MACBOOK PRO & SNOW LEOPARD - OVERHEATING

I'm starting to believe that this thing is totally random. Yesterday I had my usual applications open and Finder for no reason started to use to the CPU up to 100% with temps going up to 75-80 C. I rebooted a couple of times and now it seems normal. At least the fan is quite. The temp is still about 55C which is wormer then what it was with Leopard. I have a White MacBook (non Pro), so this problem is unlikely just hw related.

I'm afraid Apple dropped the ball with Snow Leopard. It doesn't really deliver what people were expecting (like a 64 bits kernel architecture for everyone) the increase in performances is not really noticeable either (Safari in Windows 7 seems much faster than in Snow Leopard!! Unbelievable), but the number of "small" problems raised significantly.

I know it's just a matter of time for Apple to tune and fix these issues, but right now I feel like it was better to stay with Leopard.

Formatting and reinstalling Snow Leopard solved this issue completely for me. Must be some crossover of files in the library from leopard to snow leopard that's causing this issue. I'm assuming all of you having issues used the upgrade install. I'm back down to the 40's for average use.

I installed SL from scratch, (after backing up with superduper) and have never had any of these problems.

what does installing from scratch mean? i wanna try that. i did an upgrade from leopard. can someone please explain how to do it?

boot off the sl disk
open disk utility, and format your hard drive WHICH ERASES EVERYTHING ON IT.
proceed to install.

some people on these boards will tell you that is not necessary - just install over your existing operating system. i like to wipe my hard drive before any new OS (10.5 > 10.6)

before i format the drive, i use a program called superduper that makes an exact clone of your entire hard drive to an external hard drive.

thanks. i just installed sl from scratch and im having the same problem. my computer is burning hot. this *****! my activity monitor is showing the flash player using over 100% of the computer power. im about to throw this computer against the wall!

have you updated your flash player?
http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/otherversions/

hmm, thanks for the link, the flash update might have actually worked! now it says its using 20%. R. Berardi , what % of your computer is using the safari flash plugin on your activity monitor?

Message was edited by: johnpalley

wait not so fast. its going up to 67% sometimes. but its mostly staying in the 50's. is this normal?

Message was edited by: johnpalley

its at 90% now. its ranging from 50-90% but mostly staying in the 50's. let me see if it cuts me off the internet. how do i check the computer temp? it feels kinda hot

i dont think its fixed. now it says 120% and the computers extremely hot. im just waiting to see if it cuts me off the internet.

Message was edited by: johnpalley

R. Berardi, thanks for your help but it didnt solve the problem. i just got disconnected from the internet and my computer was hot enough to burn my hand, no joke. i cant stand this.

My macbook is running very hot too. 160 degrees on the cpu, fan at 6200 rpm and runs constantly. I HAVE NOT upgraded to Snow Leopard, just running OSx 10.5.8. I DID upgrade to iTunes 9.0.1 and I saw some other people say they did to and their computers are running hot. I wonder if it's iTunes??

I might as well add my name to the list. Late 08 MBP used to run cool as a cucumber and perfectly silent. Since SL the fan has not stopped running and my computer gets incredibly hot just running Safari, iTunes or Pages. And I'm not talking about running Safari on a Flash site, which heats my MBP up like a frying pan. I don't have Growl or anything funny. I have tried multiple SMC and PRAM resets to no avail. I guess I just have to try a reformat if 10.6.2 doesn't fix it.

It looks to be a battery management issue.

Running my MacBook without battery is cool and silent (Heat = 50 to 60 C, Fan = 1800 to 2600 rpm).
Installing battery makes my MacBook hot and noisy (Heat = 70 to 80 C, Fan = 5300 to 6200 rpm).
Transforming a portable into a desktop is not what we can call an elegant solution.

I tried SMC and PRAM reset many times. Sometimes it works, sometimes it does not. When it works, it works for a short while only. A kind of "play it again Sam".