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andreas_g4 · 01:12 PM

After I updated to 10.3.8 this evening, the fan on my mini is running constantly at a slightly higher rate than it was before. In 10.3.7, of course, the fan was always on, too. But it was almost completely silent. Now I can hear it noticabely. It's still very quiet, but still.

Apple should stop making fan behaviour worse with every update. Well, abit of exaggerated, but see the current G5 issue and past fan problems.

EDIT: It seems that the fan now is constantly spinning at all. It doesn't go up or down. When I exported some HDTV material to MPEG 2, which was when the fan went up quickly, it's now still spinning at the low rate. Even playing RTCW didn't bring it up.

Maybe Apple has intended this, I dunno. I don't like it. I was mor comfortable when the mini was silent when browsing, email etc. and more "loud" when playing games, rendering etc.

turtle777 · Feb 11, 2005, 01:14 PM

Alter, guckst du hier http://macnews.de/news/58524

-t

andreas_g4 · Feb 11, 2005, 01:24 PM

Thanks for the hint, but unfortunately, there's no such setting on the Mac mini.

amazing · Feb 11, 2005, 04:11 PM

Have you tried repairing permissions, resetting PRAM, and resetting the PMU? Those are the usual culprits in fan and temperature problems.

elvis2000 · Feb 15, 2005, 10:25 AM

Originally posted by andreas_g4:
After I updated to 10.3.8 this evening, the fan on my mini is running constantly at a slightly higher rate than it was before. In 10.3.7, of course, the fan was always on, too. But it was almost completely silent. Now I can hear it noticabely. It's still very quiet, but still.

Apple should stop making fan behaviour worse with every update. Well, abit of exaggerated, but see the current G5 issue and past fan problems.

EDIT: It seems that the fan now is constantly spinning at all. It doesn't go up or down. When I exported some HDTV material to MPEG 2, which was when the fan went up quickly, it's now still spinning at the low rate. Even playing RTCW didn't bring it up.

Maybe Apple has intended this, I dunno. I don't like it. I was mor comfortable when the mini was silent when browsing, email etc. and more "loud" when playing games, rendering etc.

My Mini was originally, out of the box, quiet. Then the fan started to spin, then it started spinning all the time. I reinstalled the OS from the Restore disks and it went away. I never updated to 10.3.8. Thus, it is something in OS X, not hardware.

kayakk · Feb 16, 2005, 06:04 PM

Luckly, my mini has always been quiet.... even after updating to 10.3.8.
However, I have two freinds that said their Minis were "quieter" after placing them in the verticle position. One had updated to 10.3.8. The second updated after being in the verticle position... w/o any fan noise increase.

A casual look at the MIni... would indicate the verticle postion would went heat "out and upwards" much easier.

Kayakk

elvis2000 · Feb 16, 2005, 09:34 PM

Originally posted by kayakk:
Luckly, my mini has always been quiet.... even after updating to 10.3.8.
However, I have two freinds that said their Minis were "quieter" after placing them in the verticle position. One had updated to 10.3.8. The second updated after being in the verticle position... w/o any fan noise increase.

A casual look at the MIni... would indicate the verticle postion would went heat "out and upwards" much easier.

Kayakk

I decided that my mini's fan would run due to the combination of Safari and Skype sunning simultaneously.

turtle777 · Feb 17, 2005, 09:26 AM

Originally posted by andreas_g4:
Thanks for the hint, but unfortunately, there's no such setting on the Mac mini.

Sorry, you are right.

I didn't realize that you had a mini. This is the first time I hear that a mini has the problem. So far, only G5 PM were affected...

-t

andreas_g4 · Feb 17, 2005, 09:49 AM

Originally posted by turtle777:
Sorry, you are right.

I didn't realize that you had a mini. This is the first time I hear that a mini has the problem. So far, only G5 PM were affected...

-t

The Mac mini "problem" is not the same as the Power Mac problem. At Apple discussions there's the perception that it is a feature. I'm not sure about this. Since the update, my Mac mini fan seems not to be temperature controlled anymore. It's just spinning all the time a a higher rate (still low, but�) than before (when it was also always on, but barely noticable).

elvis2000 · Feb 17, 2005, 10:23 AM

Originally posted by andreas_g4:
The Mac mini "problem" is not the same as the Power Mac problem. At Apple discussions there's the perception that it is a feature. I'm not sure about this. Since the update, my Mac mini fan seems not to be temperature controlled anymore. It's just spinning all the time a a higher rate (still low, but�) than before (when it was also always on, but barely noticable).

Have you installed anything that is running processes in the background? I noticed the slightest bit of CPU utilization (around 30%) will spin the fans.

ichad · Feb 19, 2005, 04:13 AM

Originally posted by andreas_g4:
After I updated to 10.3.8 this evening, the fan on my mini is running constantly at a slightly higher rate than it was before. In 10.3.7, of course, the fan was always on, too. But it was almost completely silent. Now I can hear it noticabely. It's still very quiet, but still.

