iBook G4 overheats too easy/fan runs too much

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Level 2

389 points

iBook G4 overheats too easy/fan runs too much

My 1.33ghz 12" iBook G4's fan runs fairly constantly and very noisily, which is extremely annoying (much of my use has to do with playing music or messing with music, so it interferes, especially with recording).

yes, the cpu runs hot, but it doesn't have an excuse most of the time: for example, tonight, i was simply websurfing with only Mail and Firefox open, and the activity monitor showed 95% free and nothing hogging the cpu in any way, and Energy Saver settings are set to Automatic... but the fan was whizzing away and the bottom's hot, as is the area above the HD, to left of trackpad.
the 80GB hard drive (presumably not original) has 35 GB free, there's 1.5GB of RAM in it... why might this iBook run so hot, and what can i do about it? As soon as i play ANY audio or video, from itunes to online, the fan comes on, loudly, regardless of how few programs i have open, but it also runs a lot of the time with no explanation at all.

someone told me this could warn of impending logic board problems, is this true? it has been a gradually increasing problem.

What can i do to get it to run cooler? or at least make the fan quieter?

alternately, how do the Macbooks do, re getting too hot/ fans running too much? i'm thinking of upgrading.

PowerBook G4, iMac G4, iBook G4, Pismo and MORE, Mac OS X (10.4.7)

Posted on Mar 27, 2008 11:56 PM

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Answer 1

Flyerave

Level 1

18 points

Mar 28, 2008 3:19 AM in response to lisajoy

To answer your questions about impending logic board failure, it is actually the other way around. Because your iBook is running so hot it could get hot enough to release the solder joints on the 'chip' in question.

As for your heat issues, How are you using the iBook? Is it on a desk? In your lap? On top of a space heater? Haha.

If you use your laptop like I do, sitting on the couch, laying in bed, etc. Your heat issues could be a result of improper ventilation.

To give you a better idea or "How Hot" you computer is getting, try getting the (iStat Pro) Widget. It is free and it has a diagnostic that shows you the CPU, Battery and Memory temperatures in degrees F. It also shows you the Fan's RPM.

I would download the iStat Pro Widget and when your fan comes on, open dashboard up and look at the temperatures of the CPU, Battery, and Memory. You might be able to determine exactly what is getting hot and causing the fan to run. This way you can at least find out what hardware is responsible for the excess heat and diagnose from there.

Hope this helps....

Message was edited by: Flyerave

Message was edited by: Flyerave

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Answer 2

spudnuty

Level 5

7,128 points

Mar 28, 2008 6:11 AM in response to lisajoy

lisajoy,

yes, the cpu runs hot

How hot? Mine's at 102.7º F right now. To melt solder it would have to be above 300º F.

why might this iBook run so hot ..but it also runs a lot of the time with no explanation at all...What can i do to get it to run cooler? or at least make the fan quieter?

Have you run any temperature monitoring software? Like:
http://www.bresink.com/osx/TemperatureMonitor.html
So if the CPU is indeed running hot check the vents near the back hinge to see if they're clear. I have seen the heat spreader mounting studs come off in these 1.33s and that would cause this problem. You could check that by pulling the keyboard and pressing on the area under the 2 key. If it feels loose that's probably the problem.

someone told me this could warn of impending logic board problems, is this true? Most likely that's the U28 problem they're referring to but it's usually associated with a no start problem.

http://www.coreyarnold.org/ibook/

Richard

Message was edited by: spudnuty

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Answer 3

lisajoy Author

Level 2

389 points

Mar 28, 2008 8:32 AM in response to spudnuty

thanks, will try the temp monitors to see what's going on.
one thing i forgot, a restart almost always makes the fan go off and stay off for awhile, even if i open up the same programs again.
And the wireless tends to slow down and/or drop out when it's running hot/fan is on. Reboot brings that back too.

