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LSK6453

macrumors member
Aug 16, 2006
64
0
The update as cooled mine a lot. I don't have anything installed to monitor it, but I will when I get home.

I was able to put it on my lap last night and I did not burn myself!
 

ImAlwaysRight

macrumors 6502a
All you wanted to know about this update and more.

Those of you just tuning in ...

Here is all Apple has to say on what this firmware does: The SMC Firmware Update adjusts fan behavior in the MacBook.

Pretty ambiguous?!? You bet! Either Apple views us as too stoopid to be told anything more, or perhaps Apple's legal department does not want to give more information so Joe Litigation has no legal grounds to stand on. Either way, we all lose!

But, faithful Mac user, read on. Here is what Apple will not tell you, but we in the Mac community have discovered.

This firmware update causes the fans in your MacBook to run all the time at low speed (and faster when needed).

Wow. There, we said it. Apple, I can tell you, that wasn't so hard. :eek:

Advantages:
1) If you previously had the moo sound, where the fan would rev up and then stop, rev up and then stop, etc, that is now gone since the fan runs all the time.
2) Your MacBook will now be cooler since the fan is running all the time.

Disadvantages:
1) Noise will increase with the fan running all the time. This is bothersome to some users, but not others. HINT: Evaluate your work environment and your work preferences. If you don't like to hear computer fans running while you work, you may not want to install this update!
2) Slightly shorter battery life with the fan running constantly.

There you have it, MacFans. All you wanted to know about this update. If you aren't the type to jump at every software update, you now have a decision to make -- update, or not? One word of caution, once you decide to do it, there is no going back ...
 

clasicks

macrumors member
Jun 28, 2006
42
0
i literaly cannot feel my MB on my lap, this is great. after sleep for about an hour the temp was 13C, during use its now 33c, this is amazing. GJ apple
 

sonictonic

macrumors 6502a
Mar 25, 2006
954
11
San Jose, California
ImAlwaysRight said:
That's like buying an expensive sportscar and only driving it up and down your driveway. Your MacBook wants to sit with you on the sofa, lay with you in bed, go with you to the airport (well, maybe not right now), go to your place of work, sit precariously close to your coffee at Starbucks ... FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS GOOD AND HOLY, SET YOUR MACBOOK FREE! :D

That's hillarious. :D
 

spriter

macrumors 65816
May 13, 2004
1,460
586
Alright ,did anyone notice the topping out temp to be ALOT lower also? Using Temperature Monitor Lite and CoreDuo Temp:

Pre-update my MacBook would idle at 55C, Moo at 65C and top out at 78C (when I Handbrake a DVD to H264)

Now, I idle at 45C, no Moo at all (yeah!) and now top out at 67C when Handbrake is going full tilt.

That's some improvement. I know the fans are running constantly at low speeds but I can't hear them unless I put my ear to the keyboard area. And it doesn't disturb me when sleeping like the Moo did.

I'm wondering how this update knocked a good 10C off the top-end though? The fans don't sound like they're going faster than before but something drastically changed to bring the whole heat level down a good 10C in all conditions.

All-in-all, getting rid of the moo and cutting temperature by a good margin means a pat on the back for Apple techs/engineers who sorted this.
 

maxi

macrumors regular
May 23, 2006
127
0
Buenos Aires, Argentina
hahaha

You've got to love apple fans, people who complained about the moo before always said they'd rather have a constant fan spinning... now we've got cooler and moo-free macbooks and still manage to complain. ;)

I truly believe that if apple came out with a dual woodcrest 3ghz 1 inch thick 15" laptop and gave it out for free, people here would still complain :)
 

Josias

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Mar 10, 2006
1,908
1
It's true that you under completely silent conditions will be able to hear a very discrete fan spinning slightly.

It is not correct with shorter batterylife. It is true my fan turned on/off before, just didn't say a moo. Since it is just running regularly now, not having to switch it on/off all the time. Before I got 5 hours with AirPort on, and 2-3 windows running in Safari. Now I get up to 5.5 hours.;) And yes, I tested this...
 

bneff

macrumors newbie
Jul 12, 2006
25
0
I didn;t have a moo previously installing this firmware, and i still don't after. My blackbook runs so cool now!!! I have it on my lap! It has to be a first. At startup, it was idling at 25 C, now typing with safari open its only at 29....

I recommed doing the update (btw I'm using coreduotemp)
 

aristobrat

macrumors G5
Oct 14, 2005
12,292
1,403
ImAlwaysRight said:
2) Slightly shorter battery life with the fan running constantly.
Haven't noticed that at all, and I've gone thru 2 charging cycles since I updated yesterday.

