Temperature readings for me MBP 15". HELLLLLPPPPPPPPPP.

Question

Hello all,
Done some temperature testing with my MacBook Pro, 15", 2.2ghz Intel Core Duo 2, 2GB Ram, MacOS 10.5.7
Until recently my Mac fans performed perfectly. Always been very proud of the almost silent nature of all my Macs to date. I don´t load it too much, I use Mozilla running a streaming program, Mail, MSN and a Java Program which streams live information to my desktop - Nothing else is running when I get the problems. I do run a 24" Samsung from the DVI, and a 22" Samsung from a USB - DVI Adaptor (DisplayLink). I use the computer through the day every day.
As I said, until recently the fans seemed to be normal, they did kick in now and then for a few minutes, normally though only if I opened Photoshop or Quark at the same time as the programs above - This I understand. Since very recently there has been a change, the fans run almost constantly now when I have the programs running, after about 10mins after start up, they run at 6000rpm and don´t stop until I put it to sleep. Sometimes it does this even with only Mozilla open. Not only does the noise of the constant 6000rpm get on my nerves, I am worried this is going to reduce the lifespan of the computer, and also worried there may be a hardware problem now that needs to be dealt with.
When this is happening Activity Monitor says that there is plenty of CPU left to play with, normally there is more than 50% idle (70% normally to be accurate), with 700MB Free Ram and 300mb Inactive RAM .... so, only 1GB used.
Really annoying. Have reset PRAM, done the recent "Fan Hardware Upgrade" (which I thought helped at first, but did not help at all), have checked in Activity Monitor to make sure there is nothing sucking up CPU, there isn´t... I have also reset the SMC . It seems ludicrous to me that the 10.5.7 update has caused this, but it seems it must have. Everything was fine before, now I feel like chucking the computer out the window and buying a new one, although I am worried I will get the same problem with a new 2009 MBP and considering this is only just over 1 year old, I can´t afford it anyway ....
I have taken some temperature readings via iStat. I wonder if any of you can help me to try and resolve this problem ?
I am wondering if this is a RAM issue, although there always seems to be plenty of actual RAM available as long as I do not open anything heavy along with the normal programs I use.... Could this is a Virtual RAM problem ? Any help appreciated.
Thanks.
1 / 2 / 3 / 4
HD 27 / 45 / 31 / 38
CPU 37 / 76 / 41 / 74
Airport 34 / 61 / 38 / 60
Enclosure 24 / 42 / 28 / 35
GPU Diode 48 / 84 / 52 / 83
GPU Heatsink 36 / 69 / 38 / 69
Heatsink A 35 / 65 / 38 / 65
Heatsink B 27 / 51 / 32 / 47
Degrees Celcius.
1 - Totally cold, standing overnight in ambient temperature. 2000rpm fan speed.
2 - Temperatures when Fans have been on constantly for an hour or so. Mostly at 6000rpm.
3- Temperatures when computer put to sleep for 10 minutes after fans have been constantly on. Fans back to 2000rpm upon wakeup.
4- Temperatures after wake from sleep, 7-8 minutes after wake-up, fans on constantly again. At 3500rpm.

Answer 1

Hi again Paul,
Unfortunately SMC fan control has not worked. I was wondering how it would help to be honest, because my fans run at full speed all the time anyway (10 minutes after turning on anyway)...
All this little program does it allow me to speed the fans up from normal, which is what I want to get away from to be honest - The fans never used to run all the time ! Using this program has increased the time that it took to get up to 6000 max, but only because I set a default at 3500rpm from startup so that it took longer to get up to its overheating temperature (as it normally starts from 2000rpm).
Unless I am not using the program right ?