There may be another explanation for the graphics issues that 17″ MacBook Pro users have been complaining about. One user on the Apple Discussions Boards has suggested that this issue is due to the fans not spinning up properly:
Yup… looks like your fans aren’t speeding up beyond their default rpm (2000).
Fans should increase to 3500 when the CPU hits between 75-85 degrees Celcius (167 – 185 F).
The fact that your CPU temp can get to 202 degrees F and the fans don’t increase beyond ~2000 rpm sounds like there is a problem with the SMC.
By the way for those of you who don’t speak Mac, SMC is Mac speak for System Management Controller. Apple describes it’s purpose in life this way:
The System Management Controller is an integrated circuit (computer chip) that is on the logic board of the computer. As the name implies, it is responsible for power management of the computer. It controls backlighting, hard disk spin down, sleep and wake, some charging aspects, trackpad control, and some input/output as it relates to the computer sleeping.
So if the SMC is to blame, that’s potentially a software fix rather than something more drastic.
I suspect that we’ll see if that’s the case shortly as this issue has gotten a fair amount of press over the last few days, and I’m sure Apple and Nvidia want this story to go away.
Like this:
Like Loading...
Related
This entry was posted on March 9, 2009 at 8:02 am and is filed under Commentary with tags Apple. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
17″ MacBook Pro Graphics Issues Caused By Flakey Fan Logic And Not By Nvidia?
There may be another explanation for the graphics issues that 17″ MacBook Pro users have been complaining about. One user on the Apple Discussions Boards has suggested that this issue is due to the fans not spinning up properly:
Yup… looks like your fans aren’t speeding up beyond their default rpm (2000).
Fans should increase to 3500 when the CPU hits between 75-85 degrees Celcius (167 – 185 F).
The fact that your CPU temp can get to 202 degrees F and the fans don’t increase beyond ~2000 rpm sounds like there is a problem with the SMC.
By the way for those of you who don’t speak Mac, SMC is Mac speak for System Management Controller. Apple describes it’s purpose in life this way:
The System Management Controller is an integrated circuit (computer chip) that is on the logic board of the computer. As the name implies, it is responsible for power management of the computer. It controls backlighting, hard disk spin down, sleep and wake, some charging aspects, trackpad control, and some input/output as it relates to the computer sleeping.
So if the SMC is to blame, that’s potentially a software fix rather than something more drastic.
I suspect that we’ll see if that’s the case shortly as this issue has gotten a fair amount of press over the last few days, and I’m sure Apple and Nvidia want this story to go away.
Share this:
Like this:
Related
This entry was posted on March 9, 2009 at 8:02 am and is filed under Commentary with tags Apple. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.