JMWhitt

Q: 27" iMac Hard Drive Fan Problem

I have a 27" iMac with 3.06ghz processor 1tb hdd and 4gb of ram purchased around march and I am having a weird problem with the hard drive fan. I brought it to the genius bar and they said the problem was with a program i was running(I dont believe them). I find the problem to be strange. I keep my computer running all the time and restart from time to time but rarely shut down. I noticed that the fan was running at high rpm's and they only solution was to shut down and restart would do nothing to resolve the problem. Then I noticed up in the next week that the same problem was happening. I started noticing a trend it was happening at the same time every week on the same day. I look up if there is anything in Activity Monitor causing the problem and I find nothing. Currently the only apps I have running mostly are Google Chrome, Mail, Adium, Itunes, Echofon and Dropbox. I wouldn't think that any of these apps are causing this problem. Anyone have any idea what could be causing this problem? Any help will be appreciated.

27" iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.4)

Posted on Aug 1, 2010 5:46 PM

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Q: 27" iMac Hard Drive Fan Problem

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  • by WEBBERdrum,

    WEBBERdrum WEBBERdrum Feb 9, 2011 1:03 PM in response to Ali O.
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 9, 2011 1:03 PM in response to Ali O.
    Hi, Ali,

    i tried copying your "/Applications/Utilities/smcFanControl.app/Contents/Resources/smc -k F1Mx -w 2af8" code into terminal, but i get a reply saying that
    "-bash: /Applications/Utilities/smcFanControl.app/Contents/Resources/smc: No such file or directory"

    is copying the code above into terminal the right thing to do or am i doing it wrong? i have the latest version of smc (2.2.2)

    I have a 27 inch quad core imac with a 2Tb Hitachi drive, had it from brand new since late october and noticed from the very start that after being switched on and booted up, the hard disk fan will start reasonably slow and quiet and gradually get faster and louder, 15 minutes will pass and the hard disc fan is running at 5000 rpm and is pretty loud, even though only running safari! Temperatures look ok at about 35 - 40 C all the time. the fan will run at 5000rpm until the imac is put to sleep or rebooted, when booted back up again, the process starts over again.

    its always been pretty annoying but thought that was just something to do with having a quad core, but after reading up on it and seeing that it should be running fairly silently unless really stressing it, i know something isnt right.

    anyone with any experience of this and getting it fixed in the UK? really cant have it sent to apple for them to poke at it for a few weeks, mainly because i cant afford the time without it with final year uni work deadlines looming, and the sheer heft of the thing getting it to a shop without a car. Really dont want to just get it swapped either as loading back all my applications and work will probably take longer than actually just getting the thing fixed!

    cheers for any replies.
  • by SvenK,

    SvenK SvenK Feb 11, 2011 9:35 AM in response to WEBBERdrum
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 11, 2011 9:35 AM in response to WEBBERdrum
    Many thanks to Ali! That 'solved' my problem with the fan.

    @WEBBERdrum, you just had to erase 'Utitilies/' in the given path, because smcFanControl isn't installed into this folder. So try:
    /Applications/smcFanControl.app/Contents/Resources/smc -k F1Mx -w 2af8

    This worked for me and now my HD fan isn't noisy anymore

    Tip: Instead of "2af8" which equals 2750rpm I am using "12c0" which equals 1200rpm. Now my iMac is quiet as it should be I guess
    If the temperature gets up I set it back to "2af8".

    Cheers
  • by WEBBERdrum,

    WEBBERdrum WEBBERdrum Feb 11, 2011 2:27 PM in response to SvenK
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 11, 2011 2:27 PM in response to SvenK
    ah, of course! cheers for the help. its almost too quiet now, its quite unnerving! an now the fan noise has gone, i can hear the "stomach rumble that many people are talking about! gah! ohwell, at least this is a temporary fix until i can afford the time to get it checked out.

    just out of curiosity...you know the code for resetting the fan back to the default maximum? just incase it gets a bit too toasty.

    cheers again
  • by hpx,

    hpx hpx Feb 17, 2011 3:07 PM in response to SvenK
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 17, 2011 3:07 PM in response to SvenK
    thanks for making my life better with this code!!

    When I did Apple Hardware Test i got error code : 4SNS/1/40000000:TH0D-9.000

    Should I be alarmed? think this code does point to malfuncition of this particular sensor.

    Message was edited by: hpx
  • by hpx,

    hpx hpx Feb 18, 2011 1:59 AM in response to hpx
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 18, 2011 1:59 AM in response to hpx
    UPDATE:

    I have discovered that loud fan might be a result of an AirPort bug! Like said my HDD fan was at startup 2500 rpm and in a span of 10 min it would spin up to 4500 rpm.

    First fix that magically helped was with Teminal and command line !

    But when I switched off AirPort connection for internet and reconnected to network with modem the whole fiasco with fan resolved itself!!!

    Im interested to know if anyone else could come to same conclusion !
  • by PhyZix,

    PhyZix PhyZix Feb 18, 2011 2:26 AM in response to SvenK
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 18, 2011 2:26 AM in response to SvenK
    Hey guys, I've tried almost all of the things mentioned earlier in this topic, however these only seem to be temporary solutions.
    The fans start acting up once again.
    According to smcFanControl - it's currently at 66 degrees Celsius - 5092rpm
    The only thing that is running is Mozilla Firefox with 6 tabs in total (even with a single tab it creates the same vacuum-like noise)

    I'm not the brightest when it comes to Apple computers but I've been trying to follow the "/Applications/smcFanControl.app/Contents/Resources/smc -k F1Mx -w 2af8"
    destination via "Finder" but seem to be having difficulties.

