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a-m-k

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Sep 3, 2009
1,517
127
I've got that annoying fan noise going right now. I am going to buy some sort of fan cleaner soon (NOT canned air), but in the meantime, there is a whole lot of activity in the activity monitor. I read something a day or so ago that removing the items in that list would maybe ease the problem, should I go ahead and do that in hoping the problem is taken care of. I am not sure if i read that right or not. That's why I ask. Thank you.
 
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shardey

macrumors 6502a
Jan 28, 2010
710
45
Colorado
I've got that annoying fan noise going right now. I am going to buy some sort of fan cleaner soon (NOT canned air), but in the meantime, there is a whole lot of activity in the activity monitor. I read something a day or so ago that removing the items in that list would maybe ease the problem, should I go ahead and do that in hoping the problem is taken care of. I am not sure if i read that right or not. That's why I ask. Thank you.

Post a picture of your activity monitory. It seems this "fan noise" is the fans kicking up to cool your machine.
 

snaky69

macrumors 603
Mar 14, 2008
5,908
488
I've got that annoying fan noise going right now. I am going to buy some sort of fan cleaner soon (NOT canned air), but in the meantime, there is a whole lot of activity in the activity monitor. I read something a day or so ago that removing the items in that list would maybe ease the problem, should I go ahead and do that in hoping the problem is taken care of. I am not sure if i read that right or not. That's why I ask. Thank you.

Define annoying fan noise?

What speed are your fans running at? What temperature is your computer at when you hear the noise? What are you doing on the computer when you are hearing the noise? It may be that it is perfectly normal and nothing to worry about.
 

a-m-k

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Sep 3, 2009
1,517
127
Define annoying fan noise?

What speed are your fans running at? What temperature is your computer at when you hear the noise? What are you doing on the computer when you are hearing the noise? It may be that it is perfectly normal and nothing to worry about.

My fan(s) are currently running at 3565 RPM.
 

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Last edited:
Nov 28, 2010
22,670
31
located
The noise sounds like "bwuzzzzzzzzzz" it's dull (not loud) but it's annoying.

/Users/angelakrycka/Desktop/Picture 1.png. I hope this picture thing works out, I'm new sending screen shots, I don't do it that often. Thank you all, again. :)

You have to upload a screenshot, we can't access your Desktop from here.


______________________________________________________
Have a look at Activity Monitor (Applications / Utilities /) and select All Processes and sort by CPU to see what the culprit may be.

image below uses sorting by CPU as an example
Acitivty_Monitor.png

Further reading:
______________________________________________________​
 

a-m-k

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Sep 3, 2009
1,517
127
You have to upload a screenshot, we can't access your Desktop from here.


______________________________________________________
Have a look at Activity Monitor (Applications / Utilities /) and select All Processes and sort by CPU to see what the culprit may be.

image below uses sorting by CPU as an example
Image
Further reading:
______________________________________________________​
Just did it.. LOL. I was having trouble uploading a screenshot because it's been awhile since I've done it. Sorry for the inconvienece.
 
Nov 28, 2010
22,670
31
located
Just did it.. LOL. I was having trouble uploading a screenshot because it's been awhile since I've done it. Sorry for the inconvienece.

No trouble. WHat is the fan speed at? You can use iStat Pro to measure it.
You can also use QuickTime X to record audio and upload as compressed archive to this site for us to hear the fan.
Btw, your screenshot does not show us much, maybe sort by CPU and select All Processes as in the screenshot I provided?
 

a-m-k

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Sep 3, 2009
1,517
127
No trouble. WHat is the fan speed at? You can use iStat Pro to measure it.
You can also use QuickTime X to record audio and upload as compressed archive to this site for us to hear the fan.
Btw, your screenshot does not show us much, maybe sort by CPU and select All Processes as in the screenshot I provided?

Thanks, I will do that and post the results when I can. :)
 

a-m-k

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Sep 3, 2009
1,517
127
Looking at your % CPU usage, sounds like a normal occurance to me.
OK, thank you.... Maybe it's more noticiable to me now because of the quieter times. (No one (human or dogs (2 dogs, btw)arround to make noise.) I was jsut thinking that maybe the fan(s) were either getting clogged up something. (Like when you grease something that isn't supposed to be squeaky.) I'll just pay attention to this and see what happens.

Thank you. :)
 

dusk007

macrumors 68040
Dec 5, 2009
3,415
105
Safari running showing youtube videos and stuff. It might get this hot & loud.
If it is 15" force the Intel HD GPU. Generally it stays at the lowest fan speed for quite a while and you need serious load to get them to do something. With the dedicated GPU very little load is enough to make the fans run faster.

You should post a ac monitor with "all processes" and ordered by "% CPU" as described. In yours there might still be something in the background that is really the heat source, or it was just a snapshot which doesn't really show the load.
33% in Safari isn't all that much, scrolling creates as much load.
 

a-m-k

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Sep 3, 2009
1,517
127
Safari running showing youtube videos and stuff. It might get this hot & loud.
If it is 15" force the Intel HD GPU. Generally it stays at the lowest fan speed for quite a while and you need serious load to get them to do something. With the dedicated GPU very little load is enough to make the fans run faster.

You should post a ac monitor with "all processes" and ordered by "% CPU" as described. In yours there might still be something in the background that is really the heat source, or it was just a snapshot which doesn't really show the load.
33% in Safari isn't all that much, scrolling creates as much load.

