IMac 27" i5 noisy fans?

Hello all
I just received a new 2.8 quad core imac, 27" in exchange for my faulty 24" 2.8ghz intel core 2 duo (not bad hey!?) from the applestore in Norwich. Its great although i feel the fans are noisy. Its constant loud whirring, like one of the fan blades is clipping on something. It doesnt sound like a HDD noise and its from the moment it turns on to the moment i turn it off, always constant, never differs.
I installed smc and get these readings -
OD - 1000rpm
HDD - 1099rpm
CPU - 939rpm
These, i think, are pretty normal. Any ideas? Tried an SMC reset and resetting the PRAM to no avail. It sounds like the fan is central, possibly to the left as when i push against the apple logo on the front of the imac it makes it louder.
Any ideas are great, thanks

I now believe it could be the HDD as when i put the computer to sleep and rest the HDD, it stops, and its a constant sound. It sounds similar to cicada bugs in the rainforest/jungle, like a constant high pitched whine. I used smc fan control to adjust the fan speeds and this didnt affect the noise at all, which makes me suspect the HDD.
I tried resetting the PRAM again last night and the noise went away. Great. I turned it on this morning and its back. So, the noise can go away, however it seems like it prefers to stay!
Any ideas?

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Do all iMacs start with noisy fans?

I'd like someone to confirm with me if the rattle/noise that I'm hearing in my brand new 27" Quad Core iMac is an engineered decision; or whether I'm actually paying for the best quality parts money can buy for a fully integrated system.
I've had this computer for less than a month, and the moment I started it up for the first time, that was the first thing I heard before the chime. It's constant - even when the fan speed is idle; and sometimes it's louder than what I'm listening to at low levels.
Please can someone provide me with some helpful advice on what to do about this.
Many Thanks
Matt

MattFaulkner wrote:
Please can someone provide me with some helpful advice on what to do about this.
Many Thanks
Matt
Take it back for warranty service or replacement.
Stedman

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.

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

Computer really noisy (fan I think?). Resetting PRAM and SMC does not work.

Hi,
so basically, as the title says, my computer is making a really loud noise as soon as I turn it on, I am presuming it is the fan.
Over a month ago, my computer started to constantly crash, and about two weeks ago I took it to a Genius Bar for a diagnosis. The problem was a hard drive failure, so I had it replaced and yesterday I brought it back home.
However, after the fix, the computer now runs fine, but there is a really loud noise from the computer.
I have tried resetting the PRAM and SMC like some other threads have suggested, and none of them have worked. I have tried restarting, shutting down the computer and everything suggested.
The computer has never made this noise in this manner before.
Before the fix, the only time it would be noisy like this is when I wake it from sleep, just left it there (on screen requiring username and password) and it sleeps again, and if I wake it from sleep, then it would be loud like this, but that is solved by just simply sleeping the computer again and waking it, and it will be all quiet again.
However, now, it makes this loud noise as soon as I turn the computer on, and as long as the computer is not shut down or asleep, it will make this noise.
Before the fix, my OS was 10.4.11, but the Genius Bar had installed 10.5.8 on this hard drive.
Is this a software problem or a hardware one?
Anyone got any suggestions or ideas how to fix this?
I have called the Apple store I visited for this fix already, they push me over to AppleCare and AppleCare pushes me back to Apple store and they tell me they cannot provide technical support over the phone and would need me to take the computer back to the Genius Bar.
I am just not happy about this. I live almost an hour away from the closest store and I have university to attend to as well.
So I am hoping this problem can be resolved without having to go back to the Genius Bar, although all methods I have read so far do not help.
Thanks,
From Lelouch

Hi, well, the thing is, I am just worried that, while making other repairs, they might have damaged something unintentionally and probably do not know about it, which would not be documented.
My initial problem of a loud fan, after a hard drive replacement, was fixed, so I do not hear it anymore, but this wind-like noise is different. With the iMacs, I presume the fans are towards the top, which was where the loud fan noise came from, however, this wind-like noise seems to come from the bottom of the computer screen are, centre and right side (in the direction I face it), but not the left side.
I describe it as wind-like, but it sounds a bit like when the computer is on heavy demand and the computer loads, yet different as it is quieter and slightly different in pattern, and unlike the usual heavy demand noise which comes from the top, it comes from the bottom.
I actually installed a temperature widget after my last repair, just in case my fan was just simply tuned off and would not come on at all for the sake of fixing the loud noise it was making.
The temperatures read as follows:
HD: 31
CPU: 27
Ambient: 17
GPU: 36
GPU Diode: 46
GPU Heatsink: 36
HD Bay: 33
Optical Drive: 30
To my knowledge, these should be fine temperatures?
But the noise persists regardless. The noise can instantly be heard (providing that it is quiet enough) as soon as the computer starts up.
Thanks,
From Lelouch

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

Has a noisy fan

What has caused my iMac to develop a noisy fan. It runs at full speed now, this has just started.

this sounds like its overheating. when it does this can you tell what graphics processor is in operation, you can do that by either using gfxCardStatus (a app that sits in the menu bar that tells you which gpu is in operation) or by going into the more info section of About This Mac and under display it should say which processor is in use at that time, either the AMD discrete GPU or the Intel Integrated one

Hot GPU diode and noisy fan - 3600rpm

After an hour my iMAC's GPU diode is running at 88° and the CPU fan is noisy at 3600rpm. I have taken it to an Apple certified reseller and they couldn't find anything wrong. Can anyone help suggest a reason why it is running hot and noisy?

Hello davemo73 I have the right the same problem, I have taken to an Apple certified support and they told me that is everything all right with my iMac, when I arrived in my home an surprise! the same issue... noisy fan and rpms too fast. Im really worried about, I dont wanna to change the logical board (60% of imac, too much expensive in my country, like a $1100,00 half cost of new machine.).
Can someone from Apple help us? PLS I'm going crazy!!!

21.5 iMac i3 3.06 fan noise

Hello all. I am a longtime Mac user (going back to the first LCD iMac.
Anyway... I ordered the new base iMac and noted that it's fan was on all of the time and was quite loud. It always felt very cool to the touch. I assumed that was just the new reality with the intel processors (my last mac was a 1.5 gig g4 powerbook 12).
I ended up exchanging that computer with a new one since it had the yellowed screen (bottom right).
Anyway... the screen on my new iMac is great... but now the computer is dead silent. The back is pretty darn hot too.
Just wondering what the norms are? Most temps are in the 50's... and the GPU is in the low 60's.

Hello, I think it could be two things: one, the fans are very revolutionized or there's a problem with the GPU fan and the HD cable. I'll explain: My iMac was very noisy, I called Apple and they said me that I have to give the computer where I bought to change it. And the problem was that the HD cable wasn't in their place, and it was touching the GPU fan.
PD: Do you try to reset SMC? (http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3964)
BYe

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

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.

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

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?

21" iMac (Late 2012) loud fans

My iMac keeps running the fans really quickly causing it to make a very loud noise.
I have downloaded the fan control application, however it didn't seem to work as it didn't do anything after several attempts and reinstallments.
The air coming from the vent at the back is warm, but not too hot. And it's kept next to a window, so it's not the temperature of the room that's causing this.
Does anyone have any solution as to what I can do?

Uninstall the fan control software per the developers instructions and do a simple SMC reset, do the reset 3-4 times. Instructions are at:
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3603
While you're at it do the PRAM reset too. Your iMac is not a PC that requires 3rd party apps to operate correctly, all the diagnostic and repair tools needed by most users is built right into OS X.

IMac 27" i5 noisy fans?

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