Macbook pro (late 2009) overheating?

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Macbook pro (late 2009) overheating?

Hello.

I've been using my late 2009 Macbook pro for about 3 months now. It's been quite a smooth ride as of now.

One thing that is concerning me about my Macbook is that the temperature seems to spike up about 10 degrees Celsius higher than normal idling whenever I use it for the past 3 days.

Here's what's happening:
I'm using VLC and Firefox as the main applications

Under the Geforce 9400M mode, the idle temperature is now 50C for the CPU(compared to around 45C average). GPU diode about the same.
But with the 9600GT, the idle temperature is now 63C! (normally the same, around 50C). GPU diode around 69C!!

I believe the computer is not under any intense load.

Is there anyway to manage this problem with a software, or does this constitute a problem which can be solved by an Apple repair service? =(

-Joe

Macbook Pro 15Inch, Mac OS X (10.6.2)

Posted on Jan 3, 2010 7:39 AM

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Answer 1

4marcus

Level 1

10 points

Jan 3, 2010 9:05 AM in response to Xylish

No (solid) solution, but a similar report:

My MBP shows the same behaviour from time to time (late 2008 15" MBP).

Initially I tried a SMC Reset and the temp went down to 40-45C. Yesterday, it happened again (while being connected to the LED Cinema Display with MBP Lid closed) and I tried login/logout, switch to the 9600GT and back, restart, with no effect. Finally I disconnected all USB devices and shutdown the machine. I started it up again in 'Laptop mode' (no usb/no monitor attached) and the temp is now back to normal. I will connect the monitor and a usb-hub later and report, if the temperature is influenced by that.

Just for the record: the CPU was almost completly idle at all time and despite that the temp raised to >50C without starting any apps (despite dashboard, which I used to check the temps and have a view on the cpu usage with iStat).

My current temp reported is 40C with firefox, ichat, tweetie and dashboard running.

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Answer 2

4marcus

Level 1

10 points

Jan 3, 2010 12:59 PM in response to 4marcus

To give an update to my previous post:

After putting MBP to sleep (closing lid, detach power) I connected it to a) power (from LED Display), b) Displayport and finally c) USB Hub - which made it wake up.

No I am running the MBP in closed-lid mode with LED Display and USB Devices attached since +20 minutes and CPU temperature is stable around 40C.

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Answer 3

Jan 16, 2010 11:26 AM in response to Xylish

My macbook pro was running almost 80 degrees c, so I looked around and saw SMCfancontrol. It's easy to use and you can set preferences for the fans (like a certain rpm while on battery, charging or AC power)
I got mine from macupdate, a site which I've really begun to trust:
http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/23049/smcfancontrol

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Answer 4

4marcus

Level 1

10 points

Jan 27, 2010 9:20 AM in response to 4marcus

I experienced the "heating issue" again today and shutting down the machine and starting it up worked again.

Does anybody else experience that behaviour and has found more info/other solutions?

Just for the record: This is not about high temps because of high cpu load.

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Answer 5

4marcus

Level 1

10 points

Apr 4, 2010 11:29 PM in response to 4marcus

The problem described above still persists. It reoccurs once in a while and can temporary resolved by shutting down the machine.

I have still not found a clue how to tackle this.

Could the voltage settings of the CPU or other logic board elements cause this behaviour?

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