You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

MacBook Pro Retina Fan Issues

Hi,


I bought a macBook Pro Retina just under a month ago, and have been experiencing some issues with the fan speeds.


I can be just browsing the web or checking emails or playing music through iTunes, and the fans will spin up to full speed for a minute or so, and then return to normal.


I have reset the SMC, the PRAM and repaired the Disk and Disk Permissions, with no luck, I've also tried a full format and reinstall with no luck either.


I have seen that others have been experiencing similar issues, and wanted to get some advice on where I can go from here.

Attached below is a Screen Grab of my temps and fan speeds. The fans were at normal speed for a few minutes, then went up to a high speed, back down and then back up again, and kept repeating.


User uploaded file


Thanks in advance,


James.

Posted on Jan 23, 2013 12:25 PM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jan 23, 2013 6:42 PM

Your screen grab is not visible. Please reattach.

772 replies

Apr 15, 2013 3:27 AM in response to jamezmbp

My experience tells me that the fan issue is caused by iTunes. My Macbook Pro (13'', mid-2010) with a Samsung 840 256GB SSD also have this issue. After playing songs for some time the fan speed gets up to 5000 rpm. In addition, after the songs play for several hours, my start-up disk (with about 50 GB free space initially) will be filled filled with temporary files generated by iTunes and become full.


After I closes iTunes, the fan speed goes back to normal quickly and the start-up disk also slowly restores it's original free space with those temporary files deleted.

Apr 22, 2013 8:06 PM in response to jamezmbp

I'm having a fan issue too. I just bought my 13" macbook pro retina a few weeks ago. It's the 3ghz, 8 gb ram, SM512E hdd version.


When I watch a youtube video, by the 2 minute mark, my fans will have increased from 2000 rpm to 6000 rpm. It's even gone as high as 8000 rpm after 5 minutes. The temps never exceed 56-57 degrees C.


I tried using the html5 player instead of flash and the fans topped out at 5000 rpm.


In some instances, if I continue watching a long video, the fans will return to 2000 rpm after a while. Other times, the fans stay at 6000 rpm for the entire video.


I'm really disappointed with my macbook. It's a brand new top of the line macbook and it can't even play a youtube video without causing the fans to max out. My 2010 macbook had no problem playing youtube videos.


I tried the SMC reset and it didn't help. Is it worth taking it to the genius bar?

Apr 26, 2013 11:53 PM in response to jamezmbp

I have had my MBP 13" Retina for about two months, and I just took it on my first trip across the country. Used it on both of my flights, and now that I'm using it off the plane, I hear the mechanical buzzing noise really loud at a normal distance from the screen, and can still hear it even 10 feet away from the laptop.


I have never heard it before today. This is really unfortunate if normal use (carrying it around in a bag, vibrations from an airplane) can cause this to happen.


Edit: Started realizing it would go away for a second or two at a time if I quickly tilted the whole laptop upwards. Closed the lid and shook it a few times, and now the buzzing noise is gone. Definitely an issue with loose fan stuff...

May 9, 2013 3:34 AM in response to KGBC

Hi there

I am having issues with my fan as well, I have Performed a system hardware check, reset smc and PR test. I've even taken the Sytem to an authorised Apple repairer. They didn't find anything. Although the problem is still occuring I have Rany Apple support on three ocassions, They told me it was a software issue. What a lot of Crap.


I am not sure what to do next. I just what the thing fixed. According to your Comments. BTW, is apple reading these comments?


I will be persuing this further, and going to the fair trading and consumer affairs.

MacBook Pro Retina Fan Issues

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.