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iDoiStuff

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 11, 2011
17
0
Ontario, Canada
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My iMac is idling, except I have mail open.

Also randomly for the first time EVER the iMac fans just went crazy loud! for 1-2 mins then quieted down.

I also am wondering what it means 1.80gb ram inactive? why isnt all 4gb being used?
 
Your hard drive temperature looks pretty hot, not sure why that is, but I would consider getting that checked out, as they are not designed to run that hot. I wouldn't worry about it unless that happens again though.

The inactive memory just means that it was being used for an application that you closed, but it is keeping it there in case you want to reopen that app. The computer will only use as much RAM as it needs, in fact, the more you have free, the better and faster your computer will run. If you are consistently using most of your RAM like that, you may want to consider an upgrade.
 
What would the ideal temp. be for the hard drive?

Thanks.

The 27" I am on right now is idling around 100-102, and you really don't want to see it get past 130. The drive in my laptop hangs out around 100 as well, but will get close to 110 if I am reading or writing a lot of data.
 
The 27" I am on right now is idling around 100-102, and you really don't want to see it get past 130. The drive in my laptop hangs out around 100 as well, but will get close to 110 if I am reading or writing a lot of data.

this sucks, I JUST sent my external drive in for replacement because it failed so now all my important files are on my iMac which seems to be failing at 130+ degrees!
 
I installed smcFanControl and am running my fans to the max just to cool down, everything is dropping nicely EXCEPT hard drive, its staying the same..
 
I installed smcFanControl and am running my fans to the max just to cool down, everything is dropping nicely EXCEPT hard drive, its staying the same..

Check the SMART update interval in iStat. Usually it's set at 5 or 10 minutes. I'd just shorten it to the smallest time and wait for a little while. Chances are it actually is cooler than it says, it just hasn't been updated in a while.
 
You can pop in hardware check and give it a quick runthrough. It should tell you if there's any temp sensor that's bad.
 
Take the applications install disk that comes with the computer, put it in, then restart your computer. After you hear the chime, hold down D until the hardware test screen comes up. Normal sweep only takes a couple minutes, and usually is good enough to tell you about faulty temp sensors. Multiple sweeps takes hours but can possibly tell you more specific problems, which I don't think you'll need to use.
 
Open /Applications/Utilities/Activity Viewer and see what process is eating away on your Mac. This might cause the hard drive not spin down when idle.

Activity Monitor was using the most haha also its back at 135f and I ran the hardware test (both of them) and it showed nothing wrong..

Should I contact my local mac repair shop and ask them if its an issue?

it could have been running like this forever I just got aware when for the first time ever my macs fans kicked on loud.
 
wow why the HDD in the 27'' imac gets very hot ? about 100-135 ?


my MBP HDD temp is 27-29 now.


just wondering.
 
Seems pretty toasty. Here are my tempts in degrees C. In all fairness, I just booted the machine about 30 minutes ago and haven't been doing anything too intensive since. Will throw some thinking its way and see how they move. That and my ambient is really low atm.

Screenshot2011-02-12at63441AM.png
 
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Here's my 2010 i7 after running for a few hours. Web browsing and iTunes only:

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My HD tends to run a little warm. It's the Western Digital 1TB model.
 
Activity Monitor was using the most haha also its back at 135f and I ran the hardware test (both of them) and it showed nothing wrong..

Should I contact my local mac repair shop and ask them if its an issue?

it could have been running like this forever I just got aware when for the first time ever my macs fans kicked on loud.

I'd get a backup ASAP, then ask for a replacement drive. High heat is one of a hard drive's worst enemies.
 
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