I installed a cooling fan in my G3

My hard drive died so I put a new one in (80gb, 7200 rpm) and I thought it would be a good time to install a cooling fan. I put an 80mm, 30cfm fan just under the exhaust vent on top of the iMac, and powered it w/ the hard drive power cable (the fan has a male and female plug so you can wire it in series w/ the hard drive).
The fan works great however I notice it doesn't shut off when the iMac goes to sleep. My question is has anybody here installed a fan in their iMac and how did you wire it?
Not a big deal as the fan only cost $7, but it won't last as long when it runs 24/7. I don't usually shut down the iMac, just let it go to sleep.
Thanks
iMac G5 20" 2.1ghz iSight / iMac G3 400 Mac OS X (10.4.6) iPod Mini 6gb Silver

Hello,
The only option I could think to propose, would be to put it on a thermal sensor. There are sensors that are designed for PC builders. Those sensors draw power from the hard drive connector (like you powered the fan), and then can control whether or not the fan is powered or not based on temperature (you would plug the fan into the sensor for power).
You would attach the heat probes / sensors to whatever you wanted to base the activation temperature on (CPU, hard drive, ambient temperature, etc.).
That would be about the only option I would see since the iMac does not have a control mechanism for the fan.
Now, if you were up to designing your own electronics, you could devise a sensor / controller mechanism that would activate or shut-down based on the state of a component (such as the hard drive). But, that is not something you'll find pre-built. I used to get into things like that, but it would take a lot of money to motivate me to produce something like that now (just don't have the time or interest anymore).
Otherwise, just let the fan spin.
I have an iMac G3 Lime 333 MHz that came with a factory fan installed. It's fan spins all the time and only turns-off if the computer is completely off. Even when it's asleep, the monitor is off, the hard drive is off, and so on, the fan runs at full speed. I just haven't cared enough to alter it.
I hope this helps.
Let us know if you have other questions.
P.S., if you'd like, go ahead and click the "Helpful" or "Solved" buttons on any of the posts / replies above if you feel they were helpful or adequately answered your question.

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Do the 2011 Macbook Pros with an Apple installed SSD have cooling fans?

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It's unbelievable that anyone purporting to represent Apple could have misinformed you in such a ridiculous way. Apple has never produced a MBP that didn't have one or more cooling fans in it. The percentage of total heat generated by a MBP that comes from its hard drive (or SSD) is tiny — I would guess it's considerably less than 5%. The notion that the machine could dispense with cooling fans as a result of switching from a conventional drive to a SSD is laughable.
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Message was edited by: eww

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> I would like to ask a few questions about my system: first of all, the cooling fan is running in my opinion too often: almost continuously, with brakes of 2-3 seconds. Is this normal?
Im an owner of a Satellite A210. Its similar to the A215. The A210 is a European model and the A215 belongs to the US notebook series.
I have noticed the same on my A210 and I think its normal behavior.
> But the curious thing is that so named "Core" temperature is oscillating from the beginning between 45deg and over 52deg! The fan starts each time the core temperature is rising over 50deg and stops when the temperature reaches 45deg. Is this behavior normal???
The CPU temperature of 40-60deg is nothing unusual.
The temperature could arise up to 70-80degrees while playing a game. So dont worry about the temperature.
The cooling modules are controlled by BIOS. The fan table is stored in the BIOS and it contains informations about temperature limits and the cooling usage.
If a certain temperature level was reached the cooling module starts to rotate with a certain speed.
Now I would like to say something about the notebooks battery life time
Generally the battery life time depends on the notebooks usage.
While playing games or watching movies the battery would discharge much faster.
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Bye

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Resetting SMC may help.
Reset SMC. http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964
Choose the method for:
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If this does not help, you may have to take the computer to the Apple store
to have it checked out.
Apple Hardware Test/ Apple Diagnostics
This depends on the computer model and OS X installed.
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1509
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5781
http://support.apple.com/kb/ph4510
Best.

