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really odd issue about my MBP heating. bad ram?

B

BaBayOOsa

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 4, 2010
73
0
i just installed 8 gigs on ddr3 ram into my macbook pro and well running my fans at 4000 RPM's my computer is sitting at 170F well just web browsing. not even playing a youtube movie or anything just web browsing.

now my specs are:

2.26 GHZ dore 2 duo processor

8 gigs of DDR3 RAM

and a Nvidia 9400m

now when i used to have my original standard 2 gigs in here at 4000 RPM's i would sit around 130-160F. now im wondering the ram i installed could it be not working right? is it not in all the way? is the ram i bought flawed in some way?

i bought it from OWC there recommended MBP RAM now if it isn't working correctly how do i find out? i heard about something to do with inserting one of my install disks that came with my MBP? which one?

EDIT #1: while just sitting here with it at this exact page my computer is running at 180F with 4000 RPM's something is defiantly wrong what should i do? im still under warranty BTW
 
Have a look at Activity Monitor ( Applications / Utilities /) and select All Processes and sort by CPU to see what the culprit may be.

image below uses sorting by CPU as an example
4745264042_9c23afdbc9_b.jpg


If there is no obvious process, then it might be the RAM, which you could test via the Apple Hardware Test or by replacing it with the original RAM.
 
Check your activity monitor. I bet theres something running thats using a lot of power. If it turns out that the ram is bad, just return it to OWC. They have excellent customer service.
 
i restarted my computer then kicked the fan speed up to 5000 RPM's and now im sitting at 120F.....???? could it of just been a small bug that was there before i restarted?

im in the activity monitor what am i looking for that could be causing this issue? the thing that i saw that was taking the most was kernel_task that was taking 5.0 of my CPU

EDIT #2: just kicked it down to 4000 RPM's and im at 120F like i usually should be....? also could the fact that im running a mouse keyboard and headset form my computer be effecting it?
 
BaBayOOsa said:
i restarted my computer then kicked the fan speed up to 5000 RPM's and now im sitting at 120F.....???? could it of just been a small bug that was there before i restarted?

im in the activity monitor what am i looking for that could be causing this issue? the thing that i saw that was taking the most was kernel_task that was taking 5.0 of my CPU

EDIT #2: just kicked it down to 4000 RPM's and im at 120F like i usually should be....? also could the fact that im running a mouse keyboard and headset form my computer be effecting it?
Click to expand...

Have you sorted by CPU usage as advised in that screenshot?
Have you tried that Apple Hardware Test yet?
 
yes i hit all process and clicked CPU still the most is being taken by kernel_task which is taking about 5%.

and no im going to go do the hardware test right now.
 
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Update #1: been testing for about 8 minutes now it's testing my memory currently I'm feeling around it and it feels very very hot.

Update #2: i had to quit the hardware test because my computer froze and was burning by just being close to the aluminum let alone touch it is that because it was running the hardware test is that normal for it? (BTW was running extended should i go back and run the normal?)

also im running the fans at 4000 RPM's sitting at 130F seems all normal now could it of just been a small bug or something before i restarted the first time?

should i do that SMC thing just to be safe?

Update #3: i guess im going to run the hardware test but not the extended one this time hopefully it doesn't freeze again :/
 
Last edited:
ok so just finished took only about a minute or so for the standard test. and it said that it detected no problems so what could of that been that was sucking up so much power? because it all seems fine now so what should i do? replace the RAM still? take it to apple? or is it fine which im thinking it is. but then again you guys know more about this then me.
 
ok so i guess ill go do the SMC reset now quick question though normally i like to control my fan speed using smcFANcontrol now if i do this smc reset and uninstall smcFANcontrol will my mac go back to automatically controlling the fan speed?
 
BaBayOOsa said:
ok so i guess ill go do the SMC reset now quick question though normally i like to control my fan speed using smcFANcontrol now if i do this smc reset and uninstall smcFANcontrol will my mac go back to automatically controlling the fan speed?
Click to expand...

Yes. Uninstalling SMC Fan Control is not even necessary to let Mac OS X control the fan speed(s).
 
ok i just reset the SMC by doing the fallowing:

shutting down my computer then while shut down pressed the power button the left shift key along with the left control and option key.

now then i turned it on and it didn't give me any sign of you have reset the SMC or nothing it just booted like always that fine?

and if this is fine then my computer should be fine? or should i still take it to apple? return the ram? leave it be? do what exactly?
 
And SMC reset gives no indication if done successfully. Just monitor the fan speed(s) in correlation with the CPU and GPU temperatures.
If the fan speeds continue to **** up, try the SMC reset again or uninstall SMC Fan Control or contact Apple.
 
ok i'll just monitor my temps a lot more from now on.

thanks for the extremely helpful and fast support i really appreciate it.
 
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