Powerbook G4 Fan Always Running

Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
Hey, I have a Powerbook G4 12" 1Ghz and the fan won't stop spinning very loudly. I downloaded some software and it reported a constant fan speed of about 8500rpms. I just replaced the hard drive because the old one was bad and I have no idea what to do about this problem. Does anyone have any suggestions?



Thanks in advance.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 5
    addaboxaddabox Posts: 12,665member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Glitch View Post


    Hey, I have a Powerbook G4 12" 1Ghz and the fan won't stop spinning very loudly. I downloaded some software and it reported a constant fan speed of about 8500rpms. I just replaced the hard drive because the old one was bad and I have no idea what to do about this problem. Does anyone have any suggestions?



    Thanks in advance.



    Open up the activity monitor app (in utilities), quit all other open apps, and check to see if you have any rogue processes running.



    My MacBook Pro was doing that, and it turned out there was crazed Dashboard widget that for whatever reasons was pinning the CPU.
  • Reply 2 of 5
    yamayama Posts: 427member
    On my PowerBook G4 15" the fans would run constantly whenever I set the Energy Saver system prefs to Better Performance. When I bumped it down to Normal Performance things were much smoother.



    This might have something to do with the way Energy Saver can throttle the speed of the CPU in order to keep the temperature down.
  • Reply 3 of 5
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,309moderator
    Are you sure you didn't disconnect a cable and forgot to plug it in again when replacing the drive? On the Mac Mini for example, there is a cable at the front that deals with fan control and you have to disconnect it to open it up for Ram upgrades etc. I noticed that if you leave this cable off, the fans run constantly at full speed.
  • Reply 4 of 5
    pevepeve Posts: 518member
    sounds like a disconnected heat sensor or clogged up vent cracks on the back of your powerbook
  • Reply 5 of 5
    I've had the fan of my PB G4 12" running faster and longer for the last few weeks. There is no evidence of strange cpu usage, and no evidence of clogging up of ventholes or anything else. In fact, I don't think the computer is all that hot, so I really wonder why the fan won't stop any more.



    I've installed G4FanControl, which works flawlessly, but rather than getting it to kick in earlier, as some people have suggested on other forums, I'd like to set it to a higher temperature to see if that will stop the noise, which is getting on my nerves.



    Question is, what temperature would be acceptable? Sensor 2 and 3 temperatures and setting are so widely divergent that there is no issue there. Sensor 1 now measures 44C while its threshold is set for 43C. However long and hard the fan is blowing (currently 7219rpm), that one degree cool-down appears impossible to achieve. What threshold can I safely set for sensor 1?



    Thanks for your help.



    Adriaanh
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