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Ask HN: How is my MacBook temp getting misread?

5 points GWBullshit | 2 comments | 15 Jul 25 02:01 UTC | HN request time: 0.554s | source

Ever since the last MacOS update, my MacBook has been overheating very easily, very often. When this happened in the past, I would simply put it in the freezer for a few minutes and then pull it out and get back to work. Now something strange is happening: The MacBook itself will be ice-cold, but unlike before when it would just resume working wonderfully, now it "sort of" works, but not really. For example synching stops and says "It needs to wait until the temperature drops". I installed an app to see what's going on and it's reading the CPU at 190º+ F and the GPU at 200º+. Why? How could anything inside be that hot when the frame itself is ice cold?
1. aurizon ◴[15 Jul 25 02:57 UTC] No.44567473[source]▶
open up, remove heat sinked parts, clean both faces with isopropyl alcohol. Buy some 'cooler master' paste and reseat. Take care with minimal alcohol and power off - it can catch fire. Most repair shops can do this - ask first
replies(1): >>44579685 #
2. GWBullshit ◴[16 Jul 25 07:39 UTC] No.44579685[source]▶
Thank you for the reply and advice – I will probably pursue this if it keeps up, even though it seems to have happened much more dramatically after the last OS update.

Regardless, I'm still unsure how it can read these temperatures since the "put in freezer for a while" method seems to work when it does this and everything gets "un-sluggish" right away and starts working as well as if I restart it, no matter how many things are open.

So it's like the processor "works as if it wasn't overheating", but for some reason the temperature readings for things like synching sometimes don't work because it reads the temp as approaching ~200º, and even external apps read it as such (though I realize they may just be repeating an internal OS error).