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MacBook Air Mid-2009 overheating in Lion.

Hello!

I own a MacBook Air Mid-2009 (2,1) and it overheats really badly. In Lion it is even WORSE 😟

I'm just browsing the web, no Flash, etc, and it gets VERY hot. This, in ~10 mins after i wake it up. Of course, kernel_task eats up the entire CPU then (140%) and it becomes unusable. The mouse barely moves.

The Air is a pretty powerfull machine (1.86 C2D, 2 Gigs of ram) but the cooling isn't enough. OR OS X takes actions too fast (at ~70 degrees celsius). I ran a simple test. I always hated Windows, but now it impressed me. On OS X, i started a 3D java game, in ~30 secs, kernel_task is killing the CPU, the game plays at 5-6 FPS.

Booted Windows 7, started the same game. Played for 2-3 hours (multiplayer FTW 😀) and i noticed that Windows allows it to overheat more (the case felt much more hotter than in OS X) BUT the game worked nicely, at ~100 FPS. Continously.


So, OS X kills the CPU too fast. Maybe there is a tweak for it to allow more overheating. In Snow Leopard, it overheated slower, but the same problem. I tried CoolBook to undervolt, which apparently modifies Apple's driver for the CPU. And also disables this protection, with kernel_task. It worked nicely, but i want to have Apple software, not 3rd party. And also, it should work out-of-the-box, without additional software.


I always use it on a metal-desk.

So, i can't use it for basic stuff. Such as Twitter, Safari, Xcode, etc.

What do you think?

MacBook Air Mid 2009, Mac OS X (10.7)

Posted on Jul 22, 2011 6:53 AM

Reply
19 replies

Jul 29, 2011 6:29 AM in response to andreigherghe

This problem is killing me !! I have the original MacBook air and it used to shout down one of the cores on Snow leopard, which is really bad ! But now in Lion, it doesn't have a limit for tempreture. I'm talking about 105 C, and when it hits this point, it shuts down the whole system. I use only skype, NOTHING ELSE. The Kernal_task freaks out, and jumps up to 170%. I'll try to use coolbook, but can't Apple just fix this freakn' problem !! It makes me hate MacBook airs !


- Aymen

Aug 5, 2011 10:11 AM in response to andreigherghe

Same issues with my mid-2009 Air. I just downgraded to Leopard and all the issues are gone. I can even play graphics heavy games again now, while on Snow Leopard upwards the laptop choked on Skype. A lot of times I had to go back to Skype on iPhone, because the computer couldn't handle the load.


This is a clear *** Apple!


There are not THAT many differences between the kernels I would assume. Did they not test this? Does anyone remember Apple saying "do not install on Macbook Air" on Snow Leopard?


Apple: fix this!

Aug 11, 2011 12:31 PM in response to andreigherghe

Hi I am also suffering this problem, the Macbook Pro Feb 2010


Model Name: MacBook Pro

Model Identifier: MacBookPro5,5

Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo

Processor Speed: 2.26 GHz

Number of Processors: 1

Total Number of Cores: 2

L2 Cache: 3 MB

Memory: 4 GB

Bus Speed: 1.07 GHz

Boot ROM Version: MBP55.00AC.B03

SMC Version (system): 1.47f2


I installed Lion via an upgrade the first day it was released and found it really slowed my system down, so I did a clean install this week and have been monitoring and found it's the same, the kernel uses 400MB RAM, the fans run hot and the beach ball appears. Trying to use Aperture is painful it takes ages to load images now. I cleared off 80GB of storage from my hard drive in case this was causing an issue but no luck.


Any help is greatly appreciated!

Aug 15, 2011 12:57 AM in response to Kurtz25

Hi, ok I seem to have improved my system significantly by opening disk manager, selecting the Macintosh HD, choosing check system permissions, then clicking repair, once this was complete I found the OS to be much the same as Snow Leopard.


It seems even after performing a clean install, importing files and applications from Time Machine has an impact on various permissions which were causing the speed issue for me.

Aug 15, 2011 2:47 AM in response to Kurtz25

I just suggested to another user with this problem that I solved my heat issue by resetting both the SMC and the PRAM on my macair 11. Havent had the problem since. You will need to look up the correct keystroke combos for the macair in regular apple support, but that fix worked for me. Worth a try as it wont hurt anything even if it doesnt work.

Aug 20, 2011 4:04 AM in response to Lowell Tuttman

The issue is not related to SMC or anything like that. The driver for Intel SpeedStep and the voltage / clock-rate management has changed after Leopard and probably again for Lion. When the CPU gets to hot, it shuts down one core to protect itself from permanent damage. When this happens, you will see the kernel_task running at high percentages.


Apparently, you can purchase a third-part app like Coolbook and go through an iterative process to find out how low you can power your CPU at individual clock rates without causing errors in computation (system crash). As each CPU has different qualities (each as in: every one who is reading this has differrent one), you'll have to do it yourself.


I haven't tried this myself so I do not know whether it's a working solution.


In my Windows times I would have started to tweak this immediately. But you know what? I got used to paying the extra premium for the Apple products which usually do not require this.


My 2009 Air was only a few months old when Snow Leopard came out (August 28, 2009).


Apple, how can you release a an OS that skrews up same-year hardware that you sold at ~$2000 ?


Solutions?


  1. Buy the 2011 Macbook Air and throw out the old one?
  2. Downgrade to Leopard (which I did) and not be able to the latest version of Xcode (***** for developers)
  3. Mess around with changing the voltage of your CPU (kills the Apple hands-off spirit)


Btw, if you downgrade to Leopard, like I did, you can even play 3D games again. Clearly it's not the hardward then...


Surely, a public company needs to show growing revenue. Now it appears to impact its customers by forcing them to buy a new computer when not needed.


<Edited by Host>

Aug 20, 2011 3:47 AM in response to andreigherghe

For those who are interested. I just get my MBA (2009) back from the Apple Store (genius bar). My MBA works with Snow Leopard and the temperature grows even I browse little websites...


Their diagnositc: eveything is ok (stress test, cpu fan, thermal past...) They changed the fan to be sure.

The genius said "if the problem still occurs, take another appointment". So... I will take another one.



For now, I used SMC Fan control and I set the maximum fan speed @3000 rpm. It makes me crazy to hear that loud sound eveytime. Coolbook is a piece of crap since when you underclock your MBA, it becomes unusable.

MacBook Air Mid-2009 overheating in Lion.

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