iMac Heat Issues

You guys can digest the numbers. I don't have a single problem with Apple. I bought an original iMac G5 back in December 2004. Had heat issues and would shut down. Searched the web and learned about the capacitor/heat issue. They sent a tech to my house to replace the logic board and a week later to replace the mother board since the heat issues resumed. Power supply went bad and they sent me a new one. Six months later the power supply was bad again and they sent me a new iMac. The new one was with the Intlel processor. Have not had one issue with the new one. I installed a Bresink program on the old one when it had heat issues. I got so ****** I would take a cereal bowl full of ice and put it under the iMac so it would pull cold air into the case. Ha.

Anyhow, Apple has always treated me well. I can't complain. I still use an old iBook G4 every day.

Why is anyone wasting time discussing (or arguing if you prefer) about alleged failure rates that are not definable nor are there any valid statistics to validate some of the claims being made.

If you are actually having the problems that you claim and the manufacturer's (alleged) solution is simply offering to replace replace replace and that does not make you happy then go to another vendor. Why subject yourself to this level of discomfort and misery? Regardless of the OS either computer can get the job done. If you prefer the Apple OS then stick with Apple. If machine failure is stopping you from being productive than find hardware that eliminates that issue and move on.

If your are dealing with the folks at the genius bar you might want to keep in mind that these people are not engineers. They are simply tech support people.

My personal experience with Apple's phone support has been excellent.

I still think your issue is environmental. Maybe not ambient temps but something. It could be low voltage or low amperage. Are you running the computers on 15amp circuits? Do you have a lot of peripheral devices plugged into the same circuit? You might want to check and see how much amperage you are drawing from each plug that you are using and if it is close to the limit of the circuit that could cause a low voltage issue which in turn would make your Mac run hotter than it should. It could be a weak ground in the plug also. If your house or apartment where you live is old, say 20+ years it could easily be a ground issue or grounding issue. It could even be a weak or improperly functioning breaker in your breaker box.

What about pets? Do you have a lot of pets. If so it could be that the fans are losing some of their effectiveness due to being clogged with fur. The same would hold true if you are in a dusty environment.

Anyway, I hope some of this gives you ideas on things you can check on.

Good Luck!!

Message was edited by: Al Van Malsen

I agree it has to be environmental. Replacing multiple machines like that is only likely if there is some environmental issue causing problems. The machines themselves have a much higher success rate in environments that aren't problematic for computers.

You still don't see that 119V does not equal 120V. I say your UPS is faulty. Until you replace it, you can't prove me wrong.

I'm not sure what to do for your Heat Issues, but in your defense I would like to share the Early 2009 iMac spec's for:

+*Electrical and operating requirements*+

+Line voltage: 100-240V AC+
+Frequency: 50Hz to 60Hz, single phase+
+Maximum continuous power: 200W (20-inch model); 280W (24-inch models)+
+Operating temperature: 50° to 95° F (10° to 35° C)+
+Storage temperature: -40° to 185° F (-40° to 85° C)+
+Relative humidity: 5% to 95% noncondensing+
+Maximum altitude: 10,000 feet+

http://support.apple.com/kb/SP507

jskains,

It could still be environmental without regard to the ambient temperature of the room. Unless you mac is sitting on a desktop with absolutely nothing behind, above or on either side, it could indeed be overheating due to poor ventilation.

Case in point, I moved my 24" iMac back on my desk which positioned it under and between a cabinet structure leaving perhaps 1 inch on all sides. This caused the iMac to become very hot, even in 70f temperatures. Moving it out of that space, dropped the operating temperature significantly.

Don't be so quick to dismiss environmental causes, they are by far the most common issues users find themselves in.

That aside, Intel processors have in-built thermal protection. They are designed to shutdown before they can be damaged by over heating.

By the way, don't let the temperature readings of any software be your only guide. Often, more often in fact than not, these readings are off by as much as 10c as are fan speed readings and so on. Yes it's a number but, it is not so easily a decoded number as you seem to believe. The calculation used to decode the returned value and the frequency of that calculation determine it's accuracy and you will seldom find two that perform the same calcualations at the same frequency levels. Most popular fan and heat monitors are strictly for reference and say so within their documentation.

I think you are obsessed with this issue. 🙂

+want it to work properly+

Ok, I'll bite - so what isn't working? You have yet to state a problem.

The issue of environment has been raised in this thread. There have also been references to fan control.

smcFanControl seems to perform as it is stated. However, I think I have stumbled upon the root cause of why the machines are getting so hot; at least my iMac 24. My unit is about eight months old. I was playing with the fan speeds after downloading smcFanControl and something very interesting was discharged from the unit - DUST! Lots of dust. I have forced hot air and central air conditioning.

Back in the day, I used to vacuum out the PC tower about every three months. *Does anyone have any idea about how to effectively vacuum out the iMac 24?*

I believe this may reduce the temperature enough that the case is not so hot to the touch. I remember reading somewhere that dust is the enemy of electronic components.