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My Macbook is running WAY too hot

A

Agentbolt

Diamond Member
When running Vista through Bootcamp, my Macbook is getting insanely hot. I noticed the fan was turning on more often, so I finally installed Notebook Hardware Control to see what was going on. While watching a streaming copy of Lost in HD on abc.com, the fan started bellowing and the CPU temp registered 90 degrees celcius.

I've updated all my bootcamp drivers to the latest available. I'm also running into stuttering problems with the audio, actually, but I suppose that's a different problem. Again, all of this only seems to occur in Vista under bootcamp, doing the same stuff in 10.5.3 seems to run at a much more normal 65-70 degrees C.

Anyone else seen this problem, and maybe know how to fix it? I'd appreciate any advice anyone has.

edit: Uh, sorry, my Macbook's specs

2.2 GHZ C2D
2 GB RAM
Intel X3100
 
IIRC, Windows can't control the fan speed of the Apple fans.

What you should do, if you're going to be spending some time in a Windows environment doing a heavy workload, is download and install SMCFanControl for OS X, and right before you boot in to Windows, crank your fans up to like 4000rpm. The problem is, that even under heavy load in Windows, they're still only running at 2000rpm. The Mac will hold the settings smcfancontrol specifies even during a reboot so when you boot in to Windows, they will be running at a constant 4000rpm. If that's not enough to make it coolduring useage, try 4500 then 5000. 6000 would be full-speed.

Likely, your fans are hitting 6000rpm when your temps are hitting 90's by the chipset trying to prevent overheating. Windows just can't automatically adjust the fan speed on the fly so it's always 2000 and the 6000 when the temps hit insane temperatures.
 
Like Bearxor said, Windows (neither XP or Vista) cannot correctly control the speed of the fans, so instead you are left with a very poor situation. I am willing to assume that this is Apple's fault since they are the one making the drivers, and the systems, but apparently forgot to include some degree of fan control.

Now I of course could be wrong, it could be that no manufacturer makes drivers for their fans so to speak, but instead leave it to Windows to make it all work. Now if that is the case, then Apple had to do testing on their end and they must have seen this fan issue, and therefore it should have been left to them to correct it.

It is also entirely possible that Apple did this all intentionally, just like with the tap clicking, in order to make people even less likely to want to use Windows on their Macs.
 
You have to think they're ignoring it on purpose, though. It's been 3 years since we've started running Windows on Mac hardware and it's still not fixed.

The workaround via smcfancontrol does work, but you have to live with your fans always spinning at high speeds.
 
Yea.. I could see them purposefully doing that. I personally use Windows very little. For people that have to use it a lot, I feel sorry... but Apple unfortunately rolls the way they want to roll and doesn't leave you with too many options. So you either like them, or you don't.
 
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