Macbook air early 2014 - Slow performance, Heats to 97 degrees, Fan is too loud

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Macbook air early 2014 - Slow performance, Heats to 97 degrees, Fan is too loud

Hello folks,

I have a Macbook Air early 2014 (8GB RAM, )

I have not been using it much so it was turned off for almost a year when I decided to re-use it. But the original OS X Mavericks was too slow and the fan was making noise so I decided to factory reset it and get rid of all the files which I did not need.

However, the performance did not improve. So I updated the OS to latest Catalina, but no luck.

Fan starts making loud noise within seconds of turning on the maccbook.

Performance is really slow. (tried Firefox and Safari browser)

iStat shows the system heats up upto 97 degrees, just by browsing youtube.

SSD temperature was recorded to be 113 degrees

I am thinking of cleaning and applying new thermal paste to the heat sink and see if the performance increases.

Anybody else have had the same issue and solved ?

Thanks

Posted on Apr 27, 2020 6:43 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

HWTech

Level 9

60,206 points

Apr 27, 2020 12:41 PM in response to MA14-2317

Run the Apple Diagnostics.

Try an SMC reset and PRAM reset (hold the PRAM reset for at least three chimes).

If the fan still runs at high speed, then you have some sort of hardware issue which is probably more than just old thermal compound.

FYI, in the future please post temps in Celcius.

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Answer 2

MA14-2317 Author

Level 1

8 points

Apr 27, 2020 7:37 PM in response to HWTech

Thanks HWTech for quick reply.

I did the Apple Diagnostic and the complain was .

"There may be an issue with the System Management Controller (SMC): Code PFM006"

"There may be an issue with the Power Management System(SMC): Code PPN001"

I did reset the PRAM, but was not able to reset the SMC.

As the direction I pressed Shift+Control+option and then the power button. But then as soon as I press the power button, it would boot like normal.

Looks like some hardware issue, could you suggest ?

Thanks

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Answer 3

HWTech

Level 9

60,206 points

Apr 28, 2020 8:47 AM in response to MA14-2317

When I perform the SMC reset I like to boot the laptop to the Apple boot picker menu by holding the Option key just after the startup chime. When you do the SMC reset, the laptop should power off immediately. Make sure to use the keys on the left side of the built-in keyboard to perform the SMC reset.

If an SMC doesn't work, then either you have a keyboard failure or a Logic Board failure. I lean towards a Logic Board failure from your description of the issue and the Diagnostic error code.

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Macbook air early 2014 - Slow performance, Heats to 97 degrees, Fan is too loud

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