iMac Overheat Worry

[webctbob]

Is this during idle?

I was on the Internet with no other applications open.

After sending the previous message, I shut down the computer. 30 minutes later, when I turned on the computer, smcFan control read "60 C" and the fan reading was 3000 rpm.

Now, after being on for 10 minutes, the case is getting warm in the left corner where the power cord attaches. 66 C and 3954 rpm now

Heating does not bother me - unless it is an indication of possible computer problems.

Thank you for replying.

Bob

 

[eXan]

I was on the Internet with no other applications open.

After sending the previous message, I shut down the computer. 30 minutes later, when I turned on the computer, smcFan control read "60 C" and the fan reading was 3000 rpm.

Now, after being on for 10 minutes, the case is getting warm in the left corner where the power cord attaches. 66 C and 3954 rpm now

Heating does not bother me - unless it is an indication of possible computer problems.

Thank you for replying.

Bob

Sounds rather high if it is the current generation iMac. I've never seen the CPU fan of the current-gen iMac spin faster than 1600RPM (being loaded 100% for over 40 minutes).

 

[webctbob]

Sounds rather high if it is the current generation iMac. I've never seen the CPU fan of the current-gen iMac spin faster than 1600RPM (being loaded 100% for over 40 minutes).

Rather new - purchased April 2007. Any chance there is a reporting error? After 5 minutes - 3900 rpm.

Will have to figure out where I go from here. Again, thanks for replying.

Bob

 

[webctbob]

Sounds rather high if it is the current generation iMac. I've never seen the CPU fan of the current-gen iMac spin faster than 1600RPM (being loaded 100% for over 40 minutes).

Just looked at "Help" for "istat pro" and read this:

"There’s currently no fan sensor support for Intel Macs, but we plan to add it via a 3rd party extension soon."

Now I am really out of my league.

Maybe smcFanControl does not support Intel Macs either. And the "heat" is normal although the reading is quite high e.g. 60 C and rpm 3000 as soon as turned on.

Any chance my diagnosis here is correct? Is there another software program that I should download and use?

Bob

 

[eXan]

Just looked at "Help" for "istat pro" and read this:

"There’s currently no fan sensor support for Intel Macs, but we plan to add it via a 3rd party extension soon."

Now I am really out of my league.

Maybe smcFanControl does not support Intel Macs either. And the "heat" is normal although the reading is quite high e.g. 60 C and rpm 3000 as soon as turned on.

Any chance my diagnosis here is correct? Is there another software program that I should download and use?

Bob

You probably don't have the latest version of iStat Pro because it works fine on most Macs I've tried it (but it doesnt read the fan speed accurately on MacBook Airs)

I guess as long as your iMac doesn't shut down by itself and is producing comparable noise as similar iMacs you shouldn't worry about heat.

 

[webctbob]

You probably don't have the latest version of iStat Pro because it works fine on most Macs I've tried it (but it doesnt read the fan speed accurately on MacBook Airs)

I guess as long as your iMac doesn't shut down by itself and is producing comparable noise as similar iMacs you shouldn't worry about heat.

Just downloaded again. version 4.6.

Will try to locate similar MacBook Pro and listen!

Bob

 

[Peter Crowder]

I'm a PC user who is used to very cool-running CPUs at about 35-37*c (at the expense, I must note, of a lot of noise and a heatsink almost as large as a G4 Cube...), so when I noticed my new iMac (20", 2.4GHz, early 2008) CPU running at 45*c and my Airport card at 58*c after watching a DVD, I thought I'd give AppleCare a call.

The technician let me run the figures by him as above, including 47*c for my GPU. For what it's worth he assured me they're about average and that his CPU (in an Intel iMac I would presume) was running at 60*c with no issues - being on 24/7 as well.

If you're in doubt just ring AppleCare if you're still within 90 days or if you've got it - they seem pretty cool with letting you check figures out with them. It's what you pay for, right?

