Strange grinding noise

I have a Rev. A G5 Imac 20" with 1gig of ram running 10.4.6. I have noticed over the past 2-3 days a sort of grinding noise(that is the best way I can describe it) that revs up and then revs down just as quickly as it appears. It almost sounds like a fan is not balanced in its housing or something. The noise is very sporatic but at the same time it is very unnerving. It occurs regardless of cpu usage and if the fans are running fast under heavy use. The volume of the noise does not change if the screen is dimmer or brightened. Anyone have any ideas?
Thanks

Hi W M R,
An SMU reset can certainly help with some forms of erratic fan behviour (reving up and down inappropriately, spinning continuously at high speed, etc). It does not seem likely to fix a "grinding noise", though.
On the other hand, excessive dirt on one of the fans could well produce this sort of sound. (The fans are "cage style" fans, built somewhat like a paddlesteamer wheel, and could well make such a sound if dirt builds up between the "paddles" and the cage, or if the dirt puts the whole fan out of balance).
Opening it up will provide you with an opportunity to see if this seems to be the problem. The "First Generation" and "ALS" models are very easy to open.
To give you some idea of the likelihood of dirty fans being an issue, I've cleaned mine twice within the first twelve months of ownership, with a reduction in noise levels on each occasion.
Cheers
Rod

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This question was solved.
View Solution.

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