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Pam
The Thirteenth Floor
Joined: 21 Jul 2006
Posts: 1311
Location: Chicago, Il
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 Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2012 3:59 pm Post subject: AAACKKK!! 17" MacBookPro fan keeps kicking in |
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This is driving me crazy! Whenever I am recording or editing for that matter and I don't have anything else open, my fan kicks in and starts to jump from 1400 RPM to 3500 RPM and now it's at 5500 RPM. It's getting so loud it's driving me crazy. I record to a separate hard drive but do use the MBP to run Audition. I no longer run the additional monitor off of this computer. I've cleaned out my hard drive of extraneous stuff and I have 1/3 of both of my hard drives available. I've attached a screen shot to show how it shows up on the audio file. It's starting to bleed into the recording. The only processing I've done is some slight compression and a very simple EQ. This is driving me crazy! Wait...did I already say that or was i imagining it? What could be making the fan kick in so often? Help please! 
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dwpthe3rd
Contributore Level V
Joined: 28 Feb 2010
Posts: 198
Location: Where palm trees meet pines
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| Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2012 4:16 pm Post subject: |
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The first thought that pops into my mind is the cooling fan may be "gunked up" with dust, partially clogging air flow, resulting in the increased operation trying to stay cool.
Then again, I could be wrong too 
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ccpetersen
With a Side of Awesome
Joined: 19 Sep 2007
Posts: 3708
Location: In Coherent
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| Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2012 4:23 pm Post subject: |
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| By any chance do you have any kind of firewall software on it that might be downloading updates or running a diagnostic? |
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heyguido
MMD
Joined: 31 Aug 2011
Posts: 2507
Location: RDU, the Geek Capitol of the South
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| Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2012 4:30 pm Post subject: |
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Both good points. Make sure your fan area is clean. And cc's on the right track, though it may not specifically be antivirus or firewall software.....
Check for any programs running in the background that could be taxing the processor, including wifi, skype, email, etc.... The less you run while recording, the better.
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Chuck Davis
M&M
Joined: 02 Feb 2005
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Location: Where I love to be...Between the Vineyards and the Cows.
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| Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2012 7:07 pm Post subject: |
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The same thing happened with my son's MBP. He took it back to the Apple Store several times. It turned out to be a hardware issue. The fan would rev up like crazy.
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cyclometh
King's Row
Joined: 06 Aug 2010
Posts: 1051
Location: Olympia, WA
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| Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2012 1:39 am Post subject: |
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Is the computer sitting on a surface that tends to trap heat? Can you elevate it so air flows under it?
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Bruce
Boardmeister
Joined: 06 Jun 2005
Posts: 7977
Location: Portland, OR
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| Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2012 5:32 am Post subject: |
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Agree on the air flow under computer...something that lifts it a half inch or so from your desk/surface. If that doesn't work, some Mac batteries start to go bad and run hot which can increase the demand for your fan. When the fan goes nuts how hot is the bottom side of your MBP? Either way, too hot or nice and cool, it would sound like Genius Bar time at the Apple store.
B
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todd ellis
A Zillion
Joined: 02 Jan 2007
Posts: 10528
Location: little egypt
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| Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2012 6:32 am Post subject: |
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i'm also thinking air flow - get a can of air and blow it out good - then go to target and buy one of those wire racks for cooling cookies - it sits up about 1/2" and is just the right size for a MBP. hopefully that's it. the background programs sounds intriguing too.
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Brian in Charlotte
Contributor IV
Joined: 19 Jul 2006
Posts: 146
Location: Florida Sun Coast
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| Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2012 4:16 pm Post subject: |
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Pam, if your fan is cranking up to near full speed, that most likely is not a "heat" issue. Given the fact that I'm assuming you are using it in the same place/setup as you have since you got it. I'm a long time Mac owner of just about....well, of every kind of Apple product and this can often times be remedied by resetting the systems PRAM...see link below. Now, I don't suppose you purchased AppleCare? Anyway, try this and then let me know...you can email directly if you like The Voice of Brian dot com
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1379?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US
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Brian in Charlotte
Contributor IV
Joined: 19 Jul 2006
Posts: 146
Location: Florida Sun Coast
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| Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2012 4:16 pm Post subject: |
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Pam, if your fan is cranking up to near full speed, that most likely is not a "heat" issue. Given the fact that I'm assuming you are using it in the same place/setup as you have since you got it. I'm a long time Mac owner of just about....well, of every kind of Apple product and this can often times be remedied by resetting the systems PRAM...see link below. Now, I don't suppose you purchased AppleCare? Anyway, try this and then let me know...you can email directly if you like The Voice of Brian dot com
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1379?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US
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georgethetech
The Gates of Troy
Joined: 18 Mar 2007
Posts: 1878
Location: Topanga, CA
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| Posted: Wed Feb 22, 2012 12:10 am Post subject: |
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What they said.
Run "Activity Monitor" and see if one a is running away with the CPU. Make sure you are viewing "All Processes", not just "My processes".
