Will replacing the thermal paste keep my 2011 MacBook from overheating

Run the Apple Diagnostics to see if it detects any issues with the cooling system.

To look for possible software issues run EtreCheck and post the report here using the "Additional Text" icon which looks like a piece of paper.

In my experience the original thermal compound dries out after a few years. Using new thermal compound can reduce idle temperatures by about 10C. System idle temperatures should be around 30C - 40C.

FYI, in the future please post temperatures in Celcius since all benchmarks & reviewers use Celcius in their reporting. Without knowing what the laptop was doing at the time it is hard to say if the laptop is running hot. Those temperature are well within reason when the laptop is being heavily used.

It has run hot with the fan often maxed out since I replaced the RAM and HD in 2014, although it has never died. 

Does this happen regardless of what app you are using, or is it limited to only certain ones? This is not a gaming computer IMHO (and I one almost the same model).

When you did the internal work, did you inspect the fan and the heat sink it serves? When I did the SSD conversion to my 2012 MBP 13, (same cooling layout as the 2011), I found the fan was not very dirty but a wad of "felt'' from several years of steady use had clogged the heat sink at exactly the point the most air contacts it:

You have one fan fan and one heat sink, so inspecting those is a good place to start.

Remember the points where air enters and exits the computer. The hinge area is the most critical, with both intake and exhaust functions. Air can also enter through the keyboard on that model, so a keyboard cover can really run up temps.

I'm looking to nurse this laptop along for many more years. They don't make them as good as this anymore

👍🏼 Cannot agree more. I am being very nice to my 2012 13-incher!

lovelycrimsonred wrote:

Etrecheck looks like shady/unsafe program, so that's not something I'm willing to run.

EtreCheck was developed by a well respected forum contributor for gathering important system information for posting on these forums so that other contributors will have an easier time assisting other users. If you search these forums you will find that contributors suggest this app all the time. Without the EtreCheck report most contributors will not take the time to assist you because we will be operating in the dark and we are just volunteering our personal time to assist people.

Without an EtreCheck report I have no way of knowing whether you may have some third party software installed that is causing the laptop to run hot. All I can say is that the posted temperatures are all within normal operating range depending on what is running on the laptop. Make sure to uninstall all anti-virus apps, cleaning apps, and third party security software by following the developer's instructions. These types of apps are not needed on a Mac and usually cause more problems than they solve plus they impact system performance including making a laptop run hot.

The drive error with the Apple Hardware Test is not unexpected when using a third party SSD in this laptop.

Uninstall Avast by following the developer's instructions. Anti-virus apps, cleaning apps, and third party security software is not needed on a Mac and usually causes more problems than they solve plus they impact system performance and may cause the computer to run hot. FYI, Avast has been caught twice selling user's personal information.

I am not familiar with the "HiddenApp" app so if uninstalling Avast doesn't help, that would be my next suggestion since you've already uninstalled Gramblr which I'm also unfamiliar with.

etresoft wrote:

The SSD failed the Apple hardware diagnostic test.

Just an FYI to anyone reading this thread. It is not uncommon for the Apple Diagnostics to fail when third party components are installed because the third party components are not responding exactly like the original Apple component would. I've seen this with third party drives and batteries. Some third party components will pass the Apple Diagnostics. The trick to know if it is an issue is by running the diagnostic just after installing the new part. If it passes when new, but fails the diagnostic later, then the diagnostic failure may have more meaning. For any third party drive I would always want to manually review the drive's SMART attributes (aka health report) for clues.

If there is an issue here I'm still betting on a software issue especially with Avast involved. Testing with a clean install of macOS (especially an older version since as @etresoft mentions the newer versions of macOS do cause more performance issues for the older hardware -- hence more heat). I always test with a known good clean install of macOS when troubleshooting so I can quickly eliminate software issues in my observations.

I've been here 20 years and EtreCheck is the single best tool we've ever had for helping people with a computer we can neither see nor touch. Its creator designed it expressly to help ASC volunteers effectively help others while not giving away any personal or security info. It does not run in the background, only when you tell it to run.

What is shady/unsafe is all the anti-virus and so-called "cleaning apps" foist on unsuspecting Mac users. An app's presence in or absence from the Mac App Sore is neither a stamp of approval nor a statement of fitness for purpose.

We are rather stuck without EC if the ideas offered so far do not turn up more clues. An EC report often offers a reason for performance issues with one post.

A change to the forum software a couple of years back means you need these instructions for inserting the report into a response here:

How to use the Add Text Feature When Post… - Apple Community

I doubt the SSD is the problem. It is not unusual to see the SSD's write speed to be about half of the read speed. The read speed of your SSD is Ok. It is possible the Crucial MX100 SSD has a firmware update available. To check the health of the SSD run DriveDx and post the report here using the "Additional Text" icon which looks like a piece of paper. You can even run the SSD's internal self diagnostic. The trial period of DriveDx only allows running the short self diagnostic, but it is possible to start the SSD's long/extended self diagnostic using the command line even during the DriveDx trial period since it uses an open source utility.

