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bbhegedus

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 22, 2010
116
0
those temps should not be melting the pegs ... seems like the pegs are made from Gummie bears.

I bet Apple will replace them and you will be good to go

good luck


Thanks, I'm sure it gets hotter than 67 after watching netflix for 40 minutes but it just got to 67 within a minute. I hope its just the pegs and that I don't have a piece of crap fan
 

Young Spade

macrumors 68020
Mar 31, 2011
2,156
3
Tallahassee, Florida
Thanks, I'm sure it gets hotter than 67 after watching netflix for 40 minutes but it just got to 67 within a minute. I hope its just the pegs and that I don't have a piece of crap fan

The CPU in the MBPs easily gets to 90 C when playing games. You aren't even close to damaging the system, which you can't.
 

b-rad g

macrumors 6502a
Jun 29, 2010
895
1
Thanks, I'm sure it gets hotter than 67 after watching netflix for 40 minutes but it just got to 67 within a minute. I hope its just the pegs and that I don't have a piece of crap fan

My 2010 Air gets to around 75-80 C while watching Netflix and it's feet are definitely not melting. Absolutely no problems.
 

Queen6

macrumors G4
CPU is rated for 100C and I seriously doubt that the temperatures you are describing are related to the damage. I would be more concerned about a fault with the battery as only this would have sufficient energy to generate enough heat to start melting the "feet"

Take the machine back to Apple and have them look at it, the temperatures you are describing are nothing for a MacBook under load, one of mine very rarely drops below 60C and it`s been like that for the last four years...
 

hfg

macrumors 68040
Dec 1, 2006
3,621
312
Cedar Rapids, IA. USA
Could it be that the surface the OP put the MBA on was very hot, and that melted the feet?

I still find it very odd that the feet would melt from the bottom up when the heat source is above them. I would expect the mounting part to melt first and the feet simply fall off rather than the bottom of the feet melting ... that should be the coolest part of the computer.:confused:

I have seen rubber materials react badly with my daughters hand cream, suntan oils, lotions, etc. which gave the appearance of melting, but it was more like disintegrating. I have also seen the character markings on keyboards totally disappear from a chemical reaction with her hand cream.

I have also had rubber feet on electronic gear like routers and speakers melt into gooey blobs when they were in extended contact with oak desks and furniture which had some kind of lacquer finishing on it that created a chemical reaction.
 

Young Spade

macrumors 68020
Mar 31, 2011
2,156
3
Tallahassee, Florida
I still find it very odd that the feet would melt from the bottom up when the heat source is above them. I would expect the mounting part to melt first and the feet simply fall off rather than the bottom of the feet melting ... that should be the coolest part of the computer.:confused:

I have seen rubber materials react badly with my daughters hand cream, suntan oils, lotions, etc. which gave the appearance of melting, but it was more like disintegrating. I have also seen the character markings on keyboards totally disappear from a chemical reaction with her hand cream.

I have also had rubber feet on electronic gear like routers and speakers melt into gooey blobs when they were in extended contact with oak desks and furniture which had some kind of lacquer finishing on it that created a chemical reaction.

Wouldn't there also be an odor as well?

Chances are, what you are saying is right; for the computer itself to melt the feet; well first of all, it would be the outside and inside of the ring, not the tip that touches the table or whatever, and second, if it did melt, I'm sure you would smell something.
 

maclook

macrumors 65816
Nov 2, 2008
1,146
40
Are we all using the correct units when comparing our temps?
I'm assuming my iStat is measuring in F. Max temp I get is 90ish degrees and the fans run at 6000+ rpm, which is hot and loud. OP is saying his is running at 45 C, or 113F, and his fans are only running at 4500. I would say something is wrong with your computer and it is overheating and also not cooling itself enough. My suggestion would be to seer your legs and file a lawsuit against Apple....or you can just take it to the Genius Bar.
 

AlphaDogg

macrumors 68040
May 20, 2010
3,417
7
Ypsilanti, MI
^ iStat's default unit is Celsius.

Edit: 90ºF is only possible with an ambient temperature of about 30ºF. In a room with an ambient temperature of 60ºF, my MBP runs as cool as 115ºF. 115ºF is a good temperature for an MBP or MBA to idle at. Max temp of the CPU should be no higher than 210ºF. If it gets hotter than that, the MBA will do a thermal shutdown--and not allow you to power on until it cools down.
 
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maclook

macrumors 65816
Nov 2, 2008
1,146
40
^^
I was going to say my observations were null if it was Celsius and not Fahrenheit, but the 45C and 4500rpm fans still don't add up to me. My fans drop to under 3000rpm if my CPU temp is under 60. Why are his fans running so fast? It's possible this discrepancy is due to my 13" vs his 11" since my 13" has never dropped below 50 degrees.
 

bbhegedus

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 22, 2010
116
0
I made my fans run that fast. I know for sure it wasn't some sort of reaction. I went to the Apple Store today and they said I should bring it in immediately...which means that I'll make my macbook air a lab rat for a week and see if the same behavior occurs again. If not, I have a long time until the warranty expires.
 

