[tritonus]

My replacement machine works fine as well. Right fan is (mostly) on, with medium usage (import CD into iTunes, play DVDs...), but goes off when not needed anymore. That's fine with me!

And: My new TiBook is a week 48 model. So I guess forget those ideas about change in productions after 6/12. Nobody could confirm this anyway (Apple Support, dealer...).

So I guess there are a few DOA machines out there, but production seems to be fine in general. Thanks for your participation!

[hippy]

It's another ****ing dud from Apple....well done guys !

Right side fan on almost constantly even whilst emailing/surfing.....it's been on ever since i started installing os 10.2.3 !

I give up.... I'll try one more and then thats it.......

What are the QA guys smoking !

[alisonc]

I just got off the phone after a long conversation with an engineer at Apple. My case had been escalated a week ago and I was supposed to get a call back, but didn't. So I called again today and was transferred directly to an engineer, who was very nice and spend about 30 minutes on the phone explaining why the fan constantly being on is "normal."

Here's the deal (according to him): the 1Ghz PB requires a high draw from the power adapter to charge and run the machine. The right fan, which cools this area, comes on within a few minutes after powering/waking up and stays on until powering down/sleeping, and this is how it's supposed to be. If it weren't on all the time, the PB would suffer heat damage in this area. The fact that it's blowing out cool air most of the time is also normal, because (get this) my body is 98 degrees and what feels cool to me is still too hot for the PB.

The reason the rear CPU-cooling fan comes on often, even when running only Mail or an internet browser, and despite the fact that the PB is only lukewarm to the touch, is that the processor inside the machine is probably much hotter than you can feel from the outside, and that it needs to stay as cool as possible even when running supposedly non-processor-intensive apps.

I told him that I never heard a right side fan on my previous PB 667 DVI, and that the rear fan only came on when using Photoshop, FCP, or something processor intensive. He explained that the 667 and 1Ghz are two very different machines that may look the same on the outside but are very different on the inside.

So in conclusion, he would not accept to repair my PB because according to him it's not malfunctioning at all. I then informed him that people on this and other forums have reported getting their PBs repaired (logic boards replaced) and having the fans mostly stay off afterwards. He replied that this was surprising to him, and that those PBs must have had a different, more serious problem in order to get repaired. And he added that if either fan stopped coming on frequently, the PB would surely overheat and be damaged.

I feel about 50% satisfied with this. Part of me wants to believe that it's normal and that my PB doesn't need repair after all (besides the excessive fan, my machine is just perfect). The other part of me just wants the go**amn fans to stop coming on. I also don't know if the engineer was giving me hogwash or what. I mean, can this much fan action really be normal???

If you've had your PBs's fan noise repaired, *please* post a reply here describing the symptoms and explaining how you convinced Apple to fix it.

[bamchum]

Hey, maybe it's . . . gasp . . . normal.

[hippy]

Originally posted by bamchum:
Hey, maybe it's . . . gasp . . . normal.

IT IS NOT NORMAL....read the damn thread....people have PB 1ghz's with fans that RARELY come on. Only under Heavy CPU loads i.e Photoshop FCP! I am so ****ed off with all this bullshit ! Apple have one really pissed off customer !

[bamchum]

I've been reading the damn thread from the beginning as well as several others elsewhere. I also have a 1Ghz TiBook on which the right hand fan runs almost constantly and I've got a case number with Apple for precisely this problem.

However, I have been told on two occasions now exactly what that Apple engineer reported which at least ought to raise the possibility that, just as Apple says, this behavior is part of the design of the machine.

That said, I'm still agnostic on the matter. I have yet to see a Ghz TiBook that didn't have this behavior (but I've only seen two others) and am skeptical of claims by others that the fans never come on.

On the other hand, Apple hasn't announced anything officially and until they do I'll be just as skeptical about what they are claiming.

[DVD Plaza]

It IS normal for the fan to be on a lot, what is NOT normal is for the fan to be so loud/noisy that you can hear it from another room.

[chdupond]

If you are disturbed by the nearly constantly fans on, I think you should post a comment on Apple Feedback Page.

