G5 Noisy fan Fix

OK, I think I may have finally found the answer to the G5 Dual fan 'ramping' fan problem.
As many G5 users are aware, excessive fan noise has been an issue for years. Here is my fix, I can't say for sure it will work for you, but it did for me.
Firstly you need to do some basic stuff, clean the dust from your mac, fans, radiator and especially the PSU, It's a pig to get out but it's worth it. Check the LCS for leaks, remove the processors and apply new thermal paste. There are lots of other things you can try (Google 'G5 Noisy fans'), I tried them all but none of them worked for me.
I decided that the 'ramping' fans must be a heat issue, so with that I mind I attached a fan from a gaming PC to the front of my G5 (see pic), and connected it to the free molex connector on the hard disk to power it. On re-start the fans ramping stopped.
OK, I know what you're thinking, I don't want that ugly fan sitting on the front of my beautiful mac! neither do I. I intend to buy a super quiet 140mm fan and install it on the inside of the the front grill to keep my mac cool, and quiet!
I hope this may help other G5 users to have a 'fan' free day!

Great work, thanks for the post!

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Noisy Fans - FIXED!

After reading this discussion:
Sal D, "Buzzing Noise From Bottom of iMac", 05:47am May 30, 2005 CDT
and this site:
http://www.geocities.com/uofr06/imacproject/
I finally silenced my iMac.
Luckily I had a spare set of fans, after previously ordering replacements from Apple.
The problem isn't the fan it's the housing.
To fix it, just remove the CPU fan from the housing and saw off the lower 2 thirds off the housing.
Glue the fan back in the short housing and put your iMac back together.
Voila! One 'Whisper quiet" iMac - all you can hear is air rushing and no annoying whine.
Also, my CPU tem has dropped from 73 degrees to 70.
Hurray!!!!

You have to read all of the article. The second alternative is for those who cannot access a band saw. It involves the use of layers of cardboard and the fan only. The other method involves re & re the fan housing and cutting the housing. The main point is that the housing in the original method is put back in where as in the cardboard method the housing is completely removed and cardboard becomes the support.
I have to say the the solution seems great but I'm a little leary or the cardboard method. When's the last time you opened an electronic device and found cardboard? We all know our machines run hot and that the problem fan is located right beside the psu. Add cardboard to the mix and I hear lots of firetrucks heading to mac user's (modder's) homes. If I were to try this solve I would try to find a band saw.

