Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Mac Pro 1.1 overheating, loud noise & burn smell

F

Frodoo

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 28, 2011
16
0
Romania
Hi,

I have a 1st Gen dual Xeon 2.66 Ghz Mac Pro (2006-2007), everything went great since I bought it, but about a year ago it began to overheat a lott.
I know my Mac Pro is getting old now but can I do something to reduce the heat & fan noise? I would like to add more memory and buy an additional internal hard drive, but I am afraid that they will get fried if I don't find a solution to the overheating first.

If I can't fix the overheating then I think I will eventually buy a new iMac, but would save me a lot of money if I would just replace some parts from my Mac Pro instead of buying a new computer.

For example when I am using Google Chrome the temperature goes to about 120 F, (and to prevent it to go over 120 F I set the fan speed to over 1400 RPM). Also, for the past weeks I noticed a burning electrical smell.

Could I replace the fans or something? I don't mind setting the fan speed higher but the noise is driving me crazy.


Please take a look at this screen shot of iStat Menus and help me with some advice.

Thank you

YEUso.jpg
 
Last edited:
I am guessing something like Arctic Silver 5 would be good. I use ArctiClean to get the old compound off when I redo GPU and CPU heatsinks.
 
Mr Ski 73 said:
I think you could really do with some more RAM
Click to expand...

I know :)


That's why I said that if it will cost me a lot to fix/upgrade my MP then I prefer to buy a new iMac, but now I think I'll ad 8 GB of ram and a ssd boot drive.


@spacedust you said that I need a hex allen key 9 mm, in the video the guy is using a 3mm hex t to remove the CPU screws, please tell me what other keys do I need so that I can order them all at once.

I found these hex allen keys, Unior T Handle Hexagon/Allen Key Set 193HX Series http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Unior-Allen-Hexagon-T-Handle-Key-Set-7-2-5-10mm-Hex-/110731324999?pt=UK_Hand_Tools_Equipment&hash=item19c819ee47#ht_1866wt_982
on some romanian online shop and I can get them delivered in 1 day instead of waiting for weeks to have them delivered if I buy from ebay, but are these keys ok for the Mac Pro? Sizes included are 2.5mm, 3mm, 4mm, 5mm, 6mm, 8mm, 10mm but there is no 9mm
 
You need 3mm hex allen. Calculate a length of 180mm to get into the deep screw holes (150mm for the hole alone plus a little space for housing clearance).

Alternatively you can use a ball-head drive socket (correct name? I mean the replaceable bits used with a wrench - like this), as that allows you to reach the screws from the side, using the wrench a little tilted. I had one of those in my tool collection, so i did not need to purchase another tool only for the CPU cwap.
 
As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.
Neodym said:
You need 3mm hex allen. Calculate a length of 180mm to get into the deep screw holes (150mm for the hole alone plus a little space for housing clearance).

Alternatively you can use a ball-head drive socket (correct name? I mean the replaceable bits used with a wrench - like this), as that allows you to reach the screws from the side, using the wrench a little tilted. I had one of those in my tool collection, so i did not need to purchase another tool only for the CPU cwap.
Click to expand...

ok, thank you
 
As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.
DanielCoffey said:
I use ArctiClean to get the old compound off when I redo GPU and CPU heatsinks.
Click to expand...
91% or better Isopropyl alcohol and lint free wipe/cloth will do just fine, and can be found in any drug store.

That's all the professional wipes actually are (just in a convenient foil pouch).
 
OP, Spacedust meant 9 inch long hex key :)

Replacing thermal paste is good idea, especially if it requires disassembling almost a half of unit. Don't be scared if you'll see a giant dust bunny between front fan and CPU heatsink. After few years it can grow huge :)
Give a decent cleaning to your machine, it can do miracles.
 
Guys, apart from applying the new thermal compound, cleaning the dust from the CPU heatsink, cleaning the fans, new ram memory & ssd boot drive, what else do I need, to get my mac up to date?

What about cleaning the power supply?
As you said, I am disassembling half of unit so while I'm in there if something needs an upgrade/replace then I better do it now.
 
Frodoo said:
As you said, I am disassembling half of unit so while I'm in there if something needs an upgrade/replace then I better do it now.
Click to expand...
The only other thing i can think of right now would be to make use of the two additional SATA ports on the motherboard. The first MacPro's had parallel connectors in the optical drive bays and therefore two unused (though fully working) SATA connectors, which are pretty hidden underneath the front fan assembly (which you have to take out anyway for the CPU swap).

If you don't mind adding some cabling to the clean interior of the MP, this would be a good time to add an eSATA cover plate to your MacPro (not as fast as Thunderbolt, but quite a bit better than Firewire800 ;).

