Macbook Pro fans stuck at 6000 RPM

Hello,
I am using a 2006 MacBook Pro, 2GB RAM, 2 GHz Intel Core Duo with a 500GB HDD that has 450 GB free.
About a month ago the left and right fan started cranking up to 6000 RPM (which is apparently max for this model) upon startup. Most discussions I've read while looking for a solution suggest resetting the SMC, which I have tried a few times to no avail. CPU and RAM usage are normal, nothing taking up tons of processing power on activity monitor and temps are around 35-40 degrees Celsius. I saw a few boards talk about a stuck print job which I checked for as well, but there was nothing. I tried downloading and using the smcFan Control app and setting the preferred fan speed to as low as possible but the app still registers speed at 6000 RPM and they have not slowed down.
Unfortunately, I bought this MBP from a used dealer (had it for a few months before this started), so I do not have the original OS disks to perform a hardware diagnostic. It came with 10.5 on it but I have since upgraded to 10.6.8
I'm not experiencing any problems with operation but the fans at this speed are extremely loud and annoying; is there anything further I can do to try to fix this? I'm a bit new to macs, is there a program that gives you more powerful fan control than the one I downloaded? How much would something like this cost to get fixed by Apple? Thank you in advance for any advice.

You likely have blocked vents inside or a hardware issue, like a failed sensors to trigger the fans at default max warp speed.
If your adapt at opening it up, you might want to take a look at these videos and get yourself a can of air spray + tube and blast out the obstructions out from the inside.
http://eshop.macsales.com/installvideos/

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Macbook pro fans running at 6200 rpm,running slowly and 35deg C?

About i week ago i was noticing significant slowdown in the operation of my mac. Yesterday the slowdowns were so much so as to render it useless.(30+seconds to realize that i had scrolled). I had just downloaded SOPHOS...it found nothing. so i assumed installing it had done something. i proceeded with a clean instal. After a few trys i was able to reinstall and boot up. The computer is functioning but not at the level of a wiped mac. there is still lag as i write this sentence, and at almost every action i see the pinwheel. I did a reset of the SMC and there are no hogs of CPU in the Activity Monitor(All programs). I downloaded a wiget to allow me to see temperature and fanspeed. the highest temperature is 35 degrees C and that is of the CPU, yet my fans are still posting speeds of 6204 rpm.
To make matters worse i'm overseas and cant seem to find information on a genius bar near me.(Toulouse France)
I feel like ive tried everything.
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-Laggy functioning (akin to a 5 year old PC).
Macbook pro
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Ive only had this this a year and a couple months(warrently just ran out) im prepared to have to pay to fix but has anyone had similar issues? any estimation on what it would cost?
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Backup your files before doing anything. May be a dying hard drive, would account for slowness. Software update fully.
Perform a hardware test
https://support.apple.com/kb/ht1509
that should tell you if it's a bad sensor or something
And yes, perform another SMC reset because your symptoms are typical
Fans
The computer's fans run at high speed although the computer is not experiencing heavy usage and is properly ventilated.
Follow these instructions again
https://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964
Next try a Safe Mode boot holding Shift key see if it continues.
Next create a new user and log into it, then log into it under Safe Mode
https://support.apple.com/kb/HT1455
If it's isolated to one user, then there's something bad in there
Do a Restoring OS X 10.5 10.6. 10.7 - simple overwrite OS method
https://discussions.apple.com/message/16276201#16276201
Check your Flash here and update
http://flashbuilder.eu/flash-player-version.html
Run a malware scan with the free ClamXav
Run ALL of OnyX's cleaning and maintenance aspects and reboot
http://www.titanium.free.fr/

My Early 2015 MacBook Pro fans are at 0 RPM and my cpu temperature never fluctuates

Hello all I have had a Mid 2009 macbook pro for 5 years now and just got my Early 2015 MacBook Pro. On my old macbook i used iStat and SMC fan controller religiously and everything worked great.
Now with my new Early 2015 MacBook Pro, My CPU sensor doesn't even show up in iStat, and in my top toolbar, SMC controller shows my CPU temp never moves, and my fans are at 0 RPM. I cannot hear any fans moving at all when in a completely silent room, and my ear is to the computer.
I downloaded a game to stress the CPU to see if it'd change, and it doesn't all the way up to the fans just coming on at 6000RPM and the CPU is very high like 80-90C
I have already reset my PRAM and SMC and was wondering if anyone here has been monitoring their temps and have seen the same thing?
Thanks