my iBook hasn't shown any logic-board symptoms (fan'o'death,sleep issues,video scambles, etc)... yet.
But it runs much harder and hotter than my son's almost identical 1.33GHZ, which is the same model and has the same 1.5GB of RAM, and like me he sometimes uses it in his lap, in bed, etc as well as on tabletops, and he does a lot of music and vid too. But his runs cool and quiet, fan doesn't kick on, and his wireless doesn't drop out. the only difference i can tell: his has a stock drive, while mine has a 80GB drive that might be a retrofit (bought used, and i can see marks from a spudge stick/pry tool on the case). it's a 4200rpm Fujitsu MHT2080AT. Could the drive be causing it to run hotter?

and how about the Macbooks? do they tend to run hot under moderate use? i'd upgrade if they aren't as likely to burn my lap and/or run noisy fans during music and live recording!

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Answer 4

lisajoy Author

Level 2

389 points

Mar 28, 2008 11:12 AM in response to lisajoy

the temp monitors show that the fan is kicking on when the graphics and processor bottomsides hit high 60s-low 70s (centigrade), and keeping it there. HD is in low 50s, memory and power supply in low '50s, battery in low 30s.

this is all with Activity Monitor showing nothing but Firefox using the CPU. But Firefox is using 50%- 80% of CPU even when idle, and 185MB of RAM!

?!?!?!

i do not have any custom extensions -just the standard Firefox 2.0.0.12 install, and of course flash players.

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Answer 5

cornelius

Level 6

17,826 points

Mar 28, 2008 2:23 PM in response to lisajoy

Lisa:

Firefox is using 50% - 80% of CPU even when idle, and 185MB of RAM!

That's pretty high for Firefox. Mine runs about 8°F to 10°F while idle and when loading may go up to 30°F to 40°F. If you have not done so recently empty the Firefox cache and maybe even the history.

Cheers 🙂

cornelius

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Answer 6

S.U.

Level 6

9,601 points

Mar 28, 2008 3:35 PM in response to lisajoy

Also try quitting Firefox in Activity Monitor and see if things calm down. Then relaunch it and see if it behaves more normally. Sometimes applications get hung up and start using a lot more CPU than they should.

Good luck!

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Answer 7

Mar 29, 2008 10:00 PM in response to lisajoy

Battery recall..because of over heating. Did you turn the old one it?

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Answer 8

lisajoy Author

Level 2

389 points

Mar 30, 2008 6:43 PM in response to Dominette

it's not one of the recalled batteries, and the battery's consistently the coolest item in Temp Monitor, but thanks.
It's the graphics processor and cpu running the hottest (in that order) and they appear to be what is triggering the fan. They run at about 150-160˚F when the fan is on, and/or i've got Firefox running video and/or i'm running music, garage band, etc. Firefox seems to be the single biggest CPU user and thus overheating trigger. The processors run in the 125-140˚ range when using other programs. Simply quitting Firefox as much as possible has greatly reduced the amount of time the fan runs. Never would have guessed.

Turns out that there are custom, third-party builds of Firefox just for these kinds of issues. has anyone tried them? here's an example:
http://www.beatnikpad.com/archives/2007/03/29/firefox-2002/

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Answer 9

S.U.

Level 6

9,601 points

Mar 30, 2008 7:26 PM in response to lisajoy

I don't think your 80 GB 4200 RPM drive has anything to do with the heat. I replaced my iBook's 30 GB drive with a 120 GB 5400 RPM Western Digital Drive, and while I can tell that it is a bit warmer, it's not much warmer.

What I think is that there is something abnormal about how Firefox is running on your iBook. When you open Activity Monitor, be sure "All Processes" is selected at the top. When Firefox starts hogging the CPU, highlight it in Activity Monitor and quit it and see if things return to normal. If Firefox keeps doing this, you might want to consider trashing it and reinstalling it. Possibly some corruption has occurred that is causing it to keep running amok.

I don't run Firefox, so I don't know about it so I don't know about the builds you mentioned.

Good luck!

