Intel Aluminum iMac Superdrive Noise Issue

Does anyone else notice that the superdrive inside the iMac makes more noise than the average hair dryer? It is so bad that I cannot even enjoy my DVD. Thank you.

Well, I figured out that it is superdrive "related" now thanks to you. I cannot prevent the noise from occurring with any optical media disc. It seems that the fans kick on and it isn't the superdrive itself making all of the noise. I reset and did all of that stuff, but I believe it's not just my superdrive. My friend has the same iMac and his makes the same "ka-chunk-chunk-tak-tak-varoom-varoom". Excellent description of that noise by the way. I could not have done better myself. Anyway, Seems that it could be the fans, most likely need a new driver/firmware? Could be hardware and that is just the way it is or I am missing something in my system files used to quiet that thing down. I cannot believe it is even an issue. My iMac G4 has a tray loader drive and it's super quiet compared to this $2000 vacuum cleaner machine. Thanks for your help and I may take it in for service depending on what else goes on with my 10.5.2 system. The other day, I counted 10 bugs just as I was working on it for about an hour or two. So many issues and hopefully some updates fix these messes. Now that I mention it...It seems that the eject key ejects the media differently than using the GUI. It spins the disc down and comes out faster with the key on my keyboard, but takes forever and makes a weird quick buzz sound when clicking the eject button in Finder. Input from anyone is appreciated!

Similar Messages

Intel aluminum imac problem

Hi,
-My 20" imac is 2 years old
When I start the my computer, the top of the screen (half) become dark (the brightness).
I've search on the web and I read it was the backlite. I don't think it's that because before being dark, the brightness is ok...
Here's a video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPJhcBhA6GM

Try resetting PRAM
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1379
and if that does not help, disconnect the iMac from power and reconnect it using the reset SMC procedure
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1543
When you reconnect it, try connecting it directly to a wall outlet by itself initially, and do not connect any peripheral devices except for your standard USB keyboard/mouse. See if that has any positive effect.

** Transferring from External FW LaCie to new Aluminum iMac **

Is it possible to transfer a CCC external FW HD to a new Intel Aluminum iMac? What I am trying to do is transfer my entire HD to my new iMac but its more economical for me to sell my G5 in New York and buy my iMac in Portland, OR + save taxes. If I back up my internal 250GB HD from my PowerMac G5 via CCC to external LaCie (FW400), can I copy onto a brand new iMac from the external or do I HAVE to go from machine to machine?
Thanks to anyone who can answer -
Cheers -
Chad

Hi Chad.
If your "CCC" means a "carbon copy clone" of your previous mac system, then the answer is a NO.
To put it simply, the (OS) systems run inside a G5 and an Intel Mac *is entirely different*, they do not mix.
So let's say you have previously clone/copy from a G5 mac, the most you could do is to (re)copy/clone back to a "same system" G5, and *not to an Intel*. Same as an Intel, you do not copy or clone its entirety to a G5. The result will cause the upmost unstability to your OS system that may result in crashes etc.
The only files you can manually copy over to your new Intel mac are your data files, e.g. your photos, music, your email data, preference files etc.
Anyway, you would have to install all your application from the ground up in your new Intel mac, you should upgrade them to the Universal versions. And if you use a lot of third-party utilities and shareware, same thing, download the latest version, which should be of Universal versions and install them fresh into your Intel mac.
Search more in this forum with keywords like "migration" to get a better and more in-depth understanding of migrating from a G5 to an Intel Mac.
Cheers

Does the Aluminum Mid-2007 Intel-based iMac include a USB extension cable?

Hello everyone,
I live in Canada, and my Aluminum (Mid-2007) 20" iMac did not include a USB extension cable for the keyboard. I have read on the forums that other members' Aluminum iMacs did not come with it either. I also read someone from Japan who said his iMac came with the cable, but I am not sure if he had an Aluminum or White iMac. I know that the standalone new keyboards do come with the USB extension cable. I would like to know if your Aluminum (Mid-2007) iMacs came with this accessory. Please let me know if it did or did not. Thank you for your help, and I await your reply.
Cya!
\m/ Mage \m/
P.S. I bought my iMac the same day Leopard launched, and then I received it in the first half of November.