I also have an Early 2015 rMBP w/ i5-5287U cpu. I am using Temperature Gauge from the Mac App Store and getting similar if not slightly worse results. I'm usually Idling somewhere between 45 and 60 C with almost no activity. When I run games, forget about it (see below), temps up to 103 Celsius. I also experience almost no fans until at least 70 C, and then during gaming the heat is not coming down.
Given that the cpu is supposed to shut itself down at around 105 C, I'm thinking that the programs are not decoding the temperature sensors correctly. This is my first Mac so it's hard for me to compare performance. I expected better heat regulation. I was trying to avoid programs outside of the mac store for this type of thing, but I'm considering OGELTHORPE's suggestion for istat menus, as they do claim to support early 2015 MacBooks. Have you tried this program yet?

Macbook Pro Fan Trouble.

I recently sent my Macbook Pro Fans to get replaced. The problem was that my fans started to work even when the computer didn't need it. They would accelerate up to 6000 RPM and I would only be running Safari and iChat. Then the computer's fans would start to slow down and then speed back up. I sent in the computer for repair to get the fans looked at and they replaced them. Well the problem is still persisting. Should I call them about it again or is this normal? I only ask because I don't know if it is or not.

I have the same trouble with mine. I took it in for repair as it had a logic board issue, and they gave it back to me yesterday, but when I started using it, the fans ramped up to 6000rpm constantly for the entire day.
This morning I installed Fan Control to see if that would help, but it appears that Fan Control is not actually doing anything. The fans have been stuck around 4400 rpm at 35 degrees celsius even though I told Fan Control not to run at anything above 2000rpm until it gets to 40 degrees.
Is there a mysterious apple setting that says don't go above 35 degrees, or if you do ramp up the fan speed to max until it gets below it again, because according to Fan Control that is what is happening. It is not logical to be wanting to keep a powerful modern laptop at that temperature when the fan noise is so high. 45 degrees would be a fine operating temperature.
BTW, I checked the Hardware test and there is nothing to report from it.

Macbook pro fan running slow

macbook pro fan is running slow and hot. it fluctuates between 212 and 375 rpms. heat rises up to 104c. do i need to replace the fan?

Before I suggest advice, I urge you to keep your machine under 160F at all times. I don't want to sound like an alarmist, but you can seriously damage your machine with that kind of use. Some solders melt at 225F, weaken at 190F.
You may have to replace the fan - or you may need to clean the inside of your machine and fan. It's hard to tell without inspecting your machine.
Or you may find that you need to get a different browser, and become more aware of temperature; laptop machines are much more sensitive to termperature issues than desktop Macs. Some day, you'll thank me for that advice.

Do you think my macbook pro fan could be broken?

Earlier today when I opened my laptop the screen was black and it appeared to be shut down. I hit the restart button and when the screen came up it said that I had "shut off my laptop due to a problem", though I did not manually shut it down. It was working 100% fine yesterday, so I'm not sure what could have happened to it. I know it wasn't my battery, because I had a full charge prior to shutting it and upon restart I still had a reasonable charge. I was more or less ignoring my laptop's unusual pop-up until I noticed that my computer was feeling much hotter than normal, so I checked iStat pro to look at temperatures. The CPU temp was around 82 degrees or so when I checked, while I was playing a videogame, which doesn't seem too high but the area around my keyboard felt much hotter to the touch than normal. What is really concerning me is that iStat says my fan is running at 0 rpm, even while I was playing a graphic-intensive game. The CPU is down to 65 degrees since I have stopped playing the game, however I have heard that your laptop will shut itself off to prevent overheating, and I'm wondering if this is what happened to my laptop sometime between yesterday and today. Does it sound like my fan could be broken? There isn't an apple store very close to me and my warranty just ended so I'd rather work it out myself if possible. I don't believe it is a faulty sensor either as iStat gave me temperature readings for everything. If you think my fan is broken, do you have any advice or know how much it would cost to fix/replace?