The more we will be to do so, the more Apple would react and issues a firmware update to improve the fan behavior .

http://www.apple.com/contact/feedback.html

Here is what I have posted :

No more quiet PowerBook G4 ?

Hello,

I am a long time Macintosh User. During years, I have worked in silence thanks to the PowerBook design. I had a PB Duo, a PB 1400, a PB WallStreet and I have just bought a Titanium 867 Mhz.
I appreciated all the improvements but one thing is making me very disappointed : no matter what is the CPU usage, the fans are on very very often and they are noisy. I asked for an exchange to Apple France and my new Ti has the same behavior.

I have been on Apple discussions, on MacNN forum and have seen that I am not the only one to be disturbed by the noise.

I understand that a more powerful G4 generates more heat. But even in low consumption (CPU speed reduced), even on battery, even by just typing a text in Word, at least one fan is on. It was not the case with the 667-800 Ti series.

The last Ti was running a lot hotter that those ones. I really think people prefer heat instead of noise when they buy a PowerBook. And I think, for a very low usage (mail, text editor), none fans should come up or a very short time.

I really hope that Apple will find a fix (firmware update) in order to make the fans less aggressive.

Thanks in advance for what could be done,

[CyberPet]

hippy, how about your rear fan? Does it come on often too, does it turn off??

As I understand it, the right hand side fan SHOULD run all the time, mostly, and it's very quiet. But the rear fan should only come on when it's on heavy use.

My rear fan comes on and then never turns off, so I have both fans running all the time and that's the error report I've left with Apple since that's unnormal to me.

[graphics84]

my fan doesn't seem to come on at all...

I got it yesterday.... I've had it plugged in almost the whole time...

1gig with 1gig of ram and SD

running 10.2.3 (6G30)

my serial # starts with QT2510HX-......

but this thing doesn't ever seem to need the fan... it's a lot cooler than my old Ti550 and I've had it on some surfaces that always caused the old one to turn the fan on...

so the fan must be super quiet or not kicking in...

maybe it's a hardware revision or a firmware upgrade from the factory... I don't know but I'm curious

[hippy]

Originally posted by CyberPet:
hippy, how about your rear fan? Does it come on often too, does it turn off??

As I understand it, the right hand side fan SHOULD run all the time, mostly, and it's very quiet. But the rear fan should only come on when it's on heavy use.

My rear fan comes on and then never turns off, so I have both fans running all the time and that's the error report I've left with Apple since that's unnormal to me.

Hi Cyber pet,

my rear fan does eventually turn off, but if you read graphics84's post there are powerbooks out there post week 50 i.e batch 2 that have different fan behaviour... I think it is unacceptable that Apple have modified something for the 2nd run.

Keep pestering Apple I will not rest until I have a powerbook that under light loads has no fan activity...

Thanks...

[ensure]

Originally posted by hippy:
Hi Cyber pet,

my rear fan does eventually turn off, but if you read graphics84's post there are powerbooks out there post week 50 i.e batch 2 that have different fan behaviour... I think it is unacceptable that Apple have modified something for the 2nd run.

Keep pestering Apple I will not rest until I have a powerbook that under light loads has no fan activity...

Thanks...

Mine is QT2510DF-xxx-xxxx. At first night, I didn't hear fan come on whole night till I sat on couch and put it on my lap. Today, it was on then shut off in about 2 hours or less. I didn't pay attention on that but it did go off on mine.

[wilburguy]

One week later-

Well, it's one week since I got my noisy PowerBook back from Apple repair where they replaced the logic board. I had been under the impression that is was quieter and was so thrilled that I didn't notice that the machine seemed slower.

I went to the energy saver system pref and noticed that the processor speed function was not there. Hmmm. I had swapped drives with my old (quiet) 550 before I sent the 1Ghz in for repair so I could still have access to that drive info while it was being repaired.

I began to wonder if the cpu was somehow throttled down.

Without telling you the long horrible tale of my testing, etc, I'll just say that I reinitialized my drive, reinstalled my OS and reloaded ALL my data to get the machine to run at 1Ghz. AND GUESS WHAT!

