Mac mini fans are giving it beans...

[Harold chestnut]

I have a 1.8 Intel core duo mac mini, bought in 2006. I recently got the magic trackpad, so had to upgrade to snow leopard. It all went fine, the pad works, and snow leopard is running, sort of ok (that's another subject) but now it seems my fans are constantly spinning, relatively soon after start up till i turn it off. Should i be worrying? Anyone else having this problem?

Let me know

 

[shoebobs]

I have a 1.8 Intel core duo mac mini, bought in 2006. I recently got the magic trackpad, so had to upgrade to snow leopard. It all went fine, the pad works, and snow leopard is running, sort of ok (that's another subject) but now it seems my fans are constantly spinning, relatively soon after start up till i turn it off. Should i be worrying? Anyone else having this problem?

Let me know

Are the fans just running, or running at full speed? If they're at full speed, did you do any internal upgrades as well and forget to attach the hard drive thermal sensor cable? I had an issue where my fans were at full speed immediately at startup and it was because I did not reattach the hard drive thermal sensor cable after an internal upgrade. If you did not do such an upgrade, maybe your internal sensors aren't working anymore and need to be replaced.

Download iStat pro and let us know the readings for your temps and fan speed. I am not sure, but if one of the sensors isn't getting a temp reading, maybe iStat will have no info for that or some other indication that something is not right.

I have a 2.0GHz core 2 duo Mac Mini 1,1 and here are my readings:

 

[Harold chestnut]

Are the fans just running, or running at full speed? If they're at full speed, did you do any internal upgrades as well and forget to attach the hard drive thermal sensor cable? I had an issue where my fans were at full speed immediately at startup and it was because I did not reattach the hard drive thermal sensor cable after an internal upgrade. If you did not do such an upgrade, maybe your internal sensors aren't working anymore and need to be replaced.

Download iStat pro and let us know the readings for your temps and fan speed. I am not sure, but if one of the sensors isn't getting a temp reading, maybe iStat will have no info for that or some other indication that something is not right.

I have a 2.0GHz core 2 duo Mac Mini 1,1 and here are my readings:

I had to upgrade to 10.6.4 to run the magic trackpad installation software, and there doesn't seem to be any more updates to install. The fans sound like they're running at full speed, like they do when you start up. The iStat is telling me the fans running at approx. 5500 rpm.

The current various temps are: HD-35, CPU-42, CPU heatsink-33, Ambient-57, Northbridge 1-38, Northbridge 2-39.

I have no idea if these are normal? What do you think?

 

[iDave]

With 30% cpu usage my fan runs at 2900. Temps are 50-70°. So your fan is running extra fast but at least things are nice and cool.

 

[DewGuy1999]

Try this: Intel-based Macs: Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC)

 

[shoebobs]

I had to upgrade to 10.6.4 to run the magic trackpad installation software, and there doesn't seem to be any more updates to install. The fans sound like they're running at full speed, like they do when you start up. The iStat is telling me the fans running at approx. 5500 rpm.

The current various temps are: HD-35, CPU-42, CPU heatsink-33, Ambient-57, Northbridge 1-38, Northbridge 2-39.

I have no idea if these are normal? What do you think?

The temps look good, the fan is going wayyyyy too fast, especially for those temps.

Try the SMC reset as suggested by another user. The symptoms fit.

 

[Harold chestnut]

The temps look good, the fan is going wayyyyy too fast, especially for those temps.

Try the SMC reset as suggested by another user. The symptoms fit.

I tried the SMC reset last night, and it didn't seem to do anything, although this morning the fan is running at approx. 3600rpm, so maybe it did... Any other suggestions i can try? As you say the symptoms seem to fit, maybe she's just a little old!

 

[billib]

ptmd

Their is a known bug, lets see if you have it.
Launch your "Activities Monitor" located in your
"Utilities folder" located in your "Applications folder".
With your Activities Monitor running, select "All
Processes" in the drop down menu in the open
windows menu bar. Now scroll down and see if
"ptmd' is running. If it is thats probably your
problem. Select it and choose "Quit Process".

The recent 10.6.4 update fixed it for me.
Have you run the recent update?
This should shed some light:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2382255&tstart=15