2011 Macbook Pro Fan noise?

killingrock-

Do you have enough real RAM in your MacBook to run all these without Paging like crazy?

Paging spins up the hard drive, whose motor throws still more heat, and makes everything worse.

Grant,

First off, thanks for so much input. It's cool that you are taking the time to respond to so many people.

I think you hit it pretty close to the stake here. I tracked down the noise. It's not my fan. It's my hard drive. I posted above that I could not think a software reset/firmware update could resolve a hardware issue like fan noise unless the reset changed the fan speed to a lower setting. In this case it did not. But the noise that I didn't have on my replacement MBP somehow managed to manifest itself after I did reset the SMC. Knowing that the fan speed didn't change, I needed to look elsewhere.

Today is the first day that I had a chance to spend a few minutes investigating. So I did just that. I shut the laptop down and off came the back cover. I booted it back up and the whirring sound came right out of the hard drive. I popped the drive out and put the old drive from my mid-2010 MBP in and restarted the machine. Silence after the initial spin-up. That old drive has a bad boot sector and it's only 250GB so I put the drive that came with the new machine back in.

The drive is just loud. I went to Hitachi's site to see if the is a decibel rating on the two drives (the old and the new) thinking that maybe the new drive is just louder. Both are rated at 2.4-2.6 bels so that was no help. But without a doubt, it's the hard drive and not the fan making that noise. Now the question is, do I try and find a quieter drive and buy it or just deal with the noise? It kills me to spend so much money on a new machine then have to go out and spend another $150 “hoping” to fix a problem that I should not be having to start with.

Either way, I am really glad that it's the drive and not the fan. I can do something with the drive. Maybe even go to a totally silent SSD (there’s $600 for the same capacity drive. UGH!) If it was something Apple reengineered in the cooling system, I would be SOL. Thank God it's not. I would have been majorly let down if it was their design. In any event, I can deal with the whole problem better knowing what it is.

I put a more modest SSD in my son's older MacBook hoping for a speed-up.

When I asked about it, he shrugged off the speed-up and said, "It runs much Cooler, the fan is quieter and the battery lasts longer."

Speed is always cool. But at my age, silence is better 🙂

I got a macbook pro for xmas. Never had any issues with it untill tonight when watching some online movie streaming. The fan went mad I thought the laptop would take off. Then gradually stopped. Wth is going on? Never had that in my old vaio. Im afraid to try gaming on this at this stage..

Are you saying that SSDs are more quiet? I am considering buying a macbook pro but am hesitating a little due to high cost. If I get it I don't want to have problems with fan trying to take off! So yeah, back to my first question, are the SSDs really noiseless?

The SSD is not only noiseless, it uses less power than a spinning Hard Drive, and generates less heat. That is not to say that your entire MacBook will never get hot enough to run the fan.

But using an SSD instead of a spinning drive, the battery will last longer and the machine will run cooler so that it needs the fan less often.

¿Resolviste el problema?; Tengo unos dos dias escuchando un ruido extraño proveniente del ventilador (creo que es el ventilador), probe lo de inclinar la maquina unos 20 grados y dejo de escucharse el golpeteo por completo, lo pongo en posicion normal y vuelve el golpeteo...

¿Cómo lo resolviste?

Tengo una Macook Pro 13" i5

Saludos

google translate:

¿[Did you] solve the problem?, I have [for] two-days [been] hearing a strange noise from the fan (I think it is the fan), [tried] tipping the machine at about 20 degree angle and heard the pounding stopped completely, I put it back innormal position, the patter ...

How did you solve it?

I have a Macook Pro 13 "i5

regards

Same here! MacBook PRO early 2011 model's fans make a loud noise all the time! My previous MacBook PRO 13 (2009) was silent!! 😟 that's not an evolution... is it?

maybe u guys try out smcFancontrol, you can set the rpm of your fan,

that may slow down your fan and you can get less noise.

my MBP 13' i7 2.7GHz has the problem (which i think it is quite normal when u play games or doing heavy stuffs like converting movies, surfing the net makes "middle" noise 😝) also, but after I use smcFanControl,

I can keep my fan at 3200 rpm and it is quite quiet, cpu is 35'C at this point.

Hope this help u guys

Cheers 🙂

I wouldn't reccomend that to most people. It's easy to overheat the processor in exchange for low fan noise.

But in all reality, I had the noise problem and also swore it was the fan. Taking the back cover off of three new machines resulted in realizing that it is not the fan making the noise at idle but the 500GB Segate hard drive. Annoying but that's what it is.

Thanks to point that out. But when it is idle the computer shouldn't be making much noise, i mean a HDD wouldn't make that much noise.

You may listen to the back of the MBP at the bottom of the monitor, where the exhaust come out,

the noise should come from the fan, at least i think. HDD would give some noise like dee-dee-dee....

that kind of electric sound, but not sound of hmm---

what i suggest is only functional when cpu is of low usage like surfing the net, when the fan is still making nuch noise, but certainly not for gaming and other heavy stuffs.

when u play flashy games, the fan still goes up to 6500 rpm as u can see with iStat, so stability won't be affected.

The fan on the 2011 MBP makes an almost in inaudible sound as it has over the past few generations of the MBP. The new hard drive is quiet loud as it spins. Don't take my word for it, take the bottom cover off for yourself (as I hvae) and listen to it your self.

I repair PC's for a living (www.The-Tech-Wizard.com) and have several certifications in hardware and software. I personally switched to a Mac in 2009 and have fallen in love with both the machine and the OS. I now own a MBP, an iMac, and several iOS devices. All work flawlessly. I have gotten friends to switch to Macs as they usually turn to me for advice. I have sold my two previous 1 year old MBP's to buy a newer upgraded machines. That's not out of anything other than having a new more powerful machine (not that that is needed) and for fun.

I bought myself a new MBP from Amazon in November. The deal was just way too good to pass up. When I got it I was surprised to hear the fan when I booted it up. At least to me, it sounded like a fan whir. I installed the iStat Monitor widget that shows you temps and fan speeds. The temps and fan speeds were normal for a MBP. I called Apple and they said to bring it to a store where a Genius could look at it and listen to it. Have you ever been to an Apple store? You couldn't hear an explosion in there. I took it anyway figuring the Genius was going to tell me hear couldn't hear it and that everything was working fine and normal. He said he heard it. Shocking! He said he would order a new fan. This is a brand new machine. Sorry, Apple, I want it replaced. They would not as I did not buy it from them. I called Amazon and they exchanged it...But not before I took the back cover off to determine if maybe something was blocking the vent port. That's when I realized that it was not the fan or the vent but actually the HDD.

I got my new MBP and guess what? The same noise. ****! I popped the cover off and yep, it was the HDD. I swapped the HDD out for another older, smaller one that I had and the machine went silent. I put the HDD that came with the machine back in and shrugged it off. One day when I have some unwanted $$$ I'll buy myself an SSD that makes no noise. Two weeks later the DVD drive died. GEEEZZZ!!! I called Amazon yet again and they replaced it a second time (but said "No more. Take it to Apple to get repaired") So now I have MBP #3. Same noise. I upgraded the memory and while the bottom cover was off I listened to the HDD again. So I am not guessing it's the hard drive, I'm telling you it is.

Try taking the back of your Macbook Pro and giving it a clean.

Use a cloth and a small paint brush to get rid of dust.

If you have the money, buy a can of Compressed Air.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Electronics-Compressed-Air-Dusters/s?ie=UTF8&rh=n%3A2009 27031&page=1It is amazing how much dust gathers around the fans and on the inside of the unibody shell.

This worked a treat for me!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2gtjhv7m-Q