Extreme cpu fan noise on iMac 27" i5

hallaisen · 08:50 PM

Hi,

I picked up an i5 27" from an Apple Store in Toronto today, and was hoping that this would finally be the first time in my life I'd get a problem-free Mac on the first try, but much to my dismay the first thing I noticed when I turned it on was a LOUD noise coming from the lower left side of the computer. It is EXTREMELY annoying, and you can hear it from several meters away. I am currently playing music to try to overpower it, but it is actually ruining the music as well.

My first thought was that one of the fans is the root of the problem, and a quick test with smcfancontrol confirmed this. The sound is not a wooshing sound, but more like an extremely rapid ticking or maybe even the sound of the fan hitting another component during each rotation. I could locate the exact source of the sound with smcfancontrol, as increasing the minimum speed of the cpufan increases the frequency of the sound. I called Apple, and they said it is most likely a hardware error, and that I'll get a new iMac if I go back to the store where I got it, but it's a 3 hours drive away, and I don't have time to go until two weeks from now. Therefore I want to check out all other options first. Everything else works fine, but the sound just makes me want to punch the monitor as hard as I can, so if there is a way to fix it I would be happy to keep the computer. Anyone got any tips?

PS. The sound disappears in standby mode fwiw.

djcorrosive · Jan 11, 2010, 09:03 PM

turn the fan speeds lower, or just get a replcement, the one i had before i sent it back was perfect (just had dead ram, apart from 1 stick)

And it was whisper quite, and its summer here and was about 33degrees in my room and it was still quite.

hallaisen · Jan 11, 2010, 09:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by djcorrosive

turn the fan speeds lower, or just get a replcement, the one i had before i sent it back was perfect (just had dead ram, apart from 1 stick)

And it was whisper quite, and its summer here and was about 33degrees in my room and it was still quite.

Yeah, I'll get a replacement unless I can fix it myself somehow, but it's just annoying to wait 2 weeks to get it replaced. I wanted to get an i7 anyway, but didn't want to wait two weeks to have it shipped, so it's a bit of a disappointment to not have to wait anyway and still not get what I want, and spend another day driving back and forth to the Apple Store.

hallaisen · Jan 26, 2010, 09:26 AM

Update: Got my replacement yesterday, and it's perfect so far. The difference is astounding, and I can now use my iMac without noise-cancelling earphones and music to drown out the fan-noise

chas0001 · Jan 27, 2010, 05:51 PM

I have the same problem too with my 27" i7. Sounds like the CPU fan is hitting something as its spinning. Its really annoying. Its a replacement (bad screen on the original) and I have only had it 2 weeks. Called Apple and they are going to replace it again. I am not that impressed with their Quality Assurance but their customer service is excellent.

Jan 11, 2010, 08:44 PM	#1
hallaisen macrumors regular Join Date: May 2006	Extreme cpu fan noise on iMac 27" i5 Hi, I picked up an i5 27" from an Apple Store in Toronto today, and was hoping that this would finally be the first time in my life I'd get a problem-free Mac on the first try, but much to my dismay the first thing I noticed when I turned it on was a LOUD noise coming from the lower left side of the computer. It is EXTREMELY annoying, and you can hear it from several meters away. I am currently playing music to try to overpower it, but it is actually ruining the music as well. My first thought was that one of the fans is the root of the problem, and a quick test with smcfancontrol confirmed this. The sound is not a wooshing sound, but more like an extremely rapid ticking or maybe even the sound of the fan hitting another component during each rotation. I could locate the exact source of the sound with smcfancontrol, as increasing the minimum speed of the cpufan increases the frequency of the sound. I called Apple, and they said it is most likely a hardware error, and that I'll get a new iMac if I go back to the store where I got it, but it's a 3 hours drive away, and I don't have time to go until two weeks from now. Therefore I want to check out all other options first. Everything else works fine, but the sound just makes me want to punch the monitor as hard as I can, so if there is a way to fix it I would be happy to keep the computer. Anyone got any tips? PS. The sound disappears in standby mode fwiw. Last edited by hallaisen; Jan 11, 2010 at 08:50 PM.
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Jan 11, 2010, 09:03 PM	#2
djcorrosive macrumors regular Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Brisbane, Australia	turn the fan speeds lower, or just get a replcement, the one i had before i sent it back was perfect (just had dead ram, apart from 1 stick) And it was whisper quite, and its summer here and was about 33degrees in my room and it was still quite.
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Jan 26, 2010, 09:26 AM	#4
hallaisen Thread Starter macrumors regular Join Date: May 2006	Update: Got my replacement yesterday, and it's perfect so far. The difference is astounding, and I can now use my iMac without noise-cancelling earphones and music to drown out the fan-noise
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Jan 27, 2010, 05:51 PM	#5
chas0001 macrumors 6502a Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Alicante, SPAIN	I have the same problem too with my 27" i7. Sounds like the CPU fan is hitting something as its spinning. Its really annoying. Its a replacement (bad screen on the original) and I have only had it 2 weeks. Called Apple and they are going to replace it again. I am not that impressed with their Quality Assurance but their customer service is excellent.
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