SC909

Q: Fan Issue After Updating to macOS Sierra

Hello folks, As many of you all know, Apple released macOS Sierra. Upon updating to this new operating system, I've been encountered by rather annoying issue to me. It seems like my fan is not wanting to be silent like it has been in the previous operating system. The computer stays generally hotter than its normal temperature. At first I thought it was a software issue during the upgrade. I've reverted to El Capitan, the computer runs cool. Installed fresh copay of Sierra and the computer gets extremely warm and fan constantly runs at high RPM. It's rather strange to me, so I was wondering if anyone else running Sierra also have this issue. I have few friends of mine running Sierra as well on their MacBook Air machines, but they have same issue. Any help or suggestions? Thanks,

MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2014), macOS Sierra (10.12)

Posted on Sep 21, 2016 2:48 PM

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Q: Fan Issue After Updating to macOS Sierra

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  • by alex_h1,

    alex_h1 alex_h1 Sep 22, 2016 4:45 PM in response to SC909
    Community Specialists
    Sep 22, 2016 4:45 PM in response to SC909
    Howdy SC909,

    It sounds like your computer is running warmer than usual, and as such the fan is on high all the time. I would suggest resetting the SMC on your computer:

    Reset the System Management Controller (SMC) on your Mac

    Thank you for using Apple Support Communities.
  • by DrJus,

    DrJus DrJus Sep 23, 2016 7:43 AM in response to alex_h1
    Level 1 (19 points)
    Sep 23, 2016 7:43 AM in response to alex_h1

    I had this issue immediately after I installed Sierra on my MacBook Air.  First I tried resetting the SMC and the PRAM.  This did not stop the fans from constantly running.  I then used Activity Monitor to see what was possibly overtaxing my system.  I saw that the 'secd' process was consistently sucking up over 90% of my CPU usage.  Others however said that this is normal after an OS upgrade and should drop back down after the computer finishes its initial photo and file scanning.  I therefore let my MBA run plugged in nonstop for 36 hours straight and the fans just kept running while the 'secd' process continued to drain at >90% CPU usage.  I also looked closer at the Activity Monitor and saw that tasks like photo analysis had their own processes separate from 'secd'.  So I digged more into what the heck 'secd' was really doing with so much of the CPU resources.  Long story short, I found that there is some glitch in Sierra that causes the macOS to get stuck on a process involving the Keychain and iCloud.

     

    This is what I did to address this Keychain/iCloud issue that was leading to 'secd' overtaxing the CPU and triggering the fans to always be on:

    -I went to Keychain Access and reset to Default (after I created a backup of my important passwords)

    -In Activity Monitor, I used Force Quit to kill the process that involved the Keychain

    -In Activity Monitor, I then Force Quit the process that involved iCloud

    -In Activity Monitor, I finally Force Quit the 'secd' process. (I found that I could not simply Force Quit 'secd' without first killing the Keychain & iCloud processes first)

    -After all that, I restarted the computer and the fans were finally off!  I opened up Activity Monitor and saw that 'secd' was no longer hogging up CPU usage.  Processes like photoanalysis were still running in the background at 40-50% CPU usage with no unwanted triggering of the system's fans.  iCloud syncing and my Keychain were also functioning fine now.

     

    I finally am able to use Sierra without my fans blazing out of control.  Took me awhile to get this sorted out.  Hope this helps save all of you some headaches and time until Apple is able to realize that there is this Sierra software glitch they need to address.

  • by barbarafromfb,

    barbarafromfb barbarafromfb Sep 26, 2016 9:08 AM in response to DrJus
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Sep 26, 2016 9:08 AM in response to DrJus

    How do I make a backup of my passwords?

  • by DrJus,

    DrJus DrJus Sep 26, 2016 12:58 PM in response to barbarafromfb
    Level 1 (19 points)
    Sep 26, 2016 12:58 PM in response to barbarafromfb

    You can find the current keychain file in the Mac's Library folder.  But as an update, you actually can solve the secd/CPU drain/fan overuse issue without resetting the Keychain.  I discovered this when my iMac's fans started blowing uncontrollably like my Macbook Air after it was also upgraded to Sierra.

     

    On my iMac, I solved the problem by the following alone:

    -In Activity Monitor, I used Force Quit to kill the process that involved the Keychain

    -In Activity Monitor, I then Force Quit the process that involved iCloud

    -In Activity Monitor, I finally Force Quit the 'secd' process.

     

    After this, the CPU usage returned to normal levels and the fans finally turned off.