Constant fan noise on 2017 iMac even at rest

Thank you.

It seem again that not all iMac are affected.

I heared that only 27” i7 7700K was affected (because it’s a 91 Watts, unlike the i7 7700 non-K of the 21” iMac which is a 65 W cpu).

But is yours an exception ?!

Is it worth taking the risk to order it ?

It would be useful if some silent i7 27” iMacs owners could testify here.

Holger,

A SMC reset is the normal thing to do if you have fan noise. Sometimes it takes 2-3 times for the reset to work though, so don't be discouraged if it doesn't work the first or second time. Below is a link that shows how to do it and also one for doing a PRAM reset. These are both very basic and in no way affect your data on the computer. If you want to Google them to learn what they are that's fine.

iMac SMC and PRAM reset

The past four generations of 21.5-inch and 27-inch iMac (including yours) have only had one internal fan (blower). Earlier iMac models contained 3 fans (blowers). In all models the fan(s) turn on almost immediately after the power button is pressed, and the fan (blower) speed adjusts constantly depending on the internal sensor values.

My 2017 27-inch iMac is nearly silent unless I put my ear up to the display. It sounds like your iMac is much louder than normal, or you are more sensitive to the noise it makes. How far away are you sitting when you hear the noise? Can you hear it from across the room too?

I suggest running the Apple Diags that are already installed on your iMac to see if the diags detect any sensor or fan speed errors. If an error is generated be sure to record the details and take your iMac to a service location. You can also take it in if the idle fan (blower) noise is abnormally loud.

How to use Apple Diagnostics on your Mac - Apple Support

One additional step to take is to run the Activity Monitor application located in the Applications/Utilities folder. Click on the CPU option at the top and monitor the CPU usage. For new systems you may observe processes related to things like Spotlight or the Photos app consuming processor time and potentially causing the fan to run a little bit faster temporarily. Make a note if there are any processes consistently using a large % of the CPU time and report the results.

Thanks for the advice. I already tried the resets. Many times. I am hoping for a replacement since not everyone has this problem.

Hi Burgerb,

After you upgrade to 40GB, still silent again as your old one ?

Thanks,

Best Regards,

Jacques

I had the files on an external hdd,opened the catalogue on the computer and exported. What does ssd have to do there? Thank you.

I tried this and I don’t hear a sound on the iMac rebooting just can see a faint light on the the screen. Why is that?

So. It seems that not all i7 iMac are affected.

What is your configuration ?

27” or 21”, RAM ?

I posted my configuration, but in case you missed it here it is, its a 27" 2017 Core i7 with 1TB SSD, 580 Pro GPU and 16GB ram.

No, I'm saying you have several fans in an iMac. Whichever fan it is, it may be a hardware defect. You don't have to google the SMC reset, just use the link I gave you.

Besides your free AppleCare, you also have 14 days to return the Mac for a full refund.

It's not a common problem, remember what you read on the Internet isn't always fact. Also remember people come to help forums to find a solution to a problem or to just complain. They don't represent the millions of silent users that have never post.

I had that issue too. Had sent my 2011 iMac off for repair, when it came back the fan was so loud. I did a SMC reset and all is fine since. I think something got knocked while the Mac was in transit and just needed a reset.

I originally bought the 2017 iMac with the core i5 3.8 Mghz 2 Tb fusion drive, had no issues worked great for video rendering and editing photos. 3 days in of owning this, I got greedy and I decided to return the iMac to upgrade to the core i7 iMac thinking this will last me much longer and render even faster than i5. The core i7 Mac took 10 days to make because of special order. Long story short, the i7 ran slower, had issues rendering and editing photos, random glitches on screen. I even went ahead and upgraded to 32gb of ram. My 2013 MacBook edited photos better and smoother than the 2017 i7 4.2 mghz imac. Just took it into the Apple store for an appointment I had. Issues could not be fixed, many people agreed this machine has had many issues and not worth purchasing due to all the issues. Even the workers believe apple messed up somewhere with the i7 iMac. I wish mine worked because I have so much work to do and now I’m behind scheduled because I relied on the machine that it would work. And that’s my horror store :(

I had the same problem and I might have found a solution. As another post below suggested, I don't think the noise was coming from the fan but rather from the activity of the fusion drive (the mechanical drive not the SSD). It sounded like the Mac was permanently (even in sleep mode with power nap disabled) writing data. I had originally upgraded the Ram from the paltry standard 8gb to 24gb (one 16gb module) but the noise didn't stop. I've now added another 16gb for a total of 40gb and the noise stopped. My assumption is that the Mac was constantly swapping data onto the drive(s) because its RAM was overloaded. Even though the activity monitor wasn't saying so, even if there was no software active and all apps closed, I'm pretty sure that this was the problem. Conclusion: Apple sells you a configuration that has enough RAM to be powered on...