Fan of death?

I've got one of the last Core Duo MBPs and about 2 days ago it started making some very grim noises, sounds like a faulty fan gone awol - it's coming from the right side - and is less whine that whirr.. . i'm also getting a temperature reading of 77c, which is insane, as i've just turned it on!
any ideas?

I have this same issue if the laptop is held at an angle ( on my lap while im on the couch ). It only makes the horrid sound at certain speeds, and thankfully only occurs once in a while.
As a side note, this fan noise started immediately after receiving the laptop back from apple repairs ( they replaced the power converter ).

Similar Messages

IBook G4 "Fans of Death"

Hey there guys, just swapped an old iBook G4 of mine since the old one was dead, and since the swap I'll press the power button, black screen, then the fans will run at max, this will go until i disconnect the battery. I've tried reseting the PMU already. I've noticed when I press the power button the power adapter will change colors.

There may be a hardware problem behind this symptom, in some instances it could involve some circuits on the logic board; but there could be other causes, too.
A general dogpile of results came in when I used google search of symptoms: ibook g4 fan running black screen https://www.google.com/#q=ibook+g4+fan+running+black+screen to include questions/replies from elsewhere online. To include a few from Apple support discussion communities.
This Apple communities discussion probably covers most angles of the symptoms...
https://discussions.apple.com/message/18547073#18547073
There are a few authorized repair facilities that offer a fix for solder joints that may be a cause of this problem; in that the hot/cold flexing of solder joints on the logic board had been suggested as a cause of failure in certain instances. In the case of this kind of repair, once opened up and corrected, any additional upgrade or replacement of worn parts is nominal over the cost of the parts.
Hopefully this helps somewhat.
Good luck & happy computing!

Screaming fan of death

After eight months of nice quiet use, my iMac G5 has started to make a horrible fan noise all the time. I have read about capacitors burning up and other such nice things. Has anyone found out why the fan comes on so loud, and what can be done about it? My super drive gets so hot without using it that the screen is hot to the touch. Anyone have that problem?

Dale, down load X Resource Graph from http://www.gauchosoft.com/xrg/ and come back with fan speeds and temps plus it will give you cpu usage. In the mean time down load MacJanitor http://www.versiontracker.com/php/search.php?mode=basic&action=search&str=macjan itor&plt%5B%5D=macosx&x=20&y=8 and run all the Apple standard apps which will clean up your caches.
Dick

G4 ibook Black Screen and "Fan of Death"

(Posted last night. Removed for unspecified reasons. edited so is within terms of use and reposted).
My 2nd ibook just died. Treated it like a baby never dropped on it's head or anything, and yesterday it suddenly decided to play up.
So what happened?
Well I'm sitting there with the 12" G4 ibook on my lap and blink the screen goes black, power still on, backlighting still on, but no display. Hmmm.
Ok let's not panic, turned off, waited, then turned on again.
Nothing! No image no start-up, except the rear fans going at MAX SPEED.
Turned it off **** quick. Turned on...same thing Whirrrrrr!
This continues until finally machine stays on. For 2-3 minutes that is, then blink the screen blacks out again, no beachball nothing just off!
Ever since then nothing but the fan! No start-up screen nothing.
So I start reasearching, and turns out a LOT of people have been experiencing the exact same problem. Okay now I'm freakin'
I read more and there it is a website explaining the situation: (link removed in case this is frowned upon).
Suggests there may be a batch manufactured around the same time in late '04 - '05, that have faulty soldering on a chip just to the laft of the trackpad. I don't know but I'm not impressed as I went through this with the G3 ibook this replaced which was part of the batch with the faulty logicboards.
Thankfully Apple eventually acknowledged the problem there and my and other peoples G3 ibooks were fixed, but this time the're saying there's no problem! I am unimpressed.
It's not right that I buy TWO ibooks only to have them BOTH die after a couple of years of careful use. Not right at all!! The ingenious remedy put forward by others with the same problem is applying a lot of pressure to the casing in that spot to force the chip to make a connection to the solder(?!), perhaps even using a clamp to keep it held down.
Guess what I tried it, palm down max pressure, and IT WORKS! Take my hand away and Zzzt screen off and back to square one. The alternative and only official avenue to resolve the problem? BUY A NEW LOGICBOARD?!?!
I have a Mac Mini, iMac and 3 iPods so you know I love you're work Apple, but there are limits to what a person can reasonably put up with! At this stage after being twice burnt with your notebooks I'm VERY hesitant about repeating the mistake.
Finding an email link on your site so I can lodge my issue has proved impossible. Hopefully I'll get a response other than a deletion.
Reading others posts, at present more than 2000 people have enquired about the same problem, and an independant body has verified the problem (complete with macro photos of the cracked soldering), so this is hardly an anomoly! All I want is a sign you are taking this seriously.
Sincerely,
W.Whatford
Australia.

