Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Imac 27" fan problems (overheating, shut down, bootcamp, smc)

hey guys,


so i recenlty purchased a 27" imac this week. ive always used bootcamp for gaming and to expediate transferring my bootcamp partitions from my macbook to my imac i made an image of it with winclone and then restored it to the partition i made on my imac.


after that i started up starcraft 2 in bootcamp and about 3-5 minutes into the game my computer suddenly shut down.

it also shut down with Trine 2 about the same amount of time into the game.


i figured this was a fan problem, the fans werent running at all while i was gaming and having everything on highest graphics settings i assumed the fans should be working to some degree.


i then updated everything i could because i assumed drivers were causeing the problem.


i updated windows, bootcamp, my AMD video driver, everything i could think of.


the problem still remained.


for whatever reason windows just isnt regulating my computer's temperature.


my solution was to download lubbo's fancontrol for windows and voila the fans kicked on and im able to game for hours on end without my computer overheating and shutting down!


however, i notied that the program wasnt reading my computer temperatures either, it says 90C for every temperature reading even when my computers sitting idle. so this essentially means the fans are ALWAYS on in windows which isnt a huge priblem beause if im using bootcamp im gaming and need the fans on so it doesnt bother me if they're beaing a little overproductive during those times.


HOWEVER, whats really bothering me is that once i boot back into mac the fans kick on and run full blast as soon as they get a chance to. i have a temperature reader saying my temp is below 50C and they're still blasting away.


so i shut down the computer and unplug it for 15 seconds (reset the SMC) and the fan works properly again! yaay.



my question is, how do i fix the fan/temperature managment in windows properly and how do i get my smc to stop being screwed up every time i switch between bootcamp and mac? am i experienceing hardware issues? i would hope thats not the case, my computeres not even a week old.

iMac (27-inch Mid 2011), Mac OS X (10.7.3), 3.4 ghz i7, AMD 6970 2gb gpu

Posted on Mar 30, 2012 10:49 AM

Reply
10 replies

Mar 30, 2012 11:21 AM in response to greglebot

That is for laptops, not the iMac ("use at your own" too)


There is no real SMC <=> thermal fan control in Windows.

Maybe when UEFI motherboards become more popular.


SpeedFan 4 was what I hoped could/would eventually work for Macs. Not.


InputRemapper from 2007 was designed for Mac laptops also but seems to work.


This is one of if not the largest weakness in "Windows on Mac" and lack of support.

A custom redesign of something like SpeedFan can't be impossible, can it?


Never heard of Lubbo FanControl until now or that it would mess with the fans that way.

Mar 30, 2012 11:26 AM in response to The hatter

Alright ill try inputremapper sometime today, ive heard it mentioned in other forums before.

i did try speed fan and it did absolutely nothing.


so i guess using a 3rd party fancontrol program is at the root of the solution?

i was hoping there was some update i was missing or something, seems like a really important support feature thats gone overlooked.

Mar 30, 2012 11:45 AM in response to greglebot

Two thoughts/questions:


> ive always used bootcamp for gaming and to expediate transferring my bootcamp partitions from my macbook to my imac i made an image of it with winclone and then restored it to the partition i made on my imac.


That fancontrol worked on the MacBook okay? as well as game playing? because I keep hearing those MB/MBPro models run hotter under Windows as well.


It is NEVER a good idea to use the same Windows image to go from one motherboard to a totally different one, even if you can boot Windows (and you would need to uninstall a lot of drivers, including any from Apple and part of Boot Camp).


So my advice: do a clean install and avoid the side effects of your WinClone MacBook.

Apr 26, 2012 4:20 PM in response to greglebot

okay so i reinstalled windows and was able to play games through bootcamp quite fine for a few days. the fans were responding to the varying temperatures.


however i just turned it on and within about 10 minutes the computer shut down again.

i felt the back of the computer and it was really really hot


the only things if changed in the past few days were adding a few drivers for my audio interface and mouse driver.

i dont feel like these should affect window's ability to regulate temperature.


for the moment all i can get to work is lubbos fan control which mean i have to have the fans running at max rpm the entire time im running windows...pretty annoying.

Nov 14, 2012 4:58 AM in response to greglebot

i have exactly the same problem. either no fan = instant toasting level overheating.

or lubbo on full blast /to the annoyance of my collegues (curse open offices).


smc doesnt do anything on windows 7 via bootcamp either.

my sad solution is to have it overheat for 1 hour, blast it with lubbos for 20 minutes. restart machine without lubbo. rinse and repeat.

Imac 27" fan problems (overheating, shut down, bootcamp, smc)

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple ID.