Minor Fan Noise (not typical, I don't think)

Have a new 13" macbook pro (june '09). The noise I'm hearing is not the typical HD "beep" noises or high pitched whines or any of that. It's a very subtle noise, seemingly from the fans. It sounds like a clock ticking at a faster rate. There's no vibration to the laptop or anything. I tried using compressed air at the exhaust but nothing. Help?

Hi there, I have the exact same model and this is exactly how I would describe the sound made by my Pro. I think it is actually giving me tinnitus.
It seems silly mentioning it as the level of sound is so low but it really does cut through me like a knife. In my case I would say that the noise is emanating from the far left side of the body, near the escape key. It is so subtle that the angle of my head affects to a large degree my perception of the sound. But once you notice it you become obsessed by it.
I also started telling myself that it has always made this sound but I honestly don't think I would have lasted 3 months with it were that the case.
I assumed it was the processor but I have no idea where that would be within the casing of the macbook so don't know if that is likely or not.
Does is the fast ticking clock sound constant or intermittent in your case? Mine is intermittent but the gaps in the ticking are brief, less than a second.

Similar Messages

Fan noise (not moo or whine)

I have a new mbp, the second one, both whined. On this one while moving my laptop I can listen to the fan scratching against something. Should I worry about this and get it repaired now, I need my laptop a lot and I can't afford to be without it. By the way, it whines like **** and it's a 1,83ghz. I've seen 4 mbp 1,83 and they all whined. I've also seen a white macbook that didn't whine.
It's very difficult to me to get support and replace my laptop, no apple stores arround here. (Portugal).

It's very difficult to me to get support and replace my laptop, no apple stores arround here. (Portugal).
I know getting AppleCare support can be difficult in some countries. Does this list of Apple support numbers help at all? I know Portugal isn't listed, but perhaps one of the nearby countries...?
You don't need to be near a retail Apple Store to get warranty support, as long as you can contact AppleCare by phone.
On this one while moving my laptop I can listen to the fan scratching against something. Should I worry about this and get it repaired now...
It's not a good idea to move a running notebook Mac, although we all do it sometimes. Obviously they can moved a bit when in use without problem, such as when using in a moving bus, train, airplane, etc. But I've never had one that didn't make some ugly-sounding fan noises when moved abruptly. (The optical drive with a CD/DVD in it will also make horrible noises if picked up abruptly while in use. Not a good idea.)
In other words, unless the sound occurs when all you have done is lightly move the MBP, I wouldn't worry about it. Just don't jar the computer heavily when it's running. That's never a good idea.
If the sound does occur at the slightest movement of the computer, and it sounds like something is being damaged, then definitely call AppleCare if you can.
(Yes, we now have the sudden motion sensor, which should help in such a situation by protecting the hard drive. But that doesn't mean some damage can't still be caused by dropping or jarring the MBP. It's still best to avoid such things.)

IMac Fan Noise - Not The Usual Problem

Hi,
I have seen plenty of discussions on iMac fan noise but mine is a little different. A week ago, a 'tink' noise (similar to tapping your fingernail on a glass) started coming from my mid 2011 iMac. At first, I thought it was the "click of death" for my hard drive, so I replaced it myself. This didn't fix the noise, so I ran an extended hardware test. This came back with a 4MEM error. I had some spare RAM, fitted it, ran the test again, no 4MEM error.
So, I booted the iMac again. 'Tink'... 'tink'. I finally located it to the bottom right of my iMac, where the optical drive fan is located. This fan has always rattled a little now and again but now it seems intent on driving me round the bend with its very own form of torture. At first, the 'tink' was now and again, but now it constant. 'tinktinktinktinktink'. Is there a way to stop the optical fan for now? I don't use the optical drive often anyway. Or would it just be a replacement fan?
Resetting SMC or PRAM does nothing.

This may be way off target, in which case ignore me. Do you have an app called Free Memory installed? There have been a few posts on here where it seems to cause repetitive odd noises to occur, particularly when running Mavericks?

