My 11' 13" MBP gets very hot and noisy instantly since ElCapitan HELP

[christinalevinee]

Please please help me.

At first I thought it was my hd3000 GPU was so out dated it couldnt handle 480p video on youtube in a small window. Then I noticed the fan would go over time. Since ElCapitan its been near maxing out the 4GB of RAM as thats what ElCapitan and Sierra are instructed to do, so Chrome has its helper, Firefox has up to 4 helpers at a time, all choking up the ram, but that doesnt explain why Im getting so hot as my CPU is NOT getting above 10% usage. I only ever have a browser open, no other apps.

Any theories please?

 

[macdudesir]

I suspect its requiring a lot of swap for the RAM...which could require some processing power from the CPU (not too sure how all that works)...Speaking on the RAM though, your computer would probably get a lot faster if you could reduce your RAM usage...Chrome is well known to eat up RAM, as well as Firefox. I would suggest switching back to Safari as it is much more efficient with its resources

 

[Samuelsan2001]

As above please try it on safari, then think about cleaning the dust out of your cooling system and at 7 years old maybe checking the thermal paste for degradation. You can also add up to 16 gb of ram to that model and an ssd will help as well.

 

[Fishrrman]

OP:

Easy and relatively cheap fixes:

1. PUT AN SSD INTO IT. It will transform the performance. You won't believe it until you do it.
ANYONE can do this ... if I could, you can.
The drive swap takes about 15 minutes with the right tools. Most of the time involves taking the screws off the back and putting them back in.
Go to ifixit.com to see the illustrated guide.
USE THE RIGHT TOOLS (Phillips #00 driver and TORX T-6 driver).

2. Put an 8gb DIMM into the "top RAM slot" while the back is off. Again, easy to do.
A good place to buy RAM:
https://www.datamemorysystems.com/apple-macbook-pro-memory-upgrades/
This is a low-cost RAM upgrade that will give you 10gb, probably all you'll ever need.

3. Get one of these to use the old drive after you take it out:
https://www.amazon.com/Sabrent-2-5-...478&sr=1-2-spell&keywords=sabremt+usb3+to+ssd

Also check the fan for dust while the back is off.
Be careful so that you don't break anything on it.

 

[Toutou]

Here we go again. A person comes with an obvious problem with the machine and people advise to upgrade it.

christinalevinee: If the CPU is more or less idling and the machine is still too hot, something is wrong with the cooling system, maybe it's just dusty or the fan is malfunctioning.

 

[Fishrrman]

Yes, she should check the fan and clean if necessary.
A friend found the same problem with a 2010-vintage MBPro 13. Unfortunately, he all-but destroyed the thing in the process of "getting to" the fan!

Since one has to open it up anyway to reach the fan, might as well change drives "while you're in there". That will make a huge difference in performance.

The other possibility is that she has a "runaway process" (could be an installed app, a background process, perhaps some malware) that is making the CPU run overtime and generating too much heat...