THE FAN IS AS NOISY AS IT EVER WAS!

So guess what campers? This model of TiBook has a noisy, constantly running fan on the right side that 8 separate tech support folks, (4 product specialists) have told me was normal.

I think that those who say their machine is quiet or noisy simply have different perceptions of what is acceptable noise.

For those who have what they perceive as a noisy right side fan, my advise is to either live with it, throttle the cpu speed down when you don't need it or sell your machine and get an earlier model. This is not a defect and there is no fix.

[alisonc]

Originally posted by wilburguy:


THE FAN IS AS NOISY AS IT EVER WAS!

This is partially reassuring and partially aggravating. It basically means there is probably no fix for the constant fan, because it's normal and intentional.

My right fan seems to be getting louder. Maybe it's just me, but at first I found it nearly unnoticeable, and now it seems unbearably loud. Is there any way to measure the loudness of it to compare with others??

[bamchum]

That's funny, mine seems to be getting quieter! Or at least I've gotten used to it. I stopped paying attention to whether one or the other fan is running and just enjoy the machine.

Believe me, the noise is nothing compared to the Quicksilver in my office.

[John123]

Originally posted by wilburguy:

So guess what campers? This model of TiBook has a noisy, constantly running fan on the right side that 8 separate tech support folks, (4 product specialists) have told me was normal.

I think that those who say their machine is quiet or noisy simply have different perceptions of what is acceptable noise.

I tend to agree that this is largely the case. I *do* think that there are occasional fans that are problematic. For example, my old 550 had a much louder "windtunnel" fan than my Ghz does. It got somewhat loud and, worse than that, was high-pitched.

The people who are complaining about it "constantly being on" are the ones who have no legitimate gripe. If, however, you hear a HIGH PITCHED sound, then you have a possible gripe. I've seen both varieties in here.

At the end of the day, I think a lot of the problem stems from some people not understanding that they bought a powerful laptop computer instead of a coffee table decoration.

[CyberPet]

Originally posted by John123:

The people who are complaining about it "constantly being on" are the ones who have no legitimate gripe. If, however, you hear a HIGH PITCHED sound, then you have a possible gripe. I've seen both varieties in here.

Like I've been repeating forever and ever, I have BOTH fans running constantly and I'm trying to get this confirmed or denied as a problem. I.e. the first fan runs nice and quiet, I have no problem with that one, but when the second fans kicks in, it NEVER comes off, EVER, unless I put the computer to sleep or turn it off.

So, that's what I'm worried about. If it's normal to have the "turbo fan" running 12 hours straight when only doing some web browsing and emails???!!!

I believe I have a problem with my computer and I hope it gets fixed. I don't ask for complete silence, since I *KNOW* that the first, quiet fan, needs to run all the time, but that second fan is driving me up the wall!

[John123]

Originally posted by CyberPet:
Like I've been repeating forever and ever, I have BOTH fans running constantly and I'm trying to get this confirmed or denied as a problem. I.e. the first fan runs nice and quiet, I have no problem with that one, but when the second fans kicks in, it NEVER comes off, EVER, unless I put the computer to sleep or turn it off.

So, that's what I'm worried about. If it's normal to have the "turbo fan" running 12 hours straight when only doing some web browsing and emails???!!!

I believe I have a problem with my computer and I hope it gets fixed. I don't ask for complete silence, since I *KNOW* that the first, quiet fan, needs to run all the time, but that second fan is driving me up the wall!

My fans 1 and 2 do run most of the time as well. I don't believe I have a problem.

[issa]

Hi Petra,
Since your mention of it in this or another thread some weeks ago, I've been curious if you ever figured out what process appeared to be running your CPU at 260%. I assume you did find it by creating a new user account and logging into that, by reinstalling the system software, or through some other method, and that it had nothing to do with your fan woes. Still, after you first posted that image from Process Viewer, I half prayed for you that you might find a culprit haxie, program, defect, or whatever pushing the CPU to the hilt constantly and causing both fans to run all the time. Forgive my asking if you already reported back on the cause of that strange process that made no more sense to you than it would to any of us. If so, I was busy and missed it or something.

