ML 10.8.2 Upgrade & Fan Issues

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Level 1

6 points

ML 10.8.2 Upgrade & Fan Issues

I know that this is an often talked about topic (or was...) and I have combed through all kinds of discussions without finding much. Maybe there is no easy answer; maybe this is a hardware problem--but maybe somebody can help.

Like many I upgraded to ML from SL (just this morning). SL ran the fans a little high (I only upgraded to SL last week) and I had hoped ML would knock them back down to normal--Leopard ran silent unless I was doing something heavy that demanded the fans running.

I have a 2008 Unibody Macbook 2GHz Core 2 Duo w/ 8gb of recently installed memory.

Since upgrading I have:

Spoken with phone-support, they directed me to my local Apple Store
Reset PRAM
Reset SMC
Checked and rechecked activity monitor [as I sit here running only Safari and itunes there is 80.29% of the CPU idle and 5.65GB of memory available. The biggest CPU hog is Activity monitor at 8.3%] Nothing ever consistently exceeds 10% usage save for when Spotlight was indexing, now it is done indexing. And yes, I have made sure to check 'All Processes'.
Booted into Safe Mode and the fans still ran high.

I should also add that TemperatureMonitor says the CPU is hanging around 58-60 degrees celsius.

I have an appointment tomorrow but needless to say I would rather solve it myself, if possible, as I anticipate that I will have to spend money I don't really have to fix this problem and I may well be able to fix it myself.

Most of the posts I saw were from the Summertime, but I thought maybe more has developed that somebody could help me with, since then.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thank you

EDIT: After PRAM reset the fan doesn't seem to be running as loud, although for an idle macbook it is still running very loudly.

Message was edited by: Autofac

MacBook (13-inch Aluminum Late 2008), OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)

Posted on Jan 2, 2013 10:57 AM

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Answer 1

Eric Root

Level 10

684,027 points

Jan 2, 2013 12:40 PM in response to Autofac

If you just upgraded this morning, Spotlight indexing may be the cause. The initial indexing take a long time. This Apple support article explains how to tell if Spotlight is indexing:

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3721

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Answer 2

Autofac Author

Level 1

6 points

Jan 2, 2013 7:27 PM in response to Eric Root

Thanks-- I had thought about that; it was indexing for a while (~40 minutes) but is most definitely done now, and was done when I posted the first message earlier.

Curiously, I put the laptop to sleep for 5 hours while I went to work, came home, opened it and now the fans don't seem to have kicked back up.

I don't consider this solved yet, I am going to shutdown and restart completely, but it's the quietest I have heard it since Leopard.

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Answer 3

Autofac Author

Level 1

6 points

Jan 3, 2013 9:25 AM in response to Autofac

Went to my local Apple Store today with an appointment.

Kindly, they helped me and reinstalled Mountain Lion as a fresh install, rather than an upgrade.

Got home, turned it on, and the problem persists...

Edit: I installed smcFanControl and used the default setting of 1800rpm. The fan dropped down to normal speed and sound. I assume smc allows it to adjust itself as needed for when things actually get warm, but I don't know.

Is it dangerous to run the fan at 1800rpm with smc giving a temperature reading of 61c/142f? What temperature should it be at for idling?

Thanks

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Answer 4

keg55

Level 6

11,743 points

Jan 3, 2013 9:43 AM in response to Autofac

Did you ever try an SMC reset? This reset handles fan issues. I have never used smcFanControl and when my rMBP fan RPM is too high, an SMC reset fixes it.

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Answer 5

Autofac Author

Level 1

6 points

Jan 3, 2013 9:57 AM in response to keg55

Thanks. I had tried that, but will again following the work the Genius' did to see if it does anything.

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Answer 6

Autofac Author

Level 1

6 points

Jan 3, 2013 5:25 PM in response to Autofac

So, SMC didn't fix it and I actually ended up taking the bus back to the Apple Store.

They were most helpful, and the tech tried fsck which found something amiss and fixed it, seems to be stable but I'll keep testing.

They offered to have me back to fix it if it doesn't work. We'll see.

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Answer 7

Autofac Author

Level 1

6 points

Jan 6, 2013 11:41 AM in response to Autofac

A few days in things seem to be working fine. It seems to me that there is a very slight constant whir that wasn't there before, but I don't think it is related to the problem before. The fans and temperature is maintaining steady.

Good to know I could go back to the store if need be.

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Answer 8

Autofac Author

Level 1

6 points

Jan 21, 2013 1:59 PM in response to Autofac

Edit:

So, it turned out that nothing the Apple Store did (though they did try very hard, and I appreciated every minute of it) did not help.

Finally it dawned on me. Around the time the problems began to occur I had bought and had installed two 4gb sticks of ram because I had been finding the system rather sluggish. Shortly after popping them in I upgraded the system to ML.

All this time I had been blaming ML for the problems when the fan issues were in fact related to the memory. Idle, I was running at at least 2000RPM and well into the 60s (centigrade) and even doing something as minor as running itunes and checking gmail it might go up into the high 3000's and 75c.

I popped that ram out and put the 2x1gb sticks back in and sure enough, idle temperature is ~55c and below 1800RPM and even while I type this with 5 tabs open and itunes going it is only at 61c and 1803RPM.

Annoyed that it took me this long to figure it out, and kind of wishing the ram worked but all in all I would prefer the quiet to the slight increase in speed.

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