Moving G5's HDD heat sensor

Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/G5/G5_dri....html#storytop



Curious if anyone has tried this or any thoughts you all might have.



I have absolutely no probs with my new baby (1.8x2 refurb) but it has not even been quite 2 weeks yet since I got it. Mr. Breedon's site has helped me many, many times over the years w/ my old beige and I trust the info he puts out there.



However, I am somewhat reluctant to start messin' around inside this one just yet. The article says there was enough 'stickiness' on the original glue to attach it to the new location. Will there be enough to put it back should I have to (God forbid!) take it in for service? What kind of glue is it and where do I get some? Should I try this? Anyone?



Thanks!



hmmm...perhaps this goes in Genius Bar forum? Sorry if so and forgive the newb error!

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 14
    I was initially extremely worried about this - I was bitten hard by the whole IBM 75GXP fiasco (4 dead drives in 12 months). I even went so far as to starting the process - but a lack of time and a drive which I couldn't seem to figure out how to remove (even with mucking about with PC innards for years)

    and I stopped trying. I was following the discussions on the apple forums pretty closely for a couple weeks.



    I never went back and tried - I don't like the idea of voiding the warranty (even though you could move it back). Also, apparently the temps technically ARE within operating spec, even though they are running hot.



    My final solution? I try to remember to back up every couple days (but it ends up being every week or two) and I pray. I also intend to dump this thing in another year or so (whenever the successor to the 970FX comes out).



    Not much help - whatever you do all I can say is backup, backup backup!
  • Reply 2 of 14
    ebbyebby Posts: 3,110member
    I'm gunna try this next time I have my G5 open. My brother had a drive die on him and they were HOT. \
  • Reply 3 of 14
    Speaking of heat sensors. MOTs white paper on the 7410 mentions that it has a heat sensor. Every program I tried to use including the ones that I wrote says it doesn't What gives?
  • Reply 4 of 14
    ebbyebby Posts: 3,110member
    Ahh, well I couldn't wait any longer. I moved the sensor. I don't notice any change in fan speed whatsoever but ThermographX reported some changes.



    The biggest change was from the Drive Bay sensor which usually reports 80-90 degrees. Now as I type this it reports 102 degrees. It is big but if you think about it, this is what the drive usually runs at. (or closer to it)



    The only thing that has me worried is the U3 "HEATSINK". I don't know what it is (or where) but it usually runs at 130 degrees. It must be different than the processor since they have their own sensors.\
  • Reply 5 of 14
    alcimedesalcimedes Posts: 5,486member
    i'll have to check the heat on my drives at work monday. would be interesting to see if they're really hot or not.
  • Reply 6 of 14
    leonisleonis Posts: 3,427member
    Just unplug the sensor from the motherboard. Much easier than moving the sensor.



    I did the unplugging and so far so good
  • Reply 7 of 14
    leonisleonis Posts: 3,427member
    beside unplugging the sensor I also add an extra case fan



    The drives are cool now but the tower is getting nosier due to the extra drive fan
  • Reply 8 of 14
    ebbyebby Posts: 3,110member
    Unplug the sensor? Doesn't the G5 need that? Or does the fan run full speed all the time?



    My fan still kicks in when it needs to, I just "set" the tempature trigger point lower.
  • Reply 9 of 14
    leonisleonis Posts: 3,427member
    I only unplugged the HD bay heat sensor plug out from the motherboard (second last one from the back of the tower). Others are untouched.



    By doing this the fan in the hard drive bay spins a lot faster
  • Reply 10 of 14
    I moved the heat sensor today and now Thermograph does not detect it.



    It did before I messed with the sensor so I guess I broke it? Some have said to just disconnect sensor from logic board and fan will spin faster.



    Any suggestions as to whether I should try to get a replacement, disconnect it, or something I can try to fix it? Tried gently squeezing the tiny connection block and the wires look to be okay...



    Sigh.... my first attempt at a hack with the G5 has gone awry! I was only tryin to do the right thing! (hehe)



    Thanks in advance for any insight/comments!
  • Reply 11 of 14
    alcimedesalcimedes Posts: 5,486member
    ok, just did the move of the heat sensor. when i took the side of my machine the drives were running bloody hot.



    after the change, the drives started at a solid, low 86°.



    right now i'm transferring 60GB one direction, and another 30 the other direction. i'm goinng to see if i can kick the heat up any higher.



    after 10 min. of data transfer, the heat had only kicked up by 5° (to 91°), and it was already through 15GB.





    well, it's not 15 min. into the transfer, and the heat is sitting at 98° and hasn't moved in a while. i touched the drives and they're pretty cool still, whereas before with this temp. reading the drives were bloody hot to the touch.



    after another 10 min. the drives have hit 105°. in theory the fan should be kicking in now, but i'm not hearing anything. i'll let it run for about an hour and see where the temp maxxes out.
  • Reply 12 of 14
    ok, got up to as high as 109° then the fan kicked in. it's been stable at 104° since then. the writeup nailed the process to a T. i'd highly recommend it, just be careful with the sensor!
  • Reply 13 of 14
    Yeah, I broke it. I been kickin' myself for bein' such a klutz and puttin' a 'stain' on this otherwise perfect machine. I got lucky and received a flawless, beautiful G5, delivered to my door in less than 40 hrs from time of online order and i had to go tinkering with it!



    I took it to an Authorized Apple place Monday. Couple of real nice guys there agreed to check it out right away. They said I had jostled a wire lose on the card and after an hour or so of foolin' with it said they could not reconnect it. To replace it would require tearin' the box apart and removing the logic board and then re-calibrating. We decided against this. They said most likely everything would be okay but that if I had problems to bring it back to them and they would think of something to tell Apple so that my warranty would not be voided.



    The fan still spins. I cannot say at what speed as in full or slow or what not. I wondered if there is some kind of sensor I could stick to the HDD to visually monitor temp and the one tech guy said not to bother. I think I would feel better if I did this and am thinking of checking around to see if something like this is available...maybe even run a wire out through the grating to a gauge I can see without even opening the case. Is there such a thing? Or should I just get over this and move on...



    Any thoughts most appreciated! Thanks
  • Reply 14 of 14
    alcimedesalcimedes Posts: 5,486member
    if it can't read the sensor (as in it's broken or unhooked) the fan runs at full speed. your drives will actually be running cooler now than if it were working.



    that was the other solution they mentioned in that article. a variety of people just unhooked them entirely.
Sign In or Register to comment.