[egizzi]

A friend gave me a g4 350mgz agp sawtooth powermac. He said the hard drive was making an oscillating whir. It is not. The noise does not seem to be coming from the case fan or the power supply fan. It seems to be coming from the motherboard. Does this machine have a cpu fan? I can't find one, but I definitely hear a vibratory noise coming from that door of the case that folds flat. Any ideas what might be making the noise? Thanks. -Elio

[Lateralus]

There's no fan on the CPU. I'd check the video card.

[Freeflyer]

I have a 450 sawtooth, and I get exactly that sort of osscilating whirr. It was the small fan on the video board. There are two solutions: Get a new fan or oil the one you have. Take the fan off (4 small screws) and underneath it you'll see the sticker over the center of it. Peel off the sticker and you'll see the spindle for the fan. Put one small (and I mean SMALL, I used a needle to dropper the oil) drop of oil in the spindle, give it a minute or two to penetrate, put the sticker back on and replace fan.

I find this keeps things quiet for a few months.

Yes, I'm too cheap to buy a new fan.

J.

[egizzi]

Thanks both of you for your reply. It was the video board (duh), specifically the fan. Unfortunately, in the process of trying to remove the cover for the fan, I broke one of the plastic mounts. But someone in the neighborhood is selling the same card for five bucks. Thanks again.

-elio

[OreoCookie]

Those small fans get dirty quickly and when they do, they get very loud.

However, if the noise is oscillating, the bearings are probably dying.