G5 Dual 2.7Ghz Constant Noisy Fans

Hi there,
I'm really annoyed with this whole situation since Apple don't appear to have publicly acknowledged the noisy fans/chirping noise problems G5 users (with varying spec hardware) have been experiencing and posting about for over a year.
Anyway, here's the deal:-
My main spec is as follows: G5 Dual 2.7Ghz/4.5GB RAM/Mac OS X 10.4.6 installed on the shipped Western Digital 250GB SATA, 2nd internal 250GB SATA (Maxtor DiamondMax), 20" aluminium Apple Studio Display.
Since I performed the upgrade to 10.4.4 back in early May 2006 the fans have been constantly on as soon as the login window appears and remain at full pelt all the while the machine is on - clearly unacceptable and unusable. Fortunately for me it's not my only Mac although this is besides the point as I have now had an unusable machine for over a month and not been able to do any work with it - it is a production machine used for making music with Logic.
The bottom line is that I've not been able to make any music!
None of the suggested resolution methods that have been written about in the forums or elsewhere on the 'net (eg. installing CHUD tools etc) have made a blind bit of difference.
Furthermore, I have always had the chirping sounds since I purchased the machine in person from the Apple Store in July 2005.
For the past few weeks I was convinced that the fan problems were caused by the 10.4.4 update (when it started) and that the subsequent 10.4.6 update hadn't cured the problem.
Prior to this, I hadn't run a software update since December 2005 purely because I had heard horror stories from friends and other G5 users posting to forums etc. - if it ain't broke, don't fix it right?
I haven't really had the time to devote to trying to sort the problem out but I decided earlier today that tonight was the night to have a look at it.
Having spent all evening trying various things I am now convinced it is a hardware problem as opposed to being software related.
Here's what I tried earlier with the machine spec as above:-
1. Booted the G5 with Disk Warrior 3.0.3 boot CD
2. Ran all Disk Warrior tasks on both drives - eg, 0% fragmentation
3. Re-booted, fan noise still there from login window
4. Manually ran daily, weekly and monthly CRON jobs from Terminal - OK
5. Ran Disk Utility on main HD, repaired permissions - OK
6. Ran Disk Utility on secondary HD, verified disk - OK
7. Powered down
8. Removed all leads incl. power, monitor, all USB and Firewire
9. Removed 4GB RAM leaving 500MB stock RAM, reset the PMU
10.Ensured the removable fans (covering the RAM) were re-seated firmly
11.Replaced plastic 'door', attached monitor (DVI only) and keyboard USB
12.Re-booted, same problem, fan noise still there from login window
13.Attached Firewire HD with Mac OS X 10.3.8 installed
14.Selected Firewire HD in the Startup Disk system pref
15.Rebooted into Panther, same problem, fan noise still there from login window
AAAAAARRRRGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!
The last time I booted my G5 from the Panther Firewire HD (which incidentally hasn't been used since) was prior to me doing the 10.4.4 update on my G5's main boot drive and there was NO fan noise whatsoever!!!!!
Clearly I need to call and speak to someone at Apple tomorrow as the G5 is nearly one year old and I need to get this problem sorted out before it's out of warranty.
It just seems an odd coincidence that the problem started when it did!
Anyway, if any Apple techs or other G5 owners with a similar setup (specifically the dual 2.7) are reading this I'd appreciate a response or some advice for other things to try.
I'm just really frustrated and a little annoyed that having been a very content Mac user for years this is the first and only time I've ever had a problem with a piece of Apple kit.
Like I said at the top of the post, I can't believe the lack of acknowledgement on Apple's part as it would appear to be a known/common issue.
Just my £0.02.
Thanks for reading/listening.

Ok, take a look on your plastic shield, one of the bottom "tabs" should have a shiny metal coating of some sort, if it's gone or moved, then this could be the reason your fans are going "turbo".
If your fans are just at a high speed all the time, consider lowering your room temps to about 75ºF and see how it goes after a few hours/days.
It's most likely a wise decision to have the G-folks take a look at it anyway before it gets out of warranty. you might need a fan calibration or firmware change.
You still have a chance to buy AppleCare and get it registered before the 1 year warranty expires.
The Dual 2.7 is the hottest PM of the bunch, overclocked I would think.
You said the WD drive was OEM correct? Came with the PM stock?
Because the newer WD drives now have a new SATA spec that requires a SATA PCI card to function correctly in PM's.
Have you tried a complete reinstall of the OS?
Did you upgrade Tiger over Panther? (not good, less secure, previous exploits)
Do a backup, a clone of your boot drive to a external using Carbon Copy Cloner (check in the forums for their advice!) would be better.
the c boot off of Tiger install disk (not upgrade version) and from the installer menu Disk utility Erase w/Zero the boot drive (takes longer but writes are more reliable) and then reinstall Tiger, software update till clear, reinstall iLife '06 and all apps from fresh sources, avoid Migration Assistant (too blind, no app DRM copies) install files and see if your fan problems return.
Sometimes if Mac OS X is not operating correctly it won't tell the hardware to turn the fans down.
Don't install any OS/root level/admin password type programs or hacks until you've had a chance to clone that pristine puppy to a external drive (preferably 2) and keep it disconnected for safekeeping.
It's takes practically no time to option boot off a clone to recover, repair or reverse clone to the original drive. If your exploited, first c boot and Zero the infected drive before hooking up and option booting off the clone of course.

