System lockup w/loud fans on MacPro 2008

I have an 8 core 2008 Mac Pro. Since about a month after the warranty ended (naturally) the machine occasionally locks up, the fans go into overdrive, and the monitors go into standby mode. The only thing I can do is power down the machine by holding down the power button. When I restart the machine (after waiting a minute or so) all I get is some normal fan activity and a power light. I've tried resetting the SMU numerous times to no avail. What does seem to work is opening up the machine, pulling out the memory riser cards, and (with the machine on its side) putting them back in quite firmly. This often, but not always, solves the problem for awhile. But it always comes back. When the machine works, it works flawlessly until the problem occurs. It has plenty of ventilation, the inside of the machine is clean, and the room temperature is set at 78.
So my question is, is this more likely to be an issue with the memory riser cards, the logic board, or is it maybe something else entirely? I would assume the riser card is a cheaper fix than the logic board, but I wouldn't want to pay for one needlessly. Any help appreciated.

Too bad you didn't spend the under $300 on AppleCare to extend the warranty to 3 yrs.
Resetting the SMC by unplugging power and all cables for a couple minutes is more of, sometimes it does reset the SMC, sometimes it takes longer.
What you DO have at this point is corrupt directory and files from hard forced power off. So at this point you need your backup(s), system image, 3rd party disk maintenance (Disk Warrior, TTPro, DG2) and maybe time for a fresh install on another drive to sort things out.
Then make a backup image and keep it safe.
Next, try to troubleshoot and address the WHY part: software, hardware, devices, errant process or even driver. Even power and such.
May seem obvious but running Apple Hardware Test would be step #1, and seeing if you can put it back under warranty or have someone with better testing equipment do a bench evaluation - some places charge $75.

Similar Messages

My 2008 Macbook Pro makes a loud fan noise.

Hello -
I bought my 15" macbook pro back in October 2008. I was very happy with my purchase due to the machine's performance. But over the past year I have noticed an increase in the fan noise. It almost sounds like it's hitting against something at a very high speed, hense this irregular fan noise. The noise also increases drastically when I am working on Photoshop or InDesign. I also partitioned my hard-drive to hold windows so I can work on AutoCad.....noise increases also as I work on my machine.
Why is this happening? Could this loud fan noise damage any internal component to the machine? Should I bring it in to Apple immediately?
Thank you!

Some of the applications that you mention are somewhat CPU intensive which creates heat and results in fan speed increase and hence additional noise (to state the obvious). However if you are experiencing excessive noise when CPU loads are modest it could be that your fans are failing as all mechanical devices eventually will or you may have 'schmutz' inside that is the cause of the unwanted noise.
I suggest you open the MBP and see if there is any dust in the fans that may very well be affecting their performance. After 4 years, this is not an uncommon situation and it could be the solution to the problem.
If not, then you may consider getting replacements from iFixit or Powerbook Medic and replace them your self. It is not rocket science in this instance. If you suffer from chronic fingerfumbilitis, then have the Apple store do it for you.
Ciao.

Very loud fan sound, can't get video, system still running...help?

I can't seem to find an answer to this anywhere here or throughout google. Can't find a similar problem.
We have a G4 tower here at work that we run FileMaker server on. It pretty much just sits there and we all connect to it remotely and use the FileMaker on our own machines. It's usually not even touched unless Filemaker needs to be restarted or something along those lines. It shares a monitor with another system so its not usually even connected to a monitor.
Well - today there is a loud fan noise coming from it that we havent heard before. So we went to hook up the monitor and can't get any video. It was fine in the past week or so because we have been on it with the monitor.
FileMaker must still be running fine because we can still connect...for now...but we can't load up a screen to properly shut down, or run the backup or anything to safely turn the machine off. I am not sure which OS is currently installed because I can't get to that info.
Our guess is that the video card died, and that is the video card fan spinning...but if that were the case, would the software running still be fine like it is?
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Our tech guy can't make it out until tomorrow morning and we're afraid to have to wait that long...
Thanks in advance!

