Excellent video showing a disassembeled Macbook moooing

[xPismo]

Wow. A video showing a fan turn on and off. Wooo.

...say that the fan makes ABSOLUTELY NO NOISE. Fine. But, do you really want your fan going on and off every two seconds? Annoyances aside, it can lead to performance and stability issues.

Why is this a "performance and stability issue"? Have you had any problems due to the overractive fan?

Furthermore, fans are NOT supposed to work this way! There is a problem!

It's beyond me how anyone could think there is nothing wrong with it operating this way.

Yes, this isnt the most efficient way to run a fan (I talked to a thermal engineer on this) but yes, fan's are quite happy to turn on when its hot and turn off when its cold. Think of it this way: the fans are reacting quickly to thermal changes.

Is that really a bad thing?

I don't see anything that would worry or bother me at all. At some point Apple will release a patch that updates the thermal switch system to a more standard cycle but really why worry?

 

[mmmcheese]

You guys are really not getting it are you? OK, say that the fan makes ABSOLUTELY NO NOISE. Fine. But, do you really want your fan going on and off every two seconds? Annoyances aside, it can lead to performance and stability issues.

Furthermore, fans are NOT supposed to work this way! There is a problem!

It's beyond me how anyone could think there is nothing wrong with it operating this way.

The fan in my convection oven does the same thing...it goes on and off in short cycles, and it is temperature controlled as well.

Also, I've watched fans in a display model of a PowerMac G5 do the exact same thing... Although power consumption isn't an issue on a desktop machine, the less often a fan is running, the better, when it comes to portables.

Since the fans are software controlled (this is why they run full speed during firmware updates, there's no controlling software), Apple can update this if they think it is an issue. Since they haven't changed how the fans are controlled, we have to assume that it is functioning as designed. If you are concerned about long term issues, purchase AppleCare.

Also, there's nothing stopping anyone from writing a 3rd party kernel extension that changes the behaviour of the fans...you're welcome to give it a shot.

 

[zim]

I didn't hear any "mooing". I didn't hear much other than the narrator's voice. Am I the only one?

I feel the same way.. no moo? Don't get it. But whatever it is it can't be worst then my 667Mhz PowerBooks fan.

 

[savar]

Don't know if this was posted already, but it shows the fan mooing. The macbook is working while disassembeled.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4490733167064230159

I don't think you all know what a cow sounds like. I have the volume turned all the way up and all I hear is the swooshing of the fan -- not "mooing".

I won't debate that having the fan oscillate on and off is a bad designe decision, though. Seems like a firmware update should fix that up.

 

[alexprice]

I have taken a white 2.0GHz MacBook home and given it a good testing. My thought's when I heard the fan spinning up and then down was that it sounded kinda cool. Thats just me. Also, I think a cow moooing sounds quite different to this noise. I can't help feeling that people are taking this too seriously. If its an issue, talk to Apple. If enough people do this then Apple will no doubt to a firmare update.

Alex

 

[alexprice]

Does the so called "Moooo" really sound like this????

http://info.fuw.edu.pl/multimedia/sounds/animals/cow-1.au

Alex

http://userpages.umbc.edu/~dschmi1/cows/sounds.html - More!!

 

[wmmk]

I still can't believe people get worked up over this...

it's really not that annoying to me. not too loud, either. i was at the apple store the other day, and =glossy screen barely glares at all. macbooks seem to be perfectly good computers!

 

[milozauckerman]

The apologists are kind of funny. Leave the Kool-Aid on the table, folks. You don't have to defend everything Apple has ever done.

Fans coming on and off is not a problem - my G5 did it whenever cooling was required as any computer will. It was loud, but it was not a constant cycle of start-up/shut-down like the moo. The moo I've heard is very noticeable and very annoying - a motor starting up and shutting down. The closest thing I can think of is a motorized lint remover like you use on a sweater - it's the same high-pitched buzz, only it starts and stops.

 

[mmmcheese]

Does the so called "Moooo" really sound like this????

http://info.fuw.edu.pl/multimedia/sounds/animals/cow-1.au

Alex

http://userpages.umbc.edu/~dschmi1/cows/sounds.html - More!!

It's more like the ghost of a cow....ooooOOOOOOO....oooOOOOO hahaha

 

[JAT]

I love all the people claiming this has never happened on other computers, Apple sucks, don't buy the MB, etc.

Dells are so bad that users have written software to take over control of the fan from Dell/M$. It is a problem if the fans switch on/off that fast, there should be a bigger gap in the temp settings. Like turn on at 70C, but not turn off until down to 65C, or whatever range applies. It appears it may be only one degree apart (from the video) and doing this ramp on/off issue for some people. Or just glitchy for some.

Our 2 Dells (Latitudes) at work had a very similar problem, except that their fans sounded like motorcycle engines and it was more like .5 second on, .5 second off. The MB is far superior, I assure you. I can hear our MB fan turn on, but don't seem to have the repeated on/off issue like in that video. Overall, it's the best laptop I've ever used. 2nd in usability (to a 165c running Sys 7.1) and 1st in quality.

 

[Scarlet Fever]

...Annoyances aside, it can lead to performance and stability issues.

im no hardware guru, but i can't see how it could lead to stability and performance issues. Sure, the fans may suck some power from elsewhere, but dimming the display, or playing music does exactly the same thing. The power being used by the fans won't cause a noticeable difference, if any, in the performace of the computer.
As for stability, its just a script stating that when the CPU hits a set temperature, turn the fans on. When it goes below a set temperature, turn them off. Its not complex, and won't disrupt the normal opperations of the computer.
To fix this problem, they need to update the firmware to have 2 thresholds; once it goes over a set temp, say 70, the fans come on and bring it down to another set temp, say 60. The "moos" will likely still occur, but once every 20 minutes instead of every 10 seconds.