Mac Pro buzzing fan and hard drive noise!

[danhig123]

Hey everyone!

My first post... and some major Mac Pro design problems!

Has anyone else experienced this?

Ok... I recieved my nice new Mac Pro yesterday. 2.66GHz With one 160gb drive and one 500gb drive and some other customisations which, for the purpose of this are not relivent.

My first and most serious problem is a rhythmic clicking, which according to technical support is a known issue and is to do with my hard disk drive. The noise comes from the top front side of the machine and clicks at around 200bpm at all times. It is very audible and unnexceptable and for this reason Apple are replacing my machine.

The second problem which I believe to be more of a design flaw is noisy fans. I obviously know fans make noise but this is an intermitent buzz, at a constant frequency. It sounds like a bee is flying about in my machine and varies according to the angle of the machine and wheither the superdrive bay is open.

As you will understand I am very dissatisfied. My machine took 3 weeks to arrive and is riddled with problems.

Anyone else experience similar issues?

Danny

 

[TheFuzz]

that's too bad. i've yet to hear the fans on my machine and i've throw a lot at it, rendering vids out of after effects/fcp, photoshop, cinema 4d, etc. the only noises i've heard are the hdd's, the stock 250gb being much louder than the 320gb seagate 7200.10. in fact, i really can't believe how quiet this machine is. here's hoping your next one works as it should.

 

[danhig123]

Ah man.

I discovered applying some weight to the top of the machine solves the clicking problem. Maybe I will try reseating the drive or something. But the fans are also an issue on this machine.

This isnt cool.

Danny

 

[hal0n]

Ah man.

I discovered applying some weight to the top of the machine solves the clicking problem. Maybe I will try reseating the drive or something. But the fans are also an issue on this machine.

This isnt cool.

Danny

mine is quieter than my powerbook was... surely you've either got a bad unit or an abnormally sensitive ear.

i wouldn't consider that "riddled" with problems though. does it function? if so they are minor issues that are probably no big deal for apple to sort out. design is one thing and manufacturing is another. you can have the best design in the world, but if your suppliers send you a higher than agreed on percentage of faulty parts.. then you are stuck with customers going off on a nut.

 

[vohdoun]

Sound of a bee eh? When I read the buzzing part was wondering if it was similiar to my G5 that sometimes has a problem with dimmer switches.
It's just like the buzz of a dimmer switch but louder. It varies.

 

[danhig123]

Hey everyone!

The problem wasn't my sensitivew ear. (though I am a sound engineer)... However it is now fixed!

Here is a copy of a post I made in the Mac Pro Bugs thread. If anyone has any similar issues, check this solution out, it may come in handy!

----------

Hey all!

I am jubulant!

Yesterday I posted on here that I had fan noise problems with my Mac Pro. I was devistated to have recieved a dodgy unit. The noises were a humming and a clicking noise which when I wrang tech support, was told it was a known issue to do with the hard drive.

I narrowed the problem down, discovering that as i applied pressure to the top of the unit the noises stopped. And that got me thinking. It couldnt possibly be a hard drive noise. The hard drives are too far away from the top of the casing to be affected by light pressure. The noise had to be the PSU fan!

So I opened the computer up... (blissfully easily I may add ) And removed the Superdrive bay.

The problem was so simple to solve it was laughable. The ribbon cable from the superdrive was buzzing against the fan! A slight design error which I imagine would rarely cause a problem. Simply re seating the ribbon cable has fixed my problem! No replacement machine needed!

Now all I need to do is ring tech support to cancel the new order!

Result!

Danny

 

[damado]

Hey thanks a lot, if mine comes with the same problem, now I'll know how to fix it =0

 

[geekalicious]

Excessive fan noise due to constant high RPMs

I just got a new Mac Pro (2.66ghz) and I've noticed that fans never slow down. My drives are quiet (at least i can't hear them over the whir of the fans) - my understanding is that the fans are supposed to self-regulate and only torque up under heavy loads. I've listened to a few different machines in the store and determined that mine is excessively noisy (not to mention windy) the machine runs very cool, and the CPU usage is normal (i.e. CPU usage is super-low form 1/4 of 1% to 1/2 of 1%. On startup they gradually speed up to full-throttle (the way a jet sounds just befor take-off) and they remain consistent until the machine is turned off. Since the problem is consistent even when i boot into Windows (via boot camp) I've determine that it's most-likey hardware related (though could be a frimware thing i guess)

Has anyone else experience anything like this?

 

[Col Panic]

I have very similar problems with the buzzing noise. I had noticed a couple of months back when I first got my Mac Pro a buzzing noise, but that seemed to go away with the firmware updates from Apple. Then a couple of days ago I installed a 500GB Seagate hard drive into the second Hard Drive bay and noticed the buzzing was back. Just today I discovered that pressure on top was the solution, so I'm gonna try the superdrive ribbon cable fix. Other than that this is the quietest Mac I've ever owned. hal0n is right, my 17" powerbook is easily louder, and my old Quicksilver 733's fan was loud and constant.

Best Mac ever.

 

[pianodude123]

Hi,

I am having this same problem with a buzzing, except it is coming from the hard drive instead of the fan. I have determined that it is my drive in bay one that buzzes against the grey plastic covering underneath it. How can i bend this plastic down (safely) so that it does not touch the bottom of the hard drive and buzz?

 

[rgetter]

Mac Pro buzzing noise solved!

I came home from shopping today and as soon as I opened the door to my house, I heard a loud buzzing sound. I quickly traced it to my 2008 Mac Pro. It was still running, but sounded really bad. I did some searching (on another computer) and found the problem.

Occasionally, the ribbon cable from the SuperDrive will slip back a bit and touch the fan behind the housing. Just open your Mac, turn it on its side and, with the door lever still in the "up" position, pull up on the metal case that holds the optical drives. It slides right up. Then you can reposition the ribbon cable.

 

[Luba]

I've taken out the super drive but don't see a ribbon cable to reposition. Help!

I came home from shopping today and as soon as I opened the door to my house, I heard a loud buzzing sound. I quickly traced it to my 2008 Mac Pro. It was still running, but sounded really bad. I did some searching (on another computer) and found the problem.

Occasionally, the ribbon cable from the SuperDrive will slip back a bit and touch the fan behind the housing. Just open your Mac, turn it on its side and, with the door lever still in the "up" position, pull up on the metal case that holds the optical drives. It slides right up. Then you can reposition the ribbon cable.

 

[bobpensik]

mine is quieter than my powerbook was... surely you've either got a bad unit or an abnormally sensitive ear.

WOW!! I wish my MP was that quiet!

Even at the default fan settings mine is certainly noticeable

 

[rgetter]

I've taken out the super drive but don't see a ribbon cable to reposition. Help!

The ribbon cable is a wide gray(?) cable that should be attached to the multi-pin connector on the back of your Super Drive (the optical drive, not the hard drive). If you don't see it, it may have come off when you removed the drive, so you may have to grope around if it slipped off. The other end will be attached to the mother board.

Hope this helps,
Ric