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MacBook Air getting hot

I have been using MacBook Air since 2019 October.

For the last few months, I feel warm around the touchpad.

I use Safari, Excel and Outlook only and sometimes Spotify.

I see that Macbook gets hot and even the fan turns on.

I check the activity monitor, the CPU usage is about 60% empty.


Do you have any recommendations?


Thank you.


[Re-Titled by Moderator]

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 12.4

Posted on Jul 1, 2022 3:55 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jul 1, 2022 4:20 AM



1 - Restart in Safe Mode. This will perform a Disk Repair, clear cache files and only load Apple Software, extensions and fonts. The boot up will be slow and can take some time - Normal.


2 - Does the issue present in this mode ?


3 - Sometimes a Safe Boot followed by a Normal Boot will just put things right.


4 - If not - there could be something in the main User Account playing up. To further isolate this - Set up users, guests, and groups on Mac. Then log out of the Main User account and log into the dummy account and test again if the issue persists.


5 - If the issue is present in the dummy account - then, this appears to be a System Wide issue on the computer.


6 - If after performing each of the above steps in the order that have been presents  and still have issues - please advise for possible further assistance.

4 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jul 1, 2022 4:20 AM in response to umitosman



1 - Restart in Safe Mode. This will perform a Disk Repair, clear cache files and only load Apple Software, extensions and fonts. The boot up will be slow and can take some time - Normal.


2 - Does the issue present in this mode ?


3 - Sometimes a Safe Boot followed by a Normal Boot will just put things right.


4 - If not - there could be something in the main User Account playing up. To further isolate this - Set up users, guests, and groups on Mac. Then log out of the Main User account and log into the dummy account and test again if the issue persists.


5 - If the issue is present in the dummy account - then, this appears to be a System Wide issue on the computer.


6 - If after performing each of the above steps in the order that have been presents  and still have issues - please advise for possible further assistance.

Jul 4, 2022 4:53 AM in response to umitosman

Anything that can not be replaced is worth protecting IMHO


Do you have a Rescue Plan In-Place. This comprises having 3 Backups using 2 methods and 1 Off Site incase of Theft, Loss or Natural Disasters. A Time Machine Backup  is very useful and can be used to Revert to Previous Working macOS


For addition purposes - two Tested Clones each to separate external drives. This is insurance incase the upgrades goes sideways. At least one Tested Clone and / or Time Machine Backup should be Off - Site

Jul 4, 2022 10:53 AM in response to umitosman

Applications -> Utilities -> Activity Monitor -> View (menu) -> All Processes -> CPU (tab)


Applications -> Utilities -> Activity Monitor -> View (menu) -> All Processes -> Memory (tab)


look for processes consuming excessive CPU and/or Memory.


NOTE: kernel_task having 100's percent CPU is the kernel_task putting the CPU chip into a low power idle mode so that it can cool down before it melts (literally melts inside the chip carrier).


If you do not find any such processes, then consider having the Mac internally cleaned for dust/pollen accumulation affecting the fans and cooling surfaces. At work a few users have found that when the fans start to sound like jet engine about to take off, that cleaning the fans of dust/pollen has solved the heating problem.

MacBook Air getting hot

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