[kenna]

Hi people,

I've been using my Mac for the last 7 or 8 hours playing Football Manager.

I was sat with the Mac on my bed when all of a sudden the machines fans started to go really loud.

I checked my iStat Pro and it stated my fans were running at over 5000 RPM.

Could this have done any damage? Has this happened to any of you before?

Thanks for any feedback

[mkerr64]

Hasn't happened to me.
was the temperature normal?
if it still continues i would recommend manually changing the fan speed -- smc fan control

[mduell]

Turning the fans up to max speed isn't a problem at all... you probably just loaded a web page with flash on it or something which drives CPU usage to 100% on OS X. The laptop will throttle back the CPU or shutdown before you can do any damage.

[Simon]

Those fan speeds are nothing out of the ordinary. In fact your MB can speed up its fans up to 6000 rpm. And it will do so when your CPU is under full load for sustained periods of time.

Check Activity Monitor to find out what is causing the load. High fan speeds are actually the safer option. If you had been under full load for a while and hadn't heard the fan at all, that would have actually been a reason to get worried.

IOW let your Mac do its thing. Don't reboot because of fan noise. It's really entirely unnecessary.

[kenna]

Okay, thanks for the feedback.

I had been keeping tabs on my Mac via iStat Pro because I wanted to know the norm so that if anything ever changed I would be able to pin point it.

I checked the temperatures also at the time and the Heatsinks had both rose 20 degrees to 50 and the temperature of Airport had rose to 72 degrees. They were the only ones that really stood out.

I knew this was the best place to ask, thanks for the good feedback as usual. I'm still learning about Mac's so if I see anything out of the ordinary I like to ask incase something is actually wrong and I kill my Mac

Thanks a lot. I guess this is the first time i've really used it a lot.

[Simon]

I think it's important to realize that you cannot really "kill your Mac" (unless you drop it). It's OK to monitor it if you're having issues or if you're simply curious. But in everyday use it will take care of itself just fine. Worry less. Enjoy more.

[kenna]

Good advice Simon, you should see me when someone touches my Mac

I try not to worry but it took me a while to save up and I suppose I should just have complete faith in my Machine until it shows otherwise.

Do you collect Mac's Simon?

[amazing]

Just remember that using the MB "on my bed" means that you should have something like a clipboard or laptop cooler to keep your MB above anything that might block the vents or prevent air from cooling the laptop.

[Simon]

Originally Posted by kenna 

I try not to worry but it took me a while to save up and I suppose I should just have complete faith in my Machine until it shows otherwise.

I understand that perfectly well. We all like to be really careful with things we consider precious. Especially when you saved up a long time to buy something.

But using the Mac the way it was intended (which includes it getting hot and the fans running) does not go against this. In fact, making good use of it is precisely what you saved up all that money for. Have fun with it!

Do you collect Mac's Simon?

I buy a a lot of Macs. I keep some that I really like. It's kind of silly to have a basement full of Macs - especially if like me you travel a lot and move frequently due to your job. Oh well. One day I'll have a nice collection of vintage Macs to show to my geek friends.

[kenna]

Thanks amazing, i'll take your advice.

Thanks Simon, i've had great fun with it to be honest, everything about the MacBook is brilliant for the average user; I can't recommend it enough.

hahaha nothing wrong with collecting things, I can see myself keeping all my Mac's too. Nothing wrong with being a complete nerd if you have social skills! Just thought you might have worked for Apple or something with such a collection.

/goes on another shift of Football Manager