Hi Bob and mrtotes,
Thank you very much for your helpful replies. I apologize that I have been away for a couple of days--I have been very busy with final assignments, so I did not get to reply to you until now.
I do find the cable a little short after I slide my keyboard tray under, but all I have to do is turn Mighty Mouse around before then. Other than that, Mighty Mouse's built-in cable is long enough when I am interacting with my iMac.
It makes sense that only the Mac Pro would need the USB extension cable more than the portables and iMacs would. I don't know why I did not think of that before--I guess that's why we we're here when we're not sure! And of course the Mac Mini does not come with input devices unless you ask because the whole point of the Mac Mini is BYODKM (bring your own display, keyboard, and mouse).
Thanks again for your help with answering my questions--I really appreciate it.
Cya!
\m/ Mage \m/

Aluminum iMac has poor Airport throughput

Hi,
I am wirelessly connected at 54Mbs. I'm on a 10Mb/sec connection at the WAN. My wife's first gen Intel iMac can max out the connection but I can only get 1/3 of that speed. I have tried three different routers and have gone so far as to place them directly next to the new iMac with no change. I am beginning to think there may be a software driver issue limiting the throughput on this machine. I'm wondering if other folks are having this issue with their aluminum iMacs?

Karl, Welcome to the discussion area!
Check the photos in KB 108039, Properly attaching the antenna on an AirPort Extreme Card to ensure that the antenna wire is properly installed. It can take more force than expected to get it installed correctly. It should look like this:

The Ever-present Fan Noise Issue

Has there been a definite resolution to the fan noise issue on the iMacs? My 20' started after about a week while I was watching a movie. I can't really work on it without having iTunes (or some other noise) in the background.
A while ago, I read a post about having it narrowed down to the "Optical Drive Fan" (or something like that) being loose/broken/cheaply built (perhaps a combination of the three) and it made sense when I looked at the back of my mac and covered the vent to listen to the difference.
I haven't heard about anyone getting this fixed and the problem being solved, but I would certainly like to. From the sounds of things, some Apple techs are a little premature to replace logic boards and mid-planes and things of the like. The one that I talked to "hadn't heard" of any noise issues and thought it might be a power supply, but I haven't had the time to take it in yet.
If someone has a definite solution (more than just speculation or complaints), I would appreciate hearing. I don't feel like waiting 1-2 weeks for a part that I don't need, if I just have to take it in to the tech for 45 minutes to tighten a fan.

programs it didn't open: limewire, clamav,onyx, menumeters, my driver for my mouse, and a few others.
CS2 took a while to load as did mac office.
the rendering in CS2 was aweful! now i know why steve said it was no good for pros.
the native apps were quick but not enough to sell me on it.
i had a rev a imac g5 with 2 gigs of ram and it screamed.
i plan to make out my new 2.1 with 2.5 and she will scream as well.
the intel duo is nice..if you like to look at activity moniter and see to cpu's but to me its not worth the hassle of dealing with beta apps and all that.
the g5 is more than capable of handling all my tasks and themsome.
i'm gonna wait to upgrade. unless they come out with something amazing this year.

Does YOUR aluminum iMac work with Logic 8?

Hi, I have been facing Core Audio overloads with less than 5 tracks in Logic Pro 8 and have tried numerous suggestions. I have written ~6 songs even with the crashes and I want to something to give me a performance boost to see if Logic is worth it on an Imac or just a buggy trashpot. I recently of people with interfaces getting the same issue however.
I have a 2.4 ghz 24" aluminum imac with 4gigs RAM and am going to try adding these both: an Apogee Duet and an external dedicated FW800 drive in the next month.
For the dedicated audio FW800 drive I was considering a Lacie Quadra. Please come forward if you have an Aluminum Intel mac especially, due to all the firewire chipset discussion etc.
Can anyone who is very happy with their aluminum imac setup in Logic 8 please chime in? All responses are appreciated; So often we hear about problems on discussion boards, please share your smashing success story!
Thanks,
smooves

I have a 2.4 20" aluminum iMac running 50+ tracks (no freezing) with a few hundred plugins, with only 1 GB of RAM. I use a few external GLYPH Firewire drives. This system was actually a replacement from Apple for an iMac G5 that had the motherboard die 3 times in a 2 month time span. I'm very happy with it, its allowed me to get more work done. I don't understand why you're having so many overloads w/ only 5 tracks. I'd say up your buffer, but even for mixing I'm running at 256 on my buffer with 50 tracks or more and I'm fine. I've also never had Logic crash on me during recording or mixing. Only when using the score window. But since the update that hasn't happened.