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Answer 10

cornelius

Level 6

17,826 points

Mar 30, 2008 9:45 PM in response to lisajoy

Lisa:

I run Firefox almost exclusively. I run adblocker and other tools, and never experience the excessive heating you report, nor the high CPU usage by Firefox you experience. I do have preferences set up so that the cache is emptied with each restart. If you do not have adblocker, that does help with the graphics stuff by blocking some scripts. Go to the Tools menu, select add-ons and install add blocker and any other of the tools you see there that you think might help. I suggested earlier that you empty the cache and possibly the history. When you have the overheating problem, shut down the computer completely. Wait 5 minutes, then try starting up in Safe Mode, empty Trash, Restart normally and log in.

Cheers 🙂

cornelius

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Answer 11

lisajoy Author

Level 2

389 points

Apr 1, 2008 9:42 PM in response to cornelius

sorry cornelius, i meant to mention that yeah i've been dumping the cache in firefox regularly, and clearing everything but saved passwords and cookies, and it doesn't seem to affect the heat issue much if at all. What does affect it is not running video or music players (youtube, myspace, misc online music players, etc). As soon as i start using those, CPU usage goes thru roof and things heat up. Unfortunately, that's one of my main uses for Firefox, and i don't like using Safari (it's really slow on that stuff).
One of the custom builds for Firefox implies that it's because of this issue,and specifically on G4s. But there's no details, and i'm leery of 3rd-party build.
I do run 1Password in Firefox- it's the only add-on i have currently (will get adblocker)- but i think that the heat problem existed before i installed it (and at this point i can't imagine life without 1Password!).
Will try a safe mode too.

at risk of polluting the thread, I'm very interested that you have a G4 Pismo. How'd you do that? My pismo was my favorite mac ever and it's still around here somewhere, not used because i run stuff that requires G4.

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Answer 12

lisajoy Author

Level 2

389 points

Apr 1, 2008 9:50 PM in response to lisajoy

ps, i can't find adblocker, does it go by another name? am clicking Get Extensions in Tools>Add-ons, and putting adblocker in the search box... nada

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Answer 13

lisajoy Author

Level 2

389 points

Apr 1, 2008 9:54 PM in response to lisajoy

here it is. it is adblock plus

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1865

looks really cool

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Answer 14

cornelius

Level 6

17,826 points

Apr 2, 2008 8:01 AM in response to lisajoy

lisajoy:

I do run 1Password in Firefox- it's the only add-on i have currently (will get adblocker)- but i think that the heat problem existed before i installed it (and at this point i can't imagine life without 1Password!).

I don't think 1Password contributes to your overheating issue since it basically manages passwords and does not consume much CPU usage.

I'm very interested that you have a G4 Pismo. How'd you do that?

I upgraded the processor in my Pismo several years ago. It makes a great computer the greatest. Granted it is not as powerful as the newer PowerBooks, but it does a great deal of heavy lifting for me. I went through a lot of soul searching before upgrading. Pismo Processor Upgrade: Advantages and Drawbacks offers ideas and information on the upgrade.

Question: You may have already told us, but I too lazy to read through the whole thread again. How much RAM do you have installed?

Glad you found adblocker. I hope you find it helps.

Cheers 🙂

cornelius

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Answer 15

lisajoy Author

Level 2

389 points

Apr 2, 2008 5:56 PM in response to cornelius

1.5 GB of RAM in the iBook. RAM temp tops out around 115˚-130˚F, a lot lower than the processors. Graphics processor is consistently hottest, and adblock is great but didn't help with overheating, and firefox video/music playing still seems to be trigger. Fan going on when processors get in mid-upper 140˚s.
Having trouble with music players not showing or not operating well in Myspace with adblock enabled, and strange page display in Youtube. Assume Adblock it must be tweaked/fiddled with?
I've always fantasized about being able to put relatively current specs in a Pismo case! what i'd want to run is iLife (at least '06), garage band, photoshop 8. will look at the pro/con thing.

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