2012 Macbook Air Extremely Loud Fan Issue

[Gouldy]

As above, I started playing Civilisation this morning and the Macbook fan kicked in. Understandable, but it got louder and louder until it sounded like a jet engine on a plane taking off.

Is this normal?

If so, why the hell is it so loud?

I was expecting playing a game from the SSD to be near seamless and near silently, however this does not appear to be the case.

Is this just how it is or is there a fix for this?

 

[Adam.]

My old MBP used to go mental with the fans.

I could even hear it whirring in my bag after putting it away.

 

[Advikaz]

Didn't even know they had fans? thought they were solid state?

 

[Jon.G]

1 fan IIRC. I've never heard mine.

 

[Advikaz]

I've got a MBP & can't say I've ever heard my fan.

 

[Adam.]

IIRC someone on here had a MBA that melted.

 

[Gavin.]

I have heard mine a fair bit, they normally idle at around 1200rpm on by MBP but I have know them to jump up to 6000rpm under load.

 

[N0ddie]

Depends where you were using it. I find that if I sit with it on the couch or my knee in a certain way the fans kick in. This is down to blocking the airflow.

Try it sitting on a desk to see if that makes a difference.

 

[jenic]

2012 MBA has improved fan iirc, mine has never come on loud enough to hear it.

I don't game but I do use VM's and watch HD streams on it no issues. How hot is it getting?

And SSD doesn't mean no heat, it means the storage media doesn't spin, but modern HDDs are near silent anyway.

 

[Gouldy]

It felt warm and I was sat on the couch with it on my knee.

It was really loud. I read somewhere about the CPU getting warm and the fan RPM increasing the hotter the CPU got. I was only playing the game on the standard settings too.

 

[Semtax]

The Air is just not meant for gaming to be honest. Playing any type of mainstream game will put the CPU and GPU under a big load. They're the things getting warm not the SSD. Even minecraft on my 2011 Air makes the fans go ape s**t :dapprove:

 

[Munson]

No offence but this is common sense really. If you're playing a game, then the system is under load. Far more so than browsing the web or sending an email. I'm using a retina MBP and basically it's silent 100%. I've never heard the fan. However, I'm fairly sure that if I tried playing Crysis on it, that might change quite quickly.

Basically don't worry about it. It's doing what it needs to do in order to stop itself combusting.

 

[Gouldy]

I'm disapointed in it tbh. I wouldn't expect a £1k laptop to make that sort of noise when playing a game bought through the App Store. My shitty 5 year old toshiba never made that sort of racket when doing anything. I'm surprised it's not taken off with how fast the fan is going!

 

[N0ddie]

Try it on a table/work top to see if it does the same.

 

[Munson]

It's not supposed to be a games machine. If it needs to cool down then it'll turn the fan speed up. What do you expect??

 

[Gouldy]

Try it on a table/work top to see if it does the same.

I'll give that a go and see what happens. Thanks.

 

[Gouldy]

It's not supposed to be a games machine. If it needs to cool down then it'll turn the fan speed up. What do you expect??

I expect a thousand pound laptop to run a basic real time strategy game without sounding like a Boeing 747.

 

[Jon.G]

Yes, but you have to understand that the graphics capabilities are not the same as a desktop or MacBook Pro. The 2012 Air only has a basic GFX processor and minimal cooling to allow for such a lightweight portable unit.

You really can't expect that its going to run SILENT running any game.

 

[Alex5]

my MBP gets really hot and the fan kicks in when i have its on my bed and im on chrome watching a film or something. on CPU usage chrome shoots right up and uses like 60% cpu.
if i have it on a desk its absolutely fine. its all about where its positioned to not let it over heat

 

[Gouldy]

Yes, but you have to understand that the graphics capabilities are not the same as a desktop or MacBook Pro. The 2012 Air only has a basic GFX processor and minimal cooling to allow for such a lightweight portable unit.

You really can't expect that its going to run SILENT running any game.

Where have I said that I expect it to run silently?

 

[Jon.G]

I was expecting playing a game from the SSD to be near seamless and near silently, however this does not appear to be the case.

Close enough.

 

[Gouldy]

Near silent = some fan noise which as I mentioned earlier, I expect.

Boeing 747 = I thought the laptop was going to take flight with the amount of noise it was making.

 

[Jon.G]

Yeah, so read what I wrote again.

 

[Gouldy]

Yea, and?

So, the answer to my question is that It's supposed to sound like a jumbo jet?

There is no way it's supposed to be that loud.

 

[EmirK0]

Only time iv ever heard the fan on mine when I was using it on the bed to convert some videos, obviously this blocked the air at the back. Get the iStat pro widget and it'll tell you the fan speed and temp. Might be worth trying different surfaces.

 

[Munson]

I expect a thousand pound laptop to run a basic real time strategy game without sounding like a Boeing 747.

Then your expectations are unrealistic I'm afraid. Computers get hot when they're doing stuff. The MBA wasn't conceived as a gaming machine.

 

[Gouldy]

By the sounds of things, I should have repaired my old toshiba.

 

[Jon.G]

Yea, and?

So, the answer to my question is that It's supposed to sound like a jumbo jet?

There is no way it's supposed to be that loud.

No granted its not. However you have to appreciate the fan is going to come on. I don't know how loud it actually sounds, as it 100% does not have the same decibel reading as a jumbo jet.

Just take it into Apple and show them what it does. They will either say its right, or wrong and sort it for you.

 

[N0ddie]

I'll put it down to your "trousers/clothing" blocking the airflow with it being sat on your lap.

 

[Gouldy]

No granted its not. However you have to appreciate the fan is going to come on. I don't know how loud it actually sounds, as it 100% does not have the same decibel reading as a jumbo jet.

Just take it into Apple and show them what it does. They will either say its right, or wrong and sort it for you.

That's what you have taken from this?

Come on FFS. You've given me helpful info on Apple products before, which is appreciated but Christ in a bike read my posts properly.

 

[Gouldy]

I'll put it down to your "trousers/clothing" blocking the airflow with it being sat on your lap.

Thanks bud. I was at work last night when I posted this so I've not had chance to try the computer on a flat surface yet.

 

[Jon.G]

Yeah, but what I was also saying is that loud to you, might be a reasonable level to me. I'll just be quiet and advise you take it to Apple and show them what it does, if it does it consistently.

Download the iStat Pro widget that someone in here mentioned as well, take not of the base speeds and temps, then when the fans start to get too loud, flick to your widgets and have a look at the core temp and the fan speed.

Maybe to a log of them, just to see when it happens, incase it does go tits up.

 

[Gavin.]

Thats idling (web browsing), as soon as the temp of the CPU starts to rise the RPM of the fan goes up with it. At around 80 deg the fans are at a full 6000rpm. Its loud but it needs to be to stop the internals melting, any computer will do the same thing tbh.

 

[Jon.G]

I thought you had a Pro?

FYI This is my 8GB Air at idle

 

[Gavin.]

Oh yea mine is a MBP, its fans still go at full wack when needed though. Try streaming something using XBMC it tends to send mine nuts for some reason.

 

[Gouldy]

Update;

Basically I've been a r****d and when I've been sitting with the computer on my knee i've been accidentally blocking the fan with my knee. I discovered this when I was messing with the position of the laptop and when I tried it on a flat surface etc.

 

[Jon.G]

At least you've sorted it!

 

[Gouldy]

I hang my head in shame.

The fan comes on now and again but it's not sounding anything like it did before.