G4 tower covers a lot of G4s; it would help to have more specific model information. I think some of the later ones (not my DP800 QS) had software controlled fans. It's possible part of the operating system has crashed and the fan is automatically going into full speed to automatically prevent overheating. The rest of the OS may still be running and explaining why you can get to your files. I'm not sure about the video though. Perhaps somebody else has something more constructive but with that kind of thing I can't help but feel you'll just have to switch off the machine and restart it.
Message was edited by: Limnos

Loud fan noise on mountain lion, Mac Pro early 2008

Hi there,
I've recently installed mountain lion 10.8.5 lon my Mac Pro , early 2008, 2,8 GHz, 24 gb ram, 2x ATI Radeon 2800 XT.
To give it a clean shot i clean installed it on a sep. Partition, no upgrade from my previous Snow Leopard.
The Machine usually works quiet, i've measured via Isat Menu:
exhaust fan: 681 rpm
HD/expansion: 1100 rpm
After running Mointain Lion, latest update version, i get a much louder fan noise than in snow leopard:
exhaust fan: 845-950 rpm
HD/expansion: 1500 - 1800 rpm
The activity monitor shows no significant CPU usage, only the kernal has over 90 threads constantly running.
I've heard that this is a known issue but it's never been resolved. SMC and PRAM reset did not work at all.
when i go back to snow leopard everything gets back to normal. Yosemite is even harder on fan noise than mountain lion
so i've rolled back to mountain lion.
Any idea ?
dezzo

no one here with the same problem on an early 2008 Mac Pro ?

Help! My MacPro goes into high speed loud FAN mode and Races..

So My MAC PRO Intel/ dual hard drive tower computer..will be 7 years old this March, last night it went into LOUD FAN mode..racing..and pretty loud...like air was blowing through the whole thing; I've seen someone else's computer do this; WHAT is this!?? I couldn't shut down by pressing ESC/ I had to HOLD the power button five seconds for it to shut down. WHY does it do this? Im on Snow Leapord I think 10.4.11
It was a scary thing... What is this?? thx in advance, Larry NYC

basically this is a hardware problem causing a kernal panic. It could be any number of things.
A good place to start is to boot from your system recovery disk and run some hardware diagnostics.
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1509
I had this happen years ago with a G5 and finaly traced it to problems in the motherboard. Total loss.
Oh, and BTW Snow Leopard is 10.6. 10.4 is Tiger.

IMac 27" (Late 2012) Loud Fan and Overheating Issues, causing Hard Drive Failure

Hi all,
I'm having some serious overheating issues with my new iMac. Any help to help me solve this problem would be gladly appreciated since it's really beginning to bug me. Here's what's has happened:
I noticed in the first few hours of switching the iMac on that there was a short burst of very loud fan noise. This has been happening about once every two days since and every time I haven't been doing any heavy processing with the system. I've noticed that the main fan will spin, on average, at 1200rpm. Is that normal? The iMac is very well ventilated and sits right next to a window...
I have also boot camped the iMac with a copy of Windows 8 so I could run some fairly power-hungry games. I intentionally purchased a high end iMac (27" display, Intel Core i7 3.4GHz, Nvidia GeForce 680MX Graphics, 1TB Fusion drive) and expected the iMac to run games flawlessly. However, after a few days, I noticed that the CPU and GPU had shot up to a worrying 80°C whenever I ran power-hungry games, with a very loud hissing noise from the fan. After running games for about 10 minutes, the fan will stop hissing, causing the GPU and CPU to increase to 100°C. The iMac then fails and switches off unexpectedly without any warning. After analysing the Windows event logs, I received an event ID 41: The system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first. This error could be caused if the system stopped responding, crashed, or lost power unexpectedly.
As this occurred about six times whilst I was testing my iMac's performance, I think my hard drive has now begun to fail - sometimes I will hear the hard drive make a click noise, about once every 5 seconds. Sometimes, the clicking noise causes OS X and Windows to run very slowly (even though minimal RAM is being used and nothing too intensive (Safari, Mail etc.) is being processed). Running Repair Disk and Repair Disk Permissions under OS X's recovery mode as well as a repair in chkdsk in Windows suggests that there were no problems with the hard drive. All I can do is wait a while for the clicking noise to stop, and then performance will increase. I have backed up everything externally.
I have also performed a reset of the SMC as well as the PRAM, which hasn't really helped.
Any help will be appreciated. I will gladly provide any extra logs etc. if they're needed.
Thanks so much,
Alex.

