New Intel Mini makes a slight whirring noise

Hi
I have just replaced my old G4 Mac Mini with a entry level Intel Mini.
I noticed the new one maked a slight whirring noise constantly.
Its only minor but noticable in the background
The old Mini just used to have a slight fan noise which was more tolerable.
Do all new Mini's make this noise?
Tc

Is the fan suppost to run at all times when the
machine is on?
The fan on all minis runs constantly - in normal operating conditions it turns at relatively low speed and thus creates little noise. Initially because the mini ran so quietly, many owners concluded that the fan wasn't running until the system required it, but that isn't and wasn't the case. It was only after a MacOS update had altered the fan behaviour and made it spin up earlier as temperature rose or CPU increased that many users became aware that there even was a fan inside!
Since the fan is controlled by the system in response to temperature and load, it's apparent behaviour isn't always consistent between systems since it'll depend a lot on which version of MacOS, what ambient air temperatures and what services are running. Thus a mini that appears to run louder than usual may actually be nothing more than the user's perception, or higher ambient air temperature, or heavier load caused by additional services run at startup, or a version of MacOS that was more prone to ramp the fan up earlier in the temperature cycle - or of course a fault!
But indeed, where they are audible at all, the fans in the PPC models make a sound of different character completely from those in Intel models.

Similar Messages

ISight/new intel mini mic problem

Hi,
I've got an iSight camera that I've been using on a just retired eMac. I just purchased a new intel mini and I've been trying to set up ichat. However, the microphone won't work at all on the new computer. The video seems to be ok but no sound.
So far I've:
Checked all settings in System Preferences > sound
Checked all settings in iChat > Preferences > microphone
Started and quit GarageBand
Under the sound control panel, the input level meter doesn't respond on my mini when the iSight mic input is selected. However, when plugging the camera back into my emac, the sound seems to be fine and responds accordingly. When I start a video chat, the connection doctor shows great video stats but 0% audio transmission to the person with whom I'm chatting. Likewise, the ichat preview input meter doesn't show that the mic is functioning correctly.
It seems that this must be related to an audio issue on my mac mini in some way but I'm out of ideas right now. I'm especially bothered that the system preferences line in seems to be buggered.
What next folks? Maybe the next thing is to call for service?
Thanks,
Cory

Hi,
I've poured over Ralph's advice and web pages prior to posting my first inquiry but still haven't had any success.
Is there a way to conclusively isolate the problem to the mini and the sound input? I tested the mic on the emac again and the isight works just as it should. Audio and video, both. I've checked that all of the settings between the emac and mini are the same, including all isight prefs and sound prefs. However, the mini seems to not pick up any input from the isight microphone.
Thanks,
Cory

New Intel Mini's Optical Audio

I am thinking about upgrading my current mini to the new Intel Mini due to the fact that it has optical audio. My mini is connected to my home theater and I want to take advantage of the digital sound. Here's my question:
Q: Does this new Intel Mini really have optical audio like you would find on a DVD player? I don't recognize the actual plug. Most equipment that I use with optical audio has that little black plastic square plugs that you remove when connecting an optical audio cable. My receiver has many inputs.
Do I need a proprietary cable to connect a new Intel Mini to my receiver's optical audio port?
Maybe this seems obvious, but I have to ask before I shell out the cash. Better safe than aorry.
Thanks in advance,
Marc
15 PowerBook G4 - 1.5GHz Mac OS X (10.4)

The audio out port on the new Intel-based Mac mini is a standard type of port. In Apple products, it's used in the AirPort Express, the G5 and Intel-based iMacs, and the new MacBook Pros. The port is a combination of a standard 3.5mm "headphone" port and a digital optical audio port. You can get a regular digital optical cable with the adapter at the online Apple store here. If you already have a digital optical audio cable, you can just get a "Toslink to mini Toslink adapter" like this.
However, if I were you, you don't need to buy a whole new Mac mini to get digital optical audio out. The $99 m-audio Transit USB audio adapter will give you digital optical audio out of your current Mac mini. It will allow you to play surround sound out of your Apple DVD Player application and specifically configure non-surround sound audio out of non-surround sound applications, like iTunes. I'm using the previous model of m-audio's USB adapter with my G4 Mac mini and it works very well.
-Doug

Can someone predict the spec's of the new Intel Mini's to current Mini's?

