Q: Why is my MacBook Pro fan SO LOUD

Hi i have a 2012 15" Macbook Pro Retina, and when ever i turn it on it make a fan noise that i constant and when i run games or a heavy programme it get's extremely loud. I don't know what i can do.

I feel your PAIN, **** this idiot error.

But I have figured out tonight that it might be with the GPU of the macs. If your Mac doesnt have a dedicated GPU the fan will run all the time.

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Several months ago my macbook pro had the same problem as a cockroach was stuck in the fan.

Thanks for the pointers, I thought I was going to be resetting the SMC, but following the exact order of the recommended steps cleared the problem when I got to the complete shutdown then power up.

I appreciate this forum and the superior tech's that post here!

Happened to me too after an firmware update it started to go high all the time. Searched the web and due to some retina being heated and some people said their lcd got affected. Then after a while i updated adobe flash and it went somewhat silent again. Now the sound is really high at some occasions that i must close the lid when i watch tv. My friend has a macbook air and he just had spotify in the background not even playing music and the fan was as loud as mine.

Maybe its something active in the background that is not visible to us end users, collecting some information. Sometimes when i plug my phone in and iTunes open the activity monitor reports iTunes using 90% so i must close it, one can wonder why iTunes needs 90% just because i connect it.  To many reports these problems it could be coincidental but it could also be connected to prism. Who knows nothing surprises me anymore in this big brother watches you society.

It might as well be web browsers , when using ghostery one can see how many trackers is trying to spy on you.

I have a late 2013 13" retina pro and mine gets hot too, mostly when I watch videos online or play games. Go into your console and look for anything that says error and research it. But that is a bit strange that yours is heating up while browsing the web. My last MacBook Pro was a 13" mid-2012 non-retina and it broke down a lot within less than a year of buying it. Three of the issues were related to the logic board. When you let your Mac sleep for a while, does it get hot? When you try and wake it up from sleep, is it unresponsive? Has your screen ever shown red, green, magenta, black, and white pixels after being bumped or moved, causing it to freeze? Those were the symptoms I experienced when my logic board need to be replaced. It would also randomly freeze while sleeping and it would get really hot and the fan would be screaming trying to keep up.

I'm having the same problem as you…. I really don't know what to do…

I Have had this problem too and just managed to fix it by fiddling about.

it seems that it was because iTunes was constantly syncing etc.

on the home screen top right search box type in activity monitor

theN open it

click on the energy tab

force quit of iTunes.

the fan should slow down and run quietly!!

I have the same problem! I visited somy website, last time i solved the problem, the problem is ... "iPhoto" open IPhoto and wait util working perfect! This may solve your problem!

Thanks for the tip on Chrome leongvictor. First check your console for the logs and errors/updates/syncs running. I had these never ending errors:

19/03/15 22:27:22,484 com.apple.xpc.launchd[1]: (com.google.keystone.user.agent[]) Could not find and/or execute program specified by service: 2: No such file or directory: ~/Library/Google/GoogleSoftwareUpdate/GoogleSoftwareUpdate.bundle/Contents/Reso urces/GoogleSoftwareUpdateAgent.app/Contents/MacOS/GoogleSoftwareUpdateAgent

The logs give you a good idea, for me the issue was GoogleSoftwareUpdate. I uninstalled Chrome (also removing only GoogleSoftware might work) via https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/95319?hl=en

I use:

  Yosemite 10.10.2

  Model Name:MacBook Pro

  Model Identifier:MacBookPro11,2

  Processor Name:Intel Core i7

Open the back side of Mac and clean it for dust. Sometimes a lot of dust get inside of Mac and that is cause of overheating, and the noise.

My MacBook Pro 15" Retina Late 2013 over the past few months was having severe problems with fan noise despite having very low CPU usage [monitored using iStat Menus]

The Fan would be running at top speed - around 6400 rpm despite the lack of CPU activity.

I tried resetting SMC. It did not help.

I found that dust can build up on the fans over time.  The accumulation of dust would partially block air flow forcing the Mac to run the fan at a faster pace to control the Mac's temperature.

While the Mac was running, I used a Giotto's Rocket Air Blaster - not canned air which risks shorting the computer - to hand blow air into the fans in the back while the MacBook Pro's lid was closed and the computer attached to an external monitor.

The intakes are at the center, the air outlets are on the sides. I blew air on both the inlets and outlets to jog the dust loose.  Some dust blew out.

Immediately, and amazingly, my MacBook Pro quieted down!

Now, the fan RPM is a quiet 4400 RPM rather than the banshee 6400 RPM.

I'll later open up the back of the MacBook Pro when it is turned off to remove any dust.

Dust removal should be a standard procedure in the MacBook's user manual.

On Mac Pros, there are air filters one can place on the computer to keep it clean.  But you can't do that easily on the MacBook Pro.

Hi I had the same problem. I fixed mine by deleting the printer drivers and reinstalling only the printer driver that I needed. It seems that the HP drivers were the problem - hope that helps - cheers

I got same noisy MBP 13" retina. Sound stars as soon as I start my MBP. I ran Apple Diagnostics. Everything was okay. Then I checked Activity Monitor. It showed some HP printer was using 397% of CPU (I don't know how this is possible!!!). I just force quit that. Then I went to System Preferences > Printers & Scanners. It has 1 pending print job which was not finished due to some error on printer. I just remove that print job and deleted the printer from the list and everything was back to normal.

Finally!!!

This is very common mistake that everyone does so many times. No one at Apple chat told me to look for that. But I figure it out fortunately and now everything is back to normal. I guess Apple should add this in their protocol to troubleshoot Noisy fan.

I even want to know that how this small thing can use so much CPU and create this much fan sound.

I will appreciate that.

I hope that this will help many people over here.

Thank you.

Thank you "tp91"! This was my issue and now I'm back to peace and quiet because of you.