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prophet8511

macrumors member
Original poster
Aug 11, 2007
31
0
I got the new mid 07 imac about 3 days after it came out it was silent as mouse but now im starting to hear a faint ticking noise from the back.. like a very low gentle ticking.. is this something i can get resolved through some type of warrenty or if i didnt buy the apple care im screwed/??
 

wakerider017

macrumors 68000
Sep 20, 2006
1,790
1
US of A
I got the new mid 07 imac about 3 days after it came out it was silent as mouse but now im starting to hear a faint ticking noise from the back.. like a very low gentle ticking.. is this something i can get resolved through some type of warrenty or if i didnt buy the apple care im screwed/??

I think this is normal..

I had this in my Last Gen White iMac. I was told it was the HDD... It only happens when the computer has been left alone for a while.
 

prophet8511

macrumors member
Original poster
Aug 11, 2007
31
0
It was perfectly quit when i first got it.. im afraid that if i try to get a replacement or get it fixed apple will just ignore me and say its normal or something.. its very faint you cant even hear it over pll talking.
 

tmac4718

macrumors newbie
Jun 1, 2008
4
0
Same Ticking Noise

I just purchased a Imac 24in 3.06 ghz IMAC. Had it less than a week and have noticed that ticking noise from the computer. I don't remember it there the first couple days. Sometimes it goes away once it warms up and other times it doesn't. Apple cares says it should be silent and I should send it back to MAC MALL. I'm nervous that they are all like this and am hesitant to go through that pain in the a.. process. Any people out there dealt with this??
 

SaSaSushi

macrumors 601
Aug 8, 2007
4,156
553
Takamatsu, Japan
I just purchased a Imac 24in 3.06 ghz IMAC. Had it less than a week and have noticed that ticking noise from the computer. I don't remember it there the first couple days. Sometimes it goes away once it warms up and other times it doesn't. Apple cares says it should be silent and I should send it back to MAC MALL. I'm nervous that they are all like this and am hesitant to go through that pain in the a.. process. Any people out there dealt with this??

A ticking sound is not normal for an iMac. It should be, as you've heard, next to silent. If I had to guess I would speculate that a ticking sound could be caused by a fan hitting a wayward cable or something of the sort.

I would most certainly get Apple to open it up and rectify it if I were you. I doubt they would replace your machine for you they would just find out what's causing the noise and repair it.
 

tmac4718

macrumors newbie
Jun 1, 2008
4
0
Ticking Noise

Both Apple and MacMall agreed that I should send it back. Ticking noise is not normal and it should be silent other than the electrical hum you get from the fan and screen. Macmall will not replace it, just repair it. Just the pain of waiting for it.
:mad:
 

Sir Cecil

macrumors 6502a
Mar 31, 2008
793
0
I just purchased a Imac 24in 3.06 ghz IMAC. Had it less than a week and have noticed that ticking noise from the computer. I don't remember it there the first couple days. Sometimes it goes away once it warms up and other times it doesn't. Apple cares says it should be silent and I should send it back to MAC MALL. I'm nervous that they are all like this and am hesitant to go through that pain in the a.. process. Any people out there dealt with this??


I had a similar problem which I've related in another thread. The annoying ticking sound my iMac exhibited was definitely related to the angle of the screen – at vertical position, the ticking was almost absent, but the greater the tilt of the screen, the greater the volume of the ticking. I exchanged the iMac because of a different issue, but the replacement has been ENTIRELY FREE of the ticking problem (which I strongly suspect was fan related, rather than hard drive).
 

Halcyon

macrumors 6502
Sep 21, 2006
335
0
The ticking noise is definitely NOT normal and if possible (under warranty) you should have it fixed or replaced.

I have the same problem with my 20" Alum iMac and I narrowed it down to the HD fan being the problem. How? The only time the ticking noise went away was when I put the Mac to sleep (the ticking noise will gradually decrease in frequency until it disappeared). This told it had to be one of the "moving" parts within the computer...HD, optical unit, or one of the three fans. So I installed smcFancontrol and started playing with the minimum fan speeds and narrowed it down to the HD fan. By setting the minimum HD fan speed between 1935 and 1970 rpm the ticking disappeared (normal speed was around 950 rpm).

I know this does not solve the problem (if I lower the fan speed the noise is still there) but the annoying/distracting ticking is gone. I also do not know what is causing this ticking noise...maybe a wire slightly touching the fan blades as they spin or maybe a defective fan.

I must also add, and this is important, that if I lower the rpms on the fan, the ticking seems to be more pronounced than when it first started...or maybe it's just me not be used to the ticking noise anymore. But if the ticking is indeed getting worst I'm just "masking" the problem, the fan is getting worst and imminent disaster is about to happen at any time.

I would like to hear from any one of you guys that got it fix by a technician opening the machine and not by replacing it.
 

tmac4718

macrumors newbie
Jun 1, 2008
4
0
Ticking noise

Fedex picked it up today and sent to macmall. I will let this forum know if it got fixed. If not, it will be going back again.
 

Frostie

macrumors newbie
Jun 6, 2008
6
1
I also had the annoying ticking, on my '08 24" 2.8Ghz iMac.

As it was only a week old Apple gave me the choice of swapping it or getting it repaired. A difficult choice, but as the rest of the Mac, especially the screen, was good, I didn't want to risk swapping it for one with the reported screen problems.

So the good guys at Amsys (apple reseller et al in Croydon, London) took it in to the workshop. After much analysis the engineer told me that they solved the problem by simply removing and re-seating the fans, as the fans weren't faulty themselves.

Well I got my iMac back yesterday morning and it's been running full out since then and no ticking sounds whatsoever. So I'm very happy about that :) I'm just hoping it doesn't return now.

Hopefully a simply re-seating of the fans will fix your ticking problems also.
 

hank-b

macrumors member
Apr 29, 2008
96
0
Have you checked Disk Utility to see if the hard drive is reporting any errors? Some hard drives do make a ticking/clicking noise when they're failing.

HB
 

tmac4718

macrumors newbie
Jun 1, 2008
4
0
Imac Ticking Noise Fixed

Whatever MacMall did to my new Imac the ticking noise is completely gone. I emailed them asking what was wrong with it but no response yet. Fedex picked it up on a Thursday and it was on my doorstep the following Thursday. Ticking noise is not normal and get it fixed. I quite Imac makes a happy Imac.
 
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