Core 2 Duo iMac blowing me away

[Macmadant]

well not literally, but the fans in the machine seem louder than what they should i can hear them extremely well in a silent room and partially when i have the TV is on, also has the iMac not got any fan sensors in, as all the widgets/apps I've used say I've got no fan sensors. and no I'm not being fussy (i own the loudest mac ever made 'the wind tunnel') and i don't know where all these people get the word 'silent' to describe their new iMacs. also they never seem to speed up or slow down, even when it's idle they remain the same
Any advice,

P.S. i chose to verify the disk via disk utility and it didn't finish the test because of an error it also says something is wrong with the Drive, i'll update tomorrow i forgot to check the smart status

 

[Ladybug]

Ack...I really hate to post that my iMac is silent or pretty near silent because that doesn't really help you. However it really is that quiet. Maybe theres something wrong the fans in your iMac. Perhaps you should give Apple a call to discuss this because it seriously sounds like you have a problem.

 

[Zwhaler]

Lol me too my ear is against mine and I barely hear it, which shows you that there is definatley something going on in your computer I say give apple a call.

 

[hodgjy]

Fans

I can hear a slight fan in my 17" iMac. When I sit normally at my desk, I don't notice anything. When I put my ear about 5" from it, I can hear a faint fan that hums ever so slightly. It's there, but quiet. Occasionally, the fan in my old iBook G4 would go (particularly when running Photoshop Elements and Camera RAW), and that was a loud fan. The iMac fan is definitely quieter than my iBook.

Sorry to hear your woes. It definitely sounds like the fan might be defective. Hopefully it's just something minor like a bad bearing that can be fixed very quickly. Call Apple. They'll take good care of you.

Edit:

Sorry, I'm a slight idiot. I just realized the bulk of the fan noise was from my external hard disk. When it powered off, almost all the fan noise went away. While there is still some iMac fan noise, it's almost nothing. Sorry for the confusion--it was my hard drive I was hearing.

 

[Hockeypuck]

I was going to suggest resetting the power management unit/PRAM if the fans were just running too high. Sometimes (although it seems not very often on the iMacs) fans have bad bearings that cause extra noise.

 

[Macmadant]

Thanks for all your suggestions, but i just did the Disk verify again and it came up with this. any ideas?

 

[Greebazoid]

I cant offer you advise on your mac, but I like the name you gave your 'puter

 

[Xenesis]

Boot up off the DVD and then run disk Utility from the install DVD?

 

[Macmadant]

Boot up off the DVD and then run disk Utility from the install DVD?

Cheers, i'll do that in a minute,

I cant offer you advise on your mac, but I like the name you gave your 'puter

lol thanks all our macs are named after star wars characters

 

[2ms]

my 2 day old 20" iMac is quite loud too. Is it possible that, for example, the ones with Ati Graphics have an extra fan or something that the integrated graphics machines don't? Probably not, but anyway, my iMac seem pretty loud to me too so OP is not the only one with that impression.

 

[Macmadant]

my 2 day old 20" iMac is quite loud too. Is it possible that, for example, the ones with Ati Graphics have an extra fan or something that the integrated graphics machines don't? Probably not, but anyway, my iMac seem pretty loud to me too so OP is not the only one with that impression.

They could do but i doubt it, i think it's just people have different views on fan noise, or more sensitive hearing. but people like you and me are probably just fussy or as i like to call it perfectionists

 

[micvog]

my 2 day old 20" iMac is quite loud too. Is it possible that, for example, the ones with Ati Graphics have an extra fan or something that the integrated graphics machines don't? Probably not, but anyway, my iMac seem pretty loud to me too so OP is not the only one with that impression.

My 20" C2D iMac is whisper quiet, even when encoding with iSquint. It is much quieter than my 12" PB (rev. C) or 17" iMac G5 (rev. A). FWIW, using the serial number decoder, my iMac was made at factory "W8" (Shanghai, China) in week 35 (September). I bought it at the local Apple Store and it included the wireless keyboard/mouse upgrade from the factory.

 

[rafa]

my imac is silent too.

 

[2ms]

Macmadant and vicvog, it's probably irrelevant, but just to satisfy my curiosity, which graphics hardware do each of you have?

 

[Macmadant]

Macmadant and vicvog, it's probably irrelevant, but just to satisfy my curiosity, which graphics hardware do each of you have?

ATI Radeon x1600 128mb

 

[2ms]

that's what I have. Now I wonder if all these "silent" iMacs have something different, say the integrated graphics which of course must produce far less heat.

 

[Macmadant]

that's what I have. Now I wonder if all these "silent" iMacs have something different, say the integrated graphics which of course must produce far less heat.

It's a possibility, but only the lowend 17" is produced with a Integrated Intel crap, i mean card anyway i'm off to bed cya all

 

[micvog]

Macmadant and vicvog, it's probably irrelevant, but just to satisfy my curiosity, which graphics hardware do each of you have?

ATI RADEON x1600, 128MB vRAM (stock)

 

[Whiteapple]

To repair permissions, you can also boot while holding the shift key. The mac will take some time, with the nice spinning grey circle, and then you will arrive in "Safe Mode". Gawd that sounds so PC.

Then repair your disk.

Reboot.

You're done.

Good Luck?

 

[ChrisME]

I'd run the Apple Hardware Test. It's on one of the discs that came with the computer - put the disc in and restart while holding down the D key. If the computer's noisy because the fans are running constantly on high, you could have a bad logic board.

 

[Carguy172]

Im sorry to hear your problem but I have a question are these defects very common or are they unlikely to get. Also does apple immediately fix it.

Thanks

 

[imacintel]

My iMac is not quite as loud as my old HP, but it isn't quiet.When I walk into my room i hear it from that far away.You really can hear the constant hum of the fans and the HDD.

 

[davejk]

My iMac is not quite as loud as my old HP, but it isn't quiet.When I walk into my room i hear it from that far away.You really can hear the constant hum of the fans and the HDD.

My 24" is almost 100% silent. I can only hear the fans if I have my ear about five inches from the back case.

The hard drive is a little noisy when it's working, though, which is a shame. If not for that, I wouldn't be able to tell if it was on or off from listening

 

[Macmadant]

My iMac is not quite as loud as my old HP, but it isn't quiet.When I walk into my room i hear it from that far away.You really can hear the constant hum of the fans and the HDD.

I think i'm just being a 'perfectionist', as different people have different perceptions of what is quiet, like someone who had a loud mac will go to the new imacs and think wow these are quiet, (but that doesn't make sense with me as i own the loudest mac ever made, period), but my ibook never goes that loud unless the fans spin up which is rare

 

[Sophia]

I can definitely hear some fan-related sound coming from my iMac when I'm sitting at my desk, but it's really quite near silent, except with the occassional CD/DVD activity that makes some crazy (and rather loud) noises. I wish I knew how loud/quiet the iMac is supposed to be.