Alex Cummaudo wrote:
I've noticed that the main fan will spin, on average, at 1200rpm. Is that normal? The iMac is very well ventilated and sits right next to a window...
That's the default fan speed on iMacs, so there isn't any problem with this.
Alex Cummaudo wrote:
I have also boot camped the iMac with a copy of Windows 8 so I could run some fairly power-hungry games. I intentionally purchased a high end iMac (27" display, Intel Core i7 3.4GHz, Nvidia GeForce 680MX Graphics, 1TB Fusion drive) and expected the iMac to run games flawlessly. However, after a few days, I noticed that the CPU and GPU had shot up to a worrying 80°C whenever I ran power-hungry games, with a very loud hissing noise from the fan. After running games for about 10 minutes, the fan will stop hissing, causing the GPU and CPU to increase to 100°C. The iMac then fails and switches off unexpectedly without any warning. After analysing the Windows event logs, I received an event ID 41: The system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first. This error could be caused if the system stopped responding, crashed, or lost power unexpectedly.
You must know that Boot Camp isn't compatible with Windows 8 and that Apple hasn't released drivers for Windows 8, so it can fail. Install Windows 7 inmediately until Apple launches updated drivers.
As it looks like the hard disk is damaged, I would take the Mac to an Apple Store. It's in warranty, so it should be repaired for free or you should receive a new one

MacPro 2008 remote reconfiguration

Hi,
I am trying to reconfigure the drives on a MacPro 2008 remotely via Screen Sharing. The remote machine had 4 drives configured in RAID 0 (I know). I copied the contents of the drives (66 GB or so) to an external USB drive via SuperDuper and booted from the USB drive ok. Using disk utility, I set up one drive to be the OS/Apps drive, 1 for Time Machine and 2 as RAID 1. So far, so good. I then partitioned and formatted the OS drive. I used SuperDuper to copy the external USB drive back to the OS/Apps drive. I set that drive as the startup drive in System Preferences/Startup Drive and rebooted. After a long time, say 10 minutes or so, the system came back online but was booted off the USB drive.
I verified the drive and permissions in Disk Utility. Still no luck.
I repeated this process 2 more times with the same result. I am at wits end on this and would appreciate any thoughts.
TIA.

One more input:
I have iPartition and compared what it reported on the remote machine to my machine. Everything looks ok. Both report bootable (reserve 128M). However, my machine has another entry: MBR Type Code: HFS (Mac OS/MAC OS Extended) while the remote machine has no entry. Could this be a clue?

Mac Mini - Flashing Folder Icon / No boot / Loud fans

I recently got my Mac Mini back after 8 months of it being 'elsewhere' (someone had it, tried to gain access, failed because I have filevault).
When I first got it back yesterday I turned it on, booted and then logged in, noticed no sound, and system was saying there was no sound card. The computer wasn't lagging or freezing whatsoever, so I reset it and still no sound.
I open it up and what do you know, someones opened it (I assume to get to the HDD) and had unclipped the sound card ribbon. Reseated that and put it back together, turn it on and finally a chime, but then nothing, White screen, and fans turn on full blast. I reset it, same thing. Reset it about 10 times, only thing I noticed was half the time my mouse cursor would show and let me move the cursor around.
So I take it apart again, check all connections, restart, same symptoms.
Pull it apart again and try installing 1 RAM chip at a time, same symptoms.
I tried booting it with resetting PRAM, NVRAM, I tried starting holding option, pressing c, everything, and nothing happens! Same symptoms. I tried holding down power for 10 seconds, hear a long beep, then chime, same symptoms!
So I take it apart again, take out hard drive, check connections (all ok), put it back in, same symptoms.
Anyway I got angry so i turned it on and left it doing it's White screen business. Come back 45 minutes later, flashing folder icon with '?'
I reboot, wait 15 again, same folder icon, loud fan, nothing else.
This doesn't make sense, HDD was fine 5 minutes before, no noises at all, no lag, no errors. I didn't touch the hard drive previously to the problem, and now nothing is helping. I've had the hard drive replaced 2 years ago due to near failure, but saved all data by cloning the disk, the HDD isn't old!
I just bought an external HDD enclosure, should arrive soon, and a new HDD, issue is this disk is filevaulted, I'm scared my data is going to be lost for good.
What can I do? I've lost my OS X disc, but judging by the computer being unresponsive to other commands at boot I doubt it would boot a CD anyway.
Please help.
Thanks