Good detective work.
I don't believe that 80ºC is extreme for occasional use, but over extended periods of time, this can stress your machine. I beleve you should visit your local Apple Store. They can determine if the fan is broken.
In the meantime, I could avoid:
- CPU-intensive activities like 3D gaming for extended periods of time.
- Using your notebook on your lap. That can raise its temperature thirty or more degrees.
- Dust or dirt can choke the fans, increasing temperatures and even the risk of fire.
Replacement of a fan is not very expensive, if it comes to that. You can also do it yourself:
http://clarebayley.com/2011/10/how-to-replace-a-macbook-pro-fan/

Macbook Pro Fan Speed

Hi. I was having some trouble with my temperature of my MBP, but I somewhat solved it using Temperature Monitor and smcFanControl. I turned the fanspeed to Higher RPM in the smcfancontrol menu, and my temperatures are down from ~95 celcius to ~65 celcius (when playing Minecraft / other extensive tasks.)
Now, I would like to bring them down more (should I?) because I feel 65 c - 70 c is still really high...
So, my only question is: In smcFanControl, the Higher RPM setting is 4000 RPM, should I change that to 5000 RPM? I know it would help, but, can the fans handle that?
Thanks in advance
Could 70c (max) shorten it's lifespan?
(sorry I just am extremely extremely paranoid)

I am seeing a lot of negative talk about third-party software to control fans:
Istat menu 5 is good.
It conforms to apple's SMC; this means that it will never allow the fans to go slower than what SMC is asking, thus your computer will be safe using this software.
In contrast I have a Macbook Pro fan controller for bootcamping Windows 7 called MacFanx64.exe (64 bit) that requires you to understand command prompt.
It's nothing difficult, you just need to make sure that you enter parameters properly.
The only way I see one of these damaging any hardware components would be if you accidently told the fan to spin faster than the max speed.
I would agree that for OS X you aren't going to really need this because the engineering on the SMC isn't terrible, but if you happen to have SMC screw up like it sounds like you had, there's no way to know it unless you feel it getting really hot like that which I'm sure isn't great for your MBP.
Therefore having a monitor system is helpful because you can see the temperatures constantly.
Now for Windows 7 bootcamp it's a whole different story.
There is something wrong with the drivers that control SMC for bootcamp because the computer will get hot fast even in idle.
I was marking temperatures around 60-70 C just in idle - the fans still stay at 2000 rpm.
If someone finds something better than MacFan for Windows 7 bootcamp let me know.
Moral of the story, if you pick a good third-party application you're not going to harm your computer.
Think of it like a second line of defense.
Last but not least, if you're still having this problem do an SMC reset.
Apple has instructions on how to do it, just note that you need to pay attention to whether your MBP has a removable battery or not when doing SMC reset.
Cheers

Macbook Pro Fans Just Went Spinning Nuts

Hi.
So I'm surfing the web (using firefox) have 2 tabs open and suddenly the fans on my macbook pro start to spin faster. Then they spin faster gain finally maxing out at 5360 rpm. The temperature all the time was never above 55 degress C. They spun at 5360 rpm for about 10 minutes and then spun down to a normal level of 3154 rpm.
I checked the processes and some kernal task is up at the top using 1.84 GB of virtual memory. No other programs running but plenty of other tasks listed as sleeping.
First question ... what is the max rpm that the fans should safely spin at?
Second question ... why would it suddenly take off like that spinning fans when there's only one program running?
I had an alienware before and it started running its fans like that after a few months ownership ... a few months later it chew the hard disk and lost a lot of data on me.

The maximum RPM for the MacBook Pro fans is 6000rpm.
I have no idea why the fans would suddenly "take off" like that but try running the Apple Hardware test. You can do this by inserting your original install disk 1, restart the computer with the D key held down until the hardware test starts loading. Once the test has loaded select the option to perform extended testing and then start the test. Note down any error codes and post them here.
Note that when you load the hardware test up the mouse will be very jittery and the computer will appear to freeze during the test, I have encountered this on all the tests I have run and consider it normal behaviour.
Hope this helps
J.C

MacBook Pro is stuck on Grey Screen with "restricted" symbol.