Black Screen Saver & Fan Noises

My computer just yesterday started making loud fan noises. I've done some research on the computer and it seems to be quite a common problem with iMac, however, I have been unable to find solutions. It started after I watched a DVD on my computer and had to change the sleep and screen saver settings (or at least that's the trend I noticed). After the movie was over I shut down my computer and when I restarted it the next day, boom, loud fan. I was wondering if it had anything to do with the screen saver settings because that's all I could think of. Before, I had the black blank screen saver and now I can't find it on my computer. I don't want a screen saver with pictures, just the blank one--what it did before going to sleep. I've restored the energy saving settings.
Any ideas? I thought the DVD issues was related perhaps.
The fan (or what ever it is) noise is driving me crazy! As soon as the computer goes to sleep, the fan noise stops.

Yeah, I think that is this one...
http://eshop.macsales.com/Descriptions/specs/Framework.cfm?page=imaclate07.html
Boot off your Install Disk while holding down the *d key*, (not c key), then run the extended Apple Hardware Test. Some disks require you to use the Option key at bootup to select AHT. Some models have a separate AHT CD.
Also, under the Apple icon at top left>About this Mac>More info...>Hardware>Serial-ATA, does it say "S.M.A.R.T. status: Verified"?

Mac Pro will not boot, constant loud fan noise and nothing else

hello,
earlier tonight,i put my mac pro on sleep, then later on, when i wanted to take it off sleep and use it, it made the loud fan noise, which it always does but goes away, but this time it the fan wount slow down and the loud noise stays and i dont see anything on the screen. im guessing the fan noise is the ATI x1900 card...
any help please..i just bought it 2 months ago...

Hi, here are the steps I would go through. I would unplug the Mac Pro completely from everything and look at the video card's fan intake to make sure it isn't plugged and just make sure everything "looks" correct. I would then plug the machine back into one monitor/keyboard/mouse (leave all the other peripherals disconnected. Once that is done push the power button. Does anything happen? If not then if you have another mac and an external hard drive, make a copy of the OS on the drive and see if you can get the Mac Pro to boot off that drive. If the video card doesn't work then it will not show anything when booting off an external drive. If the external boot does work then I would suspect that you have a bad hard drive (or it crashed). At that point I hope you have a back up of all your data and such.
Mind you these are steps I would go through. What a nightmare. One other thing to check, make sure your monitor didn't die.
Message was edited by: jlseattle74

T430s fan noise and fan speed monitor not working?

Hi, I just bought this T430s from the outlet store. I noticed a rather loud fan noise and found out s lot of compalints about the T430 model. I guess the problem I have is not as severe as those T430 users (e.g. the noise may not be as loud), but I still want to monitor the fan speed. Here's my problem:
1. none of the third party software can show fan speed, they can only show the cpu temperature, such as speedfan and aida64.
2. I tried to download the fanspeedcontrol driver from lenovo, but after installing it, the task manager does not show that the fanspeedcontrol exe. is working.
I do not want to change the fan speed, but just want to monitor the speed so that I can have a better understanding of whats going on. Does anyone have the similar problem?
Thanks.

Hi Alan, (I know this conversation was from several months back),
I don't know the answer to your questions. It seems that your fan is operational, as far as its most basic functional requirement.
I don't have experience with any particular software programs or widgets that indicate fan speed, sorry.
Do you have any view, through software, of the CPU (and GPU?) sensed temperature? Those would be very good data to observe.
If it were either disconnected or non-functional, I assume that your computer would report a POST error right after power-on (and self test).
But I just wanted to suggest here that in an unfortunate possible scenario, consider if the thermal grease on the heat sink(s) was inadequate (or was missing), then the fan would be running higher than normal (probably always spinning at a high rate), and it won't be taking enough heat away from the processor(s), i.e. inadequate cooling.
Which could be corrected by a technician (or DIY). This is pure speculation, it is not a definite, at all.
Larry

Have an iMac. Problem is I hear the fan noise, yet no power on the screen yielding no power. I have checked the power cord and it seems to be fine. Not sure if computer is a total loss. What would be the next step?

Have an iMac. Problem is I hear the fan noise, yet no power on the screen yielding no power. I have checked the power cord and it seems to be fine. Not sure if computer is a total loss. What would be the next step?
<Email Edited by Host>

What does the EMC# say on the base?

