[ibook_steve]

I have an older 2.33 GHz 15" MBP with the max of 3 GB of RAM and an upgraded 250 GB hard drive running 10.6.2. I have XP SP3 installed on a 50 GB Boot Camp partition that I access through the latest version (5.0) of Parallels. And for the life of me, I can't get my damn fans to stop spinning!

I'm not sure if this really started happening with Leopard or Snow Leopard, but it has been extremely difficult to get my fans to shut up, even when my system is idling. Activity monitor can show less than 10% CPU usage, and my fans are often still spinning at the max of 6000 rpm (monitored with smcfancontrol).

I have, of course, tried many things to quiet my fans: resetting the SMC, pausing the Parallels VM, using Adblock and Flashblock in my browsers, quitting Microsoft apps (I hate you Powerpoint, but I have no choice but to use you), etc. But if I'm sitting scrolling through a web page or typing a message like I am right now, my fans should not be idling at about 4500 rpm and slowly going up for no reason (up to 4700 at only 63 degrees C right now! Now at 5100 3 minutes later! Argh!)!

I wonder sometimes if, when I replaced the hard drive, I did something to the heat sink contact to the main chips. I just haven't gotten around to opening the old girl up again and checking. But even with the temperature low, I still can get fast spinning fans.

I guess I'm wondering if anybody has the same or similar machine to mine and is having similar issues. It may already be time to put this machine out to pasture, but I'd love to solve this problem to avoid that.

Steve

[AKcrab]

You shouldn't have come anywhere NEAR the heatsink when replacing the drive..

Boot from an external. Do the fans continue high RPM's? Same symptoms with another user?

It's possible you have one or more failed thermal sensors.

[slugslugslug]

I’m having similar issues with a late 2007 MacBook. I also replaced the HD, but the fan thing didn’t start right after that. The really annoying thing is that when the fans are going full blast and I close the lid, they keep running while it’s asleep. Then I have to wake the computer up once, and the fans shut off, and then I can close it and they’ll stay off until I wake it again.

I’ve tried SMC and battery calibration too (but I haven’t gotten round to just using the thing with very few apps running). I might call Apple for advice soon, while it’s still under warranty. If you find out anything good anywhere, please update here…

[ibook_steve]

I don't think I have sensor issues because they all show up fine in Temperature Monitor.

I'll have to try a different user or boot from an external disk.

Steve

[OreoCookie]

I've got the same machine now with the same problem. My boss gave it to me after he had received his new iMac. He's not very keen on computer stuff, but he also complained a few times about the fans constantly spinning and when I checked, there was no runaway process or so that sucked up all the cpu cycles. It's a big annoying actually.

My machine also suffers from another annoying disease: when it gets warmer, I get the tell-tale signs of bad video RAM, ugh!

[ibook_steve]

Well, it helps to know that I'm not alone.

Also, hooking up an external display maxes the fans most of the time as well. Right now, with an idle external 1280x1024 display, my cores are at around 66 degrees and the fans are pegged at 6000.

Steve