I have a MacBook Air 1.6GHz 80GB HDD, I have found that the exhaust fan is running constantly at 6200rpm (according to iStat Pro). No applications are running at all. Before calling Apple does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks
iMac (Aluminum) 20", 2.4 GHz, 4GB RAM, 500GB HDD,
Mac OS X (10.5.2),
MacBook Air, 1.6 GHz, 2GB RAM, 80GB HDD
My 1.8 SSD is very quiet - fan is rarely heard. One thing I did find is that you need to make sure not to block the vents under the machine with fabric, etc. I can get the fans running loud if I block the vents. I simply make sure to leave part of the vents exposed and the machine quiets down to almost inaudible.
Check and see if the computers in question are re-indexing files for Spotlight. Activate Spotlight and see if you get a message which says "Spotlight re-indexing" or something like that.
No issues with fan behaviour at all. Mine very rarely goes above 2500. I have installed iStat Pro and SMC fan control and hasn't been a problem. I have jacked the fan up to full pelt and it hovers around the 6200 rpm mark. If you have done the various resets I would say it's an issue personally and I wouldn't accept it.
I had the freezing issue with my new iMac when I got that but it was very widespread and was happy to let things run there course and one update along the line seemed to sort it as it is no longer a problem.
I've found that if I'm plugged in to the power adapter and running just Safari, the fan doesn't rev up too high. But if I run other applications, the fan kicks in and stays at 6200 rpm.
If I unplug it from the power adapter, the fan eventually turns off. I currently have Safari, Mail.app, Adium, x-chat, terminal, and Eyesight all open, on battery power, fan at only 2600 rpm and inaudible.
It's not really that the power adaptor generates heat but that the charging circuit in the MBA adds heat along with the other functions which makes the fan more likely to come on when on AC then when on battery. Both the MBP and the MacBook are like this also.
I think this is an important thing to notice. I like to use my laptop while staying in my bed. But each time I put it there, after few minuted it becomes unusable and very hot. I realization is, I somehow block the fan. When I work in a table, things are ok.
I do not believe iStat Pro is mistaken, either. You can hear a marked difference between 2500 and 6000 rpm and you can feel the difference in accumulated heat in the bottom case.
I experience the same issue, but it does seem like if you place the MBA onto a soft surface for any length of time, the exhaust vents don't get enough airflow. This does not seem to be application-related, as it is in other cases. Both my MBP 17" and the MBA will rev to high fan speeds when something in Firefox eats the CPU or I'm playing full-screen video for any length of time; this is easily correlated with application activity using Activity Monitor.
But the MBA also has the mode where fan speed increases with little activity, and this seems strongly correlated with venting. Frankly, the vents seem poorly placed, though given the thickness of the case I don't know where else they could have put them.
I do observe that if the fan is running at 6000+ rpm, a few minutes of turning the MBP over so the vents face up, or standing the notebook on its lateral edges like an open book will restore the airflow and the fan quiets down. So the firmware appears to be doing the "right thing", even though like the MBP's in early days, some tweaking to thresholds, etc, will probably be necessary in upcoming software updates.
I have a MacBook Air 1.6GHz 80GB HDD with the same problem: Fan constantly runs at 6200 rpm at any time, always. I guess, we all have to wait for a software update.
did you update MBA to 10.5.2 the moment you unboxed it? i'm asking because i just bought the MBA earlier in the morning today and haven't upgraded it yet. Don't know why but i have a bad feeling that something would screw up if it gets updated to 10.5.2. So far i have been using the MBA really hardcore but neither the temperature nor the fan speed seem to go up. I'm keeping a close eye on Istat Pro. Everything seems pretty stable and I'm trying my best to avoid installing third party software as much as possible.
so far, the fan speed is remaining below 2500 but it did make noise and fan speed increased when i turned it on for the first time
My MacBook Air was upgraded to 10.5.2 and yet the fans still kick in at 6000rpm+ at boot up. I down graded by reinstalling the OS and still the same issue. Apple are replacing my MacBook Air and it's currently on transit to me.
I had the constant 6200 RPM problem when I got my MBA 3 weeks ago. I called Apple support. The guy said is was probably a defective heat sensor. He set up an appointment for me at the nearest Apple store for the next morning. I walked into the store the next day and 10 minutes later walked out with a new replacement MBA. Haven't had any problems since. The machine is a masterful piece of engineering and a real pleasure to work with.
Maybe I was lucky getting a support rep who really wanted to satisfy a long time Apple customer. I must say the rep and the people in the store were very helpful and did a great job handling a potential customer relationship nightmare.