I logged in MacNN to see if anyone has had this problem! Glad I'm not the only one.
Like you mentioned - it was v/quiet out of the box, now it's on all the time. It's really noticable on startup! I'm gutted as everyone knows it takes a good day setting a mac up with software and work. I can't believe I'm thinking about starting again.

Simon · Feb 19, 2005, 04:28 AM

Originally posted by ichad:
I logged in MacNN to see if anyone has had this problem! Glad I'm not the only one.
Like you mentioned - it was v/quiet out of the box, now it's on all the time. It's really noticable on startup! I'm gutted as everyone knows it takes a good day setting a mac up with software and work. I can't believe I'm thinking about starting again.

I understand you're not happy. But if the fan is driving you nuts you should really just go back to original install. It won't take that long, just boot from the DVD and do an 'archive and install'. That way your documents, apps, and prefs should be left untouched, but you'll get a fresh install of the 'older' system. Good luck.

amazing · Feb 19, 2005, 09:38 AM

Originally posted by ichad:
I logged in MacNN to see if anyone has had this problem! Glad I'm not the only one.
Like you mentioned - it was v/quiet out of the box, now it's on all the time. It's really noticable on startup! I'm gutted as everyone knows it takes a good day setting a mac up with software and work. I can't believe I'm thinking about starting again.

One other suggestion is download and re-apply the huge "Combo" updater, and then fixing permissions once again. Hope you have access to broadband?

A lot of weird problems have been fixed over the years by applying the Combo update over the top of the incremental updates. Works for some, won't work for everyone.

iDaver · Feb 20, 2005, 08:50 PM

I applied the 10.3.8 combo updater and found no difference in the way the fan spins. I do, however, find that resetting the PMU will quiet the fan considerably for a day or two. After that, it's back to running at medium speed most of the time, even when I'm not taxing the CPU. I hope there will be a firmware update or OS fix that'll make what the PMU reset does permanent. (1.42 mini with Superdrive, Airport and 1GB RAM)

ichad · Feb 21, 2005, 02:05 PM

Originally posted by ichad:
I logged in MacNN to see if anyone has had this problem! Glad I'm not the only one.
Like you mentioned - it was v/quiet out of the box, now it's on all the time. It's really noticable on startup! I'm gutted as everyone knows it takes a good day setting a mac up with software and work. I can't believe I'm thinking about starting again.

To reply to my own post - I've followed the excellent advice, and "Archive & Installed" off the OS CDs supplied with the Mini. All the apps and preferences are saved. I can confirm the fan is now back to whisper quiet low-mode, and noticably quieter than 10.3.8 (there's no longer a high pitched whine when the fan was in medium speed) I'm very occasionaly reminded of the medium fan speed when a game or intense CPU task is launched.

I'm very happy sticking with 10.3.7 for now. And await Tiger with bated breath.

Quiet, no noise, creative space -ahh.

Nice one guys.

turtle777 · Feb 21, 2005, 02:25 PM

Ok, so I got my mini today. I guess I won't be upgrading to 10.3.8 then...

Anyone out there with a mini, 10.3.8 and NO problems ?

-t

iDaver · Feb 21, 2005, 02:34 PM

Originally posted by turtle777:
Anyone out there with a mini, 10.3.8 and NO problems ?
-t

As described above, 10.3.8 made no difference in the way the fan on my mini performs. I would not say there are no problems, but there is no difference with the upgrade.

Simon · Feb 21, 2005, 03:00 PM

ichad, I'm glad to hear it worked well and everything is back to normal. 'Archive and Install' is very practical in cases like these; best of all it's quick and simple.

ichad · Apr 19, 2005, 02:37 PM

Anyone in this thread tried 10.3.9 on the Mac Mini? I can't afford to do a re-install just yet should there still e aproblem in 10.3.9.

iDaver · Apr 19, 2005, 06:42 PM

Originally Posted by ichad

Anyone in this thread tried 10.3.9 on the Mac Mini? I can't afford to do a re-install just yet should there still e aproblem in 10.3.9.

I've been running it on mine since Saturday. No noticeable problems so far. I have read reports of Java problems though, which Apple apparently acknowledges:
http://news.com.com/Java+glitch+hits...3-5675631.html

nickw311 · Apr 20, 2005, 05:51 AM

I am on 10.3.9 and it is 100% silent, I didnt even know it had a fan.

iDaver · Apr 20, 2005, 08:08 AM

Originally Posted by nickw311

I am on 10.3.9 and it is 100% silent, I didnt even know it had a fan.

Turn on your iTunes visualizer for a few minutes or play a DVD. You'll hear it.

nickw311 · Apr 20, 2005, 09:10 AM

I've used the iTunes visualizer but music was also playing and I was probably under the influence which would have dulled my senses