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imac purring noise

My iMac began purring yesterday. It's a late 2015, 21.5" iMac with a fusion drive, bought new in 2017, running 10.15.4. The noise is gentle, like a cat purring, or a very small woodpecker. It has a two second cycle before it repeats. It's difficult to locate where inside the iMac it's coming from, but it seems to be central. I attach a link to a youtube video of a recording: https://youtu.be/yhE4S5kNG4s. I've run various diagnostic tools and the hard drive appears to be fine, and as it's a fusion I presume it doesn't have major moving parts. The only potential anomaly is the internal temperature running a little high, so I'm guessing this noise is a faulty fan. I guess a repair isn't easy to get during lockdown, but of anyone thinks it's something else I need to be worried about, I would appreciate the heads-up.

iMac 21.5", macOS 10.15

Posted on Apr 30, 2020 5:25 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Apr 30, 2020 6:17 AM

cupofassam wrote:

... as it's a fusion I presume it doesn't have major moving parts.


You mean other than its hard disk drive and cooling fans?


Use Apple Diagnostics. It will exercise both so that you can correlate the noise to one or the other. It's probably normal.


Diagnose problems with your Mac

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3 replies

Apr 30, 2020 6:39 AM in response to VikingOSX

Thank you both for your replies. I did run the hardware test and it showed that there were no problems. I can run it weekly now. Other diagnostic tools show no issues at all. DriveDX says all is well. But, yes, when lockdown is lifted I'll schedule a visit to an engineer. What you both tell me confirm that it might well be connected to the drive.

imac purring noise

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