2011 13" MBA Overheating all the time

Discussion in 'MacBook Air' started by Zeos, Mar 12, 2015.

  1. Zeos macrumors 6502

    Jan 24, 2008
    So, I had a previous post about my 2011 13" max'ed out MBA having all kinds of beachball issues, etc. and just general discontent with Apple product reliability. I fresh-installed Yosemite and am in the process of reinstalling apps. When downloading all of my OneDrive and DropBox folders, the MBA is shutting down every 45 minutes due to heat. The fan goes nuts for about 10 minutes, and then the MBA just shuts down and won't restart for another 10 minutes. I'm trying to stay in the MBA family, but this is beyond irritating. This thing can't handle syncing files??:mad: Or maybe Apple has activated the level 2 MBA "upgrade button" they have in the basement at Cupertino?
  2. motrek macrumors 68020

    Sep 14, 2012
    So which one is causing the problem, OneDrive or DropBox?

    Sounds like one of them is badly programmed. Probably not both.

    Makes no sense to blame this on Apple.

    Although it is odd that your machine would get so hot that it shuts off and can't be turned on again for a while. Is your fan failing or is it hopelessly clogged with dust?
  3. SmOgER macrumors 6502a

    Jun 2, 2014
    Have you tried resetting the SMC/PRAM?

    This is definitely not software related, it's either firmware or hardware. I can stress test my machine to unrealistic levels with synthetical software (did it several times), but it never gets so hot for it shut down. Throttling (well not exactly thrtolling since it's just reducing the turbo boost which is constantly keeping the CPU above or at stock speeds) control the CPU temps so that they always stay within operating range. This is definitely not normal for it to shut down regardless of the workload.
  4. julianps macrumors member


    Aug 6, 2006
    Wales, UK
    Don't get mad, get methodical

    Sorry to hear you're having a bad time of it but maybe you could try one or two things before taking more radical steps. By "..max'ed out" I'm assuming you mean top-of-the-range, and not that you've opened it up and filled it with spare parts of eBay? The fan running up surely means it's overheating and cutting out implies it's seriously overheating and you'll only get away with that for a short time before the damage is permanent. So, job #1 might be to get the bottom off it (see fixit.com for details) and check that the fan and the exhaust grill are not clogged with fluff; it has to be able to breath.

    You can buy canned air dusters for this on eBay, but be careful to read the instructions and not to soak the motherboard in solvents.

    Do a clean install of Yosemite then use CarbonCopyCloner to clone it to a USB drive and reboot from that. Using Disk Utility erase your SSD using the 7 write option to ensure nothing of your old system survives. Then run a utility like Apple Hardware Test or TechToolPro to see if the hardware has any underlying faults.

    If all goes well CCC the system back to your SSD then get a demo copy of iStat Menus and set it up so that you can see all the temperature readings within your machine. Now use it like that for a few days, focussing on web browsing and video use.

    If it steams up again then scrap the MBA and get something new; if it works fine then you've got an issue with your files and copying them back simply restores the problem. You'll need to slowly rebuild your system using new and trusted software only. Keep looking at iStat' as you run each new item and if hit a problem you'll know the cause.
  5. Mrbobb macrumors 601

    Aug 27, 2012

    You think this happens to all Macs?

    No Sir, your machine has a serious problem, somewhere, it's sick, take it in to the doctor.

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4 March 12, 2015