Who else is bothered by fan noise?

[chp5592]

1.6 here and I have yet to hear any noise whatsoever fan wise.

It is certainly cooler on the lap than either the macbook or macbook pro too.

What are you running? I have noticed now that a single office app and safari/firefox plus a streaming JAVA window (i.e. ameritrade stock streamer) will definitely kick the fan in to maximum. Turn off the JAVA window and the fan slows down (as does the cpu load).

I have noticed time in and again that JAVA is just horrible on OS X. The Java windows/apps are slower on OS X than on my five year old Windows XP laptop. A great example is trying to resize an Ameritrade streamer JAVA window. It is instantly responsive on Windows, slow on my iMAC core 2 and its truly like molasses on my Air.

If you are stock trader (I am not) who depend on these windows, Air is not the right platform for you. The terrible JAVA performance on my Air is making me consider returning the Air and swallowing the restocking fee....

 

[netdog]

Isn't there a new version of Java for OS X on the way?

 

[dthree36]

fan still 6200 after 5 days

Well, I spoke with Apple Care and got with level 2 hardware support and their recommendation is that I take the laptop back and get an exchange. I would take this as a "no this is a normal thing" I have an appointment tomorrow with the Genius Bar to finalize this problem.

 

[NC MacGuy]

Well, I spoke with Apple Care and got with level 2 hardware support and their recommendation is that I take the laptop back and get an exchange. I would take this as a "no this is a normal thing" I have an appointment tomorrow with the Genius Bar to finalize this problem.

Sorry to hear it. This is absolutely not normal. I've been running mine in many different ways over the past week and my fan rarely kicks up that high and certainly not consistently for days. Hope your next one is a gem!

 

[ahaxton]

I just started getting the heat and fan problem real bad. Going to see if it goes away. I'd hate to have to replace it.

 

[toomuchmac]

I had mine kick in once where it was loud. This thread just made me install iStat, so I'm not sure what rpm it was at then.

I was running log me in back to my office iMac and was xfering a 156MB video file over skype to the separate skype acct on my MBA.

Other than that typical mail, web, office type stuff has been cool and nothing too big. Running at 2500 now and it's quiet as a mouse.

 

[ExcelonGT]

Mine did what you are experiencing, I did a reset and it been no noise ever since....

what is this reset that you speak of?

 

[compuguy1088]

Flash-based craplets pound on the processor.

It is especially bad on PPC. Flash video squeeks by on a 1 Ghz Dual G4 PM.

 

[Cybergypsy]

Follow this and now have no noise at all running at 2469 and cold

 

[ahaxton]

After doing a SMU reset don't use the power adapter either. Helped me stabilize things yesterday.

 

[kamranwpi]

I agree, Fan speed bothers me alot too, I have just made the switch from Vaio TXN27N running Win XP.. and MBA is great, but here are my issues with the fan..

I agree that whenever I have the power cord connected, the fan runs crazy 6200 rpm in iStat.. constantly.

second issue I have noticed that when I installed Parallels, fan goes crazy..

Now, for past hour or so on the battery, and fan is not running higher than 2500 rpm

 

[dbater]

Flash-based crap could do it.

What information do you have to back your claim?

 

[duffyanneal]

What information do you have to back your claim?

I think he was referring to Adobe Flash and not the SSD. I agree completely that Flash is causing some of the fan problems people are seeing. Flash causes high CPU utilization which means more heat and unfortunately the fan has to run. It doesn't explain all of the problems here since it seems that some people's fans run full speed all of the time. That isn't normal. I'm beginning to think that we have some machines that have a poor application of heat sink compound. A problem which we have all seen pictures of on all of the Apple portables the past couple of years. That would explain the CPU temp spikes and core shutdowns. I believe the CPU fan speed is directly controlled by the heatsink temp diode not the CPU temp. If there is poor contact between the CPU and heatsink the CPU can actually overheat while the heatsink remains substantially cooler. This causes the fan to not ramp up fast enough in the beginning of high CPU usage, and even at full tilt the fan is unable to cool the CPU properly resulting in a core shutting down.

 

[dthree36]

Tried that but no go

I tried the SMU reset but it didn't do anything for me. At my genius bar visit, the Genius booted into safe mode and the fan was still cranking away. Other than my fan, the laptop is great so I am keeping it until they receive their next shipment at the store. When they get the next shipment, I will make a swap for a working model. Hopefully there is nothing wrong with the replacement.

 

[duffyanneal]

I tried the SMU reset but it didn't do anything for me. At my genius bar visit, the Genius booted into safe mode and the fan was still cranking away. Other than my fan, the laptop is great so I am keeping it until they receive their next shipment at the store. When they get the next shipment, I will make a swap for a working model. Hopefully there is nothing wrong with the replacement.

Good luck with the replacement. I know if one of the temp sensors is disconnected on the MB the fan will run constantly.

 

[kamranwpi]

I think fan just keeps on running whenever it's plugged in... mine is running constantly

 

[ahaxton]

Shut down MBA, unplug adapter, do SMU reset, turn MBA back on. You should not have any video stuttering and overheating issues as long as your MBA is on a smooth surface of course.

 

[Cybergypsy]

Yep worked for me.....has been great for 3 days

 

[Catch]

Yep worked for me.....has been great for 3 days

How long did your fans run at high speed? I have that same problem and the fans are running at 6200 all the time. Is the machine indexing the first day or so? Not sure what to do as the machine is absolutely perfect apart from the fan running. 6200rpm at 40c, which seems excessive...

C

 

[Cybergypsy]

How long did your fans run at high speed? I have that same problem and the fans are running at 6200 all the time. Is the machine indexing the first day or so? Not sure what to do as the machine is absolutely perfect apart from the fan running. 6200rpm at 40c, which seems excessive...

C

Mine did it for 24 hours then called apple did the reset and all is well

 

[kamranwpi]

Just returned mine.. had enough of this noise..

Apple did really crapy job on this.. Vaio TZ is amazing

 

[ahaxton]

Just returned mine.. had enough of this noise..

Apple did really crapy job on this.. Vaio TZ is amazing

HAHA!!!!

 

[MayaTlab]

ust returned mine.. had enough of this noise..

Apple did really crapy job on this.. Vaio TZ is amazing

Please don't generalize this way. My current MBA is dead silent except when running Flash on Safari.

I still think the TZ is an outstanding piece of engeneering though .

 

[JonnyMac]

I must say that my standard Macbook Air preety much has the fan going full bore if I am running just Safari (with a Java window open) and MS excel 2004. That is 6200 rpm per iSTAT pro widget. I did not think this would be the case, but after two days of productivity, normal use, that fan is on at max almost 90% of the time. CPU temperature seems almost always above 135 degree F. Yes, the computer is on a flat surface and vent is NOT blocked.

I am wondering if this is normal use situation or if I have a bum Air?

Also, I am noticing the hard drive clicking sounds, which I didn't know still happened with modern hard drives....

I was expecting a quiet experience, but it is not the case at this point. My Air is moving too much Air.

It could very well be MS Excel. I was using MS Excel v.X before and after leaving it on for a few hours I noticed the fans were on non-stop. I opened Activity Monitor and saw that Excel was using 96% of the CPU! I just had a regular Excel doc open, nothing major. I quit the program and the fans stopped...

 

[duffyanneal]

Just returned mine.. had enough of this noise..

Apple did really crapy job on this.. Vaio TZ is amazing

Really?? This just shows that you're a troll. I actually owned a TZ and the fan noise is worse than the MBA. Enjoy the TZ especially in a couple of weeks when all the plastic starts squeaking.