MacBook 16-inch Fan Noise

You have to submit your issues directly to Apple. This is only a community discussion forum made up of Mac users. Apple is not watching this place and they don't play big brother here. You're only shouting to the community.

I dont work without power supply a lot, but i agree, battery time is ABSOLUTE TRASH 2-3MAX, browsing, especially since i need to switch off graphic card switching, because of even more bizare issue with Bad Magic, that i already replaced a computer once.

It struggles with yours and a few others here. Not everyone's because mine does not. Yes I do connect mine with an external display and I've ran HD videos and other apps and the dGPU is activated. For over an hour of use my 16" stayed warm at best and no audible fans running. The only time my fans have ever ran is when I'm transcoding video on FCPX. I've hesitated even talking about my experience because of certain people here who demand to know what external hardware is being used, temp numbers and resolution settings and such. They act like you're not being honest simply because they are having a bad experience and some others don't. I will not put out temps or test my GPU and report numbers. The bottom line my Core i9 2.3 16" 32GB Ram 5500M 8GB 1TB SSD runs very well when connected to an external monitor. I don't have a special edition model. Also I'm on reddit daily and I see people with 16" MBP connected to monitors and they always report how happy they are. I never threads like this one and people on Reddit are very candid with their posts.

Done here. Have a great year.

"Also I'm on reddit daily and I see people with 16" MBP connected to monitors and they always report how happy they are."

There are quite a few users on Reddit complaining about their MBP 16," some of which are connected to monitors. Many are complaining about kernel panics, a bigger problem discussed in other threads on this site. A quick search of Reddit and you can find those complaints.

We don't know yet whether the kernel panics are related to other GPU behavior, such as the card's tendency to use a lot of wattage and put out a lot of heat. However, mine happen when connected to a monitor and streaming video, suggesting there might be a link.

Yes, just search for "Bad magic," and you'll find a lot of panic logs for the MBP 16" and similar panic logs for many older Mac models that incorporated the T2 chip. Many threads about this are on this board: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/250826263?page=17 ; https://discussions.apple.com/thread/250905859 ; https://discussions.apple.com/thread/250892382 . The cause of the errors may be different on other models, though the error messages are similar. My kernel panics only happened while the computer was connected to an external monitor, though. I've since returned the computer and am waiting for a replacement, so my testing has temporarily ended.

My main point in the previous post was that it's inaccurate to say Reddit posters have no complaints about their MBP 16" machines. They do. People are posting about the heat/fan noise and kernel panics across many sites.

Most folks' panic logs that I've seen look nearly identical to mine (first part included below):

{"caused_by":"macos","macos_version":"Mac OS X 10.15.3 (19D76)","os_version":"Bridge OS 4.2 (17P3050)","macos_system_state":"running","incident_id":"E22A32A0-8C64-4CCB-B8C0-86252265A7EE","timestamp":"2020-03-14 13:25:20.57 +0000","bug_type":"210"}

{

"build" : "Bridge OS 4.2 (17P3050)",

"product" : "iBridge2,14",

"kernel" : "Darwin Kernel Version 19.3.0: Tue Jan 7 22:39:04 PST 2020; root:xnu-6153.81.3~2\/RELEASE_ARM64_T8010",

"incident" : "E22A32A0-8C64-4CCB-B8C0-86252265A7EE",

"crashReporterKey" : "c0dec0dec0dec0dec0dec0dec0dec0dec0de0001",

"date" : "2020-03-14 13:25:20.23 +0000",

"panicString" : "panic(cpu 1 caller 0xfffffff022fce1a8): x86 CPU CATERR detected\nDebugger message: panic\nMemory ID: 0x6\nOS version: 17P3050\nmacOS version: 19D76\nKernel version: Darwin Kernel Version 19.3.0: Tue Jan 7 22:39:04 PST 2020; root:xnu-6153.81.3~2\/RELEASE_ARM64_T8010\nKernel UUID: 1ADCA0F6-ECFD-396B-A941-C89CF563047F\niBoot version: iBoot-5540.80.2\nsecure boot?: YES\nx86 EFI Boot State: 0x16\nx86 System State: 0x0\nx86 Power State: 0x0\nx86 Shutdown Cause: 0x3\nx86 Previous Power Transitions: 0x10001000100\nPCIeUp link state: 0x89473614\nPaniclog version: 13\nKernel slide: 0x000000001af60000\nKernel text base: 0xfffffff021f64000\nmach_absolute_time: 0x85116c06bf\nEpoch Time: sec usec\n Boot : 0x5e6c44a1 0x000f02cf\n Sleep : 0x5e6cbf35 0x00000ec4\n Wake : 0x5e6cbf50 0x000a0522\n Calendar: 0x5e6cdb22 0x0003282c\n\nPanicked task 0xffffffe00040b600: 3224 pages, 214 threads: pid 0: kernel_task\nPanicked thread: 0xffffffe000721a68, backtrace: 0xffffffe015ddb4c0, tid: 361\n\t\t lr: 0xfffffff02281c3a0 fp: 0xffffffe015ddb500\n\t\t lr: 0xfffffff02281c200 fp: 0xffffffe015ddb570\n\t\t lr: 0xfffffff022936f04 fp: 0xffffffe015ddb620\n\t\t lr: 0xfffffff022e2d610 fp: 0xffffffe015ddb630\n\t\t lr: 0xfffffff02281bb78 fp: 0xffffffe015ddb9a0\n\t\t lr: 0xfffffff02281bec0 fp: 0xffffffe015ddb9f0\n\t\t lr: 0xfffffff02369a8ec fp: 0xffffffe015ddba10\n\t\t lr: 0xfffffff022fce1a8 fp: 0xffffffe015ddba40\n\t\t lr: 0xfffffff022fbf204 fp: 0xffffffe015ddbab0\n\t\t lr: 0xfffffff022fc127c fp: 0xffffffe015ddbb50\n\t\t lr: 0xfffffff022fbe91c fp: 0xffffffe015ddbbe0\n\t\t lr: 0xfffffff022f85d98 fp: 0xffffffe015ddbc10\n\t\t lr: 0xfffffff022d9e000 fp: 0xffffffe015ddbc50\n\t\t lr: 0xfffffff022d9d8d8 fp: 0xffffffe015ddbc90\n\t\t lr: 0xfffffff022e38514 fp: 0x0000000000000000\n\n",