[mousemd]

well, I have wintel machine as a desktop in my home office as well as the new TiBook SD. Sure the fan kicks in every once in awhile, but seriously guys...you should hear my desktop so so loud!!!

[Blencathra]

I've had my PowerBook 1Ghz for nearly two weeks now and initially was not concerned by the fans - they both came on and off periodically which was not really a problem. My office is alot cooler than home and the desk has a melamine top (as opposed to wooden table at home). The fans came on even less frequently at work than home.

Then I upgraded to 10.2.3, installed some extra RAM and over the last few days have installed a fair amount of software.

For some reason now the right side fan by the power adaptor is on virtually all the time (except when running off battery) and the centre fan seems to come on more often than it did. I have raised the back of the PowerBook off the table slightly (hoping to get more air flowing underneath) and this has helped with the centre fan, but has made no difference to the right side fan.

So, I am beginning to wonder, could it be a combination of ambient temperature, RAM (I now have 768MB), software installed and maybe amount of info on the hard disk (I have used 35GB of space so far)?

This is all I can think of as the fans definately work alot more than they used to.

James.

[alisonc]

James: this is interesting. I have 1 GB of RAM (512+512 added by MacConnection, orig. 256+256 removed) and the right fan is on all the time (actually, it comes on after 10-20 mins and stays on until sleep or power off). I believe the right fan started coming on before I installed all my software. Since I installed 10.2.3 the first time I started up the PB, I can't comment about whether or not this has an effect. Also: I, too, have the PB elevated in back and the rear center fan doesn't come on too often.

But now I'm wondering if the RAM may be having an effect on the right fan. This fan supposedly cools the power intake thingie (which is why it doesn't come on when on battery), so it doesn't make sense that RAM would have an effect... buy you never know.

To other people whose right fan on all the time: how much RAM is installed? and is it third-party??

[CyberPet]

Originally posted by issa:
Hi Petra,
Since your mention of it in this or another thread some weeks ago, I've been curious if you ever figured out what process appeared to be running your CPU at 260%. I assume you did find it by creating a new user account and logging into that, by reinstalling the system software, or through some other method, and that it had nothing to do with your fan woes. Still, after you first posted that image from Process Viewer, I half prayed for you that you might find a culprit haxie, program, defect, or whatever pushing the CPU to the hilt constantly and causing both fans to run all the time. Forgive my asking if you already reported back on the cause of that strange process that made no more sense to you than it would to any of us. If so, I was busy and missed it or something.

I never did examine this problem, although I didn't have any haxies installed by that time since it was so new, I had only installed Photoshop and MS Word really (although one would suspect MS Word being a hack). Actually the fan problem was even going on before I had installed anything but the pre-installed stuff (I was setting up Mail etc).

When I was talking to the Apple Support that thing did show up and I told him about it. He did "hmmm" a bit, but didn't seem to be too worried. I was worried though. So I don't know if this is normal behaviour or not.

I've shipped my Powerbook to Holland now and I hope they do a complete investigation of this. Why isn't the second fan turning off at all, a fan controller error? Who knows.

[issa]

Thanks for the update, Petra. That rogue process is definitely not normal behaviour. I hope the folks in Holland are able to pinpoint the source of your troubles, and that you included a note to them that once again pointed a finger at that inexplicable process trying to push your CPU way beyond its limit. If the machine was mine, I'd suspect that as the potential cause of your fans running all the time more than something like a fan controller problem. Please do keep us posted on the results of your 'Book's trip to Holland.

[Eug]

Well, one of the issues is that the new fan emits a high-pitched whine that other fans don't. Sign of a cheap fan.

[wilburguy]

Mine too. I wonder what a drop of oil would do?