 

[mastershakess]

This is a problem

My iMac had similar symptoms and now it is at the Apple Store being worked on. This is not normal, have it checked out. They are replacing my "fan sensor" I believe.

 

[webctbob]

Just downloaded again. version 4.6.

Will try to locate similar MacBook Pro and listen!

Bob

Now the temperature is 44C and fan is running at 3275. Removed a number of Applications from dock (Could that make a difference?).

Spoke with agent at Mac Care. He maintained that the Mac would shut down if it became too hot. Said his Mac fans often ran at 6,000 rpm especially when he was working in iPhoto for a long time.

Again, thanks for the help. First time user here and I appreciate your interest.

Bob

 

[gehrbox]

Sometimes I think I spend too much time staring at my iMac while surfing the web. Thank goodness I don't also have to split my attention between the TV, Firefox and iStat!

 

[eXan]

Now the temperature is 44C and fan is running at 3275. Removed a number of Applications from dock (Could that make a difference?).

Spoke with agent at Mac Care. He maintained that the Mac would shut down if it became too hot. Said his Mac fans often ran at 6,000 rpm especially when he was working in iPhoto for a long time.

Again, thanks for the help. First time user here and I appreciate your interest.

Bob

O so you have a MBP! That explains those temps and fan speeds because they are normal for MBP.

Dont worry

 

[kaiwai]

I was on the Internet with no other applications open.

After sending the previous message, I shut down the computer. 30 minutes later, when I turned on the computer, smcFan control read "60 C" and the fan reading was 3000 rpm.

Now, after being on for 10 minutes, the case is getting warm in the left corner where the power cord attaches. 66 C and 3954 rpm now

Heating does not bother me - unless it is an indication of possible computer problems.

Thank you for replying.

Bob

Small problem there champ; the power cable doesn't attach on the left - it attaches in the middle

The only place where it should be warm is the top, and it should be only like "warm apple pie", not "hot enough to cook a steak".

 

[Event Horizon]

Now, under 100% processor load, CPU A temp reaches 75 degrees Celsius, and the fans do not speed up past default idle speeds 1200rom CPU fan, 1200rpm HDD fan, 700rpm ODD fan, even when the CPU stays this hot for an extended period of time.

Questions:

1.)At what temperature should the fan speed increase? I could not find this info anywhere!

2.) Is it possible that either Fan Control or SMCfancontrol altered firmware settings, and if so, is there a way to restore the firmware settings?

3.) What is the maximum operating temperature of the Penrynn chips used in these iMacs?

I have the same set up and 'problem' - when encoding and burning dvds and running Photoshop, CPU temps run up to 70+C, Powersupply 68C, but fans do not turn faster thatn their always-on default speeds (1200,1200,700)

What gives?

 

[eXan]

Small problem there champ; the power cable doesn't attach on the left - it attaches in the middle

The only place where it should be warm is the top, and it should be only like "warm apple pie", not "hot enough to cook a steak".

He has MBP.

 

[webctbob]

Small problem there champ; the power cable doesn't attach on the left - it attaches in the middle

The only place where it should be warm is the top, and it should be only like "warm apple pie", not "hot enough to cook a steak".

Don't know much about the inside of a computer, but I do know a power cord when I see one. And my left from my right. And my middle from my top!

Got into habit of working online and leaving Word, Adobe, Mail, and even Firefox running, all while listening to music. Maybe I created part of the problem.

Useful experience exchanging information here.

Bob

 

[kaiwai]

Don't know much about the inside of a computer, but I do know a power cord when I see one. And my left from my right. And my middle from my top!

Well, if you have an imac, the power cable is in bottom half, in the middle - lined up where the apple logo is.

Got into habit of working online and leaving Word, Adobe, Mail, and even Firefox running, all while listening to music. Maybe I created part of the problem.

Useful experience exchanging information here.

Bob

I have a heck of alot more than that running at the moment without any problems.