Blow it out, elevate, and possibly try the SMC Fan Control a, but also have Apple Genius do a hardware test.
/mac/23049/smcfancontrol" target="_blank">http://www.macupdate.com/a/mac/23049/smcfancontrol
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Benjamin Stovall
Been Here Awhile
Joined: 13 Dec 2011
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Location: Los Angeles, CA
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| Posted: Wed Feb 22, 2012 10:55 am Post subject: |
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I don't think anyone has mentioned performing an SMC reset which sometimes addresses fan issues.
| Quote: | After performing normal troubleshooting, these symptoms may indicate that an SMC reset may be necessary:
Fans
The computer's fans run at high speed although the computer is not experiencing heavy usage and is properly ventilated. |
Read the entire support document here: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964
Didn't work?
Want a solution a bit outside the box? If you've had enough with the fan noise, one solution is to eliminate it completely. One such way is to use an a like Air Display.
Basically, it wirelessly allows you to use another computer (Windows or Mac), iPhone or iPad as a secondary monitor (with mirroring capability as well).
I'll focus on the iPad for this because it makes no noise whatsoever, (but of course you'd have to own one to do this). The Air Display a would allow you to wirelessly view and control Adobe Audition from your iPad while your computer is in another room. You'd just need a long enough mic cable to reach your A/D converter on your laptop, but you could control Audition without needing the laptop to be physically present.
Some folks use Twisted Wave on an iPad to eliminate unwanted computer noise, but then you are reduced to using the mini jack to capture audio and you can't use many of the software as you might like to. With this method you'll still be using all of your pro equipment and software, but utilizing the iPad to control your laptop/computer from afar, thus eliminating any potential noise it emits.
Check out this video of a guy controlling full blown Adobe Photoshop with Air Display on an iPad to get an idea of what it can do:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lN8uCv9Pf74
EDIT: With respect for the brilliant SMC Fan Control software suggested by George, it's a good suggestion, but I do advise a small bit of caution. To protect your computer the a won't let your fans spin any slower than Apple's recommended low, however, if your computer is overheating due to some issue you're not aware of, your fan(s) may need to run higher than that to compensate, so when you aren't recording either don't let SMC Fan Control run or set it higher and check your temps. Plenty of people use it just fine everyday with zero issues, but just FYI. Also, if/when you take it to the Genius Bar, sometimes they don't like to see SMC Fan Control installed since it overrides the built in fan controls and some may advise that you remove it (whether you really NEED to or not). |
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Pam
The Thirteenth Floor
Joined: 21 Jul 2006
Posts: 1311
Location: Chicago, Il
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| Posted: Wed Feb 22, 2012 4:32 pm Post subject: |
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This is all fantastic advice and I'll try all of them. Lost an entire day yesterday when the thing crashed to the point where I couldn't even boot it up past Wall-e's noise. Not even with the OSX disk in it. YIKES. Very long night with minimal sleep and 24 hours later all was sort of restored when I cloned my other mac onto it. PHEW!
I also had a thought, I'm using an MBox 2 Pro on it. I wonder if using my M would reduce the heat and drain on power? I'm not sure if the MBox is just a dummy box (no PT bashing please!) or if it pulls some power.
I was also thinking of looking into a Mac Mini and running the operating system off of that using my MacBook Pro as a monitor. Thoughts on that?
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cyclometh
King's Row
Joined: 06 Aug 2010
Posts: 1051
Location: Olympia, WA
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| Posted: Wed Feb 22, 2012 5:20 pm Post subject: |
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You know, it might just be getting gunked up, like Dave noted above. Dust builds up on heat sinks inside a machine and over time that causes it to be less efficient at venting heat, so the fan runs faster more often and eventually it simply can't keep up with heat buildup, resulting in the fan going top speed all the time and the machine overheating, then crashing.
If you suspect this might be the case, you can probably get some canned air and gently blow the dust out. I will leave it to more seasoned Mac users to offer specific insight on taking any covers off or accessing the guts for easier cleanup.
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bobsouer
Frequent Flyer
Joined: 15 Jul 2006
Posts: 9883
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
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| Posted: Wed Feb 22, 2012 9:35 pm Post subject: |
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| Pam wrote: | I also had a thought, I'm using an MBox 2 Pro on it. I wonder if using my M would reduce the heat and drain on power? I'm not sure if the MBox is just a dummy box (no PT bashing please!) or if it pulls some power.
I was also thinking of looking into a Mac Mini and running the operating system off of that using my MacBook Pro as a monitor. Thoughts on that? |
Pam,
First, the Mbox 2 Pro is certainly pulling power because the power for that unit comes from the computer through the firewire cable. Second, the M might draw less power, but it too will draw some power through the USB port. It might be pretty much of a wash.
Third, the idea of running a Mac Mini is a really good one and might be no more expensive that what it would costs to have the Apple Experts do a full diagnostic and fix on your Mac Book Pro.
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