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DEMinSoCAL

macrumors 603
Original poster
Sep 27, 2005
5,373
8,362
So, long story short, one of the HDD temp sensor connectors (there were two sensors stuck to the 320GB HDD in this Mini) broke off the system board. Originally, I was putting in a SSD and didn't realize the connectors pulled UP and instead pulled one horizontally out and the connector came out with it. Now, when I power on, the fan is going at the fastest speed (with original HDD or SSD).

I've tried three different fan control softwares (iStat, MacFanControl and one other one) and none of them seem to control the fan speed.

Is it possible to control, via software, the fan speed on a 2010 Mac Mini? Otherwise, I suppose I need to buy a new system board?

Also, assuming everything were back to normal, would installing an SSD cause the fans to run full speed or do I just stick the temp sensors on the SSD and the fans should be OK?

Thanks.
 
I haven't done a mini SSD upgrade - can't help there.
I have two minis 2010 and 2012, both running Mavericks, that I use MacsFanControl on:
http://www.crystalidea.com/macs-fan-control

I really like its interface and flexibility compared to smcFanControl. I use the Northbridge temp sensor on the 2010, and the CPU Diode on the 2012. Perfect control, but I had to adjust the temperature ranges to get the fan speeds where I wanted.

If I remember correctly, you have to reboot after install to get MacsFanControl to engage.
(PS - I run Mavericks because I use my Macs via VNC screen sharing Only - Yosemite had issues with this, and I haven't re-tried it after restoring Mavericks in October.)
 
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