[CyberPet]

Originally posted by issa:
Thanks for the update, Petra. That rogue process is definitely not normal behaviour. I hope the folks in Holland are able to pinpoint the source of your troubles, and that you included a note to them that once again pointed a finger at that inexplicable process trying to push your CPU way beyond its limit. If the machine was mine, I'd suspect that as the potential cause of your fans running all the time more than something like a fan controller problem. Please do keep us posted on the results of your 'Book's trip to Holland.

issa, I just found out from a friend that that weird behaviour that I did manage to capture with a screen shot is "normal". I.e. some type of graphic bug in the program, because if you run the same process view in Terminal they never show up. So now I can breathe easily because of that.

I did get my Powerbook back today, which is kind of worrysome since I think Apple hardly open and run the Powerbook.

We shipped from northern Sweden at monday, december 23rd at 4 PM, the shipment being sent to Holland. According to the "repair message" the check up and "repair" was finished on december 24th (no time stamp).

I find that quite astonishing since they would probably have gotten my Powerbook around lunch time or afternoon from DHL and yet they had time to check it all out in just a few hours.

When I got it back, at 4 PM this afternoon, the same problem was still occuring, the second fan kicked in after about 10 minutes and did run forever until I put the PowerBook to sleep.

I have been playing a bit with the computer and found out that if I have NOTHING connected to the machine, i.e. no Ethernet or Powersupply the fan kicks in after 23 minutes instead of 12. A double in silence in other words. But the fan does not stop by itself, at least when I was testing iTunes. It kept running.

But if I did turn off iTunes, left the computer alone on the desk, the fan quit running after about 15 minutes. But as soon as I touched iTunes it kicked in again after 3 minutes.

I did only have iTunes running, no other applications in OS X.

I don't know what to think anymore. We're going to call Apple Support again tomorrow (if anyone is working on New years eve) and discuss this with them.

First of all, we want to know how they can check up the computer EXTENSIVLY within hours and ship it back with returning mail the same day?

Second of all, we are going to ask for a replacement, this is NOT acceptable. Especially after reading other people's comment about their second fan turning on and off in an expected behaviour depending on the activity.

Now Apple got my canadian husband angry too, so now they have to deal with us both

I'm sick of just sit and watch my computer, I need to WORK with it without being deafen by the loud second fan constantly running.

[Eug]

Originally posted by wilburguy:
Mine too. I wonder what a drop of oil would do?

Oil is bad. Great way to gum up your machine.

[issa]

CyberPet writes:
I just found out from a friend that that weird behaviour that I did manage to capture with a screen shot is "normal"

Hmm. Interesting. I suppose anything's possible. Still, I've sat like the moron I am watching Process Viewer's display on a few GigaBooks and haven't once seen such behaviour in the program. Anybody else seen Process Viewer show a process drawing more than 100% of CPU power/time?
One thing we do know. It sounds as though Petra's PowerBook still misbehaves, even after its overseas vacation. Jet lag?

[issa]

Eug writes:
Well, one of the issues is that the new fan emits a high-pitched whine that other fans don't. Sign of a cheap fan.

Hey Eug. I don't doubt that's what you are hearing, but I think it would be more accurate to claim that *some* fans emit that whine, no? I can't claim that mine whines.
The fans are made by Sunon, a brand that is widely used in PCs and one I thought had earned a fair reputation in the market. Don't know how cheap that makes them...
Dr. Yamamoto shows photos of both fans on his excellent Medical Macintosh site, if you are curious to get a peek. While the text is in Japanese, he also explains why the variable-speed fan on the right runs more and how it's forced cooling design differs in operation from the 667/800 DVI. I can translate the text later and post it here, if you like.

[Eug]

Originally posted by issa:
Hey Eug. I don't doubt that's what you are hearing, but I think it would be more accurate to claim that *some* fans emit that whine, no? I can't claim that mine whines.
The fans are made by Sunon, a brand that is widely used in PCs and one I thought had earned a fair reputation in the market. Don't know how cheap that makes them...
Dr. Yamamoto shows photos of both fans on his excellent Medical Macintosh site, if you are curious to get a peek. While the text is in Japanese, he also explains why the variable-speed fan on the right runs more and how it's forced cooling design differs in operation from the 667/800 DVI. I can translate the text later and post it here, if you like.

