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Powerbook G4 12" Fan, not what you're thinking

I

iamecks

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 13, 2007
9
0
Hello everyone, this is my first post. I've been on macrumors everyday for about a year now (since a few weeks before i bought my first mac) and finally decided to sign up.


This 1GHZ, powerbook g4 12" aluminum with 512 ram and a 60gb hdd has a very VERY loud cpu fan. So loud that when its on you can hear it in another room, even over the TV sometimes. Now, I've perused the web in search of a fix and tried EVERYTHING as i thought it was a software problem at first. Then I realised the fan's speed doesn't change at all, ever. So i bought a replacement fan and fitted it, it does exactly the same. I then formatted and re-installed OSX to no avail.

Anyone got any ideas what it can be? It's just running full blast all the time, and the temperature of my system never gets above the fan threshholds.


Thanks in advance and kind regards,

James.
 
Are you measuring the temperatures by touch or are you using an app/widget to measure them? In other words, could it be a dodgy internal thermometer? :)
 
ah hello, thanks for the replies..

i've used a couple of apps yeah, iStatPro 2 or whatever its called and then it displayed the temps in that Powerbook Fancontrol app too.


but if it had something to do with that temperature sensor, wouldn't the fan speed fluctuate between booting up and days and days of use?


because its literally going full blast from the second you press the power button to the second you turn the mac off? :(


I think so far i've worked out its definitely not the fan itself and its definitely not software based.
 
A dodgy sensor can have all sorts of different symptoms, depending on what's wrong with it. What temperatures are the apps saying your machine is running at? Also, what sort of third party hardware do you have installed or plugged in?
 
got no third party software or hardware at all, just clean installed a few days ago.

the temps showing are in the 40s i think, i'll just check one sec.
 
CPU 43 degrees C, GPU 43 degrees C,
Battery 26 degrees C, HDD 30 degrees C, Fan 8626rpm

^^^ according to iStatPro
 
Okay, so your temperatures are normal but your fan speed is ballistic. Try booting into Safe Mode (hold SHIFT at startup) and see if the fans still crank. Safe Mode disables some aspects of a regular boot and so it might help narrow down to where the problem may be. :)
 
Same problem, no solution

I've had the same problem for a long time now, on a Powerbook with about the same specs.

My hard drive failed and i had it replaced by an Apple reseller, but when it came back the fan ran constantly at 8653 rpm according to iStat pro. A few months ago i took it to an Apple store because i was fed up with the noise, and they tried to fix it by replacing the fan, but that didn't work. That meant it was a logic board problem, and for the cost of fixing it, i could get myself a new laptop.

I've just tried safe mode start up, had no effect sadly. Sorry for the bad news, but i'll be checking back in case someone does have a solution.

Tim.
 
Hello again,

logged into safe mode, still exactly the same :(



Thanks for the info about having the same problem, i'm glad i'm not the only one!

It sounds like a logic board fault indeed, but is it a case of pulling off a wire or soldering or something? if so i'm willing to try it. It is just finding out what is wrong.

There must be someone out there who has fixed it?


btw, what is a normal fan speed?

Thanks for the help everyone.
 
same problem - fan constantly on g4 tibook 867mhz

hi I have been searching everywhere for some people with the same problem.

My fans are constantly on, and the noise drives me nuts. I've had a history of doing all sorts of work - graphics (CS2), music recording, multimedia... but even when I am just not doing anything intensive the fans are on.

The fans are at full speed now and the temp reads 37C / 98F. I've used an icurve since I got the machine.

I've put up with this noisy sound for a couple years now. One person said I need to clean the air vents, like dust is causing the noise. Does anyone know about this?

its a g4 titanium powerbook 867 mhz 768 RAM (ancient I know!)
 
Same problem. What temperature is admissible?

I've had the fan of my PB G4 12" 1.5Ghz 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, that one degree cool-down appears impossible to achieve. What threshold can I safely set for sensor 1?

Thanks for your help.

Adriaan van der Weel
 
Exactly the same issue - a few links I have tried

I found these links:
http://www.jackenhack.com/blog/archives/2005/02/11/fix-for-constantly-running-fan-after-1038-update/

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1543?viewlocale=en_US
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1353629&tstart=77

----

I installed a new HD in my powerbook 12" G4 yesterday, put 10.4 on it and now the fans are on non-stop. It seems the same issue as described here.

Let me make it clear, this is in no way a heat issue. As soon as you touch the power button until you switch it off the fans are on full pelt. Even when you start the laptop from cold.

Its heartbreaking, if anyone can clarify that this is a logic board issue I would be grateful.
 

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iamecks said:
CPU 43 degrees C, GPU 43 degrees C,
Battery 26 degrees C, HDD 30 degrees C, Fan 8626rpm

^^^ according to iStatPro
Click to expand...

Holy crap my imac g5 is 67 Celsius when I am not doing nothing and the fan is at like 1750...

that fan is going soooo fast
 
tell me more, tell me more

finnschi said:
I had the same Problem. I updated to 10.5 which solved the issue for me, also 1Ghz Powerbook G4 12" ( The one and only REAL netbook) :cool:
Click to expand...

Very interesting!
Can you tell me if the fan was on full pelt 100% of the time? From start up to shut down?

If thats the case I will upgrade to 10.5 right away and let everyone know if it was a fix
 
wardman said:
Very interesting!
Can you tell me if the fan was on full pelt 100% of the time? From start up to shut down?

If thats the case I will upgrade to 10.5 right away and let everyone know if it was a fix
Click to expand...

No luck, upgraded to Leopard and the fans are still going as before.
 
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