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Toxic fumes from ventilation slot!

After a day or two since I first turned on my new iMac 27" i7 (a week ago), a noticeable strong bad smell, toxic fumes to be precise, started coming out from the left side of the ventilation slot behind the display as you see it from the front, i.e. the right upper corner as you see it from the back; I believe this is where the power adapter is situated. The smell resembles the way brand new iMacs smell but with a much, much stronger smell, from which I get a burning-caustic feeling in my eyes (burnt chlorine is a fair resemblance).

Any ideas what it might be, what to do about it and to what extent I should be worried about it would be appreciated very much.

iMac 27" i7, Mac OS X (10.6.2), 2TB HDD, 8GB ram

Posted on Jan 7, 2010 11:48 AM

Reply
6 replies

Jan 21, 2010 10:44 AM in response to Charmy bee

After sending the iMac to an authorized Apple Support Center they returned it saying that there was nothing wrong with it and that Apple has no knowledge of such an issue existing. They did open it but nothing suspicious could be found.

Receiving it today, however, and turning it on, I noticed a big difference in temperatures; way lower that before. But I also noticed the very loud sound the HD fan was making. iStat gave this reading:
5200 rpm !!!!!!! It started from 2500rpm and after 10 minutes blew up to 5200rpm and never dropped. Temperatures showed: HD:46°, CPU:47°. CPU fan speed:939rpm.

Last, I did an Apple Hardware Test (extended) and got the following error code:

4SNS/1/40000000:TH00-9.000

Anyone know what this could mean?

Feb 6, 2010 12:59 AM in response to Charmy bee

I just got my Mac in the mail. I was working on it for about an hour when I started noticing a really bad odor like super strong bleach. My eyes and throat started burning and I developed a headache. The fumes are coming from the back of the computer and my keyboard is gassing out also and it smells terrible. After an online search I discovered there are all sorts of complaints about Macs with toxic fumes and gassing out issues.

The computer is no longer in my house and is going back to the store tomorrow! I would not suggest that anyone "wait it out" with this problem. There is no telling what the long term effects could be. For some toxins even a little can be a really bad thing.

And for those who have asked mine came from China.

Toxic fumes from ventilation slot!

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