I helped my friend fix his 2 year old iBook that had the same problem.
We found information on the probable cause after doing some Google searching on phrases such as "G4 iBook logic board". It was one or 2 solder joints that had gone bad, connecting a chip to the logic board. It's a 28 pin chip, the Intersil ISL6225 power controller, the suspect pin is most likely #28 and maybe adjacent pins, and maybe #1. If you search around you can find more information.
We decided to try to fix it ourselves. We partly disassembled the iBook to the point where we could remove the bottom half of the white plastic shell case. You can find WWW guides on doing this. We used an old 35mm camera lens reversed to act as a high-powered magnifying glass to study the chip pin solder joints. Using a small soldering iron we attempted to re-solder one of the pins, which appeared to have come loose possibly due to repeated on/off heating cycles or a cold solder joint. We just reheated the suspect solder joints and did not add new solder, as this was the advice on another forum. However the iBook still had the same problem afterward and pin 28 seemed to be loose, although it is difficult to see, you really need a mucroscope.
Then we decided to take the iBook to a friend who had lots of experience repairing small circuit boards. He used a soldering iron and some solder to re-solder several of the chip pins and then used a special "de-soldering" braid wire to remove the excess solder that was now connecting together some of the chip pins. He heated the chip pins for about 5 seconds and was fairly rough with the board in applying pressure. He told us that these small chips can take more heat than you might expect, and the logic boards are strong and it's pretty hard to damage them by bending them a little or by touching a connection.
We fired up the iBook again and it now works! It has been OK for about a week. We're hoping it will last a few more years, or until the next MacBook becomes too hard to resist.
BTW taking apart and later re-assembling the case is tricky and we ended up scratching it up a little at the joint line (there are downloadable manuals that can help with this). But the iBook was dead before and now it works so it was worth it.
iBook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.1)

Ibook g4 repair?

My girlfriend has an iBook 12" G4. It looks like it's from around 2005? Anyway, it stopped working for her. Being the knight in shining armor (and interested in this kind of thing) I thought I would see if I could fix it for her.
SO. It stopped turning on for her. When she called apple support they had her reset the PRAM and PMU and then told her the logic board was fried and that she could send it in, but that it would probably be cheaper to just buy a new one. And the warranty had just run out. For awhile it boots sporadically, but when she moves it it crashes again. She also said that she could press on a spot next to the trackpad and it would work for awhile. She tossed it in a box and left it for awhile. When she came back to it a few months later it booted up for a short periods of time then died again and wouldn't boot anymore. I decide to get online to see if I can make it work somehow. I found the shim repair article and thought I'd give it a try. But when I opened it up the "problem chip" wasn't there. I tried turning the laptop on and pushing on different chips thinking it might just be in a different spot. At one point it booted, but the display was VERY dark. Then it would boot, with the bong and everything but with no display.
SO. Is it graphics card? And is it worth sending it in to be reballed? Or is it the GPU? If it is the GPU does that mean it is a lost cause?
I took it completely apart using ifixit.com. I'm not exactly sure what I was looking for. Maybe just something to jump up at me and say "fix me." For the most part ifixit was right on, but there were a few points that the laptop differed from what ifixit said. I assume this is just from different production years?
Any help would be nice. Thanks.
Barry

