Ever since I upgraded to Lion (and doubled my RAM) it seems like my 2009 Macbook's motor ( for lack of a better term) seems to run and run until I put it to sleep. Is it all coincidental? I make sure it is vented. Doesn't seem to make a difference. And of course my Apple Care just expired.
MacBook, Mac OS X (10.5.8)
The fan runs continuously. If yours is running faster than idle then:
Open Activity Monitor in the Utilities folder. Select All Processes from the Processes dropdown menu. Click twice on the CPU% column header to display in descending order. If you find a process using a large amount of CPU time, then select the process and click on the Quit icon in the toolbar. Click on the Force Quit button to kill the process. See if that helps. Be sure to note the name of the runaway process so you can track down the cause of the problem.
The fan runs continuously. If yours is running faster than idle then:
Open Activity Monitor in the Utilities folder. Select All Processes from the Processes dropdown menu. Click twice on the CPU% column header to display in descending order. If you find a process using a large amount of CPU time, then select the process and click on the Quit icon in the toolbar. Click on the Force Quit button to kill the process. See if that helps. Be sure to note the name of the runaway process so you can track down the cause of the problem.
Yikes. It's amazing how you all know this stuff! Anyhow, looks like Activity Monitor and activitymonitord are the highest. Should I quit? And what they heck do they do?
OK, then you need to determine how fast the fan is actually running, and how hot the computer is getting and why.
I would suggest you start by installing some system monitoring software. I recommend using iStat Menus 3.23 to provide menubar monitors for lots of information including information on fan speed and temperatures.
Oh, and yes you can quit Activity Monitor for now.
Ok. Will do. Thanks for your help.
Why can't we stay logged into the Apple Support Community for awhile? Drives me nuts that everytime I have to respond to someone, I have to log in again!
Shouldn't have to do that unless you are logging off first. You should be able to open a window or tab in the browser for the ASC and just leave it open.
No, I don't sign off but i do hit the Red button so maybe that is signing out.
Thanks -I installed the iStat-now I have to read up on it so I know what's up.
One more question, if you could indulge me. Is there a "normal" temperature range for a notebook? I see it's 129 degrees right now.
Yes, depending on which model you have. A CPU temp of 129ºF (54ºC) is probably a little above normal for a 2009 model doing nothing in a room whose temperature is 72ºF (22ºC.) How fast is the fan running? It should be around 2000 RPM when idle.
Ha! It's probably 84 degrees in here-maybe that's part of the problem. Anyhow, where would I be looking for the fan speed? I see something under Sensors and then Fan Speed Control-when I hit "edit rules", I see it is set at 4000 rpm. Hmmm. Problemo?
The is a sensor icon that looks like this: in the icon list for Sensors. Drag it into the top line so it looks like this:
.
When you click on the menubar icon it will display a whole bunch of info like this of my iMac:
Ok. The exhaust is about 2800 rpm. This is so cool that I am learning all of this! Thanks, again.
🙂
That's not so bad if you are in an 84ºF room. If that's the ambient temperature, then you will find the computer's temps will run higher and the fan faster to keep it cool. Anything you can do to improve ventilation will be helpful. I usually elevate the rear about 3/4 to 1" and always work on a table top. A small cooling fan on the desk can't hurt either.
It's on a cooling rack (for baking!) as we speak to keep air under it. Thanks so much for all of your help!
I ran across this conversation when looking for information about my computer.
I've installed the iStat program.
The exhause fan currently is running at ~2000 rpm and is idle
however the sensor says that my computer is 150-160 deg or some even more !
Why would the computer be getting that hot? if that is a true temp...
I'm in an office, the computer is on a desk... well vented.
The computer is a Macbood air, 2011, almost 2 years old.
Now as I'm finishing this note, the temp say 180 deg
thanks for your input
Motor keeps running
