Fan really loud after coming in from the cold

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Level 1

8 points

Fan really loud after coming in from the cold

I came home from school today and left my backpack in my car which had my MBA in it to talk to my neighbour for a bit. It's approximately -22 Celsius where I live right now. When I came inside, I woke up it up, as it was previously sleeping, and it's fan (or at least that's what I think it is) was really loud. Ever since I got it, I haven't heard the fan once, and I was horrified when I heard it, so I quickly turned it off. I later found out that I have to let it warm up to room temperature before turning it on. It's been about 2 hours now and I just tried to turn it on again, and I'm still hearing the fan. What should I do? I'm worried because I don't want to harm my MBA, but I also need to use it to work.

MacBook Air, OS X Mavericks (10.9)

Posted on Feb 8, 2014 8:06 PM

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Answer 1

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PlotinusVeritas

Level 6

14,872 points

Feb 8, 2014 8:59 PM in response to imcnugget

Ooh, you should never do that, you need to let your macbook warm up to room temp. before turning it on.

you risk condensation forming inside a rapid warming macbook as the fan shuttles WARM air in the room over the COLD logic board

its not the fan you should worry about, its doing that and causing condensation and corrosion to form from quick temp. fluctuations inside the cold macbook.

DONT do that again, it leads to corrosion.

FAN NOISE:

A: you notice it more in a quiet room (the typical case) which is normal, all is AOK

B: fuzz and dust has caked onto the blades causing the fan hub to get off balance and make a buzzing sound.

C: fan rotor is going bad and making a whirring or buzz noise (rare).

D: Fan is spinning up due to excess heat from gaming, heavy graphics (typical, all is OK)

A and D are normal

B and C are not.

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Answer 2

imcnugget Author

Level 1

8 points

Feb 8, 2014 10:34 PM in response to PlotinusVeritas

Well unfortunately, I didn't know that before. Thank you for letting me know what happens. My only problem now is that my macbook is significantly slower than before.. is that normal? I've only had my macbook for 7 months. I know the fan noise is normal for laptops in general, but I never, ever heard it on my macbook until now, and it's not that quiet either! And it performs significantly slower than before, as I mentioned previously. I'm concerened because I have to work in quiet environments and that fan noise will be bothersome not only for me but for the people around me. Any advice on what I should do?

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Answer 3

Feb 8, 2014 10:43 PM in response to imcnugget

slower in what sense.

Of ABCD above, which is it?

condensation in the fan hub can actually make a noise when the fan is running, Ive heard it before.

confirm its fully dried out from condensation (few hours) and if its still making the noise.

what is running slower? More specifics.

perform SMC reset and confirm the loss of noise after its warmed up fully.

SMC reset

Shut down the computer.
Plug in the MagSafe power adapter to a power source, connecting it to the Mac if its not already connected.
On the built-in keyboard, press the (left side) Shift-Control-Option keys and the power button at the same time.
Release all the keys and the power button at the same time.
Press the power button to turn on the computer.
Note: The LED on the MagSafe power adapter may change states or temporarily turn off when you reset the SMC.

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