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Released April 2010 / 2.4, 2.53 GHz Core i5 or 2.66 GHz Core i7 Processors

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Why is my MacBook heating up when photos open?

I recently replaced my hard drive with the 1TB hybrid drive from iFixit. I also upgraded the RAM from 4GB to 8GB. I'm a novice at this so I thought things went pretty well. Now my mac seems to instantly heat up and start running hot when I open photos. Any ideas or help would be appreciated. Thanks!

On another note, it also seemed to be running extremely slow a couple of times when photos wasn't open but I had a couple of webpages open. Could that have been particular pages?

Answered! View the answer I have this problem too

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Sounds like you have a bad SATA cable.

Follow this IFIXIT guide: MacBook Pro 15" Unibody Mid 2010 Hard Drive/IR Sensor Cable Replacement and you want to use this cable: MacBook Pro 15" Unibody (Mid 2012) Hard Drive Cable

I would also check the systems firmware. Follow this Apple T/N: About EFI and SMC firmware updates for Intel-based Mac computers

MacBook Pro 15" Unibody (Mid 2012) Hard Drive Cable Image

Product

MacBook Pro 15" Unibody (Mid 2012) Hard Drive Cable

$19.99

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Hey Dan,

So I noticed it's not just when photos is open. I just left it open and it went into "sleep mode" and I closed it and when I came back to it the fans are loudly blowing away. Also, I was watching a short 3 minute video to see if I needed to reinstall drivers for my printer and the fans kicked in and said it was using 200% of my cpu. Would the bad SATA cable still be your analysis?

I checked the firmware and I have what's listed for my model.

Thanks.

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Yes, it's likely! Double check what process is running under Activity Monitor. If the indexer is still running let it run without doing anything until it ends (if Tom is correct). If you don't see any process running heavy with nothing running then its the SATA cable.

The problem is the CPU & HD are having a tug of war here. The data block being moved between them has a CRC but the CRC doesn't match so the block then needs to be transmitted again and again until the CRC matches. This taxes the CPU & HD as they fight it out. The system heats up which then forces the fan in to high RPM.

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Thanks again Dan :)

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Hey Dan,

If you get this, you suggested I get the Hard Drive cable for the Mic 2012 MBP. Did you mean 2010?

Thanks! Tara.

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Nope! Here's the full poop: Why are hdd cables failing?

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Actually it does not sound like something is wrong.

If you have recently imported a huge number of photos, the app will need to index them and it can run hot for a while. Just let it run until it finishes.

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@ Tom - I would agree if the indexer was still going on. She only sees the high CPU load only when opening her photo's & vids. Which aims me to the SATA cable.

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Have you verified with Apple with regards to the Quality Program?

Make a trip down to the Genius Bar and verify whether your unit is still eligible for the FOC replacement.

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What is an FOC?

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Free of charge - I don't know of any active program for the SATA cable.

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the program is for the Logic Board. GPU issue.

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I have the same problem, and my MBP's case has never been opened before. I think it is just that photos app is really process intensive sometimes.

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Tara will be eternally grateful.
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