Powerbook G4 running hot... never hear the fans turn on

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Level 1

14 points

Powerbook G4 running hot... never hear the fans turn on

I recently just installed a new hard drive on my PowerBook G4, as well as updating to OS X 10.5.4.

My laptop now runs very very hot, and I never hear the fans come on.
In fact, twice my laptop froze (mouse tracking included) and began making screeching noises through the speakers. Forcing quit and restarting seemed to fix everything, but I am assuming the system locked up because it got too hot.

I have searched online and have found programs available like smc fan control etc. However, theyre all for Intel macs...which.. I do not have.

I just ran the Hardware test and nothing came up.

Long story short- I am curious if there is any programs out there that are similar to smc fan control for Powerbooks.

I am running my laptop with a fan blowing on it, and it is keeping it at around 40-50 degrees C, but cant find a solution to adjusting or even KNOWING if my fans are working appropriately.

Thanks in advance for your time.

Mac OS X (10.5.4)

Posted on Aug 12, 2008 6:59 PM

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Answer 1

a brody

Level 10

82,965 points

Aug 12, 2008 7:10 PM in response to Amanaka284

Chances are you might have accidently tripped a power manager wires installing the new hard drive. I would take it in for service to verify you haven't inadvertently made the fans not run. Heat can kill computers. At the very least run the hardware test that came with your machine to see if it detects anything bad.

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Answer 2

Amanaka284 Author

Level 1

14 points

Aug 12, 2008 7:20 PM in response to a brody

Thanks for the info.

I did run the hardware tests... and nothing came up.

However, just now I went to feel the temperature underneath my laptop, and everything froze when I lifted it up. The screen, mouse, everything froze simply by moving the computer itself. Not good.

Could there be something funky with the new hard-drive?

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Answer 3

a brody

Level 10

82,965 points

Aug 12, 2008 7:23 PM in response to Amanaka284

Most definitely. It shouldn't freeze up when you move it. That's a hardware issue.

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Answer 4

Amanaka284 Author

Level 1

14 points

Aug 12, 2008 7:31 PM in response to a brody

Any notions of what it could be if the hardware tests came out with no results?

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Answer 5

Amanaka284 Author

Level 1

14 points

Aug 12, 2008 8:57 PM in response to Amanaka284

Here is a better question..

At what temperature should fans turn on?

I just downloaded the iStatPro widget... and at 120 degrees F, neither of my fans are on.

Basically I just want to know if my fans are or are not working.
I dont want to go to Apple and say, "well.. something is wrong with my fans...or maybe my hard drive".

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Answer 6

Allan Jones

Level 9

68,714 points

Aug 13, 2008 8:18 AM in response to Amanaka284

The fans on my 1G PowerBook (all original--case never opened) don't kick in until I get over about 140°F.

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Answer 7

Amanaka284 Author

Level 1

14 points

Aug 14, 2008 11:02 AM in response to Allan Jones

Interesting.

Thanks for the info

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Answer 8

DATM

Level 1

0 points

Aug 22, 2008 12:03 AM in response to Amanaka284

The same thing is happening to my Powerbook G4 and I just updated to 10.5.4. What can I do to fix it. The fans being off is going to kill my computer.

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Answer 9

Sep 26, 2008 1:33 PM in response to DATM

Guys

Same here for me. My PB G4 seems to automatically go to sleep and then once i press space bar it wakes up eventually. I looked on system profile and the log files, and discovered that it seems to do a emergency overtemp Powermanagement sleep. Then i assume onces it's cooler decides to come back on. I have iStatpro to check temps and it seems to be about 47 C when it sleeps. The fans are not running at this point. I noticed that my fans have run in the past, when the temp gets to around the late 40's, they turn on slow RPM and do their job and cool down. It seems since the latest update (a few days ago) to 10.5.5 they haven't worked, and i've experienced the auto sleeping mode. Have they been switched off, or the threshold changed to turn on?

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Answer 10

Oct 7, 2008 8:10 AM in response to DaVeKmacplaudit

Same here.... I noticed the fans never turn on.. but I get the sleep mode when it hits approx 145 F

and still no fans. .Apple said it was my logic board.. but I have a feeling it is more a fan issue not cooling it... any suggestions

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Answer 11

Oct 25, 2008 11:46 AM in response to Amanaka284

Shame this hasn't been resolved. Seems to be a popular problem as I look around. My system randomly falls asleep and as of recently it does it too often - almost unusable. After researching it seems the problem is the temperature, but this is only a semi-educated guess because it used to do it when I first started up. It would fall asleep within the first 10 min and then I wouldn't have the problem any longer. Now it seems to fall asleep when it starts to get hot and then it will continuously go to sleep. Seems to be much worse now that I've upgraded to 10.5.4.

Maybe we should all buy an ice block to work on! 🙂 Lets keep this thing going until someone figures it out. Good luck to all.

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Answer 12

ranjha

Level 1

0 points

Dec 15, 2008 11:58 PM in response to Amanaka284

Here is the link for PB -http://www.andreafabrizi.it/?g4fancontrol:download

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