How much of a drastic or slight change will there be. If someone could just predict the spec's of the new intell's then I might just wait.. I don't want to get a product now that will be considerably outdated in about 5months now.. Will there be a big graphic power increase, processor power increase or what? Also, do you think that Apple will still have the Intel Mini's be at a great price? Will Intel Mini's be 500-700 USD's like the older PowerPC ones?
Thanks!

stlouis --
It is against the terms of use to speculate here.
No one knows the answers to the questions you are asking.
If they did, they could not discuss it here.

Two problems with new Intel mini

Got me a new Intel Core solo mini a week ago - using it as a media center / fileserver. To that end I have disabled the screensaver (set to 'never') and all other energysavers (also set to 'never'). After some time, the screensaver does start however, which is really annoying as the remote doesn't work well when the screensaver is active. Any ideas why this might be, or more importantly, how I can make sure the screensaver doesn't kick in?
Another thing: OOTB the mini doensn't display the grey startup screen but only the text-mode Unix prompts. Same on shutdown. It works fine, no problems there, but still... I'd like the complete Apple experience. Is there a setting that can be changed to get the cuddly, not-so-frightening grey Apple screen instead of the intimidating Unix messages?
MacBook Pro / Mac Mini Mac OS X (10.4.7)

Hello,
For the screen-saver, go into your settings and make sure that "Hot Corners" are not enabled. And, double-check that the "Never" setting was retained for the screen-saver.
As for the text at startup and shut-down, that is "Verbose" mode.
Go in to Terminal (the command line) by going to:
Applications --> Utilities --> Terminal
at the command line, type in the following exactly as it appears:
sudo /usr/sbin/nvram boot-args=""
Then, close terminal, and restart.
Verbose mode is simply a mode that shows you everything that is happening as you start-up. This is useful for figuring out where a system is locking-up during startup, etc.
To see verbose mode, you can also hold down the Command (Apple Key) and the letter "V" while starting up.
Or, you could go into the Terminal again, and type in the following:
sudo /usr/sbin/nvram boot-args="-v"
hope this fixes it for you.
Let me know how it works out.
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.

Performace issues with a new intel Mini

Here's a quick question from a new mac user.
I've just bought a 1.66 intel dual mini with 512MB and to be honest I'm quite surprised how slow it is. It certainly doesn't seem any faster than the ancient PC it replaced. I get considerable lags when switching between applications, for example. Using Word I get delays between hitting the key and letters appearing on screen.
I don't use it for anything special at all just yet - Word, Safari, palm sync stuff. I notice using Activity Monitor that I only have a tiny bit of free memory (7mb or so). Is there anything I can do to improve performance? Has anyone else had similar experiences? I'm reluctant to start doing much else if the performance is already that slow. Any tips would be most welcome.
Will I need to increase my memory? If so, it seems a little disingenuous of apple to market a product that is not really up to running its OS.
mac mini Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Allbran, welcome!
You are certainly not the first to be surprised. As others have mentioned, 512 Meg is not enough to run substantial legacy apps like MS Word and have other programs open too and have good performance.
MS Word was designed for the older PPC processor and runs in emulation (Rosetta) on the Intel Macs.
The only practical solutions are to add more RAM or switch to applications that were programmed for the Intel Macs.
See this link for a discussion of the issues and the range of solutions, which ended in a satisfied user (she upgraded to 2 Gig):
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=3463183
My personal preference would be that anyone selling Macs would make it clear that 512 Meg RAM is not sufficient for anything but casual MS Word use. Unfortunately sellers don't do this, and I suspect many buyers aren't ready to hear it either.
An additional discussion here:
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=3528525#3528525
"Having just upgraded my Intel 512 to 2gb, I can tell you that the beach-ball is at rest. I went from complete frustration to really enjoying the machine. I can now run office, dreamweaver, Safari, itunes, and other apps concurrently with no slowdowns at all.
In fact, this is the best-performing Mac I've ever owned, and that covers a lot of machines!"

New Macbook Air makes a strange zipping noise?

