Re: [Libreboot] MacBook 2,1: reduce CPU temperature

[Marcel Maci]

Hello Albin,
I started like you, drilling only a few holes at the beginning because, of 
course, you don't want to do damage to your computer. But I think that the more 
holes you make the better the airflow is (as you can see on the photos I ended 
up with about 25 holes ...)
Don't understand why it got louder though (what kind of noise is it? Vibration? 
Or do you hear the spinnig of the fan?)
Other factors that have an influence are:
1. Outlet for the air (towards the screen): make sure you clean any dust from 
the "copper lamella" where the air passes through
2. Some space underneath the MacBook so that the air can circulate (normally 
with the standard "feet" you have just 1-2 mm which is good, you can improve 
the result by putting something underneath the MB at the back)
If you install the sensors package you can monitor cpu temperature an fan speed 
with:
watch -n 1 "sensors | grep Core"
watch -n 1 "sensors | grep RPM"
Hope this helps and greetings,
Marcel


> El 18 ago 2016, a las 20:04, Albin <address@hidden> escribió:
> 
> Hi Marcel,
> 
> I'm glad that this method worked out so well for you. I got inspired and
> drilled a few holes in my own macbook2,1. As you can see from the
> pictures below I made just eight holes in the shape of a ring.
> Unfortunately, my results were not so good; there was no apparent
> difference in temperature, but instead the computer just got a little
> bit louder. I guess that more holes are needed...
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Albin
> 
> 
>> Den 2016-08-18 kl. 12:16, skrev Marcel Maci:
>> 
>> 
>> Hi all,
>> 
>> Just in case somebody is interested in flashing Libreboot on a Macbook 2,1, 
>> I'd like to share my experience here: 
>> As you know, the MacBook gets quite hot (event hotter with Libreboot). You 
>> can adjust the fan settings (as described here: 
>> https://github.com/bibanon/Coreboot-ThinkPads/wiki/Macbook-2-1), but this is 
>> not a good solution. The basic problem with the MacBook is that it has no 
>> opening (air inlet) for the fan (it takes hot air from the inside which is 
>> not effective at all). On the Trisquel forum 
>> (https://github.com/bibanon/Coreboot-ThinkPads/wiki/Macbook-2-1) I read 
>> about a guy who cut a hole in the bottom part of the MacBook (just where the 
>> fan is). He reports that CPU temperatures can be 10-20 degrees lower. So I 
>> decided to apply this solution myself by thrilling a series of smaller holes 
>> (instead of one big hole) into the body of the MacBook. I can confirm that 
>> this lowers the CPU temperatures in a very efficient way:
>> - before the modification cpu temperatures were always around 65-70 degrees 
>> even when I was working normally (i.e. without heavy cpu load) and the fan 
>> was constantly on and turning on full speed (6200 rpm)
>> - now the temperatures are constantly around 55-65 degres and the fan only 
>> kicks in from time to time and doesn't get over 4500-5000 rpm normally (only 
>> with HD videos the fan spins at max speed and cpu temperatures get up to 75 
>> or eventually 80 degrees).
>> I'm really happy with this solution. Make sure to be careful when drilling 
>> the holes (especially cleaning up the small metal pieces that the thrilling 
>> produces) and smoothenig the interior with sand paper. Do it from the inside 
>> and with the fan removed (see photos).
>> Be sure to install a newer kernel (I'm using 4.2 - with 3.13 the touchpad 
>> was just UNUSABLE!), reconfigure the keyboard and you will get one of the 
>> best Libreboot-experiences in my opinion!
>> Greetings,
>> Marcel
> <mb21-fan-holes2.jpg>
> <mb21-fan-holes1.jpg>