I have a late 2012 Mac mini running Mojave that has just started making a constant whirring sound.
Maybe the hard drive or fan? If I do a full reboot it stops for about 10 hrs then starts the noise again.
The Mac Fan app says the fan isn’t running and Disk Utility says the HD is fine.
The volume is turned down and also has a plug in the headphone jack.
Appreciate any ideas as to what’s causing the sound.
Thanks,
Carl
1) When was the last time that is was cleaned and serviced...?
The air intake around the bottom cover, the fan or the heat exchanger could be clogged with dust.
Plus the default exhaust fan speed for a 2012 Mac mini is 1800rpm and not 0rpm.
If the fan is running at 0rpm, then other components like the CPU, GPU and Hard Drive will overheat.
2) Does it still have the original 12 year old Hard Drive Disk...?
Those are know to whirl, emit a static noise and even clunk after a few years.
It is a little late in the game to spend money on an HDD to SDD upgrade, unless you happen to have a spare 2.5" SATA SSD laying around. see > https://eshop.macsales.com/installvideos/mac_mini2012_hd/Macmini6-1-nonserver/
1) When was the last time that is was cleaned and serviced...?
The air intake around the bottom cover, the fan or the heat exchanger could be clogged with dust.
Plus the default exhaust fan speed for a 2012 Mac mini is 1800rpm and not 0rpm.
If the fan is running at 0rpm, then other components like the CPU, GPU and Hard Drive will overheat.
2) Does it still have the original 12 year old Hard Drive Disk...?
Those are know to whirl, emit a static noise and even clunk after a few years.
It is a little late in the game to spend money on an HDD to SDD upgrade, unless you happen to have a spare 2.5" SATA SSD laying around. see > https://eshop.macsales.com/installvideos/mac_mini2012_hd/Macmini6-1-nonserver/
Good work posting the screenshots.
In all honesty with the Fan speed at 0rpm, I'm surprised that it runs that long without over-heating and causing more issues.
What happens if you select "Custom" on the MacFanControl panel and raise the fan speed up to 1800rpm
If nothing happens, then the fan is either plugged with dust or has failed and Mac mini needs to be serviced ASAP.
As far as I know it’s never been serviced for anything. Yes, I’m sure it’s completely original.
Strange that a shut down and boot will fix the issue for about 10 hours.
Thanks,
Carl
Mac Mini HD Noise?