My Macbook Pro 13¨ i7 wont turn on. I press the on button and the white light wont turn on, I don´t hear and fan noise, or the beeping sound. This Mac is 1 1/2 months old. Can anyone help.

I press the on button and the white light wont turn on, I don´t hear and fan noise, or the beeping sound. This Mac is 1 1/2 months old. Can anyone help.

You are under warranty. You can call Applecare and get advice from the tech rep, or you can bring it to an Apple store or authorized Apple service provider.

Our brand new quad core imac will not start up. We hear a drive and fan noise but the screen remains black. Any suggestions?

The computer shut down on its own while we were gone and will not start up again. When we press the power button we hear drive and fan noises but no chime and the screen remains black. Any suggestions?

A pretty common thing for computers that have been shipped is a RAM chip becoming dislodged just enough to cause what you are describing. Try re-seating your RAM chips. Basically just pull them out and push them back in. Take a look at this article if you need some direction on this: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1423

Fan noise/overheating issue? I have a late 2008, 15'' MBP and I'm having a lot of fan noise while just running safari. I don't think this is normal but perhaps it is? Thanks for any and all help!

Fan noise/overheating issue? I have a late 2008, 15'' MBP and I'm having a lot of fan noise while just running safari. I don't think this is normal but perhaps it is? Thanks for any and all help!

Runaway applications can increase fan activity

IMac G5 keeps freezing/crashing. SMU reset resulted in a loud fan noise.

I have a refubished iMac G5 OS X 10.6.8 desktop that was purchased in Aug, 2006. Recently it has been either freezing, shutting down completely, or the display will just shut off multiple times per day 20+ times/day. I am not interested in purchasing the $49 help from Apple. Is it time for a new computer?
I've been attempting some troubleshooting:
I have plenty of RAM- we installed more memory about 8 months ago.
Temperature running at 40 degrees C
I reset the SMU but now am hearing a loud fan sound and there is air blowing out of the horizontal vent in back of the desktop- which does not typically happen. The computer has not crashed since I reset the SMU 20 minutes ago. I'm worried about the noise.
Also, it has been really hot where I live, with a heat index of 110 today and I don't have air conditioning. Current indoor air temp is about 86 degrees F.
Also, I have been seeing thin horizontal stripes across my screen for the past few months, related or unrelated issue?
Thanks for the help!

Not that this will cure it but it may help:
As old as your iMac is, have you cleaned out the dust? Dust buildup can lead to over heating issues. Remove any and all things plugged into it including the power cord, Remove the RAM access grille. Vacuum all openings starting with the RAM access area (air intake). Vacuum all ports and plugs, DVD slot and the opening across the top of the rear of the body. Blow compressed air through all your openings and vacuum again to remove any dust you loosend. Reinstall the RAM grille. Plug in the keyboard and mouse if not blue tooth. Insert power cord...
You are now in a perfect position to do a
SMC RESET
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964
Shut down the computer.
Unplug the computer's power cord and ALL peripherals.
Wait 15 seconds.
Attach the computers power cable.
Wait another 5 seconds and press the power button to turn on the computer.
It is the 5 second timing that initiates the reset.
Here is a link to a Widget to monitor your temps and other operations:
http://islayer.com/apps/istatpro/

Quad Idle Fan noise?

I own several powerbooks and recently bought my first PowerMac.
The Powerbooks are silent.
The Quad makes fan noise. It's not very loud, but the fans are clearly running. I can feel cool air from the front vents. Normal?
I have installed a second internal drive (Hitachi) and 4 gigs of Crucial RAM.
The machine was silent until I loaded on Photoshop, FCP and several other programs. But I really haven't used any of the programs yet.
Since I have not done any serious work on the machine yet- so I am not sure if this normal idle noise or something else.
Should an idle Quad be fully silent?
Thanks

