My iMac sometimes starts humming or vibrating. If I hold onto it and adjust the screen position, it stops. I reset the SMC and it stops humming until the next time. I also shut down and restart to stop the buzzing. Anything else I can do? I may have 7 or more applications open but not active.
Thanks in advance.
[Re-Titled by Moderator]
iMac 27″, macOS 15.3
The humming only happened a couple of times since I first inquired.
❓Perchance is the Seagate external drive the vibration source?
disk2 - Seagate One Touch HDD 5.00 TB
External USB Up to 5 Gb/s USB
It is a mechanical hard drive that, if not happy, could vibrate. Your internal storage is solid-state, so cannot be the source the vibrations. Easy enough to test—eject the Seagate temporarily.
The only moving part inside that computer is the cooling fan. Its rotational speeds range from idle of about 1200 rpm and a max of 2700 rpm, depending on how hot the computer's components get. Thermostatic sensors throughout the system tell the fan to speed if needed. However, should a temp sensor fail, the system will kick the fan up to full speed to overcome possible harm from the missing temperature data stream. Pretty cool fail-safe stuff.
Obviously fan vibration that may be quite noticeable at high fans speeds may be below human detection limits at idle speed. Therefore, high-demand apps (streaming video; compiling; video conferencing; gaming; Google Chrome) that make the computer run hotter can cause fan vibration that isn't noticeable with low-demand apps (Apple Mail; word processing; etc).
Apple Diagnostics will detect and report some cooling fan issues, and you can run it at home. See:
Use Apple Diagnostics to test your Mac - Apple Support
AD returns an alpha-numeric code if it detects as error, not a text-based description. Fortunately, if you look at the bottom of that article, there is a link to another Apple doc that is the "decoder" for AD error codes.
The humming only happened a couple of times since I first inquired.
❓Perchance is the Seagate external drive the vibration source?
disk2 - Seagate One Touch HDD 5.00 TB
External USB Up to 5 Gb/s USB
It is a mechanical hard drive that, if not happy, could vibrate. Your internal storage is solid-state, so cannot be the source the vibrations. Easy enough to test—eject the Seagate temporarily.
The only moving part inside that computer is the cooling fan. Its rotational speeds range from idle of about 1200 rpm and a max of 2700 rpm, depending on how hot the computer's components get. Thermostatic sensors throughout the system tell the fan to speed if needed. However, should a temp sensor fail, the system will kick the fan up to full speed to overcome possible harm from the missing temperature data stream. Pretty cool fail-safe stuff.
Obviously fan vibration that may be quite noticeable at high fans speeds may be below human detection limits at idle speed. Therefore, high-demand apps (streaming video; compiling; video conferencing; gaming; Google Chrome) that make the computer run hotter can cause fan vibration that isn't noticeable with low-demand apps (Apple Mail; word processing; etc).
Apple Diagnostics will detect and report some cooling fan issues, and you can run it at home. See:
Use Apple Diagnostics to test your Mac - Apple Support
AD returns an alpha-numeric code if it detects as error, not a text-based description. Fortunately, if you look at the bottom of that article, there is a link to another Apple doc that is the "decoder" for AD error codes.
It will help us get a good idea of what is causing your problem if you provide a report of your system, that way we do not have to play 20 questions with you. The report we are requesting does NOT provide any personal information and is extremely safe to use. Please navigate towww.Etrecheck.com and download the free version of EtreCheck. Once you have you downloaded the app and installed it, please run the report and save it. This report will help us get a good idea what has been installed on your system and help us be able to diagnose what may be wrong.
When you have your report, you can attach it when you reply to this message and we can then review it and help you determine what is needed to get your system running well again.
For instructions on how to download your EtreCheck report and attach it to your reply to this message please click How to use the Add Text Feature When Post… - Apple Community It is helpful to us if you download the report to your Desktop.
I’d first try a Safe Mode boot, and see if the noise persists. Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support
There are some external devices here including Wacom and I’d try disconnecting all of the USB-connected devices and everything other than keyboard and mouse as a test, see if the noise persists.
I’d then I’dtemporarily remove that radio app, as a test.
Otherwise, and unrelated to the noise…
It’s out of memory, which is not helpful with all it’s doing. Memory can be added, here.
OpenOffice is reportedly failing in newer macOS versions. LibreOffice is one potential path.
Thank you for the advice on AppCleaner. I don't have any Adobe applications. I went with Serif/Affinity products and use Apple applications instead of MicroSoft.
No humming on my iMac after all the work done with EtreCheck and moving the external hard drive away from the computer.
Have a good day!
Please uninstall all MacPaw software, they are developers of software that at best is 100% worthless and damaging to Mac OS. Also, you have Nord VPN installed which is also very bad. Please locate the developers uninstall instructions for all MacPaw apps and the Nord VPN and uninstall. Then restart in Safe Mode (ensure the keyboard charging cable is plugged into the back of the Mac and the keyboard) and hold the Shift key until it restarts in Safe Mode, this can take up to 10 minutes. After you have uninstalled the apps mentioned above and restarted in Safe Mode then restart normally and run a fresh EtreCheck report and study it to see if anything with the name MacPaw and/or Nord are present. If they are post back for instructions.
Moving forward please never ever install the following types of third party apps:
NordVPN is still installed. Please uninstall it, it TRASHWARE and can damage Mac OS which may have already been damaged due to all the garbage ware you have installed.
Is the buzzing coming from the speakers, or from the center of the computer? It could be one of the background apps, having a bug in their software that is causing a buzz.
Attached is my report after deleting problematic applications and updating the rest of the applications and restarting computer before making a new Etrecheck report. Thank you for your help! The humming only happened a couple of times since I first inquired. I'll check on the LibreOffice; probably don't need it as I have been using all the Apple applications. I have additional DIMMS to install when I take the time to do so. The Wacom tablet and the epson Scanner aren't connected until I need them.
Have removed any reference to NordVPN. They were text or PDF files, not computer files as far as I could see. Also deleted some leftovers of apps that were previously removed. The humming I inquired about may have been the Seagate removable hard drive touching the iMac stand. My desk was messy. I cleaned up any additional
problematical applications on the computer. This is, hopefully, a final EtreCheck.
The Apple Diagnostic found no problems with the computer and gave a code: ADP000 No issues found.
Other notes: While reading the EtreCheck report I went back to the computer and removed the gemini2 item and the macpaw item found. The Epson scanner and Wacom Tablet are not connected until I need to use them. I'm satisfied with the AppCleaner application; I used it to locate and delete applications and it seemed to work well. The unsigned apps are okay.
I will follow RKaufmann's advice about not installing any Antivirus, Cleaning, Security, VPN, or Maintenance Applications.
Thank you all for your help!
One warning on using the AppCleaner:
WARNING: If you use AppCleaner on an app that you have other apps from the same developer, like Adobe, you must be extremely careful checking all checkboxes and deleting. Some for those files may support other apps from the same developer and deleting them can mess them up. Adobe apps is a primary example. I know from experience. For singular apps from a developer it's safe.
Here's my report.
Your welcome.
iMac 6-Core Intel i5 humming and vibrating but only stops after SMC reset