Apple Mini-DVI to Video Adapter doesn't fit my aluminum iMac

I previously had a 17" white iMac (pre-Intel) machine, and about 6 months ago I bought the mini-DVI to video adapter so I could connect it to my television. Worked like a charm. But I recently bought a new aluminum iMac, and the adaptor doesn't fit into the mini-DVI port in the back of the machine. It appears the adaptor and port are both male ends.
Has the port changed on the aluminum iMacs? The product description for the adaptor on Apple's website says it works with iMac (Intel Core Duo). Isn't the aluminum iMac an Intel Core Duo? I can't figure out why it doesn't fit and which cable I'm supposed to be using instead.
Any advice would be appreciated!

Hi Paul
Yes the Intel iMac [Spec's|http://support.apple.com/specs/imac/iMacMid2007.html] call for the (M9319G/A) Apple Mini-DVI to Video Adapter!
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore?productLearnMore=M93 19G/A
The iBook, eMac, or iMac G5 use the Mini-VGA to Video adapter.
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/wa/RSLID?mco=722 C6629&nplm=M9109G%2FA
Dennis

HT1338 Left hand side of monitor dims on 2011/intel based iMac-any suggestions?

Left hand side of monitor dims on 2011 /intel based iMac-any suggestions? Called apple support. Restarted-didn't help. Unplugged my second monitor from the thunderbolt port-didn't help. Unplugged center cord in the middle on the back of the monitor-waited 15 seconds, restarted, held down option-command-p-r and this didn't help. Apple support thought that it was most likely a video card/hardware issue, but would like to hear of any other trouble shooting suggestions.

Not a hardware issue, since it shows up in a screenshot. Please boot in safe mode, launch Safari, and test. Same problem?
Some things won't work in safe mode, possibly including wireless networking.
After testing, reboot as usual (not in safe mode.)
Mac OS X: Starting up in Safe Mode

Major problems with my new intel g5 imac

I recently purchased a the new Intel duo imac (20", 512 ram). The computer has been a total nightmare and I finally have a little bit of time available to hopefully start addressing some of the major issues. When I first got the system, I easily hooked it up and starting using it, everything appeared to be fine. However, I began to notice almost all the applications were unstable and always lagging. For example, the pinwheel idle icon would come up for seconds at a time while switching from safari to itunes on the bottom dock. I installed CS2 on it and realized it was barely useable, it would always crash at least once or twice during a session. The application itself was so slow, it was painstaking just to clone or resize an image. I was really frustrated at this point because the system ran extremely slow compared to my 4 year old PC, which ran photoshop and the internet flawlessly. I thought that maybe I needed to start updating the OS, because I was always prompted to do so when I would start the system up.
I was hoping maybe the updates would make the system more stable and fix the problems I was having. I went ahead and approved all the updates to the OS etc. The update on the OS was around 190 megs, so I went to dinner and came back. When I got home it told me the updates where complete, I just needed to restart. Upon restarting I was met with a flashing Apple, the system would not allow me to get into the OS, it was stuck at start up with a flashing apple with an X through it. I did nothing but download the updates and restart. After an hour of trying to boot up in every why possible, I finally had to boot from CD, nothing solved the problem (disk repair etc). I finally had to break down and reinstall the OS.
Now I am back to square one again, the system is useable but every application is painfully slow. I can't for example, Use Safari, listen to itunes and type in Word. It has to be one or the other, if not the lag is unbearable. Photoshop CS2 is once again barely useable, when you start the application up you can literally read every name that comes up in the splash screen because it goes so slowly (on my PC all that start up info flew by so fast I couldn't make out any of it).
I am at my wits end with it because I love the system I just need it to be functional. I was on some other forums and people suggested I had bad ram, but I have no way to test if the ram is actually bad. Others said I was a moron for trying to run CS2 on a intel mac because it barely works (go figure). They said my only option to running decent applications like photoshop consistently was to install boot camp then windows. I don't want the solution to my problems to be the installation of an OS that I am trying to move away from, because of its supposed inferiority. I think it's sad that people need to install windows just to run photoshop and/or any software with high requirements because the new Intel mac does such a poor job. I know I need to update the system and the OS, but I don't want to have to reinstall and lose everything if it fails upon restarting again. I want things to stop crashing out of no where. Can someone please help me.
Some screen captures of some crashes.
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f384/brad561/crash1.jpg
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f384/brad561/Picture1.jpg
PS: I Xbenched my Imac I got a score of 50.05 the average for all is 65.48 Why is that?
Respectfully,
-sb