If a little 9V battery will run a desk fan for hours and hours and hours, I really doubt that the fan inside the MacBook (which is much, much smaller) will have any noticable impact on battery life.

fivetoadsloth said:
People that didnt have the moo problem, did the firmware update help? I stayed in 10.4.6 when people where saying that there moo started in 10.4.7 but now with people saying it cooled down the temp im tempted to update, but my two concers are how loud is the hum? and how many people with 10.4.7 have had the colored lines on there screen?
I didn't have the moo problem. The firmware has helped in that my MacBook is running about 10'C-12'C cooler on average than before.

I've also been running 10.4.7 since it came out and have had the colored lines issue once, and that was fixed by resetting the PMU.
 

WabeWalker

macrumors member
May 20, 2006
85
0
Yeah, I thought that the mooing for me began with 10.4.7 but that might've been my imagination.

I also suffered from the discoloration issue - and still do.

So I tell people that my new laptop has stains that can't be washed off, and that it moos like a cow. And what do they do, they laugh at me. Well that's just typical isn't it. God they can all go to hell.
 

FredClausen

macrumors regular
Aug 7, 2006
169
0
KALM
ImAlwaysRight said:
conspiracy theory

Seriously, I don't know what is wrong with your MB but my fan is no louder or quieter than before. I didn't have the moo, I don't have it now, and I don't have a humm of the fan on low speed. My battery life is unaffected, and little aliens haven't landed yet.

In fact, I dare-say based on this thread that I am not in the minority either. Lots of people have said in this thread that their MB makes just the same level of noise as before (non MooBook (TM) models) and less noise than before (MooBook (TM) models). With a few exceptions of folks who seem to have stuck fans, no one hears the fans spinning while at idle.

I'm not going to dispute build quality issues with the MB as I am not a Apple apologist or fanboi, but I think we need to give Apple credit where credit is due. They had a problem, they fixed it, and thats not a Bad Thing.
 

beltzak

macrumors member
Aug 18, 2006
41
17
Hi:

Does anyone know if the cause of the moo was the fan model, for sure?

Seems like ppl that got the moo were about 65 Cº before the Firmware, now we got about 57 Cº, but with the wrong fan the noise is to loud.

And ppl that hadn't got the moo are running now about 40 ºC ?¿?¿ That's 17 Cº less from mine.

I called Apple support and tell the guy that after the upgrade my macbook does too much noise and if it would be possible to fix this without changing the fan ¿model? ( the cause of the moo?).

Well, I'm not so lucky but still quite happy, but this needs to get fix :rolleyes:

btw: I have hearing problems, around 30 % loss, so not all the macbooks have the same fan ( logic prevails) ;)
 

aristobrat

macrumors G5
Oct 14, 2005
12,292
1,403
beltzak said:
And ppl that hadn't got the moo are running now about 40 ºC ?¿?¿ That's 17 Cº less from mine.
IMO, 40ºC is a bit low, period.

Before the update, some MBs ran a lot cooler than others, so it seems logical that the same thing would happen after the update. It's winter where some people live, it's summer for other people. Some people use their MB on granite countertops, some people use it on wood. (There's a cool thread on the MacBook Pro Apple Support forum where people using granite countertops have noticed that their MBPs run a lot cooler than when on other surfaces.)

The update should lower your MBs temperature by about 10'C. If it did, then I wouldn't worry about it if yours isn't exactly as low as some of the lower readings here. Again, I think that 40ºC is pretty low.
 

St. Germain

macrumors 6502
May 19, 2006
377
22
WillMak said:
Is this the consensus so far: Macbook with moos now are cooled down to the mid 50's while macbooks that never had moos are now in the low 40s!??!?
Never had the moo. I'm getting between 40 and 44 consistently in MenuTemperature and iStat nano.
 

QCassidy352

macrumors G5
Mar 20, 2003
12,032
6,061
Bay Area
Peace said:
Installed the firmware and there is no moo.didn't have it before but I tell you what.The Mac ran at about 47 degrees when idle.now it's down to 37 degrees.

how on earth are some of you reporting idling at sub 40 C?? Where are you using these macbooks, in freezers?

as far as the moo goes, it works (until today) like this - ALL macbook fans ran the same way: when they reached a certain temp, they would start cycling. This produced the "moo" sound. However, some people didn't "have the moo" because the fan in their MB was so quiet that it was basically inaudible. My first MB mooed loudly. This replacement MB has exactly the same fan behavior, but the fan is about 1/10 as loud so it's certainly not a problem, for practical purposes.

So if your macbook doesn't moo, this update certainly won't make it start. It's not going to replace your physical fan with a louder one. I'm updating now. :)
 

St. Germain

macrumors 6502
May 19, 2006
377
22
QCassidy352 said:
how on earth are some of you reporting idling at sub 40 C?? Where are you using these macbooks, in freezers?

as far as the moo goes, it works (until today) like this - ALL macbook fans ran the same way: when they reached a certain temp, they would start cycling. This produced the "moo" sound. However, some people didn't "have the moo" because the fan in their MB was so quiet that it was basically inaudible. My first MB mooed loudly. This replacement MB has exactly the same fan behavior, but the fan is about 1/10 as loud so it's certainly not a problem, for practical purposes.