Trouble running hardware test on 07 iMac with noisy fan

Hello
I have an 07 iMac with a noisy fan- I've tried vacuuming out dust from the back but want to avoid taking it apart if possible...
I read online I should run the hardware test, but since I am running Mavericks the Apple support advice is to run the original OS X install disc and restart (holding down D or Option+D)...
Long story short I got a replacement disc from Apple (I'd lost the original) but the iMac ejects it when I restart following the process above... could it be my bluetooth keyboard? Hopefully not since I no longer have the original hardwired one... or does anyone have any other ideas for either how to get to the hardware test... or fix the fan (without a third party app just stopping it)
Thanks!

Try holding down the Option key to get the one time boot manager screen then select the AHT. Not sure as Apple moved it around on different install discs but it might be on the Applications discs and not the OS X discs.

Portg Z30-B-117 noisy fan

Hi,
I have a problem with my new notebook Portg Z30-B-117,
It has realy noisy fan, I was forced to use baterry saving mode, without that I can not work on this machine.
The fan speed is absurdly designed.
It has much more speed even when it does not heat up.
Please make a new bios with clever fan speed, then it will be the best notebook on the market!
Thanks in advance.

Hi, I bought Portg Z30-B-119 a few days ago and I agree this would*be the best laptop/ultrabook on the market, if not for two annoying problems that can easily be fixed by Toshiba.
1/
The fan indeed turns on and off very often, and really unnecessarily. It is not related to running any highly demanding process. It is enough to watch a video clip on youtube for 2 minutes and the fan turns on for few seconds, and then switches off because the laptop cools down enough. Then after another minute the temperature rises again so the fan is on again, and so on, back and fourth. This is quite annoying. This happens also when you just read something, just less often. And I know why this happens. Here is the explanation.
This is simply because of a very bad choice of Toshiba.* I used a tool that monitors the temperature of the cpu core (under Linux) and I saw that the fan is turned on already at 49 degrees Celsius (the core temperature, not the laptop case! The laptop is really cool outside when the cpu has 49 degrees inside!)*
How stupid is that! This laptop has i5-5200U installed so the maximum cpu core temperature is 100 degrees, so why not turning it on at 65 or 70?* On my Dell laptop, the fan is switched on at 65 degrees even though it is a lot less noisy than on Toshiba.
I use "balanced" mode for cooling, so the fan is less noisy than in "high performance" mode but it is still much more audible than on my Dell laptop.
The "power saving" mode is useless, because when the laptop reaches 48 deg the cpu frequency goes down to 400 MHz permanently (yes, because it will never cool off without the fan) and the laptop is useless at 400 MHz.
2/
The battery charging. The battery lifetime will be very bad on Tosbiba Z30. This is because the laptop charges the battery every time you plug in the power supply even if you used your laptop on battery for two minutes and it still shows 100%. Moreover this cannot be switch it off. I measured it simply by monitoring the current when switching the power cord with the laptop switched off so this is a fact not just a hypothesis.
On my old Dell laptop, the battery will never start charging until it goes below 90%. On my friend's Lenovo there is even an option in the Bios so he can decide to charge the battery only when it is below 70%.
It is a well-known fact, that the battery life is much shorter if you keep charging it when it is nearly full.
On my Dell laptop, I can even disable charging the battery completely using Fn+F2. So I can decide myself when to switch in on.
I do not expect Toshiba to have such a sophisticated tool, but at least they could disable charging the battery until it is discharged for example 80%.
Both problems can be easily fixed. The question is, do they care about their customers enough to do it? And how do you request such feature? Do the read the forum?