If the SSD would have an issue, then many times using the SSD's built-in hardware secure erase feature will fix the SSD as this feature also resets the SSD to factory defaults. It is possible having TRIM enabled on this SSD is causing problems. I know a lot of SSD's don't always properly work with TRIM as Linux has a blocklist for not allowing the automatic OS TRIMming to be enabled because it could cause data loss. This is one reason Apple does not enable TRIM support by default when third party SSDs are installed.

@etresoft's suggestion of a memory issue is a possibility though since Macs are very picky about the memory they use. However @etresoft is incorrect about never needing to replace the thermal compound of the heatsink. The heatsink compound Apple uses can dry up and disappear even after just three years of use. I've seen this multiple times on our organization's Apple laptops. I do agree with @etresoft that most times I don't touch the thermal compound unless the laptop is running hotter than normal or I have to remove the heatsink during the repair.

FYI, I've never had any issues with the Macs Fan Control app. It is a very useful tool when you are investigating the source of a computer that is running hot. You don't have to install the Macs Fan Control driver. If you don't provide your password when you run the app the first time, then the driver will not be installed so you can use the app even more safely (click Cancel instead) . However, without installing the driver I don't believe the app will even update itself (even manually unless this is just a permissions thing with macOS). I do agree that most people should never need to run a fan monitoring app (except perhaps on an iMac to nudge the fan speeds a bit higher to keep it a bit cooler where I've heard this might be necessary).

Even if you correctly uninstall the problem apps sometimes they may have made other unknown system modifications that won't show up in the EtreCheck report. You may need to reinstall macOS over top of itself or better yet perform a clean install. In fact testing with a clean install of macOS and thoroughly testing before migrating or restoring from a backup and before installing any third party apps is the only real way to separate out a hardware and software issue.

Also make sure the heatsink is in good condition. If the heatpipe has any kinks or unnatural bends, then the heatpipe won't be able to properly transfer heat from the heatsink to the fins by the fan. This will cause you laptop to run hot.

lovelycrimsonred wrote:

No the fan isn't always on. It's not just on pages with video that the fan runs on max. It's reading emails, surfing the web. The laptop practically burns my legs. Once in awhile it'll have a real issue and I'll have to force it to shut down, let it cool off, and then restart it.

If there were a problem with hardware components, then the fan would be on all the time. It sounds like the fan is only coming on in response to an increase in internal temperatures. This is what it is designed to do. Here is a technical support article from Apple explaining how it works and what steps you can take to improve the problem: About fans and fan noise in your Apple product - Apple Support

This has been a problem ever since Apple switched to Intel chips in 2006. The Intel chips just run hotter. In Intel's defence, they built their market for big, box-shaped PCs with massive fans. Then Apple came along and shoved those same chips into ultra-thin notebook computers and iMacs. In most cases, Apple has been successful in managing the heat. I think many Mac users have never experienced a typical PC notebook. The fans and noise can be much worse than any Mac. Here is yet another technical support article from Apple talking about how to keep your Mac notebook cool: Keep your Mac notebook within acceptable operating temperatures - Apple Support

And I forgot to mention, this is one of the primary reasons that Apple switched to its own M1 chip. It consumes much less energy, runs for longer on a charge, and is faster than any Intel chip. Some new Mac notebook computers don't need fans at all. This is what you are giving up by hanging on to this old computer.

The thermal paste will be replaced at a Mac shop, not a PC shop. I'm not sure if it'll help. We'll see! My initial feeling is that uninstalling Avast did help somewhat, so thanks for the suggestion.

Hopefully your technician will be as good as this person: MacBook Pro thermal paste failing after a… - Apple Community

They have managed to replace the thermal paste twice now, and the computer is still running! Note that those temperatures are in Celsius. According to your screenshot, your computer is actually running cooler than the one with the new thermal paste.

You Crucial SSD MX-series was a good SD choice but its write speed is a bit low:

Performance:

System Load: 1.34 (1 min ago) 1.85 (5 min ago) 2.60 (15 min ago)

Nominal I/O speed: 0.01 MB/s

File system: 27.02 seconds

Write speed: 368 MB/s

Read speed: 528 MB/s

It should show closer to 500MB/sec (±) for Write. I've seen reports where removing a so-called "cleaning" app restored nominal drive performance. Maybe Avast is doing the same. It has to go. It gives you no protection and too often affects performance.

Deleting Gramblr sounds like a good decision:

2021-05-17 13:32:33 Gramblr.app Crash (157 times)

Executable: /Applications/Gramblr.app

That's impressive!

lovelycrimsonred wrote:

There is almost zero chance having some ****** Instagram app that I never use on my computer has anything to do with anything. I haven't used it in years.