 

[johto]

I have had my imac 24" about 6 months. My fans ran 90% times at 1200,1200,700.

CPU fan would ramp slowly up to about 1500ish after the cpu temp went over 55c.

My temps were about

cpu 40c
hdd 55c <-- that was worrying.
ambient 25c
psu 60-80c <-- that was scary

Well, i tought, apple knows what they do, so i did not speed the fans on my own...

Guess what? My mac failed to restart one day(6 months old) and it made "tick tick" sound (head crash). I realized it was the HDD failure mainly because of the temperatures. Repair diagnose was "bad blocks on the HDD, and for my suprise also a burned PSU" !!!!

I just got my mac back from the repair, they replaced the PSU and the HDD.

Now, the PSU is 10-20c lower with the same fan speeds and keeps at about 53-60 all the time!

This time i will be more carefull and not to trust the default fan speed for the HDD, which kept the disk at 50-55c. Thats too much imho and will shorten the life spand. I will ramp up the fans to about 1500,1800,700 with smcFanControl. This way at least the hdd is couple degrees cooler and the extra noise is still minimum.

 

[EtsyMac]

Not Just a Fan Setting

Hi again,

My iMac shut down on me 15 minutes after starting up yesterday morning. Obviously that shouldn't have been an overheating problem, so I drove it 2 hrs to my closest Apple Store to speak to a genius there. Several employees standing around with nothing to do when I walked in, and as I told them it has been shutting down abruptly, fans sometimes running nonstop, sometimes it will start back up simultaneously, sometimes there's nothing I can do to get it to restart except give it time- they all agreed it isn't a fan setting or any setting, it was most likely something that went bad and would need replaced. I should have written the couple of possibilities they gave me down, but I didn't, and now neither my husband nor I can remember what it was, but they kept it and are going to replace whatever it is. It sounded like they get this all the time, as though it is a common occurrance with the Intel-based iMacs.

When I get my beloved iMac back, I'll come back and let you know what the problem was for sure. I just hope this isn't something that will reoccur once fixed. I'm now thinking maybe I should have gotten the extended warranty afterall. My machine is only 7 months old- this shouldn't be happening.

 

[johto]

I have had my imac 24" about 6 months. My fans ran 90% times at 1200,1200,700.

CPU fan would ramp slowly up to about 1500ish after the cpu temp went over 55c.

My temps were about

cpu 40c
hdd 55c <-- that was worrying.
ambient 25c
psu 60-80c <-- that was scary

Well, i tought, apple knows what they do, so i did not speed the fans on my own...

Guess what? My mac failed to restart one day(6 months old) and it made "tick tick" sound (head crash). I realized it was the HDD failure mainly because of the temperatures. Repair diagnose was "bad blocks on the HDD, and for my suprise also a burned PSU" !!!!

I just got my mac back from the repair, they replaced the PSU and the HDD.

Now, the PSU is 10-20c lower with the same fan speeds and keeps at about 53-60 all the time!

This time i will be more carefull and not to trust the default fan speed for the HDD, which kept the disk at 50-55c. Thats too much imho and will shorten the life spand. I will ramp up the fans to about 1500,1800,700 with smcFanControl. This way at least the hdd is couple degrees cooler and the extra noise is still minimum.

Update: my imac got back from the repairs after replaced HD and PSU.

The hardisks is more quiet, cant hear any skeeking noise which is good (its still wester digital disk) The new PSU runs way cooler, around 55c !

i upped the fan speed to cpu 1500, hd 1800, and now the tempreatures are the following after having my mac awaken 30 min and surfing the net.

cpu = 37c
gpu = 47c
ambient = 24c
mem controller 40c
hd = 45c
psu = 50c

Overall much better!

 

[wazgilbert]

Firstly, contact is required for conduction. (Got dictionary?)

Secondly, air is a crappy heat-transfer medium for convection.
(That's why it's used as an insulator in double-glazed windows.)