Ahh... I AM using Safari right now, I have been, its my primary browser. Thank you for that advice.
 

dusk007

macrumors 68040
Dec 5, 2009
3,415
105
33% in Safari isn't all that much, scrolling creates as much load.
Maybe I should be more precise.
When you scroll the load jumps up but if you let Safari sit idle and nothing is downloading or no videos playing the load should be much lower in the 2-5% range and without addons about 0.
 

a-m-k

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Sep 3, 2009
1,517
127
I think I've fixed the problem, but I waited a few days before I posted here again.

I went to system preferences>fan control and turned down the base speed all the way to the left. It quieted right down. Can't here anything, at the moment. My MBP is a nice 49 degrees celcius after trying to figure out something else out all afternoon. (not a problem with the mechanics of my MBP, a file. I posted about it on a different thread.)

Thank you.
 

GuitarG20

macrumors 65816
Jun 3, 2011
1,020
1
I went to system preferences>fan control and turned down the base speed all the way to the left. It quieted right down. Can't here anything, at the moment. My MBP is a nice 49 degrees celcius after trying to figure out something else out all afternoon. (not a problem with the mechanics of my MBP, a file. I posted about it on a different thread.)

Thank you.

you didn't tell us that you had a fan control program on your MBP. that would have made things much easier haha
 

aCondor

macrumors 6502
Oct 20, 2010
430
0
United States
Fans shouldn't really have to go over 2.5k RPM, even with YouTube usage.
If you are doing more I would understand, but only Flash? I've never experienced that.
 

a-m-k

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Sep 3, 2009
1,517
127
you didn't tell us that you had a fan control program on your MBP. that would have made things much easier haha

Yeah, I know.... SMC really didn't help, and I stumbled on 'fan control' in system preferences by complete accident. I don't usually go to system preferences that often and never paid attention to the different programs.

Thanks again, everybody. Consider this thread closed. (Can this thread please be closed out whoever closes the old threads? Thank you.)
 

Suno

macrumors 6502
Dec 12, 2011
252
1
Your ventilation is clogged. Now I don't own a MBP (yet), so I don't know the mechanics of the fan on a MBP, but as a laptop gamer, ventilation is of utmost importance to me. I need to make sure to check that it doesn't get clogged with dirt at least once a month in order to play games at peak performance. If I start to notice my computer being sluggish, audibly hear the fan being louder, or physically feel the fan working harder, I know it's time to clear the vents. I suggest you make sure it didn't get clogged.
 
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GuitarG20

macrumors 65816
Jun 3, 2011
1,020
1
Yeah, I know.... SMC really didn't help, and I stumbled on 'fan control' in system preferences by complete accident. I don't usually go to system preferences that often and never paid attention to the different programs.

Thanks again, everybody. Consider this thread closed. (Can this thread please be closed out whoever closes the old threads? Thank you.)

Change your original post (edit>go advanced on the post) and change the prefix to 'resolved'. Thanks for doing that! not enough people do.

Your ventilation is clogged. Now I don't own a MBP (yet), so I don't know the mechanics of the fan on a MBP, but as a laptop gamer, ventilation is of utmost importance to me. I need to make sure to check that it doesn't get clogged with dirt at least once a month in order to play games at peak performance. If I start to notice my computer being sluggish, audibly hear the fan being louder, or physically feel the fan working harder, I know it's time to clear the vents. I suggest you make sure it didn't get clogged.

As the OP has said, I think we figured out what was wrong-his fans were set to run higher than they needed to. Also, as you'll find out, MBP fans tend to not fill up with that much dust, actually.
 

a-m-k

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Sep 3, 2009
1,517
127
Change your original post (edit>go advanced on the post) and change the prefix to 'resolved'. Thanks for doing that! not enough people do.



As the OP has said, I think we figured out what was wrong-his fans were set to run higher than they needed to. Also, as you'll find out, MBP fans tend to not fill up with that much dust, actually.

LOL, I'm a woman. Though, you couldn't tell by my user name. No problem. I just laughed. :)
 

a-m-k

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Sep 3, 2009
1,517
127
Well, since someone mentioned the 'annoying' fan noise might be normal for my MBP, It's a whole heck of a lot quieter right now. I just sat down maybe a half hour ago, and at the moment the temperature fluctuates between 49 degrees celsius to 51 degrees celsius.
 

AppleFanatic10

macrumors 68030
Nov 2, 2010
2,828
313
Hawthorne, CA
My fan(s) are currently running at 3565 RPM.

Seems like Safari is the one that's making your fans go higher? But 3565 RPM really isn't a lot. I've had mine go to about 6000 RPM nonstop. It could also be a hardware related problem. You should do a Apple Hardware Test: Put in your Apple Restore Disk, Press the power button on your computer, then hold down the "D" key when you hear the startup tone.
 

a-m-k

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Sep 3, 2009
1,517
127
Seems like Safari is the one that's making your fans go higher? But 3565 RPM really isn't a lot. I've had mine go to about 6000 RPM nonstop. It could also be a hardware related problem. You should do a Apple Hardware Test: Put in your Apple Restore Disk, Press the power button on your computer, then hold down the "D" key when you hear the startup tone.

I'll save this for next time... right now, it's been so quiet and it's been a few days of the silence.
 
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