I have last years iMac 24 2.86. Recently, for the first time, I noticed the heat building up , in particular the top left of the unit. I had heard about heat problems but never bothered to check my iMac as it runs well. So, I downloaded iStat and notice that the temps seem pretty high, but not as high as some posters say would be alarming. What I find most interesting is that it has a temp for the Airport Card. I don't have one, as far as I know. What is that all about?
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iMac 24 Temperature
- Thread starter GovtLawyer
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...built in wireless has been standard for a while now... you have it in your machine if its as new as "last" years model...
Well, that's odd. When I click on the airport icon on the top right of the screen, it says "No Airport Card Installed."
My iMac is a refurbished, which I bought in March, just after the new models came out. When I first started exploring the iMac (I'm an ex-PC guy) I clicked on the icon and was shown a list of what appeared to be networks. Some of them had weird names which didn't sound like Apple issued. I had been wondering if the Airport was always on, and if this was networks it found with signals coming through to the unit. I was a bit taken aback by the thought of other people being able to communicate with my iMac.
Now, the list is gone. The only thing I can think of is that the previous owner (this is a refurbished unit) had some network, and when the OS was upgraded a few months back (an auto update) it erased the list.
I thought Airport was an add on unit. I can't even turn on Airport in preferences.
Airport card should be in there ... maybe it's possible the cable was disconnected when it was being worked on. But it should be in there.
My iMac is about 14 months old and it is in there!
.
My iMac is about 14 months old and it is in there!
.
Model
I assume yoiu meant this.
Model Name: iMac
Model Identifier: iMac8,1
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.8 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 6 MB
Memory: 4 GB
Bus Speed: 1.07 GHz
Boot ROM Version: IM81.00C1.B00
SMC Version (system): 1.30f1
Serial Number (system): 178480BQZE4
Hardware UUID: 7B188410-8596-5FF3-8A66-53F03EACE26C
If not, what model number under sys prefs were you talking about? The above info is from About This Mac
I assume yoiu meant this.
Model Name: iMac
Model Identifier: iMac8,1
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.8 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 6 MB
Memory: 4 GB
Bus Speed: 1.07 GHz
Boot ROM Version: IM81.00C1.B00
SMC Version (system): 1.30f1
Serial Number (system): 178480BQZE4
Hardware UUID: 7B188410-8596-5FF3-8A66-53F03EACE26C
If not, what model number under sys prefs were you talking about? The above info is from About This Mac
You have both, bluetooth and Airport.
I had the same iMac as you, I ended up with heat problems with the HDD and PSU, HDD sit idle 60c, it's max operating temperature. This new iMac 09 model gets to 50c MAX which is a lot better.
The biggest issue for me was the LCD, the heat from the PSU was so hot up to 80c at times the LCD was being damaged and the image on screen burning in. It just didn't seem to regulate temperatures very well at all. My 09 iMac seems a lot better in this respect though.
Could you possibly post the temps from iStat?
If your running your iMac allot, suggest you run smcfancontrol to keep the temps down, especially if your gaming. Nice machines but do get hot for long periods of running.
Interesting Follow-up!
Just a fast recap. I thought the iMac may have been running hot. So, I got iStat, and it indicated that my Airport card was hot. However, there didn't seem to be an Airport card installed. When I first got the refurbed 2008 24, an airport card showed up and there was a list of networks; now, its gone.
Here's where it gets interesting.
I called Apple, and the tech had me reboot in "safe?" mode, and it still didn't show up. So, he assumed it was hardware related (maybe the high heat, or something disconnected), and told me to bring it into a store. However, there were no appt's available. It seems that Apple pulled a lot of the Genius off the tech desk, to prepare for the crush of Snow Leopard customers. I'd have to wait. No big deal as the card is something I wouldn't be using.
Here's where it gets really interesting!
I got Snow Leopard yesterday and installed it. The Airport card is back, and the list of networks is there (I turned it off). It couldn't have been hardware related.
Just a fast recap. I thought the iMac may have been running hot. So, I got iStat, and it indicated that my Airport card was hot. However, there didn't seem to be an Airport card installed. When I first got the refurbed 2008 24, an airport card showed up and there was a list of networks; now, its gone.
Here's where it gets interesting.
I called Apple, and the tech had me reboot in "safe?" mode, and it still didn't show up. So, he assumed it was hardware related (maybe the high heat, or something disconnected), and told me to bring it into a store. However, there were no appt's available. It seems that Apple pulled a lot of the Genius off the tech desk, to prepare for the crush of Snow Leopard customers. I'd have to wait. No big deal as the card is something I wouldn't be using.
Here's where it gets really interesting!
I got Snow Leopard yesterday and installed it. The Airport card is back, and the list of networks is there (I turned it off). It couldn't have been hardware related.
I've stopped obsessing about temps and my iMac... I just figure Apple knows what they are doing. Throwing caution to the wind.
...you need to have that machine checked out by someone... unless this was totally operator error things don't just turn on and off by themselves under normal operating conditions...
What do you mean by "operator error?" I don't see how anything I could have done would make the card disappear, or make it reappear after installing the Snow Leopard upgrade. Very strange.
It would seem that something that happened may have caused the Airport card not to be noticed by OSX. Installing Snow Leopard appears to have restored your iMac's ability to "see" the card. In other words it was definitely a software problem and not something where your card was physically disconnected.
As far as the networks that used to show up, as well as those that are showing up now (if airport is enabled) those are just networks owned by people who live near you. They have nothing to do with your computer and they're nothing to worry about. These are not "people who are able to communicate with your iMac" but rather it's the opposite. If their networks are not secured, you may use those networks to get on the Internet. They are Wi-Fi access points. Of course it's considered "stealing" bandwidth and is not nice to do unless you have their permission. But I guess you have your own wired Internet so there's really no point.
Hope that helps.
Well, that's what I figured. I'm still going to call Apple and follow-up. Had they not pulled off the Geniuses for the SL rollout, I would have already brought it in; just to be told there was nothing wrong with it.