Hey bjobie,
Well all these guys are right but about different things. That Corey Arnold site is about U28 which is the spinning fan of death and if Superior does your reball he'll resolder that NC.
SO. Is it graphics card?
Yes most likely but in the iBook there is no graphics card it's integrated into the logic board.
And is it worth sending it in to be reballed?
Yes I've done 6 at this point.
Or is it the GPU? If it is the GPU does that mean it is a lost cause?
Same thing (GPU - Graphics Processor Unit) and it's not a lost cause. I reballed a 900 12" G3, ATI 7500 I think, anyway it died on the operating table (This happens and can happen ) so I found another one on eBay for $26 shipped. Superior swapped the chips and now that 900 is traveling all over the country with my client.
Oh as an addendum, make sure that chip is still working using the pressure test. I redid one that didn't come back with the pressure and I should have known that the chip was dead but went ahead anyway. I'm still looking for a replacement chip for that one.
Does the shim go underneath of the chip or directly on top of it, between it and the heat sink?
Well perhaps on the bottom under that chip which is the last in line from the CPU and has "ATI" on it. No one has worked out a comprehensive way to do this but since it's on top and under that huge heat spreader I figure from underneath. You could try it from on top but we're not sure about things under the heat sink being a good idea. That GPU doesn't need a lot of sinking but the danger would be messing up the sinking for the CPU and whatever that chip in the middle is.
I took it completely apart using ifixit.com. I'm not exactly sure what I was looking for.
I have better instructions. Email me, I'll need the exact size and CPU speed (on a label under the keyboard).
Richard
Message was edited by: spudnuty
Message was edited by: spudnuty

IBook G4 chokes on startup

I have an iBook G4 1.33ghz 14" display, 256MB RAM. It had the blank display/fan of death syndrome, but after installing a shim under the logic board per the coreyarnold.org instructions that has been solved, BUT, the computer hangs on booting at the gray apple screen--the apple will display, then fracture slightly, then the computer hangs.
Booting off the Apple Hardware Test 1.2.4 CD gives the following message:
invalid memory access at %SRR0 00032ed8 %SRR1: 00003030
The computer will boot into FireWire target disk mode, and I have installed a OS 10.3 that way.
Any suggestions for how to get this beastie to boot? What does the 'invalid memory' thing mean?

Mark,
gray screen will move 1/3 of an inch to the right, leaving a row of dark pixels as an artifact, then the startup process freezes
Yes that sounds like a graphic processor chip coming loose. This can be corrected by another shim under the chip. If it's a 12" it's right under the option apple key.
BTW your U28 chip can be resoldered as can the GPU.
Richard

Display didn't wake

I got up this morning and tried to check my mail while the coffee brewed, and at a touch of the space key, everything but the display tried to wake from sleep: then the screaming fans of death hit and I had to reboot.
Any ideas? I can't find anything in the logs that would indicate a problem. It makes me consider not allowing the box to sleep, as that seems the only time I have prolems since Apple kindly replaced my tart, citrusy rev. A with a rev. B.
Thanks!

This has happened to me twice now, on my 3 week old iMac, although most times it wakes up fine. The latest time was when I had turned it on from powered off and then left it at the log in screen. It fell asleep and when I went to wake it up, it seemed like it was trying to, the fans came on like normal, but the screen stayed blank and then the fans started going full blast. I had to hold in the power button to stop it and reset it. I have a USB scanner and printer but they were both switched off / unplugged at the time.
Running the Hardware Test showed no errors, and I am unable to reproduce it. Hopefully it won't happen when I have some important work open.
Perhaps this is the same issue as Ramesh Tipirneni, "More IMac G5 sleep issues", 04:00am Jul 3, 2005 CDT
This is what I have done, and I suggest you do this too:
1. Turn it off, and then unplug it from the wall. Leave it so for a couple of minutes then plug it back in. This resets the SMU.
See http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=301733
2. Start it up while holding down the Command, Option, P and R keys. When you hear the startup chime for the second time, the PRAM and the NVRAM will have been reset and you can let go of the keys. I didn't notice any side-effects of this.
My iMac has not crashed on sleep awaking since this, but it has not been very long.