Noisy fans on iMac 24. Help

Noisy fans in iMac 24
Posted: Aug 2, 2008 1:47 AM
Reply Email
Hi Guys
I need your help on this. My 3 months old iMac (iMac 24inch 2.8GHZ Core 2 Duo Extreme) fans started making so much noise that is unbearable. They came on suddenly (you could see the wave of air) and even though I switched off the iMac for the 24 hours, when I turned it on, they noise is still on. The iMac works fine, but the noise is very very loud. The computer is in well ventilated room, so I dont know what is happening.
I bought it from apple.com and I dont want to go through all the drama of sending it for repair if there is a quick fix.
Thank you for your time.
Message was edited by: Radek

Hello Radek
You need to reset the iMac's SMC (System Management Controller) carefully follow the instructions in the link below!
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1543
Dennis

Noisy Fan

MBP, 15'', 2.2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM
Hello,
the right fan of my MBP is noisy. It wasn't always like that, I've been enjoying a quiet computer for 1.5 years -really-, even though this model is a warm computer... Other friends with the same model complain about their computers being warm.. hence the need of -at least- effective and reasonably quiet fans. The other day I had the impression of my MBP being warmer than before at the same circumstances,, I wonder if this is another surprise from this model
Anyhow,,, I don't think there's nothing wrong with the fan so far in terms of cooling, it's just noisy. At its peak, when watching movies or using photo Shop heavily, fans are working up to 5000rpp, that is always the case but I don't like it with an excessively noisy fan! ....my questions are:
How can I fix the noisy fan?
Should I change it?
I don't have apple care and my guaranty is expired
good luck!

To Apple Discussions!
See Article http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1411 Apple Portables: Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC)
The following may be helpful:
iFixit
TakeItApart
Make sure your MBP is getting proper ventilation when in use. Read the user manual that came w/your computer on the proper usage to prevent +over heating.+

G60-445DX Overheat and very noisy fan

Hi , this is not new my laptop overheats and has noisy fan. My question is how can I get to speak with the support team after my warranty is finished ?

Why you are in this situation is sort of an existential question I cannot answer. You can try calling HP and see if they will make an exception but the few times I have seen that happen the warranty was up by a few weeks at most. We here at this Forum do not work for HP. We can help you fix the laptop by linking you to information, manuals, parts sources, etc. but we cannot make HP do anything. You are really challenging the concept of a limited warranty and I think that issue is not even worth debating. You can also try a simple fix. Hold a paperclip in the fan grille to stop the blades from spinning. Blast in the strongest stream of air you can find. Maybe the fan is just clogged.

Noisy fan and laptop heats up

Hi,
I have a problem with my laptop. It's a G60-249CA model. Each time I turn on my laptop, the left part of the laptop starts to get warmer and I can hear the fan noise getting louder. The sound gets even louder when I use a site that uses alot of graphics and the laptop gets warmer and then my laptop will flash a black screen and shut off.
Is there a way to fix the solution ? The warranty does not work anymore. I have thought of taking off the back of the laptop to clean the fan up or to get a new fan and replace the current noisy fan.
Are there any other solutions ? Please advise me.
And also, when I turn my computer on, I have to tilt my screen to a 45 degree angle to see that windows is running.
Is there anything wrong because if I turn my screen to any other angle, all I see is a black screen.
Kindly advise, thank you

Hello Kelli68.
Have you tried updating your BIOS? Here is a link to the latest BIOS.
Also, if you want to try replacing the fan you can get the part number from the manual which Huffer posted above. The parts should be available for purchase on the HP Parts Surfer site.
Have a lovely day.
Please click the white star under my name to give me Kudos as a way to say "Thanks!"
Click the "Accept as Solution" button if I resolve your issue.

Extremely noisy fan and burning motherboard

Hi, I got HP dv5 2070us laptop a couple years ago and decided to dust out the fans and stuff. So I brought my laptop to the computer service office to clean it.
After the clean up, my fan got even louder than before! Roaring like crazy.
So I tried to figure out what was wrong with it. Downloaded some software like Speedfan and Aida64 to check out the temperatures of the CPU, motherboard and so on. Both mentioned programs shows that my motherboard is 87C (189F) ! and this temperature is fixed, doesn't change all day long, while the CPU temperatures are changing.
Maybe this is the reason of the noisy fan. What is more, computer doesn't shut down. The screen is black but fans are working even after 10mins. The only way for a completely shut it down is to press the power button.
Does anyone one how to solve this problem?