When I open the lid to resume from sleep mode the computer makes a strage zipping niose. It sounds almost like a hardrive spin up. I suppose it could be the fans, but I don't believe it was making this niose before? Is this normal of a Macbook Air?

Then you have a fan noise,...the bearings could be defective.
Since its a new Macbook AIr:
You can return a new Mac within 14 days of purchase.
A new Mac is in warranty for 1 year from the date of purchase.
A new Mac comes with 90 days of free tech support from AppleCare.
Give Apple a call, for appt. and in-store diagnosis and/or replace/repair.
Sorry your Air is squeaking

The speaker on my new ipad mini keeps making a crackling noise when playing music or games and even just typing

Has anyone else had this problem? It goes away for a while but when randomly starts happening again. Is this a common fault with the ipad mini or do I just have a faulty ipad? It is only 2-3 weeks old and never been dropped.

Sounds like there may be an issue with the speaker, contact apple and see if they can help you out.

Should I just wait untill the Intel Mini's are out to make the switch over?

I have been somewhat active on this board for the last month or so looking at the Apple Mini. I want a computer that never really slows down, or crashes a lot. Also, I want a computer that can do some light video editing, and some light gaming (think: Battlefield 1942!).. I'm thinking about waiting till the New Intel Mini's come out but I really don't know when that will be! I don't know if I can hold on for 8 more months with this crappy thing they call an OPERATING SYSTEM.
Do you guys know when the Intel's are coming out? When they do, thats when I might make the switch from XP to mac OX.
Thank you all!

Though a bit belatedly, I thought it might be worth pointing out an issue that ought to cross the minds of those considering buying a mini but not sure whether to wait for the Intel models or not.
Aside from the fact that no-one knows when the Intel minis will be announced and what specs (thus performance) they will have, and the fact that as soon as the first models are out, there will be a tendency to want to wait until the next revision for the 'rev.a' bugs to get ironed out and some speed bumps ironed in, one important extra consideration is the software that's intended to be run.
All software at this time is G4 compatible, and many titles are either already in universal binary, or about to be so, thus would run natively on an Intel-mini. But some, Adobe CS and Microsoft Office (to name a couple of significant examples) are not universal yet, and while they likely will become so, it's not at all clear when. Until they ARE universal, those apps will run in emulation on an intel Mac, and performance is not reported to be stellar.
So I'd suggest to anyone considering the issues, to look at the titles you want to run, and make sure all the important ones are Intel-native already, or going to become so very soon. If they are, then waiting for an Intel mini is perfectly reasonable as long as you don't have any immediate need and can wait however long it takes. But if any crucial apps are PPC only and likely to stay that way, I'd buy a G4-powered mini while they're still available, and trade it later when the crucial apps go Universal and the Intel models have settled down.

3.5 HDD for the Intel minis?

I heard a rumor somewhere the new Intel minis have a 3.5" HDD. Is this true?
On a similar note, Apple should produce a premium mini, with the same specs as the iMac, but without the screen and same small case design, even bigger. I would like to bring my own display with a powerful mini.
Bryan