Suddenly Turning Off!

I love my Macbook and have never had any problems with it until today. I was reading an article on a website and it suddenly turned off. I tried to press the start button and at first, nothing happened, then it came back on, everything still in place, then it went off again. Finally, I had to put my comp password in to get it to stay on. All the while, the fan has been hissing like crazy.
I'm guessing it's something relating to overheating (I checked the console log but nothing showed for today) but I really have no idea. Any help would be appreciated!!

Hi guys ... day before yesterday i had a problem .. during basic operations SAFARI and SKYPE (no call) my macbook (13", white, 2GHz intel 2 core, 3gb ram, HDD 320GB/7200) turn off by itself ... i try to switch on but i cant ... i check the macbook from bottom and battery indicator was blinking on last position and therefore i thought that battery is death and i put in out from book and try to switch on again on adapter .. it goes but only for 3 minutes and after already turn off ... i have to wait for few minutes .. and i switch on again book but only for minute ... and i saw that macbook is very hot and i thought that ventilator (fan) is death therefore i unassembly macbook and check the fan and it turn and also the macbook was without any dust. I assembly it back and switch on .. but macbook still doesnt work .... i try to use also http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1379 ... but still nothing ... I have data from console if it will be helpful ... please let me know asap ... thank you ... Peter

Hard Drive Case/Enclosure for dead G4

Hi everyone, I am now joining the ranks of owners of a seemingly dead G4 who hears the fan of death, seeing the rotating beachvolleyball and then- NOTHING. FREEZE.
So, which hard drive case would be workable? (G4, 15 inch ibook) I am looking for a ata firewire/usb case. What's out there and works? (without braking the bank, yet again)
Ideas? I basically would like to pull off the data and if necessary reuse the uncompromised hard drive.

Hi,
Welcome to the Discussions.
OWC sells good enclosures (their own brand). You need one for a 2.5" drive.
John

Spontaneous shut-down while plugged in

Earlier this week my computer kept shutting down, going to that dark screen with ghost images behind it or just going black. Restarts worked one out of 4. With the power cord in, the restarts wouldn't work at all, with it out restarts were more successful.
I took it in to the nearest Genius bar, and they told me the bad news: I needed the hard drive replaced. Okay. Trauma-rama, went with one of the authorized repair places they sent me to, got a fair bit of my files off (don't lecture me about backing up properly, I know, I know!), yesterday evening I brought my baby home, loaded emails and music back on, time to start rebuilding, right?
Well, this morning my computer started acting up again. I leave it plugged in because the battery drains hella fast, but now we're getting the shut-downs, fan of death, etc., again. I have reset the PMU, but no difference. If I reboot without being plugged in, it's fine and it stays up. If I reboot with being plugged in, not so much. If I reboot unplugged, AND THEN plug in, it shuts down immediately.
I am reluctant to keep testing this, but it seems to me that something is additionally wrong with my battery and/or power cord. I have not replaced the battery in the four years that I've owned this, and I know I need to. But why would that cause problems with the cord plugged in? For the time being (until I can afford a new battery), can I just run it on cord power, and pull the battery out?

Yes you can run it without the battery.
Which iBook do you have? Sounds more of a power or logic board issue, rather than a hard drive. You should check your serial number against the lists of iBooks known to have bad logic boards or power management.

Hd death and fan

My hd passed out today at the start-up, i called the assistance and they will change it.
The real problem is that since the death the internal hd, the hd fan are at 5500rpm (they start at 1000 and in 30 min reach that value).
I dunno if the diode is part of the hd or not, so when the hd die, the fan start to kick cause no data are avaible for the macox (or something similar).
The question is, i can use the imac with the fan at 5500 with no risk? (i'm using the external hd atm)
Any hope to turn the fan off before the riparation? (i tryed to turn off and unplug the imac but it have no use)
Have a good day!