Hello Merc,
Try figuring out what's causing the noise.
Is it a vibration? Try a mechanic's stethoscope if you can find one; or just use a thin, long bladed screwdriver to amplify the noise. Cleaning the fan blades of accumulated crud will improve their balance. Occasionally, sheet metal or a loose screw will pick up the vibration and amplify it.
Is it a bearing or bush that's starting to wear? Maybe it's new fan time - nothing is forever!
Is it the rush of air? They make quieter fans, although the quiet ones don't always cool as well. (I have a dual 800MHz Quicksilver that was fitted with a quiet fan, and you could have grilled bacon on the heatsink - I wound up with a high-powered fan that I can hear in the next room.... but a cool Mac!)
Try measuring your fan (in mm) and searching for fans; I don't remember my exact parametres, but I turned up quite a few. Compare using RPMs, dBs, and CFM as guides. Come back and make us all experts!
HTH ..... Jon

Noisy fan stopped working

Ok i just had a slightly more angry post rejected by "the central scrutinizer"
But i've calmed down now....
The main issue was a noisy fan that has stopped working altogether this week. The computer can't be run without being placed on an ice pack or it overheats and shuts down.
What are the chances if any of getting the fans to work again?
The computer (a macbook 2ghz, mid 2006) is way out of warranty so i'd like some advice on fixing it myself.
A while ago it suffered a click of death Hard drive failure and i re-installed the original drive (it had been upgraded to 120gb by the engineers at Microlink UK)
Could it need a firmware upgrade to run the fans properly?

I fixed it myself today after finding excellent instructions at ifixit.com! The instructions were very clear and easy to follow with large images. Thanks for pointing me there.
I stripped the MacBook down to the fan and found it full of dust and fluff around the exit grille. More importantly, the fan mounting was basically distorted downwards so that the blades were against the floor and stuck there! A quick glance along the keyboard showed how bent it was so i did some careful "panel Beating" to get it back into shape.
I think the plastic had warped over time and this put downward pressure on all the components underneath, the extra heating of the blocked fans only made it worse. The keyboard is backed by a thin metal sheet so it would appear this had an effect similar to a bi-metallic strip.
Luckily the keyboard can be re-shaped quite easily. I'd advise care if doing this yourself as the plastic "rivets" can pop out with too much bending.
Now i've assembled the MacBook again it's running the fan (there is only 1) so quietly that it's barely audible at 4000 rpm and it's much more efficient.
I'm surprised it's not burnt out actually.

Why Hp does not find any solution for Noisy Fan systems ?

I got DV6t core i5 6gb ram + 1gb Ati Radeon Graphic Card (6490m) + bluetooth + Bluray
I have to return it because of that noisy fan ; i was a new member of Hp family and i never investigate about that product for Laptop. After it got that gorgeous Laptop , i got this fan issue ; and i research that fan is working normal/anormal ; what i find out is Hp has a Noisy Fan Issue on all of the Video clips , Forum Websites even its own website ; I realy didnt know till i got it. If that is a common issue , Why that big brand HP doesnt solve that problem since many years ? I sincerely doesnt want to return this item because of fan ; because there is no comparative product in others company has .... (Bluetooth + Bluray + Finger print + 1gb (Integrated Graphic) and $749 ; i can not find any brand or product which includes that options in this price ..... So UNFORTUNATELY i am returning that Beautiful Laptop Because of ridiculous fan noise ; is that really hard to install a fan which is really silence ??? I have a Toshiba brand laptop , even the fan is working hard there is no bothering noise at all (Even its 4 years old) . I was thinking that Hp product has high performance equipment thats why this fan works hard or noisy because it could be stronger than my Toshiba which has core 2 duo technology 256 mb graphic card ; But i was wrong because of this video clip ; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yLEXZGRGPY