...uh, lemme guess ...you're not an engineer or a physics major?

LK

PHAIL double-glazing (of any good quality) uses a vacuum as an insulator, without it, there is increased risk of condensation inside the panel, which is really bad quality.

dear me Leon, what kind of physics 101 do you guys get over the pond?

 

[filmfun]

My Intel Imac Overheats To Almost Burn Tempuratures

My intel imac gets so hot on the top and sides and you can feel the heat coming off the front like you're on a tropical beach -- get me that margarita!
If I'm working on my imac for more than an hour (without sleep mode catching a few winks), the imac with 24" screen gets so hot, my airport express loses bars, making my wireless connection to my router difficult, and I start getting Time Machine connection errors. If I sleep my imac for about twenty minutes or more, and then wake it up -- my airport express is back to full bars and Time Machine is connected again. I'm thinking the imac gets so hot that the airport express components start failing and same with the connection to my Time Machine external drive.
Apple suggested I change out the motherboard (again) done that twice already (and the imac's only a few months old).
I think this is just an inherent problem with the new 24" imac (apparently, the 20" imac doesn't have as many problems - from what the Apple techs have told me). The only solution is to set your imac to sleep every 5 or 10 minutes when you're not working on it, and at least you'll be able to work on it an hour or two at a time before it gets too hot and bothered!

 

[SaSaSushi]

My intel imac gets so hot on the top and sides and you can feel the heat coming off the front like you're on a tropical beach -- get me that margarita!
If I'm working on my imac for more than an hour (without sleep mode catching a few winks), the imac with 24" screen gets so hot, my airport express loses bars, making my wireless connection to my router difficult, and I start getting Time Machine connection errors. If I sleep my imac for about twenty minutes or more, and then wake it up -- my airport express is back to full bars and Time Machine is connected again. I'm thinking the imac gets so hot that the airport express components start failing and same with the connection to my Time Machine external drive.
Apple suggested I change out the motherboard (again) done that twice already (and the imac's only a few months old).
I think this is just an inherent problem with the new 24" imac (apparently, the 20" imac doesn't have as many problems - from what the Apple techs have told me). The only solution is to set your imac to sleep every 5 or 10 minutes when you're not working on it, and at least you'll be able to work on it an hour or two at a time before it gets too hot and bothered!

I've had my aluminum iMac for 11 months now and I am currently using it in the oppressively hot summer of western Japan in a room without A/C. Not only does it not overheat nor crash, the temperatures stay moderately cool(CPU is currently at 47C) and I never feel excessive heat radiating from the machine.

So while I sympathize with your situation it most definitely is not an "inherent" issue on all iMacs.

 

[mike12806]

I have my white intel core 2 duo imac running folding@home constantly, and it still never gets above 55-56 Celsius on the CPU. I also have smcFan control set to a minimum 1600 rpm on the cpu fan!

 

[wazgilbert]

anyone who is concerned, can download SMCfancontrol, set up some defaults with +10, +20% ish numbers on the 3 fans, and use Temperature Monitor to see the before and after trends from changing things.

I find that 3D games like WoW, guildwars and EVE tend to push up the Temps on the system or running video transcodes for extended periods, the worst number has been the power-supply and wireless up to 80degC ! everything else was around 60, after a few minutes at +20% fanspeeds it was all less than 50. Now I habitually knock on 10 or 20% before I start any intensive work to keep it healthy.

This is all mainly paranoia, because even at the high points, the machine has been rock solid and never suffered any performance losses, but I don't like seeing things that hot! (or feeling the toasty warm case when I reposition the unit on my desk)

 

[DoFoT9]

hello, sorry about this, (didnt realise id get this kind of response, and its probably me being parnoid lol).

the ones that really stuck out was (all in celsius)
CPU A 45
GPU 52
AMBIENT 32
AIRPORT 61

thanks

wow is that all...

those temps are fine!!!!