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Snow Leopard: Overheating and loud fans cause issues
Users' machines tend to run extremely hot, causing the fans to cycle at a high rate and deplete battery power at an accelerated clip. ASD forum user "Ryan83" reports:
Fans running constantly at 6000 RPM without any program running - - just letting it idle or running solely itunes. Iphoto 09 unusable - - when you edit in full screen - - the screen shows colored artifacts all over. Internet has been very spotty and misbehaves.Similar symptoms are reported by many of the thread commenters. Typically CPU usage will spike when users do media-heavy actions with their systems, such as editing photos with Photoshop, cutting movies with Final Cut Pro, or watching media online at sites like YouTube or Hulu. Some users suggest that it could be a hardware issue with the actual fans, though this is unlikely (at least at first). Because most users report the problem after their upgrade to Snow Leopard, chances are it is a software issue. If left unattended, the problem could eventually lead to the fans, logic board, or other hardware becoming corrupt.
Some things to check
Be sure all your programs are Snow Leopard compatible. Several users reported that updating the notification utility, Growl, to the Snow Leopard ready version, 1.2, solved their overheating issues. Users should open Activity Monitor (Applications > Utilities) and take a look at any background processes that may be running. If any of those programs are not Snow Leopard compatible, they could be causing the excessive CPU usage and heat production.
When in doubt, especially if you are under AppleCare, taking your machine to an AppleCare Authorized Technician or an Apple Store is a good idea. You will want to avoid any future damage to your hardware as soon as possible. Keep in mind that a solution may involve reinstalling Snow Leopard. Be sure you have a stable and current backup of all your important data. As we have mentioned in recent articles, the 10.6.2 update for Snow Leopard is expected very soon and includes (based on information from beta releases) a myriad of fixes that may include a solution to the overheating issue. When the update is made available, drop by MacFixIt to get a rundown of all the included fixes.
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Huh? I'm wondering what you mean by this. We've heard of "corrupt" software, but hardware? I'd also welcome an explanation of how a high fan rate can "corrupt" a logic board.
CNET should be aware of the difference and report as such.
It sounds unprofessional otherwise.
I think that's your point.
This occurs during longer editing sessions: if I save the file or go back in the history to an earlier step (for example after trying a number of blending changes) the load lessens and the fans quickly slow down as the computer cools. I can still step backward to undo, and have changed my workflow to save more often.
What computer are you using, and which OS?
I hope that 10.6.2 will fix it. Sometimes it happens with very few apps open
Although the other items mentioned, like checking for a process stuck at 100% (or near) can cause this to happen. - related to this, even if something isn't stuck at a high CPU rate, checking Console.app in the Utilities folder may show repeating entries for a background process, if this is the case, try updating (or removing/uninstalling) whatever is having the issue.
The machine appears to have no major applications running, the CPU usage is minimal and yet it runs 70-85 C and cranks the fans up to 6000 rpm.
I am truly sick of having babysit my laptop to make sure the thing does not burn up, or going to bed (small apartment) and wakeup in the night because my macbook pro decided to wakeup, overheat, and rev its fans up.
I had my motherboard replaced under applecare when it suffered the video chipset glitch last year. I would like to think that I am done with overheating.
Here is to hoping that 10.6.2 fixes this --when it finally comes down the pike-- otherwise i might go back to 10.5.
otherwise - the 10.6.2 update really seems to have helped. before 5 minutes on youtube would send my machine to 75C regardless of fan speed. i almost started to think that safari and flash were somehow the main problem, but i don't leave it open when i am not using it and the overheating occurred under firefox.
i also don't seem to get near as hot video chatting over ichat or skype - i would have to crank my fans before starting to have half a chance of finishing a 30 minute video chat below 80 C
so far, and barely a day later, things appear much better.
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by klm68a
November 23, 2009 5:19 PM PST
- I had this problem with Leopard. The fan on my macbook was running at 6000 rpm even with no apps running. I took it to the "geniuses" at the Apple store. They were completely stumped and told me to send it in for service. I didn't.
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(19 Comments)I found the solution in an online forum. It turned out there was something stuck in the print queue. Go to 'system preferences', open 'printer and fax', select open print queue. If there's a job stuck there and your computer can't figure out where to print it, delete it. Problem fixed.
Just recently I upgraded to Snow Leopard. I had problems with Keynote, Numbers, and Pages (especially with images and colors). I ran 'software update' but it didn't help. It turns out that 'software update' expects these applications to be in a folder called iWork but I had them directly in the applications folder. I created an iWork folder within the applications folder. Software update then found and updated them. Problem fixed.