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[rMBP 15 mid-2012] Overheating problem that I can't solve

B

Bruno Berchielli

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 23, 2020
12
11
Hey guys!

I have a rMBP 15 mid-2012 with a Intel core i7 and Nvidia GT 650M. I care for this machine extremely well and never had any problem with it for all this years.

In the past 6 months I noticed sevare thermal throttling in simple tasks as making video calls with Chrome or Microsoft Teams. The CPU clocks down from 3.6ghz to 800mhz (which is the minimum). No unexpected shutdowns.

What I tried to do to solve it:
  1. Clean the dust off (it was already clean, I do regular maintenance)
  2. Tried to repaste with one of the best thermal pastes (Kryonout Thermal Grizzly)
  3. Changed the MacOS - clean install (jumpped from Catalina to Big Sur + patches for unsupported, 100% stable and everything working, but the overheating problem persisted)
  4. Add thermal pads on top of the heatsinks so the botton case would also serve as heatsink (as suggested here
    )
  5. Put a external fan on the botton of the macbook

And now I'm completly out of ideas. lol

Some one have any insight?

Thanks!
 
What actual temps are you hitting?

If the machine is getting hot for simple tasks in the first place, and no fix on reinstall, that sounds more like you need to try disabling the dGPU or skip to logic board replacement. If the CPU is clocking down even without high temps, that also sounds like you need to try disabling the dGPU or skip to logic board replacement...
 
I'm getting around 80ºC in idle and 100ºC under load. The CPU clock drops only in under load.

I don't think that the dGPU is the problem. Even when it is disable (I can check that with iStat Menu) the MacBook is still overheating badly. I can't touch the heatsink, attesting that it isn't a sensor issue also.

I've attached a picture of the clock going down to around 1Ghz. If I stay longer under load, it can reach as low as 800mhz. The computer becomes unusable.

Thanks
 

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Seems like the CPU, then, though it's odd that temps don't dip-bounce after throttling. My thinking is that if it was merely an element of the board near the CPU offering resistance, the board would not power on. But my thinking could be wrong. A repair shop could try to hunt down something heating up even while the board is powered off, in which case logic board could be repaired rather than replaced.
 
Bruno Berchielli said:
Hey guys!

I have a rMBP 15 mid-2012 with a Intel core i7 and Nvidia GT 650M. I care for this machine extremely well and never had any problem with it for all this years.

In the past 6 months I noticed sevare thermal throttling in simple tasks as making video calls with Chrome or Microsoft Teams. The CPU clocks down from 3.6ghz to 800mhz (which is the minimum). No unexpected shutdowns.

What I tried to do to solve it:
  1. Clean the dust off (it was already clean, I do regular maintenance)
  2. Tried to repaste with one of the best thermal pastes (Kryonout Thermal Grizzly)
  3. Changed the MacOS - clean install (jumpped from Catalina to Big Sur + patches for unsupported, 100% stable and everything working, but the overheating problem persisted)
  4. Add thermal pads on top of the heatsinks so the botton case would also serve as heatsink (as suggested here
    )
  5. Put a external fan on the botton of the macbook

And now I'm completly out of ideas. lol

Some one have any insight?

Thanks!
Click to expand...
Did this machine work properly with these video calls with Chrome or Teams before?

What does Activity Monitor show? Is something using the CPU a lot? Is memory available (check memory pressure diagram)?
 
jerryk said:
Did this machine work properly with these video calls with Chrome or Teams before?

What does Activity Monitor show? Is something using the CPU a lot? Is memory available (check memory pressure diagram)?
Click to expand...

They did. I've this machine since launch and always performed as expected.

No, the CPU utilization is not the problem. There isn't a process sucking the CPU. When doing dos calls the CPU utilization is "normal" (maybe 40% max?) but thermal throttling is really bad and eventually stabilizes around 800mhz even after thermal paste + thermal pads + external fan.

I keep iStats Menu on my top bar all the time to track temps and CPU utilization.
 
brianmowrey said:
Seems like the CPU, then, though it's odd that temps don't dip-bounce after throttling. My thinking is that if it was merely an element of the board near the CPU offering resistance, the board would not power on. But my thinking could be wrong. A repair shop could try to hunt down something heating up even while the board is powered off, in which case logic board could be repaired rather than replaced.
Click to expand...

Yeah, maybe this could be the only solution. I tried all the obvious things and more and nothing seems to help.

Will see if I can find a proper technician to take a look.

Thank you all
 
Hm! That's very odd. I'd suggest you try kicking your fans up to full speed around 70ºC degrees or so (not 100), as a test. The only causes I can think of now are;
  • An issue with your thermal paste re-application (heat-sink not getting good enough contact)
  • Something wrong with the thermal management firmware (including incorrect temp readings)
  • Fans not blowing enough air
  • A unseen blockage in your heat pipe (does it feel like much air is escaping?)
  • An issue with your unofficial/unsupported OS upgrade. Could prove that by booting to an external drive with MacOS installed and observing results.
I have a 2014 Macbook Pro 15" which was getting close to 100ºC. Earlier this year I did the thermal paste re-application successfully, and now it operates well under 80ºC. You're on the right track, just need to figure out what's wrong.
 
Bruno Berchielli said:
Yeah, maybe this could be the only solution. I tried all the obvious things and more and nothing seems to help.

Will see if I can find a proper technician to take a look.
Click to expand...
One other thing I would check is the battery and disk drive sensor temps when CPU is idle/80 territory. If they are equal or greater to the CPU, the heat could be coming all the way from one of the speakers, which would explain why you've got something offering a ton of resistance that isn't prompting the board to shut down.
 
Last edited:
Well... pitching in to say that I have the same machine experiencing the same freaking problems. I have tried EVERYTHING.

I'm about to throw this laptop out the window literally. I hate it so much.
 
Hey man, I think I have good news.

What I'm about to say may not make any sense at all and could be just a frikin coincidence....

But I completely solve my problem by replacing my bad speaker. My CPU has pretty normal temperatures since.

Good luck mate
 
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Bruno Berchielli said:
Hey man, I think I have good news.

What I'm about to say may not make any sense at all and could be just a frikin coincidence....

But I completely solve my problem by replacing my bad speaker. My CPU has pretty normal temperatures since.

Good luck mate
Click to expand...
Ha! that aligns with the wild theory I offered in my last reply - a circuit fault in the speaker causing rising temps without any logic board protection-shutoff
 
MrWeenus said:
Well... my speakers are working just fine. What should I do?
Click to expand...
Depends. The key It's Not Lupus symptom the OP offered was that the temps did not drop after the CPU is throttled. That suggested the CPU and GPU were not faulty. That led me to speculate that there was a short somewhere off of the logic board, i.e. battery or speakers, which would explain why the machine was still powering on. If your temps drop after CPU usage is throttled, then maybe it's just Lupus.
 
Bruno Berchielli said:
Hey man, I think I have good news.

What I'm about to say may not make any sense at all and could be just a frikin coincidence....

But I completely solve my problem by replacing my bad speaker. My CPU has pretty normal temperatures since.

Good luck mate
Click to expand...
I don’t know exactly whats the issue with my (mbp 2012 15 i7 2.6) it was hot reaching 100c , but after unplug the right fan cable, the temperature has become in the 60s
I don’t know what was the issue, and now i’m about to order new speaker
 
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