My G5 Blows Hot Air.

Howdy yall,
I am so worried so...

Please feel free to redirect me to a different location when I post this question. I have read this is a FCP board but my friends and coworkers tell me someone here may be able to help.

Muchas Gracias.

Now
I have a question for the computer gurus.
It has been my suspicion that my G5 Tower runs the fans more then it normally should.

Here is what I mean. I am going to first describe the fans as I best hear them.

1. Very quiet very slow moving next to no noise, they just move slow. There is nothing going on with the system almost a sleep mode.

2 Moving you can hear them working sound like they are rendering something small. Perhaps running 2 applications something like that, you can feel the cool air being pulled into the front grill and the warm air out of the back end.

and finally

3. This is the fans at full throttle I see and hear this when I either pull out the plastic cover from the side of the computer. Or I begin a large render the fans may blast for a short moment.
Nevertheless I will call this a Level 3.


There maybe levels in-between those perhaps 4 or 5 total levels but IM sure you can get my point.


Anyhow, My problem is My computer seems to be stuck on a level 2, constantly on blowing fans even when my computer has not been used in hours, or over the night. I put my computer to screen saver and hope it relaxes for the night. But no such luck.

I used to doubt myself until I placed another G5 next to it for the day.
Now AhhhhHA, I was right the borrowed G5 is in a relaxed mood quiet fan running slow next to no noise.

My G5 loud and hot. Now what kind of solutions do any of your computer techies have. I am all ears.
I am looking for help because I am very worried about my investment here.
Heat = bad for computers as far as I know.


My computer is a Dual 2.0 G5 with 4 Gigs of ram 2 internal Hard drives. 160gig maxtor and a 300gig maxtor
Operating OSX 10.4.6

The second computer which i am comparing it to is a

Dual 2.0 G5 with 1.5 Gigs of ram and 2 internal Hard drives a 160gig maxtor and a 300gig maxtor

Gracias.

BTW the only apps open on my computer is Safari.

The apps open in the borrowed G5 is FCP.

It's probably those Maxtors getting ready to explode



When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

Are you being serious?
Is there any way that I can check this?

So the maxtors can cause the fans to stay on.


Here is an interesting side note.

I sometimes bounce back to use 10.3.9 on my same computer. Projects come in needing me to use FCP4.5

And in this OS I notice that it does not run the fans as often or for as long.
Can something be wrong with Tiger OS?

...notice the at the end...denotes "just kidding".



When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

Don't mind Joey. He's just all excited about the huricane season starting up.

From your description, I would say the fans and cooling system are operating normally and there's something heating up much more than it should.

It's been our experience that the only time the G5 cabinet ever goes into maximum fan speed is when the machine thinks it has lost control. During these conditions, the keyboard and mouse fail and the screen may or may not go black. The fans go into screaming mode.

I'm worried that you can feel the heat from the rear of the cabinet. If you compare it to the other machine, is it a lot hotter? One of our G5 machines (Dual 2GHz, Two Internal Drives)) has been running for four hours and *one* of the rear vents has warm, but not hot air coming out. The other vents are just slightly warmer than room temperature.

If you have heat like from a portable personal heater at the rear of the cabinet, there is something very seriously wrong.

If you run the machine with the side off but the clear plastic cover in place, can you see all the fans moving? Some of them, it's true, only spin very very slowly until they're needed. If one of them is stopped, then the others will go nuts trying to make up the difference.

Completely disconnect the machine, take the covers off, and inspect all the vents. Do you have dirt or maybe dog hairs in any of the air pathways? Each of the major vent systems pull out and you can inspect and clean them with a clean/new paintbrush and vacuum cleaner.

Koz



Post Edited (05-30-06 13:47)

Did you remove these strips when you got your G5?

[docs.info.apple.com]

Wow...no sense of humor Hey...you think you got it tough...Hurricane season starts day after tomorrow and my roof leaks already.

OK...that "screaming fan mode" may happen with the older G5's...not the Dual Cores on Tiger. My Quad fans pick up occassionally and there is some heat that comes off the box (as to be expected). You may try getting it up off the floor and away from the wall. Give the airflow plenty of space to move. Di like koz says and clean out all airways.



When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

My G5 dual 2 gig did that too. It also made a soft but extremely irritating squeaking or chirruping noise. Initially I attributed this to the hard drives etc etc.

Then I read an article on the Apple website about wierd noises coming from G5s. They say it may come from the power supply being faulty in some models and said that you can get a new free power supply from an Apple store if this is so.

I took mine in.

They gave me a new power supply (and this was a year out of warranty at least).

The fan mega blowing stopped and the squeaking stopped. No charge.

Do a search on the Apple site. I can't remember exactly where it is, but try searching the site with phrases like "noise' or "computer wierd noise" "chirruping" etc.

Hope this helps

Harry



Harry Bromley-Davenport.

Thank you everyone for your helpfull remarks.

To be a bit more clear just incase i was not clear. It is not the mega blowing that worries me, that only happens when I do a serious render for a few seconds or when I open the plastic inner cover.

What worries me is the mid or minor blowing.

Like a half way mark
I have both towers next to each other.

Mine feels like its at about 50% strength
and the other feels more like 20% strength.

When i run in OSX 10.3.9 i don't have this problem mine seems to run more at like %20 strange but true.

Confusing and concerning but not fully blowing at 100% as if the plastic door was off.


And to answer Eddies question
no Eddie I have not removed any thin plastic covering on the inside of the aluminum door.
I will do so now thank you.

You can download free from Apple.com a dashboard widget that monitors internel temps and fan speeds.



Independent photographer, film maker and Producer. In the wonderful UK.

and never fiddle with the plastic deflector... it is integral to the cooling system.



Independent photographer, film maker and Producer. In the wonderful UK.

ABSOLUTELY DO NOT pull out the plastic deflector behind the door panel. Everything in the G5 is laid out & designed that way for a reason! Cross-ventilation cooling!



When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

Joey
You have those Blue tarps on your roof like the many other people in FL. ? Man If I only had a roofing business.

Hi--

I had a problem with my G5... concerning the fans increasing to a scream and being linked with it freezing. Now -- Apple replaced the CPU and logic board and when I got it back, it continued to run the fans at a MED excessive level.

The fix was "re-callibration of the fans/cooling system" by Apple. Now it seems to work perfectly.

Do you have Apple Care? They'll take care of this and it won't cost you anything. Possible solution, not certain, but probable.

Adam