My Quad is much noiser than I expected. My PowerBook can barely be heard. My iMac (since replaced by the Power Mac) was Rev. A and suffered from the known noise problems but was quieter than the Power Mac. Are these fan speeds typical? (Obtained from Marcel Bresink's Hardware Monitor utility.)
2006-01-10 09:02:25 -0600
Air Tunnel: 37.6℃
Air Tunnel Heatsink: 38.2℃
CPU A Core 1 Diode: 35.1℃
CPU A Core 2 Diode: 35.4℃
CPU B Core 1 Diode: 40.0℃
CPU B Core 2 Diode: 38.3℃
Drive Bay: 29.0℃
Graphics processor chip: 46.0℃
Main Logic Board Air Inlet: -60.0℃
Main Logic Board Backside: 39.6℃
Memory Controller Diode: 53.0℃
SMART Disk Hitachi HDS725050KLA360 (KRVN23ZAGD4LRD): 31.0℃
SMART Disk ST3300831AS (5NF00ZC6): 30.0℃
CPU A Core 1 Voltage: 1.16 V
CPU A Core 2 Voltage: 1.16 V
CPU B Core 1 Voltage: 1.17 V
CPU B Core 2 Voltage: 1.18 V
CPU A Core 1 Current: 9.03 A
CPU A Core 2 Current: 8.91 A
CPU B Core 1 Current: 10.25 A
CPU B Core 2 Current: 8.91 A
Slots Power: 131.0
CPU A Exhaust Fan: 1000 RPM
CPU A Intake Fan: 970 RPM
CPU A Radiator Pump: 1250 RPM
CPU B Exhaust Fan: 1000 RPM
CPU B Intake Fan: 970 RPM
CPU B Radiator Pump: 1250 RPM
Drive Bay A Air Intake: 1000 RPM
Expansion Slots Intake: 1560 RPM
Main Logic Board Backside: 1100 RPM
Power Mac G5 Quad and PowerBook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.3)
Power Mac G5 Quad and PowerBook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.3)

DV6 laptoip fan noise solution?

I recently upgraded my DV6-6100 to Windows 8 which is not an HP supported upgrade and eliminated the HP Power Manager and switchable graphics (Now running on the Intel graphics).
After the upgrade the laptop fan would switch to high speed periodically, run for a while, then go back to normal. Task manager did not show high CPU or other activity and SpeedFan showed temp at 117F-120F whether the fan was running or not. During the high speed runs the fan noise was objectionably loud.
I first tried to fix the problem by enabling FanAlwaysOn in the BIOS in he hope of eliminating heat build up but that didn't seem to help. I then tried changing the power profile to set Max CPU at various levels less than the 100% default and settled at 95%..
The fan now runs constantly but at a very low speed and is almost inaudible. I can not tell any difference in performance but I do not have any CPU or graphics intensive apps with which to test. MS Office apps and web and DVD video seem fine.
Is this expected behavior from changing the power profile to set maxCPU less than 100%?
Any down side from having the fan always on?

I had upgraded my touchsmart to Windows 8 since it was a touch enabled notebook.
Upon completion of the upgrade, my notebook ran a little on the warm side and the fan was quite loud. I had discovered that the reason for this was that the switchable graphics system was broken by the upgrade. This resulted in both cards running simultaneously which the notebook was not designed to handle the heat generated by both cards.
I did manage to get my switchable graphics to work and the system became much cooler and quieter.
I'm not certain if this will work in your particular scenario, but this is worth trying.
Try the steps exactly as outlined in this thread. The steps do need to be followed in order as it typically fails when steps are omitted or done out of order.
The fan can fail early if it is constantly running, but let me know what happens with the steps provided.
↙-----------How do I give Kudos?| How do I mark a post as Solved? ----------------↓

Retina MBP making fan noise - Apple store unwilling to help

Hi All,
Any adivice would be appreciated with my problem. So I got a Retina MBP when it first came out and noticed it had a ding so I took it to the Apple store and exchanged it - no questions asked. The newer unit they gave me, which I currently have is making a very odd fan noise. It is faint but apperent when working in quite enviroments like at my office. Its really annoying. I took it to the Apple store recently and explained the situation and told them that the original unit i had didn't have this problem at all so I know its not the typical fan noise. They maxed out the CPU, RAM, etc. and said they couldnt' here it and as such, are unable to replace my unit. I told them that I do not do that much intensive work on it and only can here it when its quite - they probably wouldn't here it in the loud store.
As a result, I have now recorded the faint sound coming from the fans but I don't know what the best approach is to have the just replace my unit. Should I take it back to the apple store with the recording? Should I just call apple care? Apple is getting worse and worse in my opinion with customer service. I remember a time where, if i was unsatisfied with their product, they would exchange it no matter what.