OK. I take that back. I agree, most Sunon fans are generally very good (although in my experience the cheapest ones aren't always that great).

I'm just disappointed mine emits that whine, even just surfing.

BTW, are both fans Sunons? It seems from the picture, we can see the Sunon label just for the right fan.

[issa]

Both are made by Sunon. While I'm not sure of the part number on the centre fan, the right blower is not one of the cheaper products in the Sunon lineup. That GB0503AFV3-8 is from the "Green Motor" blower series (as opposed to their "Traditional" and "MS" series), has an aluminum frame, uses the vapo bearing system with 8 motor poles, runs at "low" speed, and is rated at about 19.5 decibels. Not too shabby.

[CyberPet]

Originally posted by issa:
Hmm. Interesting. I suppose anything's possible. Still, I've sat like the moron I am watching Process Viewer's display on a few GigaBooks and haven't once seen such behaviour in the program. Anybody else seen Process Viewer show a process drawing more than 100% of CPU power/time?
One thing we do know. It sounds as though Petra's PowerBook still misbehaves, even after its overseas vacation. Jet lag?

issa, I really appreciate your concern about my PowerBook. Feels nice to know someone cares.

My husband made the call to Apple Customer Service today and spoke to a very nice girl. Unfortuneatly Apple's system is undergoing some kind of service so she couldn't get to the service reports and look into this matter. But she was very concerned about the report that the PowerBook was in the "shop" for less than a day, perhaps just hours. She did find that strange and will look into that as well.

My husband, being a PC technician for over 15 years, told her there is no way in he** that an extensive examination could have been done in less than a day. He told her he was so upset that he was trying to sound calm, since it wasn't HER fault we had more or less been brushed off by the computer technicians in Amsterdam, Holland.

He also told her that we won't accept having the computer being shipped out again for repair since we bought it NEW, we didn't pay close to $4,000 USD for this machine (yes the price being high here in Sweden due to 25% Sales taxes) being repaired. We paid this amount of money for a NEW, WORKING computer.

The girl did understand this and was very responsive. She will contact us as soon as their system is up and running again on january 2nd.

I sure hope they will decide to send me a new, working, Powerbook and not mess around with us anymore.

This is the third PowerBook in 4 years that's been cursed. The Wallstreet was declared a Lemon after 4 trips to Amsterdam (it finally stopped working at all due to heat problems) and then the replacment, a Pismo, that has had 8-9 minor problems, some being fixed, some not.

So until I know more: HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

[silverghost]

hi all,
well yesterday i recieved my 1Ghz tibook, and a few notes so far; the right side fan comes on while on ac but turns off once i disconnect from the adapter, as for the middle "turbo fan" its come on during my upgrade to 10.2.3 then only when i was tranfering data from my external HDD. ill post more as i start working in flash, photoshop, fireworks, freehand, and dreamweaver.

but i have to say my tibook is hands down quieter than the quicksilver i just sold.


aloha

[eole]

Originally posted by silverghost:
i recieved my 1Ghz tibook, and a few notes so far; the right side fan comes on while on ac but turns off once i disconnect from the adapter

Hello to all of you in this endless thread .
I think that to have to disconnect from the adapter in order to avoid the noise is not at all normal for an expensive PB. :o The computer is badly built. On top of that, the right fan blows on your hand if you use a mouse. I remember a Lombard : once in the heat of august it went blowing from the left. Plus the design for ventilation was more clever : the holes for the air were much larger and included as well the bottom of the boby. They forgot that ? Probably thinking like some architects that design is only to sell.
I changed 4 times of Ti : the 1st (bought in France) had a german key-board, the 2nd a 867 was noisy (right fan) all the time, the 3rd a 1G was noisy as well, the shop helped to choose a 1G built in the week 50. With the latest, yes the fans DOES stop after some time. It is not perfectly silent as the different PB that I used in confort since 5 years, but it is much better.

