Fan is constantly running

I have a MacBook Pro about 3 years old and all of a sudden it seems to be heating up and the fan is constantly running to cool it!
Anyone have this problem? Suggestions on what to do?
Thanks.

Shut down your computer with  > Shut Down. Start it up. Does it still happen?
Edit: Shootist has a good suggestion about cleaning out dust. Use a vacuum cleaner with a brush near the vents in back to draw it out, vs. blowing dust back into the computer where it will only cause more problems.

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New Macbook Pro 15 inch heat on the left and back bottom. Also, Fan is constantly running although I am only using Safari and it is a month old machine

I have a new macbook pro about a month old. Have not used for anything but internet browsing it is a 15" machine, I can feel the heat from the left corner and back bottom. Also, the fan is constantly running. Is this something I can do to resolve.

Fans are supposed to run whenever the Mac is on. Default/minimun speed is 2000RPM.
How hot is hot? Mine is running the CPU cores at 45-50C, the Radeon GPU 35-40C when not engaged, the chassis sensors 30-38C. And current ambient temperature is 27C at my location. I currently have Safari, Mail, TextEdit and Temperature Monitor online.
If you want a quick check of what the Mac's hardware is up to, download & install the iStat Pro dashboard widget. If you want a detailed view of the 20 or so different temperature sensors on the thing, download & install Bresink's free Temperature Monitor. And if you want to see ALL the different sensors it has, purchase Bresink's Hardware Monitor.

DM3 (New 2010 model) - FAN NOISE - Constantly Running LOUD

This is the first HP to use "Cool Sense" technology. Yes, it is cool but at the expense of FAN NOISE. The fan runs constantly even when Thermal Assistant is set to "Quietest." Just an open browser window at 0-10% cpu makes the fan run all the time! PLEASE READ my Notes below.
After monitoring the temps, the fan still needlessly runs on medium speed even after the temperatures drop (CoreTemp gives [core#0 28C & core#1 37C] at idle powersaver). Anyone can comment on the 9C difference?
I believe hp still need to tweak the "Thermal Assistant" fan controller or raise the temperature thresholds. PLEASE HELP - VERY ANNOYING PROBLEM
Note: Latest F.08 bios & Turned OFF "Fan Always On." Computer is NEW (no dust). Used on Tabletop. Used both powersaver mode & balanced.

Try doing a SMC AND PRAM reset by:
1. Turn off your iMac and unplug everything from it for 30 seconds.
2. Plug in the power cord, keyboard and mouse only.
3. Press the power button and immediately hold down the Option, Command, P & R keys until you hear the second gong then release the keys. Your machine will start up normally, then check for the issues you are having.

MAC Mini wont turn on but the fan is constantly running loudly.

Hey, I'm new to MAC's and apple etc, I mostly use PC's and such but had to get a MAC for work purposes. Up to now it has been great and I can see why they are brill machines but last night when it wasn't even switched on the fan started up and now I can't even turn the Mini on. The only way to stop the fan (which sounds like a hair dryer - the only way I can describe it) is to unplug it at the mains. I'm worried that someone is going to tell me its bust and will cost a small fortune to repair but hey I gotta know.
Thanks.
Also I have tried pressing down the button to restart it etc but it just doesn't respond.

I am also having the same problem.
I came home after a long business trip to find that my computer was unplugged by my wife. After plugging it back in, fan on high, and no LED light.
I was quoted 500-600 to get it fixed. I bought the darn thing for only $450.
SMC reset has absolutely no effect what so ever.

CPU Fan speed constantly running at 5000-5500rpms!

I have Cool-N-Quiet enabled in BIOS, AMD64 driver loaded and Power Management set to Minimal.
I know the Cool-n-Quiet is working because when I load CoreCenter it shows the CPU speed at 801Mhz.
However, my CPU Fan speed is always around 5000-5500rpms! My CPU temp is normally around 42C.
I can lower the fan speed manually to 2000rpm or so but as soon as I turn Cool-n-Quiet back on the fan speed jumps to 5000-5500.
Anyone know what could be causing this and how to fix it?

Quote
Originally posted by Tiresmoke
Also what OS are you using. I used Win 2k Pro and C&C is worthless with it.
for me it's kinda worthless in XP too. none of the settings I set (in alarm thresholds) have any effect.