If the SMART temperature data is still available from the dead drive, might see if SSD Fan Control brings the fan back to normal and allows you to keep working from the external.
http://exirion.net/ssdfanctrl/

Spinning beach ball of death after crash with fans running full speed

I recently put my machine to sleep - came in the next morning to find it running all fans at full speed and frozen. Did a hard reset (power button in for 5 seconds waited 15 secs and then power on. It rebooted after a long re-boot period. Since then it has slowed down. Many apps take an age to open. Many freeze and there is the infamous SBoD. I have rebuilt permissions, installed 10.5.8 combo, done a permission repair from a separate firewire disk, run onyx - which at time never ends and has to be aborted. Activity monitor shows no exceptional activity when the SBoD is running. I had significant issues until last December when i did a clean rebuild and installation of leopard and put all essential software in from clean install disks - all in all had a pristine machine which was working perfectly until the week before last when the full fan and freeze crash occurred. I notice that it speeded up after the 10.5.8 combo install and permission rebuild from external disk but gradually slows down and gets increasingly unstable requiring forced reboots more and more often. I have no hacks or other background processes other than Virus Barrier 6 which ran perfectly before the crash.

As expected after running well at about 11:40 Mail slowed down and the SBoD started.
The console shows the following:
19/2/10 11:40:00 AM [0x0-0x6d06d].org.mozilla.firefox[4570] Debugger() was called!
19/2/10 11:42:42 AM [0x0-0x6f06f].com.apple.Safari[4671] Debugger() was called!
19/2/10 11:55:22 AM Automator Runner[5082] Error while processing arguments
19/2/10 11:56:47 AM Automator Runner[5130] Error while processing arguments
19/2/10 12:06:08 PM Automator Runner[5420] Error while processing arguments
19/2/10 12:06:54 PM com.apple.launchd[378] (com.apple.Safari[5451]) Check-in of Mach service failed. PID 5451 is not privileged: com.apple.Safari.SyncClient.IsRunning
19/2/10 12:06:54 PM com.apple.launchd[378] (com.apple.Safari[5451]) Exited with exit code: 1
19/2/10 12:07:22 PM Mail[5429] Expected Apple Mail To Do to be selected for Operation "UID STORE", EXECUTING <0x179e47e0>
Dependency: Operation "DONE", DONE <0x17f1c1e0>
Dependency: Operation "IDLE", DONE <0x1843e0b0>
Dependency: Operation "SELECT", DONE <0x17f22ee0>
Mailbox name: Apple Mail To Do
Mailbox name: Apple Mail To Do, had IMAPMailbox INBOX:
EXISTS:32, UIDNEXT:5553, UIDVALIDITY:1226484816 instead
19/2/10 12:12:41 PM Quicksilver[425] * -[NSCFString string]: unrecognized selector sent to instance 0xd4abe0
19/2/10 12:12:41 PM Quicksilver[425] HIToolbox: ignoring exception '* -[NSCFString string]: unrecognized selector sent to instance 0xd4abe0' that raised inside Carbon event dispatch
19/2/10 12:12:41 PM Quicksilver[425] HIToolbox: ignoring exception '* -[NSCFString string]: unrecognized selector sent to instance 0xd4abe0' that raised inside Carbon event dispatch

Gateway FX and Blue Screen of Death

Computer:
Gateway FX 7024
GeForce 8800GT 512 mb
Problem:
I've had the computer for 1 1/2 years with very few problems. Recently, the screen will lock up solid and be illegible with "static" lines all the way down the monitor. Sometimes before the screen locks up, it will flip to the blue screen of death, say it's dumping physical memory, and then lock up. Only thing I can do is restart, but it will do it again at random lengths of time. Happens more while I'm playing games than anything else. Sounds to me like the graphics card has gone Tango Uniform, but a computer guru, I am not. Any ideas?
What I've done so far:
I have checked for updated drivers and installed them.... no fix. I rolled back the drivers.... no fix. I have visually checked fans on power supply and graphics card to make sure they are working and they are fine. The fan on the motherboard spins, but doesn't appear to be moving overly fast. I checked BIOS and everything looks around what it should be for temp settings. In the "problems and solutions" application, it shows a video hardware error.
The only thing i did notice was there is only a 400W power supply installed and from the posts I've read, the 8800GT graphics card should have a 700-900W power supply. However... I've never had problems with it before. Could this cause the problem after 1 1/2 years?
help... i'm shaking from game withdrawals

