Temporarily turn off fans?

My fans idle at around 2000 RPM and are absolutely silent. You can check the speed using iStatPro. When they are spinning faster, they will make a whirring noise. I have never used smc fan control, but I believe you can use it to make the fans go faster, which might enable you to tell if the noise you are hearing comes from the fans. However, I don't believe you can set them to zero for safety reasons--you wouldn't want your Mac to get too hot.

You could try listening along the slot in the back where the hinge is to see if the noise seems louder in the center or towards the ends where the fans are. Listening through a tube may help to locate where the sound is loudest.

Were the fans silent before the hard drive was replaced? If so, they should still be silent. Hard drives can make noise, and if you just got a replacement, this could well be the source.

Good luck!

I agree. 2 votes for the new hard drive.

Yep, some HD's are notoriously noisier than others. Don't know with the 2.5" units but the desktop 3.5" Western Digitals make quite a racket as disks go. Doesn't mean they're going bad, it's just the way they are.

This can be done, but it takes some doing.

Download SMCFanControl here:

http://homepage.mac.com/holtmann/eidac/software/smcfancontrol2/index.html

Once you install it, you'll need to open the preferences file for the application in Macintosh HD > Users >YOURUSERNAME > Library > Preferences using an application that can read and edit .plist files.

You will need to change the minimum allowed speed in the plist file to 0 from the default of 2000. Then, save the plist file, quit SMCFanControl and relaunch it. This will allow you to use SMCFanControl to completely disable the fans. Of course, there's a very good reason the application comes with a default setting of 2000RPM minimum. If you run your computer without fans for very long, you'll quickly find yourself in line to buy a new computer.

i think it may be set into the programing on smcFC that you cannot take it below 2k because that is the factory standard minimum and going below that can cause damage to your machine.

to track a noise, the HD is under your left wrist when typing and the fans are just about your fingers at the "home" keys (wow havent heard that reference since typing class)

-matt

1600?
thats kind of low for idle
-matt

if you put you ear right on the machine you should be able to hear enough of a difference to trace it (at least i can but i have played music for 14 years so my ears may be more tuned into pin pointing sounds)

-matt