It seems to ME that the cooling fan in my new TiBook hasn’t gone on in a few weeks. It’s right now, as I type this, on my knees and oh my freaking god is the bottom of this thing scorching hot.
How do I find out if the fan is A) working, and B) working right?
I don’t wanna risk this thing, I’ll shut it down cold for a few days and get it to Apple Store before I risk damaging it. Any thoughts?
Push down the tabs next to the esc key and the eject/F12 keys, and flip up the keyboard. The fan is in the center at the top. Careful to not touch the heatsinks, they’re not kidding with the little warning labels.
I’ve only had mine for a week. Yeah, it does get warm, but not too bad, when running on battery power. When on AC power, it gets hot, and the fan will run on the fast mode which will make it loud enough to be heard. If the fan isn’t running when under AC power, it may be defective.
Most companies are calling their laptops Mobile, Notepad or Portable solutions nowadays for the principle reason that they run to hot to keep on your lap. If you click on the Notepad section of IBM or go to the Powerbook site, the word “lap” is not mentioned once on either of those first pages.
My G3 (Bronze) behaves much you like describe. It gets really hot before the fan kicks in. The first time it kicked in it scared me, and I shut it off because I thought something was wrong. It turns out it was perfectly normal. This occurred on one of the few times I was using it in bed – the comforter apparently obstructed the normal convective airflow, causing the heat to build enough to kick on the fan.
Early tibooks were supposed to get so hot they could scorch you. Once I was using mine and feeling quite cold (air con was up too high) so I put it on my lap to warm myself up. It worked - but I got really nasty red heat marks for a while afterwards.
Mine is a newer one and they’re supposed to heat up less.
Re the OP: I can definitely hear the fan coming on in mine, it’s reasonably loud (or audible). Playing music I probably wouldn’t hear it though. But if you’re actively listening out for it and can’t hear it, it’s safest to do as you’re doing and fear the worst.
Living in this hot climate, I’ve also noticed the difference ambient room temperature makes to the cooling efficiency of the tibook. If I choose to sit and sweat with the a/c off, the tibook’s fan is on constantly, and it gets boiling hot.
As said above, TiPBs, especially the earlier models, have to get very very hot before the fan kicks on. I’ve only heard the cooling fan on mine turn on a few times since I’ve had it, almost a year and a half now. So, the fact that it’s not turning on even though it feels hot to you is not necessarily an indication that something’s wrong.
If you want to be on the safe side and you want to continue using your computer on your lap, get yourself a lap desk of some kind (Levenger makes a few different models, for example), and put your TiPB on a RoadTools CoolPad. By creating extra air-space under your computer, the CoolPad allows extra circulation and keeps the machine a lot cooler. And it swivels, so you can play “Star Trek Captain”.
Incidentally, it’s more efficient to just point a small fan at the laptop than to keep the room incredibly cold; a slight breeze to carry heat away from the computer will keep things very cool. I’ve used my TiPB with a fan on it in an 85-degree room, and the bottom of the case felt cooler than right now, when it’s about 70 degrees in the room. So, istara, just get a small fan, position it to blow across and under your computer, and turn the thermostat to whatever makes you comfortable.
i swear i posted earlier, just after the OP. damn, now even submitted posts are running away to hamster heaven…
anyway, just see if you can find a .pdf called “Service Manual” in the support section of the manufacturer’s website. This manual will tell you how to disassemble the laptop and identify the fan. and, more importantly, how to put it all back together again.
also, if you want to use it before getting it fixed, place it right in the middle of the blast from your aircon. that should keep it cool until such time that you get it fixed.
I happened to throw out an old book today-it was published in 1990, and was a listing of personal computers. Wow! I am amazed at the mfgs. who no longer exist!
What became of Texas Instruments? Grid Systems, Radio Shack, Aprica, and Zenith?
Competition in the PC world is brutal-will HP and Compaq survive? There seem to be only a handful of laptop mfgs. today-is FUJITSU and TOSHIBA still making them?