Power Mac G5 fan noise

:headphone I guess this Mac is noisy with the fans running constantly. Tried the different energy choices like Auto and Reduced but to no avail. Would replacing the fans (4 ?) with aftermarket ones that are quieter be worth the expense and successful ? Anybody know what products are available or have done this already ? Thank you. By the way...... tantalize me ...... is the Mac Mini really quiet ?

Yes the mini is quiet. Your fans...i do not know. My PM G5 is pretty **** quiet for being on a lot. Umm..i have processor turned to reduced or whatever. Check temp monitor...maybe somethings up.

Mine is pretty quiet as well, there is one or 2 times when it has had a kernel panic while I was out of the room, and fans went on full power.. now that was insanely loud when i got back to the computer.. sounded like there was a jet in my room.

Books said:

Yes the mini is quiet. Your fans...i do not know. My PM G5 is pretty **** quiet for being on a lot. Umm..i have processor turned to reduced or whatever. Check temp monitor...maybe somethings up.

Click to expand...

:doctor: Took it to a computer store and they could find nothing wrong. Had a temp utility monitor installed at that time. The guy said he removed it and let the Mac run for 3 hours and it was quiet. Of course he didn't use it for any task like web surfing or running a program. I dunno, the fans are running the minute I get this baby out of sleep mode until I shut down.

I had a problem with mine. It sounded like a diesel. I have a dual 2.0 PowerMac and it turned out to be a fan that is attached to the case. I took it into the Apple store and they said that in order to repair the fan, I needed a new case! Good thing I was still under warranty as the bill was just over $600.00. They wouldn't let me have the old case either?!

Possible fix

carmender said:

:headphone I guess this Mac is noisy with the fans running constantly. Tried the different energy choices like Auto and Reduced but to no avail...

Click to expand...

There is a little-known fix for the G5s with full-power fans running all the time. Mac never figured it out and neither did most techs that I've run into. I found that there is an electric eye (Thanks to a client sharing this with me!) located in the MIDDLE slot where the middle tab of the clear plastic thermal zone seperator fits in. This sensor detects the tab when it is inserted and slows the fans down to "normal." Occasionally, the sensitivity of this sensor goes kablooey and the fix is to take a permanent marker and color in the tab so it breaks the beam completely and throws the switch. I've seen this work is VERY stubborn cases, but definitely not all. Give it a try.
Good luck!
Laz :tusks:

LazarusUnbound said:

There is a little-known fix for the G5s with full-power fans running all the time. Mac never figured it out and neither did most techs that I've run into. I found that there is an electric eye (Thanks to a client sharing this with me!) located in the MIDDLE slot where the middle tab of the clear plastic thermal zone seperator fits in. This sensor detects the tab when it is inserted and slows the fans down to "normal." Occasionally, the sensitivity of this sensor goes kablooey and the fix is to take a permanent marker and color in the tab so it breaks the beam completely and throws the switch. I've seen this work is VERY stubborn cases, but definitely not all. Give it a try.
Good luck!
Laz :tusks:

Click to expand...

Actually that tab that should be non-transparent for the sensor is the right tab, not the middle one. And when it is not (or the plexi is removed while the PowerMac is running) The PCI-bay ventilator and the drive bay ventilators are the ones running at full blast, but not the 4 CPU ventilators.

Im in serious need of some help here. My roommate just picked up a used iBook G4. In the process of cleaning up the harddrive...he literally dragged it into the recycle bin...restarted the computer...and it came up w/ this screen immediatly following that...

Panic(cpu 0 caller 0x002E0368): Unable to find driver for this platform: “PowerBook6, 7”.

Latest stack backtrace for cpu 0:
Backtrace:
0x00095718 0x00095C30 0x0002683C 0x002E0368 0x002BF6F4 0x002BF4BC 0x002BFF24
0x002C0590 (this was on the above line)
0x000A9894
Proceeding back via exception chain:
Exception state (sv=0x00529A000)
PC=0x00000000; MSR=0x0000D030; DAR=0x00000000; DSISR=0x00000000; LR=0x00000000; R1=0x00000000; XCP=0x00000000 (Unknown)

Kernel version:
Darwin Kernel Version 8.5.0: Sun Jan 22 10:38:46 PST 2006; root:xnu-792.6.61.obj~1/REALEASE_PPC

No debugger configured – dumping debug information
MSR=00001030
Latest stack backtrace for cpu 0:
Backtrace:
0x00095718 0x00095E18 0x0002683C 0x002E0368 0x002BF6F4 0x002BF4BC 0x002BFF24 0x002C0590
0x000A9894
Proceeding back via exception chain:
Exception state (sv=0x00529A000)
PC=0x00000000; MSR=0x0000D030; DAR=0x00000000; DSISR=0x00000000; LR=0x00000000; R1=0x00000000; XCP=0x00000000 (Unknown)

Kernel version:
Darwin Kernel Version 8.5.0: Sun Jan 22 10:38:46 PST 2006; root:xnu-792.6.61.obj~1/REALEASE_PPC
panic: We are hanging here…

I have tired everything. I have tried booting from Command - C. Commnd - S. I have tried using Command - ALT - O - F open in the Open Fire wall. I have tried starting the computer...simply holding down ALT...which gives you the option to boot directly from the hard drive or the operating system disk...nothing. I have tried every repair disk I have and have tried manually booting from them. Sometimes I get a screen that has an apple in the back round...then turns into a circle w/ a slash thru it.
The operating system he is running is OS X Panther Version 10.3. I tired booting from these disks...the repair disks...the software restore disks...and the Apple Hardware Test.
I have educated myself to the best of my ability...but I am just out of my league. My roommate is an idiot and isnt sure himself. I know of the PMC and the PRAM...but nothing really specific about them. I know resetting them starts everthing over...but Im not even sure how to go about this. Any help anyone can provide would be completly appriciated! Thanks...

To boot from CD/DVD, just hold C at startup, not Command-C.
Try booting up with the first of the install disks (I think there are two of them) as that is the one with the OS.
As it is a used one anyway, I would suggest a clean Erase & Install to have a clean, new system.

I have tried what you suggested as well...but it never completes the start up. It either takes me to the Apple that tuns into the circle w/ the slash thru it...or a file that flashes back and forth b/w a face and a question mark...or it takes me right back to the kernal panic.
The clean install is what i have been going for the whole time...but nothing seems to work. The preexisting data...if its even still there from b4 he dragged the harddrive in the recycle bin...is irrelevant. I just want to get it up and running for him.

Mac G5 Fan Noise

LazarusUnbound said:

There is a little-known fix for the G5s with full-power fans running all the time. Mac never figured it out and neither did most techs that I've run into. I found that there is an electric eye (Thanks to a client sharing this with me!) located in the MIDDLE slot where the middle tab of the clear plastic thermal zone seperator fits in. This sensor detects the tab when it is inserted and slows the fans down to "normal." Occasionally, the sensitivity of this sensor goes kablooey and the fix is to take a permanent marker and color in the tab so it breaks the beam completely and throws the switch. I've seen this work is VERY stubborn cases, but definitely not all. Give it a try.
Good luck!
Laz :tusks:

Click to expand...

That's interesting. I recently took it to a CompUSA store (Apple Auth. repair center) and they did a complete diagnostic check and found nothing wrong with it. They could not duplicate the problem. I got it back recently and so far, knock on wood or maybe the computer case it has been very quiet. I would have preferred to pay to have a definite problem found and fixed rather than left wondering and hoping. Thanks for this insightfull information.