ToeKnee310
Level 1 (0 points)

Q: The Fan on my macbook air is running at full speed

So under one hour ago i was streaming a movie on my macbook air with no other application running than the movie streaming service and i noticed that the fan on my macbook air was running at full speed even though it was properly ventilated it was sitting on a table desk alone with no barriers under the macbook that can cause it to heat up...i should also note that i was charging it while i was using it.....any idea as to why this happened? it does not happen to often infact it mainly happens when i am charging it. Advice? solution? is this a problem i should worry about? what do i do when this happens? is this normal? is something wrong with my computer?

MacBook Air, OS X Yosemite (10.10.4), null

Posted on Aug 14, 2015 12:05 AM

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ToeKnee310

Q: The Fan on my macbook air is running at full speed

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  • by thunderzzz,

    thunderzzz thunderzzz Aug 14, 2015 12:15 AM in response to ToeKnee310
    Level 6 (8,379 points)
    Notebooks
    Aug 14, 2015 12:15 AM in response to ToeKnee310

    The temperature and fan speed may depend upon the applications and processes that you are using. Games, videos , streaming consume the CPU resources and get the Macbook pro  hot whereas simple Internet browsing and simple applications will not. Check Activity Monitor to determine which applications are the culprits.

    Click Activity Monitor, this will list all the software processes running, look at the % CPU, which has the biggest number running. Try to quit or stop that process or processes. Check if it solves the issue. You may also try SMC reset. Check these articles:

    Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC) on your Mac - Apple Support

    Apps can affect Mac performance, battery runtime, temperature, and fan activity - Apple Support

  • by steve.zzz,

    steve.zzz steve.zzz Aug 14, 2015 10:06 AM in response to ToeKnee310
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 14, 2015 10:06 AM in response to ToeKnee310

    HD streaming uses many components on a computer, such as the wireless card and RAM. I would also get periodic heat-ups while streaming Netflix or something, but the culprit is usually found in Activity Monitor.

    Screen Shot 4.png

    This is often because there are many applications running at once, or background processes such as Flash Player or Adobe Updater or something.

    Disable unnecessary Login Items (System Preferences/Users & Groups/Login Items) and closing apps with shortcut Command + Q as opposed to clicking on that red X button.

     

    Alternatively, just click on your battery icon to see whats using "Significant Energy":

    Screen Shot 3.png

    Hope I helped!