Visited a company IT department today and an engineer looked at the AT&T Net Client settings. It now works - this may have been the "fix" for those in a similar predicament (all in the AT&T Net Client):
1. Click "Settings".
2. Click "Show the login properties window".
3. Click "Configure".
4. Click "Next".
5. Select the "Both the internet and my company's intranet" radio button.
6. Select "Managed VPN - SSL DualAccess" from the dropdown.
7. Click "Finish".
Cheers,
- Pete

Fan Error Lenovo T500 T510 T400 T410 T60 T61 - rejuvinating the fan

I finally got that dreaded "Fan Error" at boot time on my T500. After some research on this board, this is what I have concluded:
1- hit Escape, and the machine will boot. It can do a lot of stuff without a fan turning. Gaming caused it to overheat. Either the processor would slow down (by being intermittant) or you get the black screen of death.
2- It is relatively easy to follow the Hardware Maintenence Manual and remove the fan and heatsink assembly. Once the assembly is removed, pry open the fan, and remove the blades and clean and lubricate the shaft. My fan restarted, and the Fan Error went away. No need to replace the fan.
3- Unfortunately the machine overheats now (black screen of death), even though the fan does operate. I traced this to a too liberal application of the thermal joint compound. Made the compound a very thin film, and that seems to have helped. Also when replacing heat sink assembly and before bolting it, wiggle it while pressing on it so the thermal joint compound spreads itself at the surfaces of contact. This seems to have helped.
Anything else that you may want to add to this thread?

lxgw wrote:
Thanks a lot! It makes sense.
Yes, I have been using the ESC bypass for some time, untill I really could not stand by anymore--the over heating.
I am thinking about manipulating the fan 'manually', if it could pass the booting, very good; if not, it's not completely unacceptable to run a small program@startup along with the work.
Not ready to say bye yet, will keep trying.
Thanks again!
So if you hit ESC, does your fan work normally, or do you overheat? I had the impression that your fan would work normally if you hit ESC.
My fan was always a problem on the T500 (not on my new W540). It was extremely noisy and was constantly on even at no load times. So I opened the laptop and cut one of the 3 wires on the fan (I am sure it is a power wire), and installed a manual switch. So when the thing overheated, I could manually turn the fan on. This worked for about a week and then something gave up, and the fan stopped working altogether. (don't fix something that is not broken!) I had to take the front cover off, and place a PC fan in the top left corner to cool the radiator. This was not as effective as the original fan, but let me do my job. Then the loose switch on this ersatz fan one day accidentallyshorted the fluoroscent backlight PC board of my display and I lost my display backlight! I had to pry open my display and using two 60W bulbs project light to the back of the LCD so I could read the display! This is when I decided to punt and ordered the W540. The fan is quiet and works when it has to work.

X201 Fan Error when ME / AMT turned off

Well. upon further investigation I decided to deem intel AMT a security risk, as I read through countless intel docs.
So entered the config of it and set it to disabled.
Now having done this, the laptop reboots and works as usual EXCEPT the fan does not work and the device gets really hot.
Then I wanted to check in BIOS config for any Fan settings to see, when I enter "Configuration" submenu the biosmenu freezes until the laptop is powered off manually.
I tested it a few times, tested other settings that seemed to be able to have an impact on that situation to no avail.
As soon as I turned ME/AMT back on the fan works again and the config menu in bios does not freeze.
It has the latest bios and ME Firmware from the downloads page.
How can I disable ME without having the thing toast itself to death?

Add to your code following statement
set_item_property( 'EFIS_EMAIL_QUEUE.SELECTTODELETE', UPDATE_ALLOWED, PROPERTY_TRUE );
and hopefully that should take care of your problem.

Fan of death?

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