Whew, what a bad ride.
Does it also have Firmware password protection in Mac OS X ...
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1352
It would block usage of all the startup keys, like C, N, T, D, CMD+s, CMD+Option+p+r, CMD +v, Option, and Shift, as well as booting from anything but the Hard Drive.
Force Removing Password Protection
1) Add or remove DIMMs to change the total amount of RAM in the computer.
2) Then, the PRAM must be reset 3 times. (Command + Option + P + R).
http://www.securemac.com/openfirmwarepasswordprotection.php
Does it boot to Single User Mode, CMD+s keys at bootup, if so try...
/sbin/fsck -fy
Repeat until it shows no errors fixed.
(Space between fsck AND -fy important).
Resolve startup issues and perform disk maintenance with Disk Utility and fsck...
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214

17" iMac G5 2GHz (ALS but no iSight) runs hot and LOUD fans

Hi all,
I love my iMac. I've had it for nearly 8 months now. From day 1, I've been surprised by how loud it is under any significant CPU load. Unfortunately for me, I have waited until I'm well out of my phone support window to do anything about it. I have not yet purchased AppleCare.
As I type this, my CPU temp is 70 degrees C and fan is running at 2600 RPM, running nothing beyond the browser in which I'm typing. Should I attempt to work in iMovie and render said work to DVD (the reason I bought the machine), CPU temp will climb to ~76 and fan speed jumps to 4600-4800 RPM. At this speed, the noise is unbearable...but it is annoying even when idle.
Can any of you with this model of 17" iMac comment on your experience? Do these numbers and this experience sound normal? I know I'm not alone in this complaint, but I can't tell how widespread the problem is or whether my machine is normal or defective. I've been told by my local service center (CompUSA) that every single 17" iMac of this revision runs hot and has loud fans, and that there is nothing I can do short of complaining to Apple in the hopes of getting a replacement of a later revision. I was told by a "genius" at a different Apple store that my machine sounded about like he'd expect.
I'm getting a system board replacement tomorrow, but have been told not to expect it to make a significant difference. I figure I must do it before Apple would consider further action.
Any advice at all will be greatly appreciated. Sorry for the long message...
Thanks,
ctcaldwell
iMac G5 17" Mac OS X (10.4.5)

Mine is still fairly new as I picked it up off ebay a couple weeks ago brand new. So I don't know when it was actually manufactured. The part of the noise that gets under my skin is that soft but constant background whining coming from the CPU fan. It doesn't really sound like anything rubbing or a bad bearing, just the sound that an electric motor makes. But, it just seems to resonate from the lower left hand side where the air intake is.
So quite accidentally one day I held my hand under the left hand side and it completely muffled the whine sound. You could still here the hum and the sound of air but the irritating element was gone. Playing around a little more, I opted to tape a business card under that lower left hand corner, bridging the gap from front to back to still allow an airspace for the fan's suction. It knocks out about 90% of the whine.
It's been running that way for two weeks with no ill effects. Yes, the fan speeds up and slows down when needed. Normal at rest RPM is 1500 and mid to upper 50's on the temp. The highest temp I've seen under max continuous load is 65 with the fan at 4000 rpm.
I did experiment with something longer than the business card but I did then see a decrease in cooling capability. The isight models have their suction ducted out the back and I bet that gets rid of that resonance.
So all in all it still makes less fan noise than my old B&W, it's just that the B&W wasn't up on the desk so close to our heads. But, If your fans are constantly on high, there is a procedure for resetting something in power management, I just can't find it right now. Hope this helps.

Radeon HD 3870 PCIe 2.0 overheating and loud fan problem fixed?

Hello everybody.
I just wanted to know if anybody on here has bought an 3870 lately and still has the overheating/constant loud fan issue. I have been told by Macsales that this issue has been fixed on the new cards? Is that correct? I am still shopping for a card for my MacPro 2007 1,1. Don't really have the money to buy the 4870 and the only other option I have is the 3870. Pretty sad that there are no other ones in that $200 (or less) price range. Every other card for that Mac version is in the $350-$450 range.
Anyway, just wanted to know if these 3870 issues have been fixed.
Thanks.

My experience with the 3870: I have 2 of them for 2 computers and have never got the fan issues reported all over this site. I dont think it applies too ALL 3870s'. They have been pretty much silent or close too. Its a great card with Motion and maybe I was tripping, but it seemed to make the interface a bit more snappy.
Having said that, I have removed them now and replaced them with the 8800, due to Snow leopard and support for Open CL (FYI 3870 does not support Open CL, which is a shame, why? baffles me!) not that apps support that yet, but soon.
<Edited by Host>
good luck
BKT

MacBook Pro Not turning on, loud fan

My friends 13in MacBook Pro won't turn on. The light on the bottom near the remote reciever is on and there is a very loud fan noise.