IMac fan constantly running, I've tried everything!!

Hi,
I have a Mac (21.5-inch, Mid 2010)
Processor: 3.06 GHz Intel Core i3,
Memory: 4 GB 1333 MHz DDR3,
Graphics: ATI Radeon HD 4670 256 MB,
Running Yosemite 10.10.1
The fan is constantly running quite loud. I have never had this problem until recently and it seems to have started doing it for no apparent reason. I have changed any settings or done anything recently. In fact, the most recent change was upgrading to Yosemite.
I have tried doing a SMC reset (several times) which didn't change anything. I have tried lots of doing different ways of doing a Apple Hardware/Diagnostics Test and it told me that "The Apple Hardware Test is not compatible with this machine".
I have kept a close look at my Activity Monitor and nothing is spiking, average use is: System 2.75%, User 5.67%, Idle 90.4%
Using smcFanControl I know the fan is running at 29C and average 996rpm. I don't know if those stats are normal or not, but my fan is still making more noise than it ever has.
Please, can somebody help! I have been trying for weeks now with no success. I very worried that using my Mac is going to damage something and I desperately need it for work. Can anybody suggest anything outside of taking it to apple because that is my last resort which is going to cost me a lot of money
Thank you in advance for your help

The fans always run, that's normal. What's not normal is that you hear them as much as you do unless you use your imac in an EXTREMELY quiet environment. I think that 996rpm is actually lower than normal, you shouldn't hear that at all. Maybe you have a fan that's starting to fail and is making abnormal noise.
Running the Apple Hardware Test on your mac requires the original gray install discs that came with the computer when it was new, do you have those? AHT is on disc two, insert it and hold D at start up and AHT will start.

IMac Fan constantly running OS X Yosemite Version 10.10.1 (14B25)

Does anyone have this problem my iMac is going to be about a 1 1/2 year old now and the fan is constantly running and never shuts off. This happened from day one took it back to Apple store when first notice the problem which was 1 week later. They told me it was nothing and all iMacs run the fan and do not get to much concern. He did something like unplugging the cord and pressing the power button 2 times holding down for 10 sec each time he said had to reset pram or something like that. It went away for a day and came back tried his procedure and works once or twice and back come on the fan all day. But when in sleep mode goes off. But when on you can feel the air out of back coming out. Is thee anyway to stop it someone told me maybe the motherboard was going or the ram was bad but the Apple tech was I think honest with me he said they have these issue's and there is really nothing to do with the fan noise.The computer is not hot at all to touch and he told me thats when I really have to worry then if it feels hot to touch then shut it down and wait till next day to turn back on. I do not know what to make out with this issue. Anyone know of a fix for this that I can do? There is nothing blocking the computer is wide open only have a cable modem on the side next to printer. I just want piece and quite again thats why I bought a Mac. My pc windows 7 never did this and my laptop never did this either never saw anything like this until I got my very first Mac. Little upset with Apple support they are useless and did not even offer me a new one when I went back a week later they were very rude to me I paid $1299.00 for nosey machine and no help.I am a very frustrated Mac user and thats why I do not own a Apple phone I like Android much better and cheaper than Apple products and from what I have read about the new phone software being so bad even with the updates that another reason I will never have a iPhone. So any help with my fan will be a great help sorry for venting on here.I do apologize for that but need to vent as my fan is driving me nuts. Thank you all

franick01 wrote:
Do you know of any free ones that I can keep that are good?
In a word no. I keep hoping for better low price offerings in the App store, but Marcel Bresink eschews the App Store and the relatively cheap temperature reporting apps I have found there do not report fan speed which in your case, and I suspect many, is critical. Be aware that due to manufacturing tolerances some fans are simply noisier than others.
For what it is worth the fan in my late 2012 Mac mini is currently spinning at around 4,700 RPM and I all I can here is a faint sound of moving air. I get more noise from the fan in my external HD/optical drive enclosure when burning a CD/DVD which of course generates a lot of heat.

Macbook Pro fans constantly running, Safari hangs up and/or crashes often.