I do know that it is easy enough to test the RAM yourself to a fairly good degree.
Memtest is simply the best ram-testing utility for the Macintosh platform with the ability to find intermittent memory problems that are the frequent cause of unexplained crashes or freezes in Macs running MacOSX. Memtest can identify random memory problems that commercially available utilities miss completely.
Memtest 4.13 is now distributed as a universal binary. Just double-click the OS X image file to mount it and then double click the package file to install. Besides providing support for the new Intel-based Macs, version 4.13 also adds improved status reporting for each of the individual tests.
http://www.memtestosx.org/
Memory: 512MB is very minimal. Meaning programs may not have enough to load into memory or take advantage of OS X memory management. Rosetta is almost a mini-OS but very RAM hungry. If you can, I would add another 1GB of memory at a minimum. But first test what you have now.
Also, do run Apple Hardware Test fully as well.
In a very rare case, it could be the disk drive itself that just needs to be erased.
Have you tried repairing your disk drive from the Install DVD? good idea. And backup your system and files to FireWire goes mostly without saying as essential.
If your system does do a forced shutdown/freeze, I would not rely on it repairing itself, I like to boot into Single User Mode (command + s) and run the fsck routine.
CS3 will not be out for -?- 9 months or more and then be "Universal Binary" format. Until then, well, CS2 is itself memory hungry and people buy G5s etc so that they can use 4GB RAM or more.
The ideal would be to upgrade to 2GB RAM, Micron/Crucial or Samsung as well as RAMjet, some place reliable and that warrants their memory fully. I don't think you'll be happy with just the 512MB. And everything was fine to begin with, so that's good.
And there probably are some special concerns with Photoshop, with plug-ins or other applications, or just a corrupt plist/pref file.
Without "adequate" or enough memory, any OS is going to page itself to death, 'thrashing' as it is unable to page into memory enough to run properly.
OS: 80-200MB
Safari or web browser: 80-400MB
etc.

HT1758 Are all Intel 24" iMacs w/Snow Leopard OK for Mountain Lion? My serial number doesn't match any of the one in the iMac ID list; they all start with "MA" or "MB", mine starts with a "W." Purchased direct from Apple August 2007.

Are all Intel 24" iMacs w/Snow Leopard OK for Mountain Lion? My serial number doesn't match any of the one in the iMac ID list; they all start with "MA" or "MB" and mine starts with a "W." Purchased direct from Apple August 2007.

Macs that can be upgraded to OS X Mountain Lion
iMac (Mid 2007 or newer)
MacBook (Late 2008 Aluminum, or Early 2009 or newer)
MacBook Pro (Mid/Late 2007 or newer)
MacBook Air (Late 2008 or newer)
Mac mini (Early 2009 or newer)
Mac Pro (Early 2008 or newer)
Xserve (Early 2009)
Open System Profiler and report what you find displayed for the Model Identifier.

