CPU fans spinning a lot after OWC SSD upgrade

[sarimo]

Hi, I recently purchased and installed a 240GB OWC Mercury Aura 6G 2012 for MacBook Air 5,2.

After installing the drive, I restored from Time Machine.

But my CPU fans have been spinning like crazy. Is this normal? I reset the SMC and NVRAM to no avail. Is the SSD defective, and should I send it back?

Thank you for your help.

 

[ApfelKuchen]

Not necessarily the SSD. Could be a temperature sensor. Could be other things. Could be a coincidence and you have a runaway CPU process.

So, run Apple Hardware Test https://support.apple.com/HT201257
Open Activity Monitor and see if there's anything pulling high CPU % (over 100% is a dead giveaway).

Knowledge is better than guesswork.

 

[sarimo]

Not necessarily the SSD. Could be a temperature sensor. Could be other things. Could be a coincidence and you have a runaway CPU process.

So, run Apple Hardware Test https://support.apple.com/HT201257
Open Activity Monitor and see if there's anything pulling high CPU % (over 100% is a dead giveaway).

Knowledge is better than guesswork.

Hi, thank you for your reply.

So in order, I did the following:
- Reset SMC and NVRAM
- Did a clean install of Sierra and installed each app one-by-one
- Activity monitor was clear (attached)
- Ran Apple Hardware test and it said: no problem found
- I installed Macs Fan Control, and the fans are spinning at max (attached).

 

[vincebio]

Spotlight Indexing your new drive no?

 

[T'hain Esh Kelch]

Spotlight Indexing your new drive no?

No, mdworker has spent almost no time active, as visible in his first screenshot.

Your CPU is really hot, that's why the fans are active. And the CPU wouldn't be hot unless you A. have had the CPU active for quite some time, which is inconsistent with your first screenshot, or B. you accidently broke a CPU sensor or unplugged its cable.
Does the CPU temperature remain high over a periode, with no CPU activity?

 

[sarimo]

Thanks for your replies.

Over an hour or so period of monitoring with Hardware Monitor, the CPU proximity temperatures fall between 40-60 degrees celsius, with some spikes. I guess they are generally not too high?

(and this with minimal CPU activity, a couple of Chrome tabs, a PDF, a file download etc.)

 

[abrahamw88]

So looks like it would be option B, possibly a broken sensor or wire connection. Those temperatures do not seem to be high enough to call for maximum fan speed.

 

[Johnny365]

The real test to determine that it is the SSD or something else in the system, is to reinstall the factory Apple SSD and check the temperature/fan noise.

 

[flowrider]

Before you settle in with that OEC SSD, you may want to read this thread:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/owc-ssd-upgrade-2012-macbook-air-buyer-beware.1459847/

Lou