My MacBook Pro fans were loud and unusual, so when I looked up what to do on google most of the results told me to reset the SMC. So I did that, expecting it to work, and now my MacBook Pro won't go past the Reboot screen! The strange thing is, it doesn't stay on the Apple logo like most people say. Instead, the apple logo changes into the "Restricted" Symbol and just stays there.
I assumed it was part of the SMC process so I left it alone. But it's been happening for hours now. I even restarted it several times and it still stays with the Restricted sign. I tried redoing the SMC process and I even tried resetting the PRAM. Nothing has worked. Pressing Command-S or Command-R doesn't do me much good either. I'm worried that something went wrong with the harddrive and I cannot afford a new Mac or the repairs for it.
Can anyone help me?

Rieev wrote:
My MacBook Pro fans were loud and unusual, so when I looked up what to do on google most of the results told me to reset the SMC.
This is usually the remedy for out of control fans.
So I did that, expecting it to work, and now my MacBook Pro won't go past the Reboot screen! The strange thing is, it doesn't stay on the Apple logo like most people say. Instead, the apple logo changes into the "Restricted" Symbol and just stays there.
Ok, it's not booting up to OS X, which when loaded will control the fans to settle down, but the default if OS X doesn't load is eventually turbo mode.
You have basically what's called a "gray screen issue"
Go through the Steps here and it will fix it,, provided it's not a hardware issue.
Step by Step to fix your Mac

My macbook pro is stuck on grey screen with apple symbol in center with the progress circle under it continusly spinning. After I had turned it on. Prior to turning it on I had to force close and shut down a few hours prior. Please Help?

My macbook pro is stuck on grey screen with apple symbol in center with the progress circle under it continusly spinning. After I had turned it on. Prior to turning it on I had to force close and shut down a few hours prior. Please Help I have tried everything I know to do

Unfortunately this means that there is a problem in the boot sector of your hard drive. It might be indicative of a fundamental corruption in the coding that allows your computer to boot your operating system from your hard drive. I had this problem twice and it resulted in me having to get a new hard drive and restore my data.
In other words, your computer can't talk to your operating system so you can't access your data.
Here is my advice: DON'T CALL APPLE TECH SUPPORT though they are kind and usually helpful it will take you an hour just to explain the situation and they will only tell you to do what I'm gonna say here.
First: Shut down your computer completely
Two: boot up while holding down the following keys: command, option, p, and r. The computer will reboot 3 times. This solution will likely fail so if you're frustrated skip to the next step.
Three: Boot up while holding down the option key. Select recovery drive. Select your default language. Select disk utility, click on Macintosh HD, and select "verify and repair volume." Likely the verification will produce some line like "unused node not erased." Or something like that. If anything using the words "node structure" comes up, you need a new hard drive.
If after verification and repairs you still can't boot I sincerely hope you have apple care because you will need a new hard drive. Set up an appointment to come in to the apple store, they will tell you to go and get data recovery, just ask them to give you the old hard drive. Unless you have an up to date backup in which case you can just restore from that. If you're lucky the only issue is with the boot sector which means that if you ask them to give you the old hard drive, you can buy an enclosure and you have effectively been given a free external hard drive. It still works to store data just not to load an operating system.
If you have a back up drive bring it to the apple store and they'll do the whole thing right there, it should take around an hour and a half but may take longer.
Hope this helps, it's annoying but it's your safest bet.
All the best.

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Ok. Do you remember what you were updating? Like Itunes or a security update. And did you let it complete and install? To install the update, it usually asks for your password and sometime asks you to restart. Here are some options to try. http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203176

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Hello, danfromlake nebagamon.
Thank you for visiting Apple Support Communities.
I see you are experiencing an issue while updating your Mac. Here is an article that I would go through for this issue.
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Thanks a lot.

Try raising the the the machine with wood, or , plastic botttle caps t get it up an inch or so, that way there is more air flow under the MBP to help with the air flow to help keep the cooling more een. Hope this helps.

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Macbook Pro fans stuck at 6000 RPM

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