Hello,
Screen burn in, 2 displays in a couple of months, I
think you are full of it!! I have a Rev A iMac G5 and
Well, the local dealer was quite surprised to see it as well. But, he came to my house, and hooked-up another monitor to make sure that it wasn't a video circuitry problem. And, concluded that it was definitely etched into the LCD panel.
Installing a new LCD panel immediately fixed the problem, and the currently etched images disappeared.
But, a little intensive work and new images are burned-in again.
have left the screen burning many days without screen
savers and have had only 2 desktop pictures. The last
picture is 1 +year old. I have the dock on the left
side from day one, and moved it and looked nothing!
even on shut down, Nothing "0" burn in here.
The problem isn't just from having a stationary image on the screen.
The iMac G5 seems to have suffered more from the combination of a stationary image and intensive (extremely hard work).
I found that if the temperature was high, that the screen would burn-in very quickly. Even on a brand-new panel.
But, that's the nature of how I need to use the machines. They are going to be pushed very hard.
In my case, I was working with audio (editing, refining, splicing, filtering, etc.), for a few hours.
The temps on the computer would rise to a nice cooking state (heat radiating at you).
I believe that it is the close quarters of the iMac that lead to this burn-in problem.
I think the panels would be fine if they were not subjected to extreme heat while displaying images.
But, when pushed hard, I believe that the image is actually "cooked" into the LCD panel.
I've never had any trouble with light usage causing burn-in. For example, iMovie and iDVD don't seem to stress the computer hard enough.
But, professional level (extremely demanding) audio editing seems to push it hard enough to really cook.
I would suspect that if you brought me any iMac G5 or CoreDuo that I could burn-in it's display permanently within 2 hours with my level of usage.
But, if I treated it nicely and babied it, then I'm sure I could keep the panel from burning-in. But, then if you're going to baby it, then there's no point in having all that power available.
In my case, the burn-in that I have seen looks less like "image-persistence" and more like someone took an exacto-knife and traced the outline of the windows (with buttons) into the LCD panel.
You can see a very defined (bright white) line that exactly matches the border of the windows and buttons that were present on the screen.
As another poster here mentioned, Image-Persistence is supposed to be reversible. But, the problems I have observed would not disappear.
I tried Apple's solutions:
1) Display a pure white image across the entire screen. I tried this for more than a day. No improvement. It just kept the panel warm, and further cooked-in the image.
2) Leave it off for as long as the image was on the screen. Well, the image was only on the screen for a couple of hours to burn-in the image. I tried turning the computer off for several days (about a week) and no improvement at all.
The problem was definitely an image etched into the panel. Connecting an external LCD panel produced no problems. And, installing the new LCD panel cured it until a new image was burned-in.
I basically came to the conclusion that the iMac G5 system was a great computer if you don't need the power it provides. But, if you push the G5 to it's limits, then you'll likely have problems like I had.
But, there's no point in buying a computer at any performance level if you don't intend to use it's performance potential.
If I only intended to use the machine to a level that a 1 GHz machine would be sufficient, then why would I buy a 2 GHz machine. It would be a waste of money.
But, if I buy a 2 GHz machine, I will definitely expect that I can use the machine to it's potential without damaging it. If it cannot handle the work, then they shouldn't design it to perform the task.
Anyway, the local dealer was equally as skeptical as yourself. But, when he came out and saw the machine in person, he was equally as shocked as I was. I had my full audio setup right there on the desk still setup for him to see what I was doing.
Note this was not basic audio work. This was complete pro-level equipment feeding audio into the machine for manipulation. No USB equipment and consumer stuff.
Real mixers, pre-amps, tape decks, turn-tables, etc. fed into the computer through it's audio input port.

12" PowerBook with new Mac mini (Duo) as a node.....will it work?

Also, does anyone know if I can boot from the new intel mini's HD using my 12" PowerBook's keyboard and screen? If so, then I would deffinitely reconsider buying a MacBook Pro now and wait for it to have a better optical drive. Thanks for your posts in advance.

You can't boot from the other hard drive. It's a different version of the OS as well as a different drive format.
You'll need a monitor and at least a mouse just to get the machine up and running, and to run the node app. I suppose once you have it set up, you could get by without those.
I'm curious if nodes work across between PPC and Intel. Also, I'd like to see what ram usage is like on a node machine.

Whirring noise when I attempt start up

Bought a MacBook Pro in September 2013 and have had no problems. However now when I try to start it up the screen remains black and it just makes a loud whirring noise. The battery is fine and the small white light on the front comes on to indicate it's turned on. Has anyone had this problem or know how to resolve it? Thanks

You have a one year warranty. Take advantage of it and take the system to an Apple store to be properly diagbnosed and fixed under the terms of the warranty.

