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Jun 03, 2023

Diagnosing and Fixing a Noisy Mac Fan

Macs come with cooling fans because processors and other electronic fans generate heat when they are used. The fans keep the different parts cool. Most of the time, they hum along in the background.

Macs come with cooling fans because processors and other electronic fans generate heat when they are used. The fans keep the different parts cool. Most of the time, they hum along in the background. You won’t even notice them. But when you are attempting resource-intensive tasks, like video editing, the fans may start to spin faster and make noise.

This isn’t abnormal because the fans are working their best to keep Mac’s temperature at a desired level. However, sometimes, fans might become excessively noisy and kick in even when you are not doing anything.

A noisy Mac fan can be a worrisome and annoying issue. The noise not only disrupts your peaceful computing experience but also indicates potential underlying problems.

One way to overcome the issue is manually controlling the speed of the fan because the fan might be spinning too slowly or spinning too much. If you don’t know how to control fan on MacBook, these are the steps:

You can also turn off the fan by resetting the SMC if the fan is spiraling out of control or is buggy.

However, if controlling the fan speed or turning it off doesn’t solve your problem, here are the steps to diagnose and fix a noisy Mac fan. Let’s go.

The Mac fans work by pushing out the warm air and pulling in fresh air. If the vents are blocked, this won’t happen. Hence, your computer will keep getting hotter. To compensate, the fans will keep speeding up.

This is a common instance when Mac users place their computers on soft objects like cushions and beds. Hence, if the fan is making a loud noise, try moving the computer to a flat, hard surface.

Also, ensure the vents are not clogged. Clean them out using a brush.

With fan-based cooling, one of the biggest problems is that it draws in dust and air. With time, this builds up and might sit on the motherboard and other components like a blanket.

You can stop your Mac from overheating by removing this dust. If you are using a Mac Pro, you can pop off the side and clean the computer of debris and dust. But you cannot do the same with other models.

You can get a can of compressed air and blast it to get some of the dust out. You can also get a vacuum clear to do the trick.

Macs heat up when they are under immense pressure and multiple resource-intensive processes are running in the background. Of course, the more your Mac has to do, the more it will heat up.

Go to the Activity Monitor to shut down the apps that are making your Mac’s processor work too hard. For this, check the processes and apps in the CPU tab. The ones with the highest CPU usage are the culprits. Quit those processes.

Excessive amounts of heat might be caused due to faulty components. But that is not the only potential hardware issue. There are several heat sensors inside your Mac, and these tell the fans when they must spin faster. If the sensors become faulty, they might contribute to your Mac’s fan spinning louder and faster.

You can use the in-built Apple Diagnostics tool to find out the source of the problem. Run this by turning on your Mac and holding the D key. Keep pressing the key until you see a list of languages. Then, select a language, and Apple Diagnostics will automatically run. You will get a detailed result at the end.

The room temperature also impacts the temperature of your Mac. If you are in a hot room, your computer will be hot too. This might be enough to make your Mac fans spin faster and louder.

The fix is pretty simple. You must bring down the temperature of the room by opening a window. You can add a desk fan aimed at your Mac, so your computer is cooled down.

You can invest in a cooling fan to keep your Mac cool. These cooling pads with built-in fans will support your Mac’s cooling system and prevent the fans from working too hard.

You can place the Mac on top of a cooling pad to improve the airflow and decrease the workload on the internal fan. This will result in quieter operation.

When Mac fans are making noise, the solution is usually simple. Hopefully, one of the fixes mentioned above will do the trick and cool down your Mac.

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