New Mac Mini LOUD startup/wake Noise

[Pigumon]

I just got a mac mini on thursday, went on a small trip on friday-sunday.

When i came home to my sleeping mac mini and woke it, it made a TERRIBLY loud fan clicking noise.

My old PB 12" made this noise after I had dropped it on floor from about 3 feet.

I didnt drop my mac mini, i barely used it for 2 hours before i had to leave on my trip.

The sound eventually goes away though, once the mini heats up a little i guess. So i'm pretty convinced it's the fan, but why would it suddenly do this?


Anyone else have this problem or a solution?

 

[mad jew]

Are you saying it's happening every time, or just the once? Maybe try running the Apple Hardware Test that came with the machine.

 

[Pigumon]

Well up until this morning, it happened every time.

But I woke up my mini this morning and no loud sound.
I can't figure it out!

I'm deciding if i should send it back.
I bought it through amazon so i have 30 days.

Hahah well i take it all back! Just in the time it took to write this,
this loud fan sound came back on!!! It lasted about 2 minutes, gradually getting quiter until it's back to normal levels.

So it's definitely the fan.

I'll try the hardware test next time the unit has cooled and see if it tells me anything. But does the hardware test work on things like the fan and not just processors and busses?

 

[Tara Davis]

If you live near an Apple Store, take it to the "Genius Bar" (you might need to make an appointment if you live in a town where the store is really busy.) If it's something really simple, maybe they can sort it out right away. If not, your warranty will cover them fixing it for free.

 

[Tara Davis]

Well up until this morning, it happened every time.

But I woke up my mini this morning and no loud sound.
I can't figure it out!

I'm deciding if i should send it back.
I bought it through amazon so i have 30 days.

Hahah well i take it all back! Just in the time it took to write this,
this loud fan sound came back on!!! It lasted about 2 minutes, gradually getting quiter until it's back to normal levels.

So it's definitely the fan.

I'll try the hardware test next time the unit has cooled and see if it tells me anything. But does the hardware test work on things like the fan and not just processors and busses?

An intermittent noise that sounds like a fan?

Do you leave a disk in the DVD drive most of the time?

If so, it would spin up the drive on boot, and again occasionally if you keep the disk mounted on your desktop all the time. The DVD drive is considerably louder than anything else on the mini, and also the fan typically revs up whenever the drive unit is running.

 

[Pigumon]

No it's not the dvd drive, it's definitely the fan.

You would understand if you heard the noise, this isn't a loud whirring sound like when burning a dvd or anything.

It's a much louder plastic hitting plastic sound, same as if you touch a small plastic house fan with your fingernail (yes i've done that...).

It doesn't necessarily happen right at startup or sleep, but only when the mini gets hot enough, like watching a video.

Well I sent it back to amazon, if it wasn't defective to begin with, it must've been damaged during shipping, there was no "packing" in the box at all, and UPS is probably the WORST at handling stuff. I requested they send a new mini through the USPS this time. oh well!

 

[timtoolman]

Same problem

Hey I have the very same problem with my Mac Mini I have thought it was either fan or hard drive problems and it goes away after a few minutes, .. but this morning it was especially loud and I'm beginning to get concerned since I've owned this for around a year now and doubt there is warranty left.
Looking at this thing I am not even sure how a person would open it up to see if a heat sink is full of dust or replace a fan.

 

[Pigumon]

Well the second Mini they sent was in the original APPLE shipping box, VERY secure, and no problems.


Here's the thing, when I wake up my mini, sometimes I can hear the fan spin up really high, it's still quiet, it's the normal sound of a fan going up. So i'm pretty convinced it was a broken fan.

If you're getting that sound, I'd guess it's the same. The mini isn't too hard to open, but you'll need a spackle knife with a really thin/sharp edge.

I don't know what can be done about the fan though. Maybe it's just dusty in there?