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You are here: MacNN Forums > Hardware - Troubleshooting and Discussion > Mac Desktops > G5 hard drive fan way too fast

G5 hard drive fan way too fast
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bojangles
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Join Date: May 2000
Location: Lafayette, IN, USA
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Oct 25, 2003, 05:29 AM
 
Hey, everyone. I’m posting this as a tip to anyone who might need it in the future.

Last Friday, I had just gotten done installing a new USB 2.0 card in my dual-2GHz G5 at work and, immediately upon startup, noticed that the hard drive fan had suddenly switched to super pursuit mode (any Knight Rider fans out there?). No matter what I did, that freakin’ hard drive fan would not slow down. It sounded like a “wind tunnel” G4, whereas it had previously been almost silent.

I called up AppleCare and discussed the issue with them. They tried a whole bunch of stuff and finally suggested I take it to the Apple Store over the weekend. I did, and after two hours on the bench (including a processor recalibration), was told that the problem was non-trivial; they’d need it for a few more days. Unfortunately, I needed the machine back for Monday morning, so since we had AppleCare’s on-site warranty, I brought it back to work and called an Apple Authorized Service Provider on Monday.

The AASP was really good, although he was (understandably) shocked that he was already getting a G5 call. He came out to our location and ran the gamut on it, couldn’t figure out the problem, finally convinced Apple to let him replace the G5’s humongous motherboard. So Wednesday afternoon, the mobo was replaced. We started back up and… same problem.

Well, to make a long story short, here’s what it wound up being: on the air deflector shield (the clear, internal door) there are three tabs that fit into matching holes on the outer case. The front two tabs are clear, the rear tab opaque. If the coating on the rear tab somehow gets scratched off (as mine did), the air deflector sensor sees right through it and thinks the door isn’t there. No air deflector, no controlled environment; no controlled environment, hard drive fan runs at top speed. (Yes, I know the hard drive fan isn’t even covered by the air deflector. Deal with it.)

We coated the rear tab with some White-Out and enjoyed my near-silent G5.
“The trouble with quotes on the Internet is that you can never tell if they’re attributed to the right person.”
—Abraham Lincoln
     
nerd
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Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Albuquerque, NM
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Oct 26, 2003, 11:57 AM
 
Good thing to know in case we ever run into it. Thanks for taking the time to post.

Brad
     
williamjacobs
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Maryland
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Nov 26, 2004, 11:26 AM
 
Are your fans still whining, Clarice?


Try this:

You may need Thermal Recalibration.
Run the utility by the same name from the Apple Service Diagnostic disk version 2.4.4 (or later, I presume.) Boot up with this CD and teh Thermal Recalbibration menu appears at the top, above the list of diagnostic tests.

You may be able to download the Apple Service Diagnostic from Apple.
http://www.info.apple.com/discimages/

If you can't secure one, suggest it to a mac repair shop.

This did the trick for me when my customer's g5 passed all the tests and the white-out didn't work.
     
   
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