Please note that those would be no "true" eSATA ports, so you should not exceed ~1m cable length externally. To be precise you should not exceed 1m in total (including the length of the internal cabling), if you want to be on the safe side, because the voltage on a "normal" internal SATA port is lower than with dedicated eSATA (SATA spec originally was for internal use only and designed for 1m cable length - of course possible length tolerance is depending on the implementation and with the first MP being a pretty solid machine... :cool: ).

Ideally you would use 90° angled connectors, as clearance is low above those ports, though a standard connector will work as well (you only have to carefully bend the cable accordingly).

Alternatively you could route one SATA cable (or two, if you don't need/want eSATA) to the optical drive bay area, so you could install an SSD for OSX there (later) without occupying one of the 4 storage drive bays. Did this on my MP and am glad i can still fully utilize all 4 HD bays.

If you route such (a) cable(s), make sure to do it properly and perhaps use some isolating foam to avoid having this cable generate vibration noises.
 
I'd recommend skipping the eSATA bracket adapter, and just get an eSATA card. Far less hassle, as there have been issues with the brackets posted by those that have tried them.

With a regular eSATA card, you can go up to 2.0 meters for the external cables, as the signal voltages are a bit higher than internal SATA.
 
hehe299792458 said:
I believe he's using istat menu pro
Click to expand...

If so, be careful! iStat Menu Pro reports incorrect CPU temps on MacPro1,1. They should be subtracted from a constant for each CPU type, but they are not. Interestingly, iStat Pro Dashboard widget appears to show CPU temps correctly.

I would suggest verifying temps with another tool.

Of course, none of this precludes the correct desire to thoroughly clean dust out of the MacPro enclosure. It might, however, show that removing the heat sinks and re-applying thermal compound, etc., is not required.

Spidey!!!

----------

Reference thread for backwards temps in iStat Menus: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1071398/
 
nanofrog said:
I'd recommend skipping the eSATA bracket adapter, and just get an eSATA card. Far less hassle, as there have been issues with the brackets posted by those that have tried them.
Click to expand...
There also have been reports about severe driver problems with the (quite expensive) eSATA cards, therefore i would first try the relatively inexpensive bracket solution with an external cable of appropriate length.

spidey3 said:
I would suggest verifying temps with another tool.
Click to expand...
http://www.bresink.com/osx/TemperatureMonitor.html
 
spidey3 said:
If so, be careful! iStat Menu Pro reports incorrect CPU temps on MacPro1,1. They should be subtracted from a constant for each CPU type, but they are not. Interestingly, iStat Pro Dashboard widget appears to show CPU temps correctly.

I would suggest verifying temps with another tool.

Of course, none of this precludes the correct desire to thoroughly clean dust out of the MacPro enclosure. It might, however, show that removing the heat sinks and re-applying thermal compound, etc., is not required.

Spidey!!!

----------

Reference thread for backwards temps in iStat Menus: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1071398/
Click to expand...

I am using iStat Menus 3 and smcFanControl.

Lets say they report incorrect temperatures, but the thing is my Mac Pro gets really hot, and the higher I set the fans speed the faster the programs respond, but I can't stand anymore to hear the fans at speeds over 1500 rpm. When I set the fans speed to lower, it starts to smell like something burnt.

----------
namethisfile said:
curious... how are you getting the temp readings? is that software? and/or also hardware?
Click to expand...

software only

iStat Menus 3 and smcFanControl
 
Neodym said:
There also have been reports about severe driver problems with the (quite expensive) eSATA cards, therefore i would first try the relatively inexpensive bracket solution with an external cable of appropriate length.


http://www.bresink.com/osx/TemperatureMonitor.html
Click to expand...

Thank you for the link

Temperature Monitor:

Ambient Air: 25 C
CPU A Heatsink 41 C
CPU A Proximity 41 C
CPU B Heatsink 40 C
Expansion Slots 39 C
Hard Drive Bay 1 27 C
Hard Drive Bay 2 26 C
Hard Drive Bay 3 26 C
Hard Drive Bay 4 27 C
Memory Bank A Point 1 38 C
Memory Bank A Point 2 39 C
Memory Bank A Point 3 33 C
Memory Bank B Point 1 37 C
Memory Bank B Point 2 39 C
Memory Bank B Point 3 36 C
Memory Module A1 52 C
Memory Module A2 54 C
Memory Module B1 48 C
Memory Module B2 55 C
Northbridge Heat Sink 63 C
Power Supply Location 1 40 C
Power Supply Location 2 Smart Disk... 46 C
P(9ND1N2RS) 33 C
CPU Core 1 41 C
CPU Core 2 39 C
CPU Core 3 40 C
CPU Core 4 39 C

---------------

iStat Menus 3:

Ambient Air 24 C
Northbridge Heat Sink 64 C


and to get this temperature the fans are revving at 1500 rpm
 
Some musings, in no particular order:

1) Interestingly, your temps don't seem high -- but I worry about the fast / loud fans, and even more about the smell.

