Overheating MacBook Pro ALSO

Question

Hi, I've got the same problem on my 10 month old MBP. I've just noticed over the past couple of days that the fan is constantly running and the laptop if considerbly hotter then it ever was. I"ve done nothing to the system, nor have I installed any new app. Would a system update make it do this? I'll have to call Apple before my 1 yr expires....if anyone has any suggestions I"d greatly appreciate it....and again, this laptop is much louder with the fan constantly running and much hotter.....
thanks for any help,
B

Answer 1

Somehow this still doesn't sound right to me. What is the normal idle speed of your fans? I believe it was 1000 RPM for earlier models and 2000 RPM for later models. With my Sept 2007 model, the CPU A is at 103 ℉ and the fans are idling silently at around 2000 RPM. At 125 ℉ I would expect the fan speed to be higher.
There are two things to do--maybe three. One is to open Activity Monitor and select "All Processes" at the top and CPU on the bottom bar. Then look down the CPU column for any unexpected activity that is consuming over 50% of the CPU. Sometimes a process--often a printer process but it could be anything--starts to run amok in the background and start hogging the CPU, resulting in extra heat and fan activity. Turn off smc fan control and use iStat Pro to see what the fans are doing on their own. Make sure both are turning at roughly equal speed, and one is not stopped and the other doing all of the work. Also look at the boxes at the bottom of the Activity Monitor--I have 10 applications open, and the boxes are mostly black. Unless you're using some CPU intensive application, the boxes should be mostly black. If you see a lot of green or red, something is going on.
Also, run the Apple Hardware test to check to see that the thermal sensors and the fans are operating normally. If not, you will get one or more error codes.
Last, report this to Apple and get a case number, and consider getting 3 year Applecare. A case number will establish that the problem initially occurred under warranty. Once you do this and start taking steps to diagnose the problem, Apple will honor the warranty until the problem is fixed, even if it should lapse before the cause of the problem is established.
If this is something new, I would look for a cause and be persistent in finding one. Hotter ambient temperature could be a factor, but you can easily try the MBP in a cool environment to check on that. It sounds to me more like there is definitely something new going on.
Good luck!