G5 Rev. A fan noise solution
The noise coming from my Rev. A G5 2x1.8 finally got to me tonight. The bloody machine has been driving me up the wall since I unpacked it 3 months ago and tonight I had had enough.
I was convinced that it was the fans in the power supply because when I put my head close to any of the other fans it didn't sound as though they were the problem. It's strange that it's so hard to identify where the sound is coming from.
So, I disconnected each of the fans one at a time and allowed the machine to boot. Within seconds I could identify that the sound was still there and I was able to power the machine off again. I worked my way around all the fans in the machine with no success. I assumed at this stage that it must be the cumulative effect of all the fans that was causing the unbearable noise.
Then I noticed that there is a fan at the front of the machine that cools the PCI slots. I had missed this fan earlier, assuming that this assembly was simply the speaker housing.
As soon as I disconnected this fan the machine instantly became whisper quiet. I guess that is why I found it so hard to identify where the noise was coming from. The culprit was sitting in the centre of the machine and as I wasn't looking for a fan there it just sounded as though the whole machine was noisy. Interestingly, the other fans spin up to full pelt for a second when the machine is first switched on, but this fan doesn't seem to slow down again like the others?
I can now hear the heads on the hard disks when they are accessing and I don't have to turn iTunes up so loud. I've also noticed the faint chirps from the power supply for the first time. The noise coming from this fan drowned everything else out. WHAT A RELIEF!
I'm going to swap the entire assembly with that of an indentical 'quiet' machine which is in a 'noisy' environment.
I just thought I'd share this experience in the hope that it might help somebody else out there! If you find that this works for you, remember that you can't leave this fan permanently disconnected as it's designed to cool your PCI cards (and your graphics card as well).
Good luck!
I was convinced that it was the fans in the power supply because when I put my head close to any of the other fans it didn't sound as though they were the problem. It's strange that it's so hard to identify where the sound is coming from.
So, I disconnected each of the fans one at a time and allowed the machine to boot. Within seconds I could identify that the sound was still there and I was able to power the machine off again. I worked my way around all the fans in the machine with no success. I assumed at this stage that it must be the cumulative effect of all the fans that was causing the unbearable noise.
Then I noticed that there is a fan at the front of the machine that cools the PCI slots. I had missed this fan earlier, assuming that this assembly was simply the speaker housing.
As soon as I disconnected this fan the machine instantly became whisper quiet. I guess that is why I found it so hard to identify where the noise was coming from. The culprit was sitting in the centre of the machine and as I wasn't looking for a fan there it just sounded as though the whole machine was noisy. Interestingly, the other fans spin up to full pelt for a second when the machine is first switched on, but this fan doesn't seem to slow down again like the others?
I can now hear the heads on the hard disks when they are accessing and I don't have to turn iTunes up so loud. I've also noticed the faint chirps from the power supply for the first time. The noise coming from this fan drowned everything else out. WHAT A RELIEF!
I'm going to swap the entire assembly with that of an indentical 'quiet' machine which is in a 'noisy' environment.
I just thought I'd share this experience in the hope that it might help somebody else out there! If you find that this works for you, remember that you can't leave this fan permanently disconnected as it's designed to cool your PCI cards (and your graphics card as well).
Good luck!
Comments
This is puzzling because the new assembly came from a really quiet machine ? which would suggest that my machine is pushing the fan harder than all the other machines?
Is the graphics card running hotter than it should? Is there even a sensor on the graphics card? Is there some way of calibrating the fans?
I'm at the stage now where I'm ready to sell this machine ? it's no use to me in the state it's currently in! Having read some of the other comments that are doing the rounds I certainly don't feel as though approaching Apple will do any good whatsoever!
Originally posted by ipodandimac
well, i know for sure that messing with apple's engineering has never worked for me, and i also know that if you can't normally hear your hard drives being accessed then there must be a defect with something. i have a dual 2.5 (which everyone seems to be complaining about) and can hear all sorts of different sounds coming from the tower because it is very quiet. i would call apple. The dual 1.8's are suppsoed to be extremely quiet.
Yeah, I can now hear the hard drives being accessed for the first time. I can also hear all the other noises that people are complaining about ? like the chirping from the power supply.
These 'new' noises don't bother me ? it's such a relief to get rid of that constant droning.
I don't hold out much hope on the Apple service front ? they seem to be denying that a problem exists at any give opportunity. The dealer that I purchased the unit from is hopeless ? I just know that I'll be without the machine for a month and it'll come back exactly as it went away (but scratched). All the other Apple dealers around here can't be arsed to lift a finger.
Much easier to sell it on eBay and buy a new machine (which it might be worthwhile doing anyway for tax reasons alone).
It should certainly be a warranty item (except for the part where you swapped it out yourself, probably voiding the warranty