Q: power mac 5500 noise help
I own a very old power mac 5500, something I got used so I can still play one game. I don't use it very often, typically 2 weeks out of the year and up until now, it's been just fine. Lately, I've been hearing what sounds like a bad fan noise. Soooo, thought I'd take the unit apart and go sleuthing. I found only two fans, one on the logic board and one larger one below the crt. With the chassis off, I still couldn't exactly pinpoint where/which/or what was making the noise. I swapped out the hd, thinking that was the obvious cause. Still made the fan noise upon starting up. Took out the fan beneath the crt and still the noise. Took out the logic board, inspected the small on-board fan and didn't see/feel/hear anything wrong. With the chassis off, with the hd replaced and the crt fan disconnected, the noise does not seem to be coming from the logic board fan. So, I'm left to wonder; is there another fan which I can't find? I inspected the unit pretty thoroughly but still can't figure this out. Is there a fan housed inside the crt unit? I also disconnected the floppy disk and cd drive; still have the noise. Hard to believe it's the logic board fan as the sound does not seem to be coming from there but lower, toward the unit's right side (looking at the front of the tube).
Anyway, would like to see if I can fix this, but need some help with possible cause. Anyone still have one of these or have experience to share? I did some googling but nothing comes up with such an old machine. I could take it to a mac repair but wonder if it's really worth it. I have other options to play the game but the whole setup seems better for my older eyes relative to the smaller screen and serial mouse system of the day.
Hopefully someone can point me in the right direction.
Michael
Posted on Dec 18, 2014 1:54 PM