So if your macbook doesn't moo, this update certainly won't make it start. It's not going to replace your physical fan with a louder one. I'm updating now. :)

It's probably worth mentioning that I have it on an iCurve stand while I'm working so that I can use it in dual screen mode with my 20" ACD. (works very well that way)

Since my last post, I shut down my MB and let it cool down for several minutes. Just restarted it and now have several apps running on it. Right now my temp is fluctuating between 24 C and 28 C. I haven't seen it get over 30 C since I shut it down and restarted. I've even been starting up apps I thought might increase the temp such as Photo Booth, several browser windows, a Quicktime movie, etc.
 

iLunar

macrumors 6502
Jul 23, 2006
356
2,094
St. Germain said:
Since my last post, I shut down my MB and let it cool down for several minutes. Just restarted it and now have several apps running on it. Right now my temp is fluctuating between 24 C and 28 C. I haven't seen it get over 30 C since I shut it down and restarted. I've even been starting up apps I thought might increase the temp such as Photo Booth, several browser windows, a Quicktime movie, etc.

This is what happened to my Macbook, as well. I updated the firmware, did the restart, and used it for a little over an hour. The temps were 50-60C. Then I put the Macbook to sleep for about 30 mins, opened it back up, and it was running at 29C - didn't fluctuate at all.

I tried my hardest to get the temps past 30C, but it wouldn't budge. I thought there might something wrong with the temperature censors, but even the bottom of the Macbook felt luke-warm to warm at best.

I had Firefox open with 5 tabs, including a youtube video. Opened Word and Photoshop (both Rosetta), and the temps still wouldn't increase. Also, I didn't hear much fan noise at all unless I put my ear right to the keyboard.
 

SamIchi

macrumors 68030
Aug 1, 2004
2,716
137
I didn't have the moo before, and the fans are running at a constant low speed like one of the posters said. The temp seems noticably lower. I think the temp was probably (I didn't check it much) around 70, and now it's down to 60. I remember seeing it reach 80 before, that was scary. Overall I say this is a good update, I was a little upset that the fans are running constantly but it doesn't really bother me and it keeps my MB cooler so I'm glad I updated.
 

Josias

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Mar 10, 2006
1,908
1
Wow! It really seems like the update is good from any aspect. Go update!:D

I just gotta ask, has anyone experienced that their MB also boots faster. I just chopped 2 seconds of my record?
 

dsnort

macrumors 68000
Jan 28, 2006
1,904
68
In persona non grata
ludo.vandenboom said:
I would advise you NOT to upgrade if you don't have the moo or any other fan related problem. I was stupid enough to do so, and now I have a fan that is turned on all the time. The MacBook was a silent notebook before, but now it makes this spinning fan noise all the time. It spins really slow, but I think it is annoying enough to advise you not to upgrade...

My Macbook never mooed, but the fans would kick into high gear on occassion, and it was warm. Since I installed the update, the temp has gone down about 10 Degrees C. The fans are running at a very low rate at all times now, but it's real quiet. You have to listen close to notice it at all.
 

QCassidy352

macrumors G5
Mar 20, 2003
12,032
6,061
Bay Area
hmm, my temps do not seem to have dropped at all. :( Still scoring in the mid 60s under use according to coreduotemp. I have no idea how some of you can idle at sub 40 much less be unable to crack THIRTY when trying to do so!!!

edit: okay, maybe it's a bit cooler. Now it's staying around 58 C with photobooth and camino running. Photobooth used to push it to near 70. But it was in the mid 60s just a minute ago... Definitely no fan cycling though. :)
 

maknik

macrumors regular
May 17, 2006
173
53
No way to go back?

So there's no way whatsoever to return to the old firmware once this has been installed, is that right? I realize there's no orthodox method; there's no unorthodox cleverness either?

I ask only as a MooBook owner who doesn't want to get stuck with an even noisier MoanBook. I suppose the fans are noisiest when starting or stopping, and thus might be quieter when running non-stop at a low speed, but the opinions here seem mixed. Hm, how annoying to get bogged down in neurotic trivia...
 

AndyR

macrumors 6502a
Dec 9, 2005
907
30
Auckland, New Zealand
My MacBook has gone crap now.

Before when running normal stuff it would moo for ages, now put the update on and great the moo stopped. But now the fans basically sound like they are going full speed all the time with only firefox only. ***** stupid this is!!! Wish I had never bothered with the fix now, the moo was better than this hunk of crap.

Kinda wish I'd never bought this buggy peice of junk now :(

Sorry, just really racked of now. I've heard quieter PeeCee's than this thing :mad:
 
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