If the light is on and the fan is running then the system is on, even though you can't see anythinig on the screen.
Press and hold down the power button for 5-10 seconds to shut the system down. Once that light goes off and the fans stop spinning try to start it again by just pressing the power button once. If you get the startup chime and something on the screen then it might be ok and it was just hunge. If there is nothing on the screen and it doesn't give the startup chime thenn the system needs to be taken to apple to be looked at and diagnosed as to the problems with it.

Loud Fans 10.4.6, what gives?

I run two systems on my G5 Dual 2.5- 10.3.9 and 10.4.6.
No loud fan noise on Panther but lots on Tiger. Is anyone
experiencing the same prob. I've searched the forums and
have seen no real answers. Anyone having similar problems?

hey jonathan--
here is an article which describes the nature of firmware, which is like something which is in between software and hardware. it doesn't "reset" automatically because it doesn't really have a default state. it communicates to external hardware devices and to components inside the computer itself. because these devices and components can change, the firmware can also be changed by updating the information in the chip. the firmware is like a component between software and hardware. it's very important. if you think of a task performed on computer as being like a person doing something with a tool, then firmware is like the hand holding the tool. it takes instructions from the "idea", or software, and then communicates them to the "tool", which would be the hardware.

Mac is making loud fan sound and running slow

Recently upgraded to lion, computer has been shutting itself down and now has loud fan sound while running slow

computer has been shutting itself down
Try Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC)

Loud Fan Noice, Single User Mode?

My iMac makes really loud fan noises when it's on
There's no problem with it, but the fan is running all time and making loud noises.
So I looked for help, and some say about starting in single-user mode.
What exactly is it and what does it do to my computer?
Is it really necessary?
iMac G5 PowerPC Mac OS X (10.4.9)

"what exactly do i have to do for disk utility test ?
i verified and i checked those permissions stuff
but i dont exactly know what i'm supposed to do there"
Did you do the above from your Tiger DVD?
If you received errors did you click the Repair Disk button?
Were there errors that the Utility could not repair? If so, then you will need to use a stronger utility programs. The top 3rd party utility programs that are favorites/recommended in these forums are the following:
DiskWarrior
Highly recommended for *directory damage* repairs.
TechTool Pro
Multi-functional utility.
Drive Genius Multi-functional utility.
You will need to make your own decision on which to purchase. Read up on them on their websites because each does something a little different.
================
If you did not repair from your Tiger DVD:
Repairing permissions from the Tiger DVD
Boot up from your Tiger Install DVD while holding down the "c" key.
Select the language you wish to use, and then choose "Disk Utility" from the menu bar.
Your HD should appear in a panel on the left hand side of the window which opens. Select it and then click on the "repair disk" button in the right hand section of the window.
If Disk First aid is able to complete the repair now click on the "Repair permissions" button.
Once this process has been completed restart your computer.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=25751 About Disk Utility's Repair Disk Permissions feature
TIP-You should Repair Permissions:
After installing and/or updating an OS (Operating System).
After installing software.

Sudden loud fan noise...

Hi everyone...
I recently had a problem with my Airport connection ("no airport hardware detected") that required me to reset my PRAM not once but twice. Now that that problem is resolved, I have an annoyingly loud fan, from the moment I start up my Mac Mini. I wouldn't really care about this, except that this particular computer is used for my home theatre system, and the loud noise really detracts from the sound experience. Can anyone suggest why this loud fan might be happening? It is noteworthy that I made no other changes to this computer prior to this problem appearing, though I am in the process of performing a Java Release 6 update and Security Update 008-001 right now.
Thanks in advance,
Robert

I would suspect that in the process of resetting the PRAM, you may have inadvertently applied a PMU reset, which on Intel-based minis typically causes this fan behavior subsequently.
Try an SMC reset - this has been proven to resolve the issue in at least some cases! Follow this procedure carefully, ensuring you do not hold the power button in while reconnecting the power cable!
To reset the SMC on an Intel mini:
-From the Apple menu, choose Shut Down (or if the computer is not responding, hold the power button until it turns off).
-Unplug all cables from the computer, including the power cord and any display cables.
-Wait at least 15 seconds.
-Plug the power cord back in, making sure the power button is not being pressed at the time.
-Then reconnect your keyboard and mouse to the computer.
-Press the power button on the back to start up your computer.

System lockup w/loud fans on MacPro 2008

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