Fan in overdrive?

H

htelford

Registered
Hi.

I've been having this annoying problem on my black Macbook (purchased in Dec. 2006) - the fan is kicking on at full blast power when I switch on the machine or bring it back from sleep. It does so for perhaps 30 seconds, and then switches off, then switches back on intermitently in 3-10 second bursts for the next few minutes. After a while (I'm assuming as soon as its 'warmed up'?) it cuts off and I don't hear it until the next time I bring it back from sleep.

I have taken this to the Macstore 'Genius Bar' on two occasions in the past month - the first time they couldn't replicate the problem (which is ridiculous but it does this every time I switch it on). They ended up only installing FanControl, from which I've been able to roughly guess that as soon as the computer reaches above 40C the fan always stops. They second time I took it in the guy at the bar heard the fan noise and replaced the logicboard - but that doesn't seem to have done the trick. Strangely enough, when he booted the machine from his own external hard drive it didn't really make the noise.

I've uploaded a video of the problem to YouTube if you want to hear what it sounds like.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iL9HYWxTXE

This can't be normal behavior can it? Any help anyone can provide is greatly appreciate.
 
How much memory do you have installed?
Have you monitored Activity Monitor for CPU use? You can sometimes find an errant process that revs the processor, and the fan as a result.

I think that if your macbook runs properly when booted to a different drive is a good clue to a fix. Your problem stems from something in your installed software, either in the operating system, or something you may have added later.

Have you tried reinstalling the current Combined Updater? You can find the Intel version at this link - http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/macosx1048comboupdateintel.html
Be sure to repair your disk permissions after this install.
 
Thanks for the advice, I'm downloading the update at the moment on a slow connection (Software Update didn't say I was missing anything, but I'm making sure) and will try Activity Monitor when I switch the machine on again tomorrow.

I have 1GB of memory which I was advised was sufficient for a Macbook - would an upgrade help?
 
Your software is likely up-to-date, but reinstalling the combined updater has been known to help in a wide variety of situations where odd things are happening in your system. This may or may not help you, but no harm in trying. Do a re-start immediately before installing, so you have a completely fresh boot when beginning the update.
1GB should be OK for most uses - but there's no downside to adding some (except for the expense :) )

Do you have Parallels Desktop installed (for using Windows)? If you do, 2 GB would be a good investment.
 
No Parallels Desktop. For some reason the Combined Update installation is telling me that my volume does not meet the requirements
 
I think you downloaded the wrong update.

this one is wrong... http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/macosx1048updateintel.html
The reason this one won't work, is that you must be running 10.4.7 to install it, and no other version will update with that one.

This is the correct one for your Macbook... http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/macosx1048comboupdateintel.html
This one will install on any Intel Mac, regardless of the version of OS X installed.

As you can see, the correct install has the word 'intel' in the name, and not 'ppc'
Make sure that you don't have any external devices attached to your Macbook, other than your power adapter.
 
htelford said:
Does this update 10.4.8 or upgrade you to 10.4.8 (because thats what I'm already running)?
Click to expand...

No

The combined updater, in your case, is a reload of the same update, but (as I already said) reinstalling the combined updater has been known to help in a variety of situations. The only version that you will be able to easily install is the combined updater, and not the incremental, or delta updater, which will only install if you are running 10.4.7
Current combined updaters for OS X have been used this way for about 5 years. Hopefully it will help you, but there's no guarantee on that.
 
I'm certain I downloaded the correct one - the file name is MacOSXUpdCombo10.4.8Intel.dmg and it is 294MB. I'm still getting the volume requirements message. :(
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top