under warranty, I do not want to get too carried away. The Genius Bar goes right to "it is Flash." They will not listen to me, look inside the machine-the even have a little scope that if they inserted it in a passageway they could see the dust bunnies and all the crap my machine has collected from being used 12 hours/day.

I am aware that Flash has given me a few scares but this is something different. The fans sow down instead of speeding up, then stop when the unibody is hotter than I have ever felt and the machine turns off. The CPU is 135 (around) and I have seen a few small lint/dust bunnies in the fan.

the Genius bar goes right at Flash, and I understand that but this is something different. I have dealt with flash when watching a few news videos but the machine would do its job. Now it can't because there is too much dust/lint in the machine/passageways, fans