20 inch Aluminum iMac crashes after installing Mac OS X Combo Update 10.5.6

I have a school lab with 22 of the new 20 inch Aluminum iMacs. They all have been having a problem with crashing after someone logs onto my network server, which is still running the 10.4 Tiger version of the Apple server. They run fine if you boot up and log on as a local user, and they seem to run fine when you boot up and log on to with a server account, but when you log off from the server, about five seconds later while the aurora screen is still showing, they crash and give you the Apple version of the "blue screen of death."
I was told that the fix was to download the combo update separately from the Apple website and use that to reinstall and update the operating system.
I downloaded and tried installing with a 10.5.6.dmg file and a 10.5.6.dmg.smi file, but they both crashed.
Where can I find the "fixed" version of this update or is there some other fix?
I have tested this on 9 or 10 different systems.
The first file was MacOSXUpdCombo10.5.6.dmg, which is a disk image file that is 668.8 MB or 684,774 KB.
I looked in the discussion groups on the Apple web site and found some discussions for problems that seemed similar to, but not quite the same as my own. They led me to a file MacOSXUpdCombo10.5.6.dmg.smi, which a self mounting image file that is also 668.8 MB. I tried it and got the same result.
I can install my dvd, which gives me 10.5.1, which will log off and reboot correctly.
I can then install several miscellaneous upgrades:
Pro Apps Update 2006-02 V1.0
AirPort Utility V5.3.2
Remote Desktop Client V3.2.2
QuickTime V7.6
iTunes V8.0.2
and also
Front Row V2.1.6
The system will then log onto the network, log off and reboot correctly.
But, when I install the 10.5.6 combo update from any of my sources, it boots and logs on fine. But, if I log onto the network, it crashes when I log off.
Where do I go from here?
Thanks for your help.
John R H

Have you tried starting up with your install disk and doing a disk repair?
Put the install disk that came with the Mac in the DVD/CD drive and restart holding down the 'C' key. You can take your finger off once you hear it making noises from the DVD/CD drive. You'll be presented with a screen where you choose your language. At the next screen on the menu bar select Utilities>Disk Utility you then select your Macintosh HD on the left and click on 'repair disk'. If it makes any changes click on 'repair disk' again and repeat the process until you get a clean pass. Once done select restart from the Apple menu and hopefully the Mac will boot normally.

NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GS upgrade for 24" aluminum iMac -- can it be done?

I have a one-release-previous 24" aluminum iMac (bought about 2 months before the newest one was released). I play a lot of World of Warcraft, and would love to upgrade the video card to the new NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GS that works in the current 24" iMac.
Is there a way to do this at all? Apple solution, third-party solution, anything? I've heard rumors, but can't find out anything for sure.
All help appreciated.

Yes, I think it's technically possible, but you'd have to purchase the stock part from an Apple specialist (a corporate store probably wont do it) and have them install it. Expect to pay $300+ for the part alone. Even then, there's no real guarantee that it will work, even though they do indeed use the same form factor. There may be power/thermal issues.

Can I connect ADC monitor to new Aluminum iMac?

Is it possible (with some adapter) to connect an Apple Studio Display with ADC to the Aluminum iMac's Mini-DVI output port?

That shouldn't be a problem:http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore?productLearnMore=M86 61LL/B
BTW this forum is for the much older iMac (Flat Panel) models
G4 (aka Flat Panel): Intel:
Click image to go to correct forum.
cheers
mrtotes

Aluminum iMac USB port dead?

Hello,
I think one of the USB ports on my Aluminum iMac (2.0 GHz) has stopped working. When I plug in my iPod into this particular port it no longer recognizes the iPod, however when I move the iPod to another port it is recognized. The port worked fine last week. I've tried other things in this port (e.g. USB hard drive), and it's the same thing.
Could this still be a software issue, or is this pretty much a hardware problem?
Is there any other troubleshooting I can do before calling Apple?
Thanks for any help.

Hm thanks for the idea den.thed
So how do I then see that something is slowing everything down?
Here is my tree
http://img408.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture28et1.png
What I find mostly strange is that apparently there are 2 "USB BUss" which are not being used.
No idea where those are sitting, because all my 3 USB Plugs in the back of the iMac are used up.
Maybe they are 2 free ones in my Mac?
Then what also suprises me it that there is another USB Hub in my USB Hub?
I only have one USB hub, that hub as oyu can see has 2 leaves.
One an external harddrive, the other leaf is a USB Hub with the iPod and another external harddrive.
And as mentioned above I don't know where to look now for the thing that is slowing everything down.
How do I recognize that?
Thanks a lot

Intel Aluminum iMac Superdrive Noise Issue

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