MBP Mid-2015 fans out of control

[KasperPSR]

Hey everyone,

When I connect my mid-2015 15" MacBook Pro Retina to an external display, the fans tend to run to their maximum capacity, or very close to it, even if I only have a few applications open.

Checking the activity monitor, I can see that a lot of my CPU is idle, so I'm not sure what causes my computer to heat up.

I've checked the fans, and they're not faulty.

This, again, only happens when I connect to an external display. Several of my colleagues do the same thing, run the same apps as me, and their computers from the same gen stay completely silent.

Any ideas?

 

[maflynn]

the fans tend to run to their maximum capacity

My first recommendation is to use an application to measure the temperature, the fans are spinning up for a reason, either a malfunction (unlikely), or because the temperature is really that high. I recommend istat menus. It will provide details of what's occurring in your computer.

Based on that information you can see what's happening with the temps and fans.

Checking the activity monitor, I can see that a lot of my CPU is idle, so I'm not sure what causes my computer to heat up.

Are you looking at all processes, or just yours? Activity monitor defaults to just yours and you may not be seeing the full picture of what's running on your Mac.

 

[KasperPSR]

My first recommendation is to use an application to measure the temperature, the fans are spinning up for a reason, either a malfunction (unlikely), or because the temperature is really that high. I recommend istat menus. It will provide details of what's occurring in your computer.

Based on that information you can see what's happening with the temps and fans.


Are you looking at all processes, or just yours? Activity monitor defaults to just yours and you may not be seeing the full picture of what's running on your Mac.

I already have a temperature monitor. My temps are lingering around 60-70 degrees when the fans are running on full speed (6200 rpm and 5700 rpm respectively), which they constantly are when connected to a display.

And yeah, I'm checking all the running processes in Activity Monitor.

I'm using a HDMI connection. Could that be the culprit? Remember reading about someone who used minidisplay and that fixed the issue.

 

[maflynn]

I already have a temperature monitor

Not to split hairs, but I don't see that in your OP. Regardless, if you're temps are in the 60 to 70 range that's where the fans will ramp up somewhat but not go full bore. What's your fan speed?

 

[KasperPSR]

Not to split hairs, but I don't see that in your OP. Regardless, if you're temps are in the 60 to 70 range that's where the fans will ramp up somewhat but not go full bore. What's your fan speed?

Yes, that's because I didn't write it in OP

As I wrote in the previous post my fan speeds are maxed out, 6200 and 5700 rpm respectively.

 

[Toutou]

An external display forces the thing to use the dGPU (if it has one), which brings the temps up significantly, and then it's just a matter of some dust inside and it's going full blast. Do you have the dGPU model? Do your colleagues?

 

[KasperPSR]

An external display forces the thing to use the dGPU (if it has one), which brings the temps up significantly, and then it's just a matter of some dust inside and it's going full blast. Do you have the dGPU model? Do your colleagues?

Yeah, me and my colleagues all have a dGPU.

Might have to open it up at one point just to check for dust.
I'd be highly surprised if my MBP has a lot of dust inside. I bought it just 2 years ago and don't use it in bed that often. I've already tried blowing out dust with compressed air, but that didn't do anything.

Think the next thing I'll try is to use it with minidisplay instead of HDMI

 

[chabig]

I bought it just 2 years ago and don't use it in bed that often.

Bed,dust??

 

[KasperPSR]

Bed,dust??

What's your point? I said that I don't use it in bed that often – and when I do, I place it on a wooden tray.

 

[chabig]

I’m curious why you answered a question about dust by speaking about beds. I don’t see a connection.

 

[KasperPSR]

I’m curious why you answered a question about dust by speaking about beds. I don’t see a connection.

because it's common knowledge that using a laptop in bed will result in more dust entering into the machine. sheets garner more dust than a wooden surface.

 

[chabig]

because it's common knowledge...

I didn't know that.

 

[maflynn]

because it's common knowledge that using a laptop in bed will result in more dust entering into the machine. sheets garner more dust than a wooden surface.

I don't think its common knowledge. I think this is the first post I've seen here at MR specifically talking about bed dust.