Then, I start to use it mainly with the energy saver on (low CPU). The computer is usable and still handle extremely well multi-tasking. Apple France couldn't tell what is the CPU speed in this case. With a freeware SpeedRun, I could mesure : the CPU compares to a Ti500.

I wonder now what's the point having a �4000 computer (a $1000 extra with the US and it is NOT because taxes) !?
I discovered that I do prefer a not so fast computer if is to work in the confort of silence.
As the shop has no longer the perfect Ti800, I'm seriously thinking to switch back for a recent Ti867. I probably won't use the 1x DVD burner. As bonus I would get more usable time with the battery, and it's cheaper.

Regards.

[silverghost]

sorry to bring this up again but, has anybody got there powerbook fixed from apple?
problem: right side fan running constantly on ac power.

tech support had me reset the PMU and had me boot into openfirmware to reset my NVRAM. but problems still there.
apple support claims its normal on ac power. wow great to truely get silence ive got to be on battery power or sleep the machine, not to cool.



aloha

[mofu]

Watch your battery charging status when comparing fan behavior. Charging the battery generates heat, from my observations, enough to kick the the secondary (load) fan on.

Disappating this heat from charging the battery is good for the longevity of the computer as well as the battery, ITS A GOOD THING!

But at the same time don't compare fan behavior if your battery is charging, to when its not.

[eole]

Originally posted by mofu:
Watch your battery charging status when comparing fan behavior. Charging the battery generates heat, from my observations, enough to kick the the secondary (load) fan on.
Disappating this heat from charging the battery is good for the longevity of the computer as well as the battery, ITS A GOOD THING!

Mofu, have you noticed how far is the right fan to the battery. They are just opposite ! If the battery has to warm up during the charge (which need to be proven, check it out) this nasty loud fan will not help.
Regards.

[adamberti]

Just curious about some strange fan behaviour (or what seems to be strange). If I insert a DVD, the right fan kicks onto a low speed no matter what, which seems reasonable. But then it goes to a higher level, which is usually the highest I hear it under any load. And then spins up to an even higher level and stays there at most for 3 seconds, but usually just spins up and then spins back down twice. This highest level is bloody loud! I'm glad it never stays there but I'm wondering if this is what other people are experiencing. If I open up DVD player with a DVD already in, usually it spins to that highest level once and then back to normal. This is all the same whether on battery or power adapter

And to top it all off, I just lost all my Audio...my sound is maxed...iTunes wont play, it just starts the song but doesnt move forwards in time. iDVD wont start a new project. Weird.

[Tomster]

Originally posted by silverghost:
sorry to bring this up again but, has anybody got there powerbook fixed from apple?
problem: right side fan running constantly on ac power.
aloha

Yes. Apple replaced my unit. The fan runs when hot and shuts off when cool. To all those with constant fans, what are you putting your Powrbook on? Mine is either on a podium cool pad or a tote and tilt. If I put my laptop on my bed, the fan will fire up and stay that way. Now if your unit is in a cool room doing nothing (cpu untilzation under 10%) and has ample ventilation and the fan still is running, then there is a problem.

[silverghost]

hi tom do you know whay was replaced by any chance?


aloha

[i1200]

Hello. I have an 867 with 256mb ram and I notice that when my secondary fan kicks on it's loud, but has an unusual sounding wine. Is this normal? it sounds as if it needs to be lubricated or something (I know they don't put wd-40 on it)

any feedback?

thx

[CyberPet]

Originally posted by Tomster:
Yes. Apple replaced my unit. The fan runs when hot and shuts off when cool. To all those with constant fans, what are you putting your Powrbook on? Mine is either on a podium cool pad or a tote and tilt. If I put my laptop on my bed, the fan will fire up and stay that way. Now if your unit is in a cool room doing nothing (cpu untilzation under 10%) and has ample ventilation and the fan still is running, then there is a problem.

I'm having a CoolPad as well as another gadget to keep the surface cool. The CoolPad lifts up the Powerbook about 1 cm or so, which should be sufficient airflow under the computer.

However, my fan runs constantly (never turns off) while using my CoolPad or any other gadget, even have the Powerbook on a flat surface like a table.