I got DV6t core i5 6gb ram + 1gb Ati Radeon Graphic Card (6490m) + bluetooth + Bluray
I have to return it because of that noisy fan ; i was a new member of Hp family and i never investigate about that product for Laptop. After it got that gorgeous Laptop , i got this fan issue ; and i research that fan is working normal/anormal ; what i find out is Hp has a Noisy Fan Issue on all of the Video clips , Forum Websites even its own website ; I realy didnt know till i got it. If that is a common issue , Why that big brand HP doesnt solve that problem since many years ? I sincerely doesnt want to return this item because of fan ; because there is no comparative product in others company has .... (Bluetooth + Bluray + Finger print + 1gb (Integrated Graphic) and $749 ; i can not find any brand or product which includes that options in this price ..... So UNFORTUNATELY i am returning that Beautiful Laptop Because of ridiculous fan noise ; is that really hard to install a fan which is really silence ??? I have a Toshiba brand laptop , even the fan is working hard there is no bothering noise at all (Even its 4 years old) . I was thinking that Hp product has high performance equipment thats why this fan works hard or noisy because it could be stronger than my Toshiba which has core 2 duo technology 256 mb graphic card ; But i was wrong because of this video clip ; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yLEXZGRGPY

Noisy fans on all the time

I have come over from the dark side today (PC to Mac switcher). I got a second hand Mac Pro 2.66 quad with four HDD and 4GB ram and i seem to have very noisy fans. I did find this article
http://www.amug.org/amug-web/html/amug/reviews/articles/intel/fan/
which mentions that extra drives cause more noise due to extra heat and less airflow but this is just silly, they sound like they are on full ALL the time.
I have alread tried resetting the smc_rst button on the logic board but that did nothing. I also tried restarting the machine with command, option, p, and r down before the grey screen on startup and that did nothing.
Is this normal. is it just down to lots of HDDs/RAM or should i be worried?

Mac Pro most likely for "MP" shorthand.
Considering how the drives are placed, can't see that they block air, though they may not get direct ventilation.
FBDIMM memory needs to be kept cool and the top memory Riser and higher density DIMMs do tend to be as much as 10C higher (with 2GB DIMMs running the hotest).
I wonder if you got it with a system already installed? or did a full 'wipe' of the system drive and started fresh. There is a little program most people now use smcFanControl which can force the fans to run at a minimum rpm (though not the PSU fan, either software defect, or the logicboard won't allow forcing it if the sensor doesn't register a higher temp).
SFC would put a little menu item on the menu bar and to acces the program preferences. There would also be a log-in] in user accounts, and a startupitems in the top level Library/Startupitems usually.
Also, look on the Dock for items that can be controlled from there to "open at login" or disabled without having to open any control panels.
If it was me, and I bought a used system, other than direct from Apple Store (Specials, great deals on refurd equip.) I would start over with installing the system.

Noisy fan (or fan-like) sound coming from machine. Thoughts?

My macbook pro is from 2008 to start. I had the computer completely refurbished back in August 2011, though.
However, in the last two days, it has twice produced this impossible-to-miss noisy whirring/rattling sounds that sounds a lot like a very noisy fan. The first time, it last for about 5 seconds just as the computer was starting up after I'd left it closed and off all night (leaning against the wall). The second time, however, the computer had already been on for several hours, always upright, and just for some random reason started making the same noise. This time it lasted for a good 15-20 seconds.
Any thoughts on what could be causing this sudden noisiness? Whatever it is doesn't appear so far to be affecting the actual functions of the computer itself.
Thanks!

HI,
Probably a good idea to run the Apple Hardware Test just in case and make sure you have all your important files backed up to an external source.
Carolyn

Would a noisy fan be covered by the warrenty? Can the fan be turned off?

My iMac's fan has become worryingly noisey, can it be turned off, if so is that a danger?
Will it be covered by the warranty, it still presumably works, just very very noisy.

Hi, if the computer is under warranty or has AppleCare so is the fan.
You would be best served to do the SMC reset first if that fails to cure the noisy fan call AppleHelp or visit the local Genius Bar or Apple Approved Service Agent..
http://macosx.com/forums/howto-faqs/302002-reset-system-management-controller-sm c.html
I would also make sure you have everything backed up..before any service work is carried out..L

G5 Noisy fan Fix

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