My 2012 Macbook Pro (10.9.2, 2 GHz Intel Core i7, 4 GB Memory) has been acting up a lot lately. The fans are constantly running even if major apps (mail, safari, itunes, messages, etc.) are closed. Safari, in particular, has been hanging up and/or crashing recently for no real apparent reason. My battery has been draining out faster than usual. I've always tried to be very cognizant to the health of my computers and phones and try to limit the amount of apps and files I download, sites I visit, etc. I've already done Verify Disk and Verify Disk Permissions in Disk Utility, reset Safari numerous times, disabled all extensions, removed unnecessary apps, and altered settings in Energy Saver, all to no avail. I'm a grad student so I only use my laptop for Safari and Microsoft Word and put it to sleep when not in use as often as possible. Also, my battery was at 56% about 23 minutes ago and is now at 38%.
Below is a list of the processes using the most memory in Activity Monitor:
kernel_task                                   429.4 MB
Safari Web Content                      127.7 MB
com.apple.IconServicesAgent     122.8 MB
WindowServer                              65.6 MB
mds_stores                                   52.1 MB
Safari                                            43.6 MB
CVMComplier                               34.7MB
Memory Used     3.80 GB
Virtual Memory     4.00GB
App Memory          1.34 GB
File Cache          1.45 GB
Wired Memory     998.4 MB
Compressed          332K
Any insight would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks.

plane928,
have you tried resetting your MacBook Pro’s System Management Controller?

Fan Constantly running after Bios Update

Hello,
I have a Dv6 1245 and after updating my bios to F. 41 A. The fan is constantly running, its not loud or anything, but its constantly on and humming. What should I do?
Thank You

ricwimmer1,
Sometimes things are not interlated. When was the last time you completely cleans the chassis of dust.
Use this guidline to start: http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c02433041&cc=us&dlc=en&lc=en&product=1841799&tmp...
Upgrade/Service manual: http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c00311110.pdf
Be sure to remove the front cover (see Pg3), and clean the dust off the chassis.
I am a volunteer. I am not an HP employee.
To say THANK YOU, press the "thumbs up symbol" to render a KUDO. Please click Accept as Solution, if your problem is solved. You can render both Solution and KUDO.
The Law of Effect states that positive reinforcement increases the probability of a behavior being repeated. (B.F.Skinner). You toss me KUDO and/or Solution, and I perform better.
(2) HP DV7t i7 3160QM 2.3Ghz 8GB
HP m9200t E8400,Win7 Pro 32 bit. 4GB RAM, ASUS 550Ti 2GB, Rosewill 630W. 1T HD SATA 3Gb/s
Custom Asus P8P67, I7-2600k, 16GB RAM, WIN7 Pro 64bit, EVGA GTX660 2GB, 750W OCZ, 1T HD SATA 6Gb/s
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Fan Constantly Running. Choppy Video. Slow Loading. Comp is Slow to Typing

A week ago my Macbook started to perform slowly. My fan is constantly running and my battery and the area around it is wicked hot. Video is choppy but the audio is streaming fine. Web pages are slow to load and when I type, the screen is a second or two behind what I'm typing.
I've looked for new updates but none are out currently.

Did you look at Activity Monitor? Did you check if the battery is deformed? Is your ram working properly - try memest for osx - and seated properly?

PowerBook running warm/hot & fans almost always running

Does anyone else have their fan(s) constantly running? I can be doing something as simple as checking my e-mail on a flat table like surface and before I know it both fans are running. Back a couple years ago Apple replaced my fan under the screen under AppleCare, now it is buzzing again and being out of AppleCare coverage I'm not rushing to have it replaced. Any ideas why my book's fans are always running? Anyone else have this?

