MacBook Pro fan running all night?

I always close my laptop at night, putting it into sleep mode. I'm running El Capitan v 10.11.6. Just updated Safari to 10.0. This morning I noticed that its' fan was running strong like it had been working all night. I've never encountered this before. It's a late 2008 pro model. It shut down and restarted fine, then was backed up. Wondering if this is a sign of anything bad to come.

I've had this happen once or twice but a reboot cleared it up. If you live near an Apple Store you can bring it in for a diagnostic test. They don't charge for the service (at least not the last time I was in).

Try clearing the PRAM?

try water cooling
https://www.youtube.co​m/watch?v=9DyUitTVWlw

flowrider wrote in post #18137699
Try clearing the PRAM?

I agree. Macs suck in dust, too!

nqjudo wrote in post #18137678
I've had this happen once or twice but a reboot cleared it up. If you live near an Apple Store you can bring it in for a diagnostic test. They don't charge for the service (at least not the last time I was in).

flowrider wrote in post #18137699
Try clearing the PRAM?

FuturamaJSP wrote in post #18137717
try water cooling
https://www.youtube.co​m/watch?v=9DyUitTVWlw

PhotosGuy wrote in post #18137789
I agree. Macs suck in dust, too!

Thanks for the suggestions. I feel like I've learned almost as much about computers as I have about photography in the last couple of years.

PhotosGuy wrote in post #18137789
I agree. Macs suck in dust, too!

Uh. What?

Any computer that is aircooled is going to pull in some dust of some sort. Laptops and desktops don't just create air and exhaust only.

Bleufire wrote in post #18140244
Uh. What?

Any computer that is aircooled is going to pull in some dust of some sort. Laptops and desktops don't just create air and exhaust only.

I think the comment was a little tongue in cheek regarding cleaning PRAM which has nothing to do with air-cooling, exhaust or physically cleaning anything. It is a logical operation in Mac Os.

Big question, was it hot/warm or was the fan just blowing?

Do you have an external monitor hooked up?

It might be that it didn't go to sleep and was awake all night. Most designs pull in cool air through the keyboard so having the lid closed while the machine was still trying to power an external monitor would explain it.

If there was no other reason for the machine to be awake, PRAM (although a little bit of a legacy issue) might be the culprit. Don't just go zapping the PRAM unless your specific model calls for it.

Left Handed Brisket wrote in post #18140263
Big question, was it hot/warm or was the fan just blowing?

Do you have an external monitor hooked up?

It might be that it didn't go to sleep and was awake all night. Most designs pull in cool air through the keyboard so having the lid closed while the machine was still trying to power an external monitor would explain it.

If there was no other reason for the machine to be awake, PRAM (although a little bit of a legacy issue) might be the culprit. Don't just go zapping the PRAM unless your specific model calls for it.

It was a little warm, about the same as when I work on LR. No external monitors, though I did hook up my TV for the first time the other night. No cables to external monitor were attached the other morning.

After reading the suggestions, I did a quick search about Pram and, based on what I read, will wait to see if it happens again before attempting the suggestion. Will contact Apple first. There's another something that one article suggested clearing at the same time.

Cool. I'm not going to say zapping the PRAM is a thing of the past, but 20 years ago it was a regular need. Now it is rare.

I generally just choose sleep from the apple menu, otherwise there might be some process that is hung and won't let the computer go to sleep and you get the kind of behavior you experienced.

nqjudo wrote in post #18140250
I think the comment was a little tongue in cheek regarding cleaning PRAM which has nothing to do with air-cooling, exhaust or physically cleaning anything. It is a logical operation in Mac Os.

I read "cleaning" in the suggestion. No idea what PRAM is, but if the fan is running on, it could have been dust inhibiting cooling.

Pram is a software issue, not hardware. Cleaning, in the sense of purging, not a physical cleaning.

Larry Johnson wrote in post #18140348
Pram is a software issue, not hardware. Cleaning, in the sense of purging, not a physical cleaning.

Thanks. That may be true, but when's the last time you vacuumed out your 8 year old laptop? ; )

I'm no computer genius, but I think I would describe PRAM as more like firmware than software. Not that it really matters too much, but it is just a bit of info that carries over from one start up to the next.

The reason I was discounting PRAM in later models is because it is handled differently and now called NVRAM whatever difference that makes. The SMC is another consideration now, might want to reset that as well, I actually think it might be something to look at before NVRAM, apple support pages will give the correct answer for you specific hardware.