[tadd]

My G4 started making a whiny noise after I had it for a few weeks. I have unplugged the power to the HD, no CD is in the drive, no Zip drive in this unit, and I stuck pieces of cardboard into the fan on the back of the power supply and the big fan on the side of the case to temporarily stop them while looking for the noise. The whine is undeminished. When the unit powers down it sounds just like a noisy fan coasting down.

It turns out that the AGP card has it's own fan, which of course is facing away from you when the case is open. You can put your finger on the fan easily and stop it. It's louder than all of the other fans and HDs and DVD combined by several times.

What remedies have people used? Should it go to an Apple tech? Should I try to modify the card to slow the fan? Kill the fan altogether?

Thanks for the help.

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Tadd Torborg

I've read about this and I've found no answers anywhere.

I've read folks have returned their computers and the replacement computers are just as loud.

My husband's G4 is so loud (same thing) that he's ready for the loony bin, almost. (Husbands are notorious for not "hearing" their wives, and this noisy fan is not helping.)

I'd be interested if anyone finds or reads a solution.

Linda

[tadd]

I went to the local Computertown dealership in Nashua today which is an authorized service center as well as Apple dealer. They had two AGP G4s on display. One had the problem, one didn't. Neither of the two people I talked with, salesman and service manager, had known of the problem.

First I inquired over the service department. They pointed me to Steve, the service manager. He immediately took me in and asked for details and started searching on the Apple official insiders service support (no tourists allowed here, password required) web site. I offered to show him the problem but he was hung up on finding out if there was an official statement first. My last word for the moment was to tell him where and what search criteria i used to find the problem mentioned on Apple's [public] tech support web. Go to Apple, click on Support on the top bar, click on the G4 on the left, on the page that loads click on "3 Tech Exchange", on the page that loads click on "Search This Forum" up near the top, on the page that loads type "G4 AND AGP AND whine" into the search criteria and sort by Date, click on SEARCH.

While he was busy browsing I went back to the sales floor to find someone who looked official to point the problem out to.

I found a salesman.

I brought the salesman over to the noisy one, and he didn't say anything about it's noise level although I pointed it out, then I brought him about 5 computers down the row to the quiet one. We could still identify the noisy one over the racket of the computers in the building. I pointed that out to him. I then brought him back to noisy one. He guessed that the hard drive was noisy. I said "uh uh..." and opened the side up and immediately put my finger around the AGP card (with practice) and touched the fan.

[blessed silence descended upon the seemingly noisy sales floor].

The sales man immediately turned toward the back and bellowed "Steve?"

One of the other visitors to the store suggested that since the fan was attached to brackets around the processor that perhaps it could be ordered separately.

We walked toward the back where Steve had found no official Apple response that was immediately positive but was still browsing and the salesman left me there. I hung around for a few minutes more and then went back to the front of the store to look at software. Eventually Steve came forward to work on another problem and I dragged him around to the two computers.

The bottom line of the day is: I believe Steve said that the problem we were hearing on the show floor unit was worthy of tech replacement. (I wasn't thinking about writing this when we were having the conversation, but I was satisfied that's what he meant) He said that I should call Apple on 1-800-SOS-APPL and tell them of the problem and get a service number. Then I should call Computertown or my other local service place and they would even come to the house and look at it although it might take them a while to do so. It would be at the discretion of the tech as to whether the problem deserved replacement in any particular unit.

So... I guess I call Apple tomorrow.

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Tadd Torborg

[ydnar1]

Guys, the answer to this one is easy. As you have seen, the problem lies with the AGP fan on the card. I had the same problem on my G4350 and took it to an Apple Authorized Tech facility which ordered a new card from Apple. That was over a month ago and there have been no problems since. There have been relatively many posts on this issue over a few months so I would hope that Apple is listening. At the very least, when cards are sent back that they have to replace AND pay for, it'll get their attention.

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I had a similar problem and called 1-800-SOS-APPL about it. The tech I spoke with said she had never heard of the problem and couldn't find it in the database. I suggested she look on Tech Exchange and search for 'g4 noise.' ...anyway, I took it to CompUSA and they said it would be at least a week, and they'd have to keep my computer "for a few days." That was unacceptable, so I just put some WD-40 (oil lubricant) on the fan and now it's fine.

[tadd]

OK. am on the phone with Apple tech support. The SOS APPL # had an automated system that refered me to an 800-500-7078. I called and got through to a real human (Jeff) in about a minute.

After giving them my phone # and the computer's serial number from the Apple Profiler (it transposed the first digit from an X to a 9 Jeff said) I told him about the Computertown story and his response was "So you got a noisy one". I asked him if he'd like to hear it and he said yes so I held the phone right over the fan on the AGP card. He was impressed. (I love these easy-open tower cases!) Then he put me on hold to check on procedures.

i was on hold for about 3 minutes. The music-on-hold was rather funky and not offensive althoug a bit loud compared to the tech's voice level.

Jeff came back on and said there were no 'hot issues' whatever that means. He said that since it is a G4 he could dispatch for service at my place or I could take it into the service provider which would be either Small Business Computers of New England or Computer Town. In either either service provider case I'd be leaving the machine until the part arrived. I told him I'd prefer the dispatch route because then I wouldn't have to be without the computer for any time.

Back on hold while he makes arrangements with 'dispatch'.

Jeff came back and said that he'd put me on hold again and then would be on the phone with me as dispatch came on.

Jeff came on with Scott who said he was Senior Tech Support. I held the phone over the fan again for Scott's benifit. He said that his 'engineers' had heard of this problem several times before and he wanted to consult with them to see if they wanted to 'capture' this particular card. i told them about the computertown one as well. They put me back on hold.

Scott came back after about 3 minutes.

He said that the guy he wanted to talk with about this was not at his desk. He said that he'd like to put me off for a day and consult with the person who was away and that he'd call me back tomorrow. Ok. more tomorrow!

It sounds like they ARE going to replace my graphics card though so this is real hopeful!

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Tadd Torborg

[tadd]

Scott never called me back. I left a voice message on his extension several times at one week intervals.

Finally on Monday March 6, 2000 I called the 800-500-7078 Apple tech support number again and went through telling them who I was and my case number.

They said they were going to transfer me over to dispatch. The person on the phone indicated that they would have dispatched to me before but they were having trouble with getting ahold of me??? She mumbled something about they only had my address and then transfered me. Wierd.

Ok..
I was on hold with music for about 10 minutes.
Chris came on the line.
Chris knew that I was working with Scott and said that he did want to get the card back.

Inacom will contact me within 24 hours he said and he gave me a dispatch number and the phone # for Inacom. Inacom apparently is the local service contractor.
Inacom will arrange for when they come out.

The following day Inacom called and left a message that they'd ordered the AGP and that I should call them back.

Yay!

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Tadd Torborg

[This message has been edited by tadd (edited 03-10-2000).]

[tadd]

end of chapter, hopefully end of story:

The Inacom guy came to the house this morning with the new AGP graphics board and swapped it out. Everything worked. The G4 is much quieter.

I recorded the G4 with the box closed before and after the board swap. I made a 232K sit.hqx of the system 7 sound files available here: http://www.torborg.com/tadd/b/macnn/fannoises.hqx

System 7 or later and Stuffit 5.5 or later required to open.
Send me e-mail if it isn't there anymore.

The noticable difference in the recordings is that it is now possible to hear the hard drives and the large chassis fan. Before, the AGP card fan whine was overriding the other computer noises.

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Tadd Torborg