Hi,
Yeah Apple solved it. I called Apple Customer Support, not "Applecare" and the person was very helpful. I told them that i recorded the noise - it was in my downloads folder. The person set it up so I could mail in the laptop through an Apple store and they replaced the fan. I was without a laptop for like a week though.
Hope that helps.

Big fan noise problem: the rear fan won't shut off, the BIOS won't update, systemupdate locks up

I received new ThinkStaion (oh boy, lots of memory and CPU speed, yay!)
I unfortunately left the originally installed Vista OS on there. Very much regretting that as I believe it contributes to the following problems (BIOS).
So the original problem was that after just a month of using my new ThinkStation, the System Board died, and it had to be replaced. Honestly, all I did was choose the sleep or hibernate option in Vista to shut down. Afterwards,poof! didn't even get the proper Power lights on the system. I diagnosed this with the online docs and then sat for a few hours on our tech support line doing all the same things to re-diagnose it.
So after the replacement, the rear fan will not shut off. Jet engine noise all day. I went into the system settings and selected "Quiet" for the Fan settings but that did not help.
Research on this forum resulted in the possibility of a BIOS update fixing the problem. Comparison to my co-workers systems which arrived at the same time shows this BIOS is woefully out of date, so even if it does not fix the fan issue I want to update it. However, everything I've tried to do is failing for one reason or another.
(The fan issue does need resolution since in one week I will end up sharing an office (first time in many years, thanks IBM for nothing!) so since I don't want us both to have to wear noise cancelling headsets, I'd like to fix this without having to just pull the @#$@ power to the fan. Grrrr. )
I downloaded what I felt were the appropriate Lenovo apps to update both the BIOS and the serial number but none seem to work properly from the command line in Vista. One of the two (can't recall which) asks me to reboot and it never actually shuts down. Eternal "Shutting Down" message. Ga! The other throws some gosh awful
systemupdate le
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?sitestyle=lenovo&lndocid=MIGR-69701
eternal reboot
BIOSD attempt:" 2xjy26usa
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?sitestyle=lenovo&lndocid=MIGR-69701
error 1275 no admin priv - I AM the administrator account, there is no other acct to use!
Then I decided Vista might be the problem and found sites recommending flashing the BIOS from a bootable USB. So I started down that path and after burning the wrong version, finally geting the AIK Vista tools installed and to the point of trying to make the USB bootable, it won't allow me to put the OS boot on it. Ah, for the days when a simple "sys a:" took care of that.
So, after reformatting the USB and pounding my head in the wall, keyboard, etc. I am at my wit's end. What to do. I just want the fan noise to go away.
This does seem to duplicate other forum messages but I can't get anywhere on this. Help!
Solved!
Go to Solution.

FYI to all the helpful folks here (and any looking to shut their jet engine off as well): Flashing the BIOS did the trick.
First I had to find a website with DOS OS files and put those on the USB instead of Vista. Oldie but a goodie, but at least it booted! No other versions would.
I had been intending to use the WinPhlash utility that Lenovo supplied with the BIOS update but since I was booting from DOS that was useless. However, I found a DOS version of it and used that instead. Boom baby! Flashed and rebooted.
It did take two boots to get it back to normal (first one gave very alarming messages about no operating system being found but I think it was just a remnant of the reboot that was triggered from the DOS session). A second boot returned life to normal and blissful silence from the server. And I was finally able to get the model and serial number back in there to get rid of the bootup message it throws for that too.
Ahhhhhhh.
Thanks to all for the hints - I believe I had gotten the idea of flashing the BIOS to solve this from some other thread I found here. This is a very nice forum to have bookmarked.

Minor Fan Noise (not typical, I don't think)

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