2) It is possible that either you have massive dust accumulation, or that you have a fan which is failing.

3) From where exactly does the smell emanate? PSU? One of the fans?

4) What are your fan speeds when you leave fan speed on automatic? Does Actual RPM reasonably match Target RPM? Need to know this for all four fans to see if a fan is failing.

5) I don't think there is a problem here which warrants messing around with your CPU heatsink mounting. My reasoning is that there is not much discrepancy between your CPU core temps and your CPU heatsink temps. If there was an issue with the CPU-to-heatsink bonding then you would see core temps significantly higher than the heatsink temps.

My advice right now would be to proceed ASAP with answering the diagnostic questions above, and with a thorough cleanout of any dust accumulation, but hold off on messing with heatsink mounting. Come back to us with the answers, then can suggest what else needs to be done...

Spidey!!!
 
Neodym said:
There also have been reports about severe driver problems with the (quite expensive) eSATA cards, therefore i would first try the relatively inexpensive bracket solution with an external cable of appropriate length.
Click to expand...
What do you mean by expensive?

I ask, as 6.0Gb/s cards can be had for between $25 and $50. 3.0Gb/s for less.

As per drivers, if you mean with Lion, it's still rather new (both unstable with storage systems beyond a single disk right now from posts I'm seeing, and drivers may not exist/or are still in a Beta state if released).
 
Frodoo said:
CPU Core 1 41 C
CPU Core 2 39 C
CPU Core 3 40 C
CPU Core 4 39 C
and to get this temperature the fans are revving at 1500 rpm
Click to expand...

spidey3: temps are high esp. with fans @1500 rpm. 5150s should have ~32 C when idle with CPU fan @499 rpm. I have the same machine (now running 5160s, but stock were 5150s).

OP, CPUs were idle when screenshot was taken? If so, there's another thing: CPUs power usage. Single 5150 should pull 9-13 W (idle). Yours are pulling nearly twice as much.
Do the cleaning ASAP, including PSU (without opening it). If you do feel comfortable with removing CPU heatsink - new thermal paste certainly won't hurt - yours is 5 years old. Service manual will help you, google it :)
Check if any cable isn't damaged (burn smell).

After reassembling your MP reset SMC. Post results.
 
666sheep said:
spidey3: temps are high esp. with fans @1500 rpm. 5150s should have ~32 C when idle with CPU fan @499 rpm. I have the same machine (now running 5160s, but stock were 5150s).
Click to expand...

I stand corrected on the temps - I must have misread them.
Yes, ~40 C is about 10 degrees higher than expected at idle -- even with the fans at base speeds. Despite my error, I still feel that there is no problem with the heatsink mounting, as the heatsink temps are very close to the core temps.

Recommendation stands:
1) Thorough clean-out
2) Check for fans not reaching target speed
3) Don't mess with the heatsink mounting yet

Spidey!!!
 
spidey3 said:
Some musings, in no particular order:

1) Interestingly, your temps don't seem high -- but I worry about the fast / loud fans, and even more about the smell.

2) It is possible that either you have massive dust accumulation, or that you have a fan which is failing.

3) From where exactly does the smell emanate? PSU? One of the fans?

4) What are your fan speeds when you leave fan speed on automatic? Does Actual RPM reasonably match Target RPM? Need to know this for all four fans to see if a fan is failing.

5) I don't think there is a problem here which warrants messing around with your CPU heatsink mounting. My reasoning is that there is not much discrepancy between your CPU core temps and your CPU heatsink temps. If there was an issue with the CPU-to-heatsink bonding then you would see core temps significantly higher than the heatsink temps.

My advice right now would be to proceed ASAP with answering the diagnostic questions above, and with a thorough cleanout of any dust accumulation, but hold off on messing with heatsink mounting. Come back to us with the answers, then can suggest what else needs to be done...

Spidey!!!
Click to expand...


I've set the fans rpm to default and in a matter of minutes the Northbridge Heat Sink went from 64 C up to 79 C.


2. Every few weeks I open up my Mac and remove any dust , so where can there be a massive dust accumulation? as 666sheep said there may be a giant dust bunny between front fan and CPU heatsink, I've never cleaned that, so far.

3. Not sure from where the burn smell. At the back not far from the graphics card and lower, but as I set higher the fans speed the smell goes away.

4. I use smcFanControl to change the fans speed - on default they are at 500 rpm(I never use this speed), while I have two settings for 1400 and 1600 rpm. What do you mean if the Actual RPM match Target RPM?



@666sheep at first I thought the burn smell was coming from my previous graphics card ATI X1900 XT, but because it was constantly freezing up then I replaced it a month ago with a ATI Radeon HD 5770, and I had no more problems since then. The burn smell comes and goes, only when I am setting the fans at lower speed.

If I am folowing this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QU6qQRfhrXA
then I should be able to remove the CPU heatsink, without breaking anything :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back