Hi, PBJohn. Assuming for the moment that your hardware is working properly and your fans are running to remedy an excessive heat buildup, plausible reasons for the heat might include:
1. accumulated dust and crud inside the Powerbook, obstructing the fans and/or the cooling airways;
2. multiple CPU-intensive processes running at once, including processes running in the background that you've forgotten or never known about;
3. insufficient heat-transfer paste between the processor and the heat sink;
4. lack of routine maintenance and periodic cache cleanup;
5. an overly full hard drive;
There are probably others I'm forgetting, but this list gives you some things to check.
For 1, flip back the keyboard and blow the interior out with compressed air, then remove the bottom panel and do the same to the underside of things. Make sure the air intake and outlet vents are unobstructed.
For 2, open Activity Monitor and see what's running. If you have Tiger installed, turn off Widgets — they're incredibly CPU-intensive. Drive indexing can also consume a lot of CPU cycles and produce constant hard drive activity.
3 is quite unlikely, unless you've dismantled the Powerbook and separated the processor and heat sink yourself, wiping off the transfer paste and then forgetting to apply any when reassembling.
For 4, run the background maintenance tasks manually and/or download Onyx and use it to run them and clean the various caches.
Mac OS X: How to force background maintenance tasks (logs and temporary items)
For 5, make sure your hard drive has at least 3GB and preferably at least 5GB of free space available at all times.
If you check on all these things and still can't reduce the constant operation of your fans, you may have a hardware problem.

Why would the fan on my macbook be constantly runs, even when no applications are running. Why?

Why would the fan on my MacBook constantly run? Even when I have no applications running? Is there a way to determine what is causing this to happen?

JAWade, try resetting the SMC and pram. Not always, but often those resets help problems like yours. Follow these instructions exactly.
To reset the SMC
Shut down the computer.
Unplug the computer's power cord.
Wait fifteen seconds.
Attach the computer's power cord.
Wait five seconds, then press the power button to turn on the computer.
Resetting PRAM and NVRAM
Shut down the computer.
Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command, Option, P, and R. You will need to hold these keys down simultaneously in step 4.
Turn on the computer.
Press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys. You must press this key combination before the gray screen appears.
Hold the keys down until the computer restarts and you hear the startup sound for the second time.
Release the keys.

MacBook fan constantly running after recent updates

Ever since I installed the QuickTime/FrontRow/iTunes update of the other day, my MacBook's fan has been running constantly. I have rebooted, reset the SMC, checked Activity Monitor for any rogue processes, reinstalled the updates via the downloads from Apple, etc., and found nothing out of the ordinary. I installed iStat Pro's Dashboard widget to monitor the speed, and it shows it as running from 5300 - 5800 RPM regularly even with nothing intense going on. This doesn't seem normal, as before the fan would only come on when I was doing something CPU-intensive. Any ideas?

I finally found my issue, it was NOT the recent update (at least on my machine) but my printer queue.
When I print from my MacBook I do so wirelessly through a printer I connect to a different Mac just for this purpose. BUT, this time I disconnected the Printer from the other machine apparently before two of my jobs had been able to print. Thus, for the last three days each time I turned my Mac on it would endlessly look for the printer and attempt to print. This could be seen under Process ID 0, called "_PrintJobMgr".
THE FIX:
All I needed to do was go to System Preferences -> Print & Fax-> then delete any open jobs.
So, this was my fault, but it would be nice if the software was smart enough to kill these jobs on its own.

My mid-2012 MacBook Pro has the fan constantly running. As soon as I turn it on. My MBP won't even be hot and the fan is running. How can I fix this?

My mid-2012 MacBook Pro has the fan constantly running. As soon as I turn it on. My MBP won't even be hot and the fan is running. How can I fix this?

If you are still under warranty and/or have AppleCare, call them. Let them deal w/it.
OOW try the following: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1411 Apple Portables: Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC)

Fans CONSTANTLY running after installing Mavericks

So yeah - Fan constantly running after installing Mavericks.
NOT HARDWARE... tell me it is and ill lose my mind... I used to be an Apple Tech.
Erased and REINSTALLED Mountain Lion = RESOLVED
Reinstalled Mavericks = PERSISTS
REINSTALLED Mountain Lion = RESOLVED
--AWAITING OS FIX---
MACBOOK PRO 2009, 750GB HD, 8GB RAM

So yeah - Fan constantly running after installing Mavericks.
NOT HARDWARE... tell me it is and ill lose my mind... I used to be an Apple Tech.
Erased and REINSTALLED Mountain Lion = RESOLVED
Reinstalled Mavericks = PERSISTS
REINSTALLED Mountain Lion = RESOLVED
--AWAITING OS FIX---
MACBOOK PRO 2009, 750GB HD, 8GB RAM

Fan is constantly running

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