Noisey fans in G5?

[Wilson]

I was wondering if there is a way to control the fans in my G5. The fans are pretty loud at the moment even when the computer isn't accessing any information. When I turn off my monitor and leave my G5 on at night, the noise seems to be very loud. I have a rev A Dual 2.0 G5. I noticed at a local apple retailer store that the G5 they had on display was a lot quieter than mine. What can I do to fix my problem? I'm running OS 10.3.4 by the way.

Any help on this would be great.

Thanks.

 

[Jo-Kun]

well there is no way to do that for as far as I know... maybe setting the processor speed to automatic or reduced will make it less hot -> less cooling needed... mine is always at highest...
a lot has to do with the temperature in your room too... for instance my studio is quite hot now (28°C without even using my studioflahes) and the G5 needs to cool a little more -> so its noisier
when I first got it it was still april & colder so then it needed less cooling
probably the apple store has airco... wich makes it cooler -> less extra cooling needed...

at night when you turn off the monitor... is your G5 busy doing things while you're asleep? if not -> shut it down or put it to sleep, deep sleep shuts down practically everything including the fans... just do'nt forget to switch your monitors back on before waking up the mac... otherwise you might end up doing a restart anyway since you get a black screen ;-)

J

 

[rendezvouscp]

It all depends on where your G5 is. I have the same model. From my experience, putting it in a cabinet will make it run really loud. The desk actually gets warm too, quite weird. Now I have it sitting on my desk, and it runs cooler. Also, if you take off the first panel, that may help a little bit. Then, take off the inside panel and let it run until really cold air is coming out the back fans. It'll sound louder, but when you replace it, it should run a little bit cooler. You could also take off the inside panel and place a piece of paper where the sensor is: the back slot where you place the inside panel (you'll notice that the panel has a white sticker for the sensor). (Wow, I'm really going on about this.) Another thing you can do is to take a damp (not too wet!) beach towel and place it over the whole body of the G5, except where the ports and back fans are. That should cool it down considerably. Well, good luck!
–Chase

 

[Wilson]

my G5 is in the basement and it isn't in a cabinet. My basement is relatively cool and i don't think it's a heat issue. Could it possibly be a hardware problem? I brought it into an apple reseller and they claim that it is like that. Like I said from before, the G5 from another store was really quiet. I just think they didn't want to look at it that's all.

 

[jsw]

Mine's very quiet, even while folding and doing other work. I think there's an issue - maybe a faulty temperature monitor?

You might want to download Temperature Monitor to see if there are really high readings. Attached below is an example of where my dual-2.0 is now (been folding for days, been doing other work, room is OK but not all that cool).

Good luck....

Edit: BTW, the 73º you see is my local weather (WeatherPop, not the CPU.

 

[Abdesai]

Quite possibly a hardware problem

I know that there was a problem with loud fans in the Dual 1.8GHz. The G5 should be really quiet. I work in a computing facility that has all G5's and you can barely hear them. We did have to send on G5 back to Apple because a defective logic board was making the fans run at full speed. I would recommend that you have your Mac checked out.
-abd

 

[Wilson]

I know that there was a problem with loud fans in the Dual 1.8GHz. The G5 should be really quiet. I work in a computing facility that has all G5's and you can barely hear them. We did have to send on G5 back to Apple because a defective logic board was making the fans run at full speed. I would recommend that you have your Mac checked out.
-abd

When I brought my G5 back to the reseller where I bought my mac from, he did a hardware test. He said everything seems to be working fine. No problems were detected. What could I tell him to do then since he said there are no problems? The noise is really bugging me.

 

[jsw]

When I brought my G5 back to the reseller where I bought my mac from, he did a hardware test. He said everything seems to be working fine. No problems were detected. What could I tell him to do then since he said there are no problems? The noise is really bugging me.

I'd at least check the temp readings to make sure they make sense.

 

[Dreadnought]

Guys this has been discussed a lot of times here! It is probably a sensor that is too close to a heat generating device, therefore giving false information to the processor, that lets the fan spin harder = louder! If it is a dual 2.0 rev A, it is probably the sensor near the harddisk. That was common, heard it a lot around here. Try and move the sensor a bit away from the harddisk and this will probably solve your problem!