2010 Mac Pro 2.8Ghz Quad fans running at high rpm

My (mid 2010) 2.8Ghz Quad core Mac Pro (5,1) fans are running full blast. No processes are happening up front or in the background according to Activity Monitor, and it's unerving to hear the speed and force of the fan (I think it's the front fan - intake).


Sometime ago, a year maybe, I had issues with my Mac Pro bluetooth not showing up, it didn't exist in my System Prefereces! It shipped with Bluetooth and sometimes it showed up and my wireless keyboard and mouse worked, but sometimes it not only didn't work, but literally was not listed under System Prefereces. That issue became such a problem that after communicating with Apple Support, they eventually replaced my entire motherboard.


Since then everything has worked perfectly until last night when I rebooted after a 24 hour period of rendering a project in After Effects. The render was complete and the Mac Pro sounded normal, but I decided to reboot. When it came back on it sounded normal for a few seconds and the front intake fan began spinning up until it was running at full rpms and now it runs full always. I tried a SMC reset, and tried the sleep / wake process but nothing stops the full-tilt intake fan issue.


I am not sure it is hurting anything but it is so loud and disturbing that I don't feel confortable running it. I've been working with Mac Pro's forever - and at work we have two, and older 3Ghz dual quad, and a new 2.66Ghz dual 6-core, and I've never had any issues with them. Before those I've used a hand full of older Mac Pro's but that's going back a long time ago.


I don't know if my coverage started over when I had the motherboard replaced - it was basically a new Mac Pro and I even recieved a new SN. I was kinda shocked at the solution because to me, the issue was the bluetooth card, so replacing the entire motherboard just seemed crazy. I felt like the nightmare Apple customer.


Do any of you have some advice about Mac Pro fans spinning at full speed???

Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.8), CalDigit HDElement

Posted on Oct 31, 2013 8:02 AM

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24 replies

Dec 9, 2013 7:20 PM in response to Dmitry Burenok

haha! yeah, but honestly, after going to FCPX - not sure I would enjoy editing video on anyother platform. I know AVID's MC and Adobe Premiere are really good, super pro - used by a lot of very top-notch crews, but even just looking at track-based editing software is just like, "oh, this *****..." I'm ruined. I can't go back. After all these years (and years, and years) it's weird that more pro editors don't love FCPX. I think they just like what they know - too weird to re-learn something different. Anyway, funny reply - thanks Dmitry :-) you gave me a laugh after a big shoot day!

Feb 5, 2014 9:31 AM in response to yet another...

Hola everybody that tuned into this whiny post about my 2010 Mac Pro screamin' fast fan! I've been busy with several FCPX projects and am just getting around posting the actual problem and solution that fixed the issue:


In the process of removing my PCIe fan enclosure from the backboard (Apple Mac Pro Motherboard), I accidentally did not seat the black plastic connection beneath the gray plastic fan enclosure when I re-installed it.


The PCIe fan enclosure also has a sliding mechanism to move out of the way of full-length PCIe cards, like my CalDigit RAID controller card. After checking everything again and removing the fan I was able to see that I had not lined up the "floating" black plastic connection to the fan wires to the backboard properly. Once I saw that I lined it up again and was more careful and the connection was solid and my Mac Pro is quiet again.


Thanks for all the support and sorry it took so long to post the fix!

Feb 5, 2014 9:58 AM in response to yet another...

This fixed (two years ago) my runaway fan problem on my 2008 Mac Pro, 2.8 quad core:


I bought "istatmenu". It showed my "Northbridge" temperature around 259 degrees F.


I simply disconnected and reconnected the northbridge heatsink-to-motherboard connecter. It's a simple two-pronged connecter just left of the center of the motherboard. Tweezers helped. I had to remove the video card to get to it, but it immediately solved a weak connection and Northbridge temps immediately showed normal (120-ish degrees) again.


I'm pretty sure that was the problem because I spent months troubleshooting.

May 15, 2014 9:04 PM in response to yet another...

Been having this exact problem for many months now. Just like the OP, I have been removing the PCI-E cards, and the RAM and pushing them back in to place, and that always seemed to termporarily fix it. But eventually it came back on. (can hear the fans whirring full boar down in the edit suite next to mine as I write this). So gonna give the suggestion of checking out this black floating plastic connecton and see if that has anythign to do with it.


Ill update after i'm done.

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2010 Mac Pro 2.8Ghz Quad fans running at high rpm

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