Mac Pro 4,1 (Early-2009) - PCIe Fan Broken?

[Daphoid]

Hi Everyone:

Very much a lurker

I had a day off today and decided to do a bit of cleaning as its been a while (quite a while as far as my Mac Pro is concerrned).

I shut it down, unplugged all the cables and placed it on the table.
I removed the side cover, processor tray, all four drive bays, the GPU, and the PCIe Fan.

I blasted everything with compressed air or give it a nice wipe, much better!

I placed everything back inside the case and booted it up. It sounded slightly off, but I was going to check everything anyways. I looked at iStat Menu's and noticed that "Expansion Fan" was rated at 0rpm. Not good.

Maybe the connection wasn't quite seated in the sensor?? I removed the side cover and looked at the fan, it wasn't spinning.

I unplugged everything, reset the SMC and tried again. Same thing. I reset the PRAM, same thing.

I removed the 1st and 2nd drives, took out the fan and reseated it very slowly until I heard a nice click.

Powered it up again and it still won't come to life.

I have two worries:
1. Did I damage the fan?
2. Did I damage the connector on the motherboard?

I'm most definitely out of Applecare (the machine is just over 3 years old, about 2 months over )

I'm horrified to think what an out of warranty logic board replacement would cast me just to get this fan fixed.

How important is this fan? I've only got one PCI card inside (the HD 4870) and its fan works fine. Though as the evening progresses I have noticed the HDD temps are a bit higher then normal; and I haven't tried to play Diablo III yet to see what that does to the temperatures

Thoughts and Thanks!

- D

 

[akadmon]

You did buy AppleCare, right? If so, call Apple/go to your local Apple Store. Assuming it's a simple/inexpensive fix (i.e., does not involve replacing the MOBO), there is a good chance Apple will do this for free. Just don't tell them how it broke

 

[Daphoid]

You did buy AppleCare, right? If so, call Apple/go to your local Apple Store. Assuming it's a simple/inexpensive fix (i.e., does not involve replacing the MOBO), there is a good chance Apple will do this for free. Just don't tell them how it broke

See this part of my post here

I'm most definitely out of Applecare (the machine is just over 3 years old, about 2 months over )

- D

 

[akadmon]

See this part of my post here



- D

I saw it alright. What I meant to say is that Apple often bends the rules when someone is just out of warranty. Two months out of 3 years is not a lot.

 

[Daphoid]

I saw it alright. What I meant to say is that Apple often bends the rules when someone is just out of warranty. Two months out of 3 years is not a lot.

Fair enough

I've got a email out to a local authorized service place that does house calls. Given that I don't drive, and that the Mac Pro is a heavy thing, I'll see what they say as well.

Though I may end up just taking a cab to the closet Apple store.

- D

 

[akadmon]

Fair enough

I may end up just taking a cab to the closet Apple store.

- D

I'd give you a ride if lived closer