Young Spade

macrumors 68020
Mar 31, 2011
2,156
3
Tallahassee, Florida
^^
I was going to say my observations were null if it was Celsius and not Fahrenheit, but the 45C and 4500rpm fans still don't add up to me. My fans drop to under 3000rpm if my CPU temp is under 60. Why are his fans running so fast? It's possible this discrepancy is due to my 13" vs his 11" since my 13" has never dropped below 50 degrees.

My fans don't kick up over 2000 until it hits 80 C; when that happens, they go up to 4k and stay there unless the temperature doens't drop within a few seconds.

Then it's dead quiet. 2011 MBP.
 

maclook

macrumors 65816
Nov 2, 2008
1,146
40
My fans don't kick up over 2000 until it hits 80 C; when that happens, they go up to 4k and stay there unless the temperature doens't drop within a few seconds.

Then it's dead quiet. 2011 MBP.

80-95 C is when my MBA is hot and loud and running fans at around 6500. I've noticed it doesn't get that hot as much since 10.7.1 though which is nice.
 

Young Spade

macrumors 68020
Mar 31, 2011
2,156
3
Tallahassee, Florida
80-95 C is when my MBA is hot and loud and running fans at around 6500. I've noticed it doesn't get that hot as much since 10.7.1 though which is nice.

Well I mean yea, if it isn't just a spike in CPU like a quick process or something, the fans will start running and stay on until the temperature dies down.

My 07 Blackbook used to run like a jet if I did practically anything CPU intensive and held heat at 80 C.

I used to think that was hot; the MBP runs at a steady 92 when I'm playing Oblivion in Bootcamp; meh, next generation processors that overclock themselves, what else is new?
 

vitzr

macrumors 68030
Jul 28, 2011
2,765
3
California
I wonder if encasing an already hot MBA is going to trap more heat in and melt things further...

Finally! The voice of common sense. Speck cases are very deceiving. While feeling a bit cooler to the user, the internal temps are increased. Many Mac users have been influenced to believe it's style above all.

All Apple cares is that it makes it till the warranty expires. The ones that are covered for 3 years via Apple Care represent the longest it has to live. If it frys before that, Apples got plenty of revenue to cover the repairs.

Usually they just shut down the way Apple has provisioned them. Once cooled, it will operate again. Until it's exceeded the number of hot & cold cycles till it dies. At least that's what I've witnessed with those I know who must use a case.

Ive always been mindful of Apples heating tendencies, not used a case, and they've done fairly well. Especially since the demanding resource intensive work I do, pushes them hard.
 

bbhegedus

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 22, 2010
116
0
So it's been a while since I replied to this forum. Figured I'd let you guys know how its going. After using it for a month or so more, the feet have been completely fine...Until I started to try and watch netflix on it, at which point it got over 90° C, or about 200° F after watching only about 3 minutes of Mad Men. As hard as I tried to cool it down by increasing the fan speed to 6500RPM, the temp just wouldn't budge and actually went up a little.

Pretty much I'm just not able to watch Netflix on my Mac or play games for periods longer than 30 mins. It's kind of disappointing that my Macbook Air is that limited but then again, it wasn't built to do heavy duty tasks like that. I'll just keep the Netflix to my Apple TV.
 

KPOM

macrumors P6
Oct 23, 2010
18,031
7,872
Pretty much I'm just not able to watch Netflix on my Mac or play games for periods longer than 30 mins. It's kind of disappointing that my Macbook Air is that limited but then again, it wasn't built to do heavy duty tasks like that. I'll just keep the Netflix to my Apple TV.

Netflix shouldn't be a problem, and if the pegs are melting off at 90 degrees you should have them replaced, since they shouldn't do that. The processors have a maximum temperature of 100 degrees Celsius and so should be able to handle more than 30 minutes at 90.
 

calvol

macrumors 6502a
Feb 3, 2011
995
4
Finally! The voice of common sense. Speck cases are very deceiving. While feeling a bit cooler to the user, the internal temps are increased. Many Mac users have been influenced to believe it's style above all.

Best thing to do with a Speck case is drill a few ventilation holes in the bottom case around the area where the CPU is (the Q-W keys). I've noticed my 2010 MBA runs about 3-5C warmer with the bottom case installed (instead of 38C, runs at 42-43C).
 

Bob Coxner

macrumors 6502a
Mar 24, 2011
854
58
Sounds like bad thermal paste to me.

I was calibrating my 2011 MBA a few days ago, so I left it running a movie on Netflix. I checked the temp from time to time. The temp never got above 70 and the fans were around 4500 (SMC FanControl). I have a felt case that covers the bottom of the MBA, with no holes in the CPU area.
 
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