According to Apple in Holland, who had the computer for less than 12 hours to check my problem, the fan is normal. But I wonder how they could find out if they weren't running the computer long enough to actually notice that the fan never shuts off.

My guess is that they only turned the computer on, heard the fan come on and thought that was normal, never checking that the fan actually never comes off, even with light use (email and webbrowsing, stuff I do about 90% of the time with no other software running).

[tritonus]

Hi Petra

Mine got replaced on the same subject (DOA).

I put a "README" note on the OS X desktop what my problem was and how to reproduce it (wait, fan will never turn off).

But the test was done in Switzerland at some specialised DOA check center (not Apple people).

Good luck to Sweden!

Marcel

[CheesePuff]

Instead of reading through all 6 some odd pages of this thread... can someone please tell me how to tell the week number of the build date for a PowerBook?

I'll be getting my PowerBook G4 1 GHz w/ ComboDrive (not Super, the one for $2,799) in about 3 days and would like to see which week.

So can be conclude that week 49 had quiet fans and week 48 is loud?

[kerl]

hi tritonus

so your replacement machine showed a different behavior than the initial one? i got mine a week ago (1ghz), and it's exactly the same thing... the first machine was week 46, the second is week 50, so me too i think the change in machines after 12/6 is a myth. i couldn't find any difference between the machines, they both show exactly the same behavior...
that's all kind of sad, as i still feel disturbed by the noise when doing work, especially while programming... and i didn't buy this machine to spend hours in forums, i actually wanted to work with it...

[CheesePuff]

Originally posted by kerl:
hi tritonus

so your replacement machine showed a different behavior than the initial one? i got mine a week ago (1ghz), and it's exactly the same thing... the first machine was week 46, the second is week 50, so me too i think the change in machines after 12/6 is a myth. i couldn't find any difference between the machines, they both show exactly the same behavior...
that's all kind of sad, as i still feel disturbed by the noise when doing work, especially while programming... and i didn't buy this machine to spend hours in forums, i actually wanted to work with it...

Ouch, It's really that loud? Maybe I should change my order from a 1 GHz TiBook to a 800 MHz iBook...

[silverghost]

Originally posted by CheesePuff:
Ouch, It's really that loud? Maybe I should change my order from a 1 GHz TiBook to a 800 MHz iBook...

hi cheesepuff, dont change it. for me its quiet as a mouse on battery power, and the right side fan comes on only while on ac power; mind you the right side fan isnt that loud, ive got a quicksilver thats way louder.

ive been using my ti with flash, photoshop, dreamweaver, and fireworks; on ac power the main fan comes on only once in a while, but on battery ive hardly heard any fans come on and thats while working on a few 40meg files in photoshop.

i recomend purchasing more batteries with your order, i bought two with mine and love the battery life far better than on my pismo. im getting about 3:45 with all those apps open.
aloha

[CyberPet]

Originally posted by tritonus:
Hi Petra

Mine got replaced on the same subject (DOA).

I put a "README" note on the OS X desktop what my problem was and how to reproduce it (wait, fan will never turn off).

But the test was done in Switzerland at some specialised DOA check center (not Apple people).

Good luck to Sweden!

Marcel

Thank you Marcel!

I did enclose a note (both written and as a link on the desktop) but they don't seem to have read it.

I'm in contact with a girl at Customer Service, but she says "if the service technicians has said the fan is normal, we can't replace it" although she is offering to send the machine to a company here in Sweden and have them check the Powerbook as well.

But how do I get them to test the computer for longer than a few minutes to actually see that the secondary fan never turns off, even on light use?! *sighs deeply*

Maybe I should come and visit you in Switzerland?

[tritonus]

Petra:

With my old unit, the right fan never went off. The fan in the middle was only on when the processor was some/heavy use. It quickly went off. So should yours!

Are you sure you don't have a process open that is running your processor do death? Have you tried reinstalling OS X and going for the preinstalled software at first? What's your process viewer showing? If it's some high use, the fans must stay on, I guess. Maybe you have a normal machine?

Marcel