Safari, overheating and the MBA

[Maui19]

I have come to discover a weird thing with my MBA (1.8 SSD). Bascially, any video application heats the machine up like a rocket. I never get a core shutdown, but video will get quite choppy. When I use Safari for video (youtube stuff, wmv format video with Flip4Mac, etc), the machine heats up and the video gets choppy. If I quit and reboot Safari, the temp cools right down. If I don't quit Safari, the MBA never cools down--even if I don't use Safari again (IOW, the Safari app is open, but no Safari windows are open).

If Safari heats up my MBA, and I put it to sleep, the MBA will cool down. But upon waking from sleep, it will heat up again and stay hot--even it I don't touch Safari again. I can use Safari for hours and my MBA stays nice and cool--as long as I don't watch any video.

Other video apps will heat up my MBA, but it always cools down once I stop watching video, even if I keep the apps open.

(BTW, I'm using Safari 3.1. I haven't tried going back to 3.0.4 yet)

I don't know what's going on, but this is becoming a giant PITA.

 

[Santa Rosa]

The videos you are watching will be flash, flash is a major resource hog, hence processor is running hard produces heat and the whole thing becomes what you describe. When you quit these videos it seems strange though that your Air wouldnt cool down. A bit of a software tweak looks as if it is needed on behalf of Apple.

 

[steve31]

I watch youtube with safari all the time and have had zero problems so far. I also rent movies from itunes and have had no problems with that either.

 

[texasdoc]

Probably an issue with Flip4Mac

Did you install Flip4Mac so you could watch .wmv files in Safari? If so, that's the problem. The current version of the software has a memory leak and pegs the CPU immediately, on all Macs, not just the Air. This causes the machine to overheat. The only way to kill the process is to close Safari. This problem is not an issue with the MBA itself and should disappear if a properly functioning version of Flip4Mac is released.

 

[hotdamn]

seriously, people have got to start using that search function.

 

[Maui19]

seriously, people have got to start using that search function.

Hey thanks that's a big help. I check these boards all the time and do use the search feature. In fact, I probably waste more time searching for answers than it would take to post a question and have some (kindly) person post the answer.

Next time I want to post something, I'll check with you first. I don't want you to have to waste all that time reading a redundant post--I can see how that would get your day all out of whack.

Search Nazis:

 

[Maui19]

Did you install Flip4Mac so you could watch .wmv files in Safari? If so, that's the problem. The current version of the software has a memory leak and pegs the CPU immediately, on all Macs, not just the Air. This causes the machine to overheat. The only way to kill the process is to close Safari. This problem is not an issue with the MBA itself and should disappear if a properly functioning version of Flip4Mac is released.

Thanks for that answer--I hand't seen anything about memory leak from Flip4Mac (which I do have installed). wmv files do heat up my MBA instantly. However, the Apple Genius couldn't reproduce the problem when we booted my MBA from an external drive--even though we used Safari and Flip4Mac (running off the external). When running off of my machine, Activity Monitor showed one of my cores was maxed out, and the other was only 30-50% utilitzed. The Genius though it was a system software problem, and I'd have to agree. I'm in the process of reinstalling my system software, so we'll see how that goes.

 

[RedAbundance]

i watch wmv with flip4mac and i have absolutely no heating issue. the quality of the playback is excellent as well. youtube videos also look pretty good. the only problem i have is with realplayer with which it gets choppy. but i never had a heating issue or a core shutdown. is yours an earlier production?

 

[Maui19]

I checked the Flip4Mac forum and the word there is that there is an incompatibilty between Safari, Flip4Mac and QuickTime. The workaround is to roll back to QT 7.3.1, however I couldn't get it to install. I uninstalled Flip4Mac and things have been working fine.

 

[texasdoc]

Learned about it from Genius

Thanks for that answer--I hand't seen anything about memory leak from Flip4Mac (which I do have installed). wmv files do heat up my MBA instantly. However, the Apple Genius couldn't reproduce the problem when we booted my MBA from an external drive--even though we used Safari and Flip4Mac (running off the external). When running off of my machine, Activity Monitor showed one of my cores was maxed out, and the other was only 30-50% utilitzed. The Genius though it was a system software problem, and I'd have to agree. I'm in the process of reinstalling my system software, so we'll see how that goes.

A couple of days ago mine started overheating and acting choppy after playing wmv files. I was able to trace the problem to the wmv usage but couldn't figure out what the problem was. Made a Genius Bar appointment and several of them were aware of a memory leak problem in Flip4Mac. From reading the Flip4Mac forums, so far the developers can't figure out what the problem is--some sort of issue between their software, Safari, and new Leopard graphics update. It seems not to happen to everyone but has happened on all sorts of hardware, not just the Air. At least we know it's not a hardware defect.

 

[Maui19]

I removed Flip4Mac and my MBA is running nice and cool now. It is reassuring to know that it isn't a hardware issue. I am going to wait until they get it sorted out--it is a minor inconvenience regarding wmv videos, but it is really nice to have my "old" flawless MBA back.

 

[nagromme]

Of course I found this thread just AFTER installing Flip4Mac

I assume I can leave Flip4Mac and be immune UNTIL I watch a WMV, right? So if I just Quit Safari after watching a WMV, the rest of the time I need not worry?

TIA

 

[DoFoT9]

I removed Flip4Mac and my MBA is running nice and cool now. It is reassuring to know that it isn't a hardware issue. I am going to wait until they get it sorted out--it is a minor inconvenience regarding wmv videos, but it is really nice to have my "old" flawless MBA back.

damn i was half way down reading the posts and was gonna suggest checking activity monitor... but its already been done (and fixed!!!)

haha damn. glad to hear u gots it working!

 

[Maui19]

Of course I found this thread just AFTER installing Flip4Mac

I assume I can leave Flip4Mac and be immune UNTIL I watch a WMV, right? So if I just Quit Safari after watching a WMV, the rest of the time I need not worry?

TIA

That always worked for me.

 

[nagromme]

Thanks!

I don't think I watch much in WMV format anyway.