Gramblr was installed under a system-level launch daemon. It has been running, with root privileges no less, continuously, 24x7, for years. At some point, most likely due to some software update or some other change, it stopped working. Since that time, it has been launching, and crashing, continuously, 24x7. Your EtreCheck report shows 157 such crashes just in the past week. When an app crashes, the operating system automatically generates one or more crash log files. This can be quite computationally intensive.

Deleting it hasn't lead to any changes.

It is always a challenge to identify exactly what is causing a particular problem. Even something as seemingly innocuous as this could actually be the ultimate cause.

Furthermore, an EtreCheck report is designed to show what software is running on your computer, usually located in hidden directories. In many cases, these apps can be very difficult to delete. It is very common for people to think they've removed some software, then they post a follow-up EtreCheck report and the software is still installed and running.

In this case, Gramblr does appear to be relatively easy to uninstall, at least partially.

I did uninstall Avast. It's hard to say whether there is any change yet. I do still have the fan running high.

You also have "fan control" software running. This software can interfere with the normal operation of your computer. There is never any need to run this software. If your fans are running on high, you wouldn't need the software to tell you that. It would be really loud. If the fans are constantly running, without any obvious cause, as is the case in your EtreCheck report, then the cause must be either the fan control software itself or a serious hardware failure.

I'll have to use the computer over the course of a week or two to notice whether there is any improvement. Hidden I pay for and use, so I won't be removing that. I am going to get my thermal paste replaced on Monday, so we'll see . . .

What's the best case scenario here? You get a quieter, obsolete, 10 year-old computer that can run any of the latest software?

lovelycrimsonred wrote:

Best case scenario: I don't fry my hard drive or logic board or whatever else you can fry if it runs hot all the time

Is that even an option after 7 years of this?

Let's go back to your original post:

It has run hot with the fan often maxed out since I replaced the RAM and HD in 2014

Have you tried replacing the RAM and/or hard drive with the original equipment?

Here is my concern. Replacing the thermal paste is something that PC people do. Macs don't ever need that. What you have described sound very much like the end result of having some PC repair shop re-do the thermal paste. The RAM and hard drive in this computer are designed to be more-or-less user replaceable. You should expect to be able to open it up and replace either with no ill effects.

It is certainly a possibility that replacing the thermal paste will improve this problem. But it is more likely that it will do nothing, or make the problem worse.

Furthermore, you said

The fan always goes on really high when there is a video on a page, like on a news website. It also goes on other times, unpredictably. Mostly I use my computer for using an internet browser or for watching movies on DVD or via streaming. I do not play games.

Is the fan always on? I mean always? If you are saying the fan is normally off, but turns on when you are playing internet video, that is 100% normal for this computer. It may not have been a big problem in 2013, when this computer was relatively new and most video, web sites, and app were designed for it. But it is now 2021, video is everywhere, bandwidth is higher, and the demands on hardware are much greater now.

HWTech wrote:

@etresoft's suggestion of a memory issue is a possibility though since Macs are very picky about the memory they use. However @etresoft is incorrect about never needing to replace the thermal compound of the heatsink.

I'm not a big fan of mathematical debates. Has there ever existed a Mac where the thermal paste has dried up and whose performance can be improved with a reapplication? Of course. Does that regularly happen? LOL, no! Is this a repair that Apple offers? No way! Is this something that PC techies do to try to tweak their computers? All the time.

I'm still not convinced that there even is a problem with this computer. What is the mathematical terminology being used for the fan behaviour on this computer? "has run" "often" "always...when there is video" "unpredictably". Sorry, but that sounds like every other 2011 13" MacBook Pro ever made, including mine.

The SSD failed the Apple hardware diagnostic test. Now I don't have any reason to blame the SSD. It appears to be running fine. If there is anything that is making it work harder and reducing the write speed, it would be the low 27 GB free space. But it still failed the test. When diagnosing potential hardware failures, that's when you stop. It probably isn't the SSD and it can be replaced once the actual cause of the problem, if any, is found.

The truth is that there does not exist, mathematically speaking, any PC technician, nor any type of thermal paste, nor any thermal paste application technique, that will ever make this 10 year-old computer run modern software like Big Sur, or play video without winding up the fan. Apple still sells the SuperDrive and it is probably cheaper than any repair on that computer. My old 2011 MacBook Pro was a great workhorse. I still use it from time to time to test software. But in no way does it compare with my 2017 machine, or my 2014, let alone a modern M1 computer. Give it a dignified retirement and move on.

Allan Jones wrote:

HWTech wrote:

The drive error with the Apple Hardware Test is not unexpected when using a third party SSD in this laptop.

Can that be a cable error?

Unlikely. I know the Apple Diagnostics and the Apple Hardware Test will fail when some third party items are installed in a Mac. I've personally experienced this with third party batteries and some drives because those third party components may not respond the same as the original items when the diagnostics query those items. The OP mentioned that they were using a third party SSD.