    I've created two screenshots as follows:
    Resources
    http://i1086.photobucket.com/albums/j459/PhyZix89/Screenshot2011-02-18at101618.p ng?t=1298024595

    Resources -> Sources
    http://i1086.photobucket.com/albums/j459/PhyZix89/Screenshot2011-02-18at101634.p ng?t=1298024574

    ...and I can't seem to find the "smc -k F1Mx -w 2af8" bit..
    Can anyone point me in the right direction as to what I am supposed to be doing, because I'm pretty confused.

    It would be very appreciated if someone could get back to me on this, as I feel so clueless.

    Thank you for reading.
  • by hpx,

    hpx hpx Feb 18, 2011 5:57 AM in response to PhyZix
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 18, 2011 5:57 AM in response to PhyZix
    PhyZix, o gosh no no ! You do not have to open app. package! Simply have it siting there in Applications folder under your account. Just like iTunes or Safari. Let it be there and dont go opening its content with right click or however you did it.

    Now just run the smcFanControl app. , its gonna pop up in top bar and give you readings.

    Next step is open the Terminal app. that you can find in your Utilities folder
    Now this is with like oldstlyle chalk board icon with arrow and underline , you cant miss that.
    When Terminal app is opened you gonna get dialog pad with some numbers and your account name spelled out followed by bold gray vetical box.

    Now just copy the path /Applications/smcFanControl.app/Contents/Resources/smc -k F1Mx -w 2af8 and press ENTER

    The magic begins!!! the fans will slow down to 2700 rpm!

    IF only you go and replace last 4 characters in that command line with 12c0 and press ENTER your fans will slow down to 1200 rpm!!!!!!! AWESOME

    Note this! Everytime imac goes to sleep, or you log out, restart..... YOU NEED TO REPEAT THIS ACCTION!!!!

    Finally what worked for me also is canceling use of Airport for internet connection and the fans never came up again and no command line action was required anymore

    Its EASY and it WORKS!!!! Enjoy
  • by PhyZix,

    PhyZix PhyZix Feb 18, 2011 9:08 AM in response to hpx
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 18, 2011 9:08 AM in response to hpx
    Hmm.. That's strange..
    I tried what you told me to do with the Terminal application, not 100% sure if what I'm doing is correct, but this is the outcome.

    http://i1086.photobucket.com/albums/j459/PhyZix89/Screenshot2011-02-18at170227.p ng?t=1298048648

    As you can see the RPM still exceeds 4000, even with the code entered.

    Thanks in advance for any comments made to resolve this issue.
  • by hpx,

    hpx hpx Feb 18, 2011 9:53 AM in response to PhyZix
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 18, 2011 9:53 AM in response to PhyZix
    Ok I can see that you have entered the code correctly cause there is no error in terminal.

    And I am really surprised this has not worked out right for you.

    The hack with terminal would be just temporary solution anyways, I forgot did you say U have new machine? Is it mid 2010 27 inch???
  • by PhyZix,

    PhyZix PhyZix Feb 18, 2011 10:36 AM in response to hpx
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 18, 2011 10:36 AM in response to hpx
    It's not a new machine, no.
    I bought it about.. 3 years ago.
    I had this problem about a year ago, after i tried the removal of the power cord solution, it never became a problem.. Until now.

    I think it's a 22"
    The problems stated in this topic seemed almost identical to mine, so I figured I'd post my issue here.

    Apologies if I shouldn't have done so.
  • by hpx,

    hpx hpx Feb 18, 2011 12:47 PM in response to PhyZix
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 18, 2011 12:47 PM in response to PhyZix
    U did right looking for your solution , I would really like to be helpful to you but maybe this is model dependent case . I dont know . I wish I would work for you! In my case i got it 3 days ago and brand new with that problem.
  • by PhyZix,

    PhyZix PhyZix Feb 18, 2011 3:05 PM in response to hpx
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 18, 2011 3:05 PM in response to hpx
    Thank you, I greatly appreciate your efforts.
    I'll keep watching this topic in hope of someone finding an alternative solution.
    If I myself find a way to resolve this issue, I'll be sure to post here.
    Best of luck.
  • by PhyZix,

    PhyZix PhyZix Feb 24, 2011 3:26 AM in response to PhyZix
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 24, 2011 3:26 AM in response to PhyZix
    After countless days of effort on trying to fix the fan noise..
    Downloading fan control programs, searching forums over and over, uninstalling and reinstalling Mac OS X.. and several other things..

    My brother shook the computer.. & pulled out the power cable whilst the computer was still running. Just like that everything was fixed, even though I tried over 100 things! Apparently just shaking it fixed the issue?! I pulled out the power cord so many times, reset the thing code (forgot what it's called) and everything, to no avail!

    Anyway, I hope this post helps anyone with a similar issue, even though I'm still confused about it. Good thing I didn't take it to the Apple store and saved myself a few pennies.

    Happy browsing!
  • by pedro3178,

    pedro3178 pedro3178 Feb 24, 2011 3:44 AM in response to PhyZix
    Level 2 (230 points)
    Feb 24, 2011 3:44 AM in response to PhyZix
    Glad you got it sorted! although i personally cannot and would not recommend anyone to pull out the power cord when the machine is running, this could cause damage, with regards to picking it up and shaking it, i hope thats not when power is still applied! i still wouldn't recommend doing, anyway glad your now sorted, i hope!
  • by PhyZix,

    PhyZix PhyZix Feb 24, 2011 11:41 PM in response to pedro3178
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 24, 2011 11:41 PM in response to pedro3178
    To be honest, that would have been the last thing I would recommend!
    However, it is now running to perfection, therefore I have no complaints at all.

    I'm not sure how to edit posts but my brother said he pulled out the power cord as the computer was starting up!
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