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Hi,
The "cooling fan not operating properly" error appearing while booting might indicate that the Fan assembly is not working properly. So Let's try to resolve or isolate the issue, please follow the below instructions:
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5.) In the Download Driver page, select the Operating System of your Notebook (make sure the current Operating System installed in your Notebook is the original one shipped with the Notebook PC) and Click on Next.
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8.) Once the installation is done, restart the Notebook and check if the error still appears.
9.) If no error, the issue is resolved. If the issue still persists or appears again after few days or weeks then Contact HP Technical Support to get your Notebook repaired.
****Click the White thumb to say thanks****
****Please mark Accept As Solution if it solves/answers your problem****
****I am an HP Employee but I speak for myself and not for HP or Others.****
I work for HP.

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Welcome to Apple Discussions!
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Please identify your notebook/pc .
Look at the base/rear/side of the notebook/pc at the barcoded sticker.
Post items numbered 1 and 2 on the following image. Your barcode may be slightly different but will still have the important imformation needed for us to help you.
###Do not post the serial number as it is personal information.###
Post the installed operating system version ( and whether it is 32 or 64-bit ) and whether the CPU is an AMD or Intel product
Not posting all of the information as requested will delay our responses and slow troubleshooting of the issue that led you to author a thread.
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erico
****Please click on Accept As Solution if a suggestion solves your problem. It helps others facing the same problem to find a solution easily****
2015 Microsoft MVP - Windows Experience Consumer

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Need a little help/advice. I bought a MBP 17" C2D back in June and now the cooling fans turn up to around 6000 rpm minutes after turning on my notebook. I've tried SMC fan control, which didn't work. I searched for a stray program, but nothing turned up. I am trying to avoid having to drive to the Apple Store (I will if I have to), but wanted to see if anybody else had a suggestion. Any feedback is appreciated, bigtime. Everything works normally too, all my programs, my wireless card, etc. Leopard installed in a breeze. Thanks in advance for the feedback.

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I dont know why, suddenly when i turn on my hp notebook there is allert that the cooling fan is not operating correctly, aand system gives suggest to shut down.
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Thank you

Hi,
You can try the steps from this link below and check if it helps. Moreover after that error comes up if you immediately hit enter the computer will load to windows. Once in Windows you can download the latest BIOS update as that from HP Support and Drivers and install it.
System Fan (90b) error message on startup
You can also refer to this Post
If problem continues then you may have to get the fan replaced. If the computer is still under warranty then you can call HP Tech Support for repair.
Note:
If you have HP Support Assistant installed on the computer(The Blue Question Mark) then open it ==> Complete all pending Updates & Tuneups==> Restart and Check. It may solve your problem
Although I am an HP employee, I am speaking for myself and not for HP.
**Click on “Kudos” Star if you think this reply helped** Or Mark it as "Solved" if issue got fixed.

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I thought that it may have been due to an increase in RAM from 7G to 24G (3, 8G matched sticks) but after un-installing the 24G it was still running frequently, though not as much.
I have performed (in order) both a PRAM and SMC reset. I have also repaired all discs, reset permissions and dumped render files (I primarily use my Mac for video editing in FCP X).
I am fearing now that this may in fact be due to recent updates to Lion (10.7.3) or FCP X (10.0.3)
In an attempt to get FCP X to run better (there are many bugs in the latest update as evidenced by numerous posts in that discussion area) I also contacted NVIDIA for updates to my graphics card and was told by them that it is not compatible with Lion. I now have a Radeon card on order from the Apple store.
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> I am fearing now that this may in fact be due to recent updates to Lion (10.7.3) or FCP X (10.0.3)
Only if the RAM is "defective" or "boarderline" would a new OS trigger an issue. But then someone else jumped to same conclusion when they upgraded to Lion recently and had been running Snow Leopard for awhile.
Every new OS brings some changes and some RAM will fail and fall to the wayside but the only way to know is trial and error; to get the vendor to replace and test.
Sometimes the RAM has been loosely seated. Sometimes the OS seems to be potential culprit (doesn't happen with clean install).
A USB or Firewire cable can be enough, too, even if just plugged and not attached to a powered on device.
You can even try two 8GB DIMMs and leave one out and see if process of elimination is of any value, or even boot wtih just a single DIMM. You don't need to have two or more.
But I would not mix 8GB with others, sounds like you had 3 x 2GB + 1GB, or 3 x 1GB + 4GB which would look and sound to be more iffy than your new set.
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Welcome to Apple Communities
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Hi @krooso ,
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