System is overheating in OS X

[MonkeyDLuffy]

Hi all,

I'm having problem with my laptop right now. It is overheating! To the point that it turns off by itself. Unfortunately, my bios is limited and I can only see limited information or probably tweaking it to somewhat level. The bios is really crappy that it doesn't even say the temp inside it.

I noticed this problem started this summer. I know, the weather is hot and stuff but it is not enough reason for it to heat up to extent that it turns off. Besides, with the same weather condition, it doesn't shutdown in Windows 7.

In Windows, the maximum heat that it generated is about 78C (using speedfan and coretemp)

In OSX, it goes up to 89C with Temperature Monitor Lite.

I think that my Sony Laptop auto turns off with 90C.

When I turn on my Air Conditioner, normal temps are 45C in Windows and 55C in OSX.

I already tried deleting AppleIntelCPU* and CPUThermo but it doesn't change anything. I already tried installing SpeedStep which works (Voodoo power management) but it still overheats. Tried all kinds of kernel. It is the same in 10.5.6/10.5.7 - Haven't tried in older versions because I never had a problem with (it was still winter then). Tried, with and without DSDT.

Can anyone give any suggestions on this? How can I make my system a little bit cooler. I really hate the auto shutoff thing.

I've tried smcfancontrol but I can't install it since it is not a real mac.

I also tried Fan Control 1.2 but I don't know it works. How does this work by the way? Anyone tried?

Any suggestions will be appreciated.

Sony Vaio VGN-CR140E
965 chipset / Gmax3100 / T7100 1.8Ghz
2gb ddr2 667 / 160Gb Hdd
SMCWUSB-G USB wireless

EDIT: Someone told me that systems are a little bit hotter in OSX than Windows but not to the extent of auto shutdown.

[Gurruwiwi]

Hi there!

Right you are, never ever to the extent of shutdown, unsless you are purposedly throtteling your system or "bit binge drinking" graphic stuff...

Well, I report the exact opposite. Luck (I guess) dictates my system runs 5-8ºC cooler than in Win7

Is your temperature that hot when it's been idle, or after seing videos, apps, games etc?

I read somewhere that Adobe Flash for Osx tends to heat up some systems... ?

What distro/method did you use? Are you running vanilla kernel or voodoo (main kernel, not independant kext like voodoo power of voodoo ps/2 fix etc...) ?

I know its not ideal and it takes up a USB port, but how about one of those laptop-base-with-fans thingies ? Some even have 2, 3 or even 4 extra ports which becomes really convenient!

I am planining to get one to stress release my nvidia in gaming.

.

[Ali C.]

I second the laptop base. Would be your best bet if you don't want to run your air conditioner.

[MonkeyDLuffy]

Yup, I have a laptop base cooler connected to the USB. I also tried it without because I was just troubleshooting that "maybe" that laptop cooler is messing up the airflow of my laptop. Anyway, with or without, it still overheats to the extent of shutting down.

I've tried Vanilla, tried Voodoo, even tried older kernels with corresponding seatbelt.kext. I also tried not using voodoo trackpad ps2.

I noticed this overheating when running Biotronics in Facebook which is Flash (I guess). Also watching videos in youtube makes it really hot to about 80-85C. Just Youtube videos!!!

Is there a program out there that can see the speed of my fan? or maybe control it?

FanControl 1.2 doesn't seem to work because it is still overheating.

Thank you for your suggestions guys, keep it coming!

[deyton]

If you've tried everything else, I suggest you try CoolBook (http://www.coolbook.se/CoolBook.html). It lets you undervolt your processor, which greatly helps with the heat since (apparently) it's the voltage that determines how hot your processor gets, not the clock speed. It costs $10, but in my opinion it's well worth it. My T61 runs cooler in OS X than Windows.

If you don't want to pay, you could try to undervolt using VoodooPower because I think it can do it now, although I was never able to figure it out. In CoolBook it is extremely straightforward.

[MonkeyDLuffy]

I see. I'm going to try the coolbook. You have patched DSDT right? This is safe for hacks right? Thanks man!! Really great suggestion!

EDIT: Is this something like speedsteep? Like Voodoo Power? I currently have that thing installed? Will it conflict with Coolbook?

[deyton]

I think CoolBook effectively has the same functionality as VoodooPower, but geared less towards throttling/multipliers and such. You just set the frequency and then lower the voltage as low as you can while maintaining stability. It's a different approach and the documentation is fairly interesting, actually. For me at least, this was very difficult to figure out using VoodooPower, and VoodooPower didn't have the capacity for undervolting until relatively recently anyways.

You should definitely only have one of VoodooPower or CoolBook running simultaneously. I believe that CoolBook will run on anything that has some sort of Apple notebook model identifier (e.g. MacBookPro4,1 or something), which can be changed fairly easily. Also you should be aware that you have limited activations of CoolBook (only two I think). This isn't much of a problem because it survives updates and restores from Time Machine, but if you do a clean install you'd probably have to reactivate.

[uman]

Clean your laptop. Mine dropped 10-15C just by using a compressed air can on a regular schedule.

You'll need to open up the back, and blow the fans. Also hit the side ducts, and anywhere else air is supposed to be flowing.

(Aside: for me, voodoopower keeps it 10-20C cooler than without it. Unfortunately, it panics the machine every couple of days. So rather than sleeping, I try to shut it down at night. I've been planning on debugging this because superhai can't do anything without a traceback, and I never get one using his debug kext.)

[MonkeyDLuffy]

Hey,

Thank you for your replies. Unfortunately, I already cleaned it when I replaced the wireless mini-pcie. Regarding Coolbook, I already tried it but it is still the same :(. I'm still thinking of replacing the thermal paste to a better one, I'll get better temps.

Great suggestions guys.

Thanks again.

[deyton]

With regards to CoolBook, did you go through the process of finding the minimum voltage pairs and such? If you just run it without any configuration it won't do anything for the heat.

If you have done this and it's still much hotter than in Windows, I don't really understand what's going on. As I understand it, by lowering the voltage through CoolBook you will necessarily create less heat than the default configuration in Windows. Intel sets their base voltages higher than they could, just to be safe since the lower limit for any given processor is not consistent. By performing stability tests you can find the limit for your processor, which is usually significantly lower. So perhaps CoolBook isn't working properly or maybe there is something to do with your OS X installation that is pushing the processor harder?

Replacing thermal paste is messy business, and it still won't account for the difference between Windows and OS X... so hopefully it won't get there.

[MonkeyDLuffy]

I had a small chat with IRC and they suggested that I fix my DSDT manually and "maybe" this can help. I have no choice but to force compile my DSDT because of 2 errors and 1 warning. When I patch my dsdt, it doesn't even boot. It freezes right after the firewire kext loads. I removed the firewire kext, it still freezes. So I guess, I have to learn on how to manually fix my DSDT and see if temps will change. Some people said that after fixing DSDT, it made their systems cooler (fan spinning better).

But I found out that manually fixing DSDT is no easy matter. I have to study on how to do it first. I'm still in chapter 1, oh well, I guess I'll stick with Win7 for now. :(