"panicFlags" : "0x102",

"otherString" : "\n** Stackshot Succeeded ** Bytes Traced 111120 **\n",

"macOSPanicFlags" : "0x0",

"macOSPanicString" : "BAD MAGIC! (flag set in iBoot panic header), no macOS panic log available",

"memoryStatus" : {"compressorSize":0,"compressions":0,"decompressions":0,"busyBufferCount":0,"pageSize":16384,"memoryPressure":false,"memoryPages":{"active":6568,"throttled":0,"fileBacked":10149,"wired":5394,"purgeable":56,"inactive":2630,"free":11496,"speculative":4182}},

"processByPid" : {

William: Yes, they are hard to diagnose, especially because Apple has remained silent on these types of errors for the last couple of years. That makes it difficult for us to know what to do, and is why I returned the machine. We don't know whether the issues are hardware or software. If you go to the Apple Store, they'll run their test suite, but even they don't know whether the suite will detect this kind of error if it is hardware related. In my firsthand interactions, Apple Store employee's experience with these problems appears to be limited to cases they've personally handled at the store. Knowledge sharing at Apple should be broader.

From a corporate PR perspective, Apple's approach is understandable. But I don't think it's very fair for the customers. Last year, prev gen Macbook Pro users had similar kernel panics because of their webcams. Just like the current gen MBP kernel panic or fan noise issues, there was no guidance from Apple. It seems Apple finally provided a fix for the webcams in Catalina without telling anyone, but that was 5-6 months after the problems were first reported.

I'm not saying this to smear Apple. But I do think it points to areas where they can improve customer support.

My MBP 16 was in sleep mode just now, came back to it and the fans were blaring full blast, extremely hot to touch and it would not wake up. Had to do a hard reboot.

Why is it getting so hot when asleep (no screensaver on) I guess the system just hung because of overheating.

Welcome to the new Apple era :) where experience is pushed to the Nth place. This is a great example of no "visionary leadership", Apple feels just like any other company now. And this is unfortunate but true. I'm not ditching them, just it doesn't feel like the company we feel in love in.

I was fortunate enough to return my 16" MBP (loudness issues). My colleagues and a few friends, who stuck with this machine are furious, every day experiencing some issues. Also, we had a similar situation with zoom, one of my colleagues had to MUTE himself, disconnect from the external display, cool down the crazy fans, and back to conversation after a few minutes. That kind of "experience" is not right.

Of course, we can blame the horrible .js apps we are using (non-native/electron), but this is another topic where Apple's lack of QA is visible (allowing macOS apps to feel like the Windows ones).

I just hope Apple fixes that problem and spend more time on QA.

Because this is just ridiculous.

Readers:

Don't let up on the pressure on Apple support for a solution. They don't necessarily take what is written here to heart, but they DO tabulate the complaints lodged at Apple support and at the feedback link.

I just updated to 10.15.4, unfortunately they didn't fix the issue, the machine was running perfectly fine, the fans were at 1800 RPM until I connected the external monitor, 3 minutes later the machine was going crazy, 4200 RPM and going up just by browsing the web.

Now is running worse than before!

I know a lot of people that had their machines replaced for a new one, or had some parts replaced, you can see a lot of people on these forum as well and the problem was never fixed.

I personally know a guy that had his machine replaced 4 times, and he still has the same problem, so I don’t think ordering a part will fix this issue.

its either a software issue or a problem that won’t be fixed until is replaced by a newer model.

OK I have just updated to 10.15.4 can see no improvement with the dGPU situation - all that has changed is the y axis for the activity monitor GPU graph has been extended so it won't report spiked behavior anymore. I don't have iStats I wonder if it is the same with that?

Yes, it's exactly the same, the machine gets hots and the fans go crazy after 5 minutes of using the machine with an external monitor.

I will call Apple again today to keep pushing for an answer (I don't know if they are working, but I'll try).

I can't believe that after 2 or 3 macOS updates and a few months, we are still experiencing this issue.

What worries me is that if you check Apple support, there is A LOT of people having different issues with the MacBook Pro 16-inch, most of them related to the discrete GPU.

Last year I got the MacBook Pro 15-inch 2019 with the Vega Pro 20 that I sold after having it for 3 months (at a loss) because I was worried of the issues with the keyboard and bought this machine right away and now I'm worried about the GPU issue, it's unbelievable. I read the new iPad Pro is really good (I'm planning to order one when the new keyboard with the trackpad is available in May), I got the previous version and it's amazing so I'm wondering if that's the direction we are heading...... Only problem there is that Xcode is not available on the iPad Pro (we'll have to wait until June to see.....)

JRTaylorMusic wrote:

not sure if this is related, or if it has been brought up in this thread (I missed a few weeks), or perhaps it’s irrelevant, but iStat Menus reports maxing out GPU Memory way more than I would expect. Even after quitting everything it stayed at 100% until I toggled display scaling.

Why not stop worrying about what iStat Menus has to say and just use your computer?