Clicking noise on new Mac Mini

I got a new Mac Mini last month and noticed it makes a clicking noise quite frequently. It just started to really bug me, so I looked into it and found this site:
http://mymacfixes.blogspot.com/2009/06/how-do-i-stop-clicking-noise-from-hard.ht ml
which says:
On Macs, this is often found in replacement drives for the MacBook and the Mac Mini. Apple modifies the firmware of drives it supplies to avoid this problem, but no one does that for the speedier, larger replacements. Upgraders get more -- or less -- than they bargained for.
How can you tell for sure if your drive is affected? Download a shareware program like smartctl orVolitans Software's Smart Utility and look for the load cycle count. Hard drives are rated for only a few hundred thousand of those. If your drive has gone through thousands or hundreds of thousands in a short time, you're in trouble.
So, I downloaded Volitans Software Smart Utility and see that within the past 10 minutes the Load Cycle Count has a Raw Value that seems pretty high. 15 minutes ago it was 32257 and now it isof 32286... which sounds like about the correct number of clicks that I have heard coming out of this stupid thing.
I noticed above it says "On Macs, this is often found in replacement drives for the MacBook and the Mac Mini" ... hmm, replacement drives? Interesting! I flipped the Mac Mini over to install new RAM after 2 weeks and that is when I noticed 2 big scuffs on the bottom of it. How did they get there? I couldn't believe I had been that rough with it since I was being VERY careful with it. That seemed very strange to me, but now I think it makes sense. I think they gave me a machine with a replacement drive that was poorly upgraded (and scuffed up in the process).
If I take it in to the Apple Store, will they deny there's a problem (o me it seems pretty obvious there is one)?
Or will they do the right thing and transfer my info to a new machine?

PS - before you reply suggesting I take it back to be on the safe side (which makes sense) can any of you with a relatively new Mac Mini download the trial software above and let me know what your Load Cycle Count is? You just have click the "show all" button under attributes and then find the Raw Value in the right column.
If you can't do that, then could you please make it very quiet in your place and listen for clicking. If your machine clicks a few times every 15-30 seconds or so then either your Mac Mini is screwed up, too, or it's just what Mac Minis do.
Thanks.

Upgrade to OS 10.4 with SW coming from new Mac Mini (Intel duo core)

Is it possible to upgrade my G4 PowerBook to the latest OS 10.4 and iLife06 with the SW provided and installed on new Mac Mini's with the Intel duo core? That would make purchasing a new Mac Mini a sweeter deal.

No.
The disks that come with new machines are specific to that machine.
You will need Tiger and iLife '06 if you want to upgrade your PowerBook.
Regards,
Colin R.

New Mac Mini Intel Duyo Core...soooo slow??

Hi - I just replaced my G4 tower (which had a 1Ghz upgrade) for a duo core 1.66 Ghz Mac Mini. Since I have had the G4 for 5 years I was expecting to be happily surprised at how fast the new Mac Mini is....
But, man this thing is sooo slow. It takes longer to launch applications, I get the spinning wheel all the time, and often I just have to hold and click on the menu items and wait fro the menu to drop down. Could it be because I simply did a migration from the G4 and it would be faster to install the applications separately to the new Intel system? I don't run anything intensive, just MSWord, GoLive, Entourage, and Safari mainly.
I ran an xbench (www.xbench.com) report and ended up with a 48.
Maybe I was expecting too much from an $800 computer, but it is slower than my 5 year old desktop. In fact I think if there is nothing obviously worng with it I'll be sending it back and hold out for a G5 instead.
Anyone had similar issues?

Word, GoLive and Entourage are PowerPC applications. On a Macintel, they will run under Rosetta emulation, which means that they will be slower than on a comparable PPC Mac (given the fact that the Core Duo is faster than about any G4, performance should be somewhat similar with standard apps - maybe still a bit slower with more intensive apps). And apps running under emulation tend to have higher memory requirements. If you run both three apps (Word, Entourage & GoLive) simultaneously, then the slowness you experience isn't very surprising. Adding RAM would probably make things a bit faster.
While some people feel comfortable with installing additional RAM themselves, the Mini is not exactly made to be user-serviceable, and if you have any doubt you should have it installed by Apple or an Authorized Service Provider. Moreover, because Apple will charge you a lot for RAM, I would suggest going to an AASP that might offer better prices. Some will even install third-party RAM for you (for a fee, but considering how expensive RAM can be when purchased through Apple, it could very well be worth it). You can find RAM on websites such as Crucial.com, and Crucial also have a Memory Advisor Tool which will select the right RAM for your Mini (they actually guarantee it will work with the Mini), as well as a lifetime warranty.
Or, since all of the applications you mentioned (except Safari) are not, and will not be Universal before some time, you could return the Mini and get a PPC Mac, maybe a G5 tower or a refurbished iMac (G5) ...

New Intel Mini makes a slight whirring noise

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