[tonyibook]

I was wondering how many people out there get a strange clicking noise from their iMac. It sounds a bit like a hard drive clicking away. The rate of clicking depends on a number of things including the brightness of the display and the CPU usage.

The noise does not come from the speakers as it is still there when sound is muted. If I turn the screen brightness right down then it virtually stops, unless I move the mouse pointer around the screen. I don't think it is the fans as I doubt they spin up and down fast enough.

I believe it is my power supply. Hopefully I will be able to swap it out myself. If it wasn't for this weird clicking noise the iMac would be near silent.

[Gee4orce]

Sounds like it could be one of the fans making a noise. Try turning the computer around and seeing whereabout the noise originates from on the back, and then see if that aligns with one of the fans.

[tonyibook]

If I turn the brightness up then the clicking sound occurs 10 or 20 times a second.

If I switch the brightness to minimum then it clicks once every few seconds or so, quite intermittently. Sometimes it will stop completely.

[metallic]

there is a thread about this in the apple discussions in the imac g5 forum.

they seem to think it may be a loose wire that the fan is clicking as it rotates or something obstructing the fan, they also have a sample of what it sounds like put up there.

go and look and see if thats the same sound?
i hope mine doesnt have that when its delivered id prolly cry haha.

it sounds damn annoying too.
i dont mind computer fan noise, but when theres something clicking the fan it drives me nuts, one of my old powerbooks had hair or something in its little fan and it used to buzz and i ended up nearly throwing it out the window one day.

oh well, i would be onto apple str8 away if i were you.

[tonyibook]

Someone in the Apple forums said that he took the back off the iMac and then held the fans in place, then powered up, but the clicking continued.

At the moment it only appears to be people who run at 240V.

[Hanul]

Looks like there is an Apple replacement program for the power supply in the 17" iMacs running on 240V, which causes the clicking noise. The problem has been experienced before with the first PowerMac G5. The production of the iMac G5 has already changed to use another type of power supply.

[ramsden]

Originally posted by Hanul:
Looks like there is an Apple replacement program for the power supply in the 17" iMacs running on 240V, which causes the clicking noise. The problem has been experienced before with the first PowerMac G5. The production of the iMac G5 has already changed to use another type of power supply.

Hi, thanks for the info, I,m getting the same noise on my new g5 imac.
How dose one find out about the Apple replacement program you mention ?
thanks for your help.

[tonyibook]

I phoned AppleCare Service and Support today and after describing the noise on my iMac they said that they would send me a replacement power supply. You have to agree to send the old one back within a certain time frame or they charge you.

I had the option of taking my machine to a service center or replacing the supply myself.

[ramsden]

Originally posted by tonyibook:
I phoned AppleCare Service and Support today and after describing the noise on my iMac they said that they would send me a replacement power supply. You have to agree to send the old one back within a certain time frame or they charge you.

I had the option of taking my machine to a service center or replacing the supply myself.

Hi, when I phoned them they didnt give me that option to do the replacement myself, but to take the machine to my nearest approved service place for them to do; this takes longer of course, also the service place when ordering the replacement part from Apple were told that they're not availible yet, so I'm wondering how long its going to take? let me know when they ship your part if you could thanks.
I'm looking forward very much to the machine
Cheers