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Noisy 27" i5

J

jaaaack

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 20, 2009
27
0
Hi guys, I just picked up my new iMac 27" yesterday night,and I'm now very disappointed with what I've got. Strangely this has been the noisiest Mac I've ever owned. The fans are extremely audible and they sound louder than my air conditioner and fridge, much more like a plane! And all these are experienced right from startup, and it even continues when the machine is idling. I don't know if the new generation of macs are supposed to sound this way but the noise is unbearable.

I've also came across threads that mentioned about hdd being too loud but strangely my hdd fan is spinning at 1000+ while my odd and CPU are spinning at 3000+ from startup and it doesn't slow down at all. Need some advice on this, any care to share their experience with the new iMac quad core i5s?

Thank you.
 
jaaaack said:
Hi guys, I just picked up my new iMac 27" yesterday night,and I'm now very disappointed with what I've got. Strangely this has been the noisiest Mac I've ever owned. The fans are extremely audible and they sound louder than my air conditioner and fridge, much more like a plane! And all these are experienced right from startup, and it even continues when the machine is idling. I don't know if the new generation of macs are supposed to sound this way but the noise is unbearable.

I've also came across threads that mentioned about hdd being too loud but strangely my hdd fan is spinning at 1000+ while my odd and CPU are spinning at 3000+ from startup and it doesn't slow down at all. Need some advice on this, any care to share their experience with the new iMac quad core i5s?

Thank you.
Click to expand...

I had this same exact problem with an i7 that I purchased. The CPU fan would spike to about 2000 after 30 minutes of light use (internet only). Apple had me replace mine, and that's what I would suggest you do too.
 
Return or exchange it. You should definitely not hear the fans a idle. My i7 is whisper quiet and I only hear the fans if I stick my ears to within 6 inches of the bottom of the computer. And this is in a very quiet home office that I am in.
 
Thanks for the replies guys.

I'll bring the set back for the store to do a check later on and hope they do a check for me after. I'm just worried that they can't find a problem with it and just the loud noise alone wouldn't be substantial enough for a replacement because they can't find anything wrong.
 
Try a total reinstall of Snow Leopard (erase and install) before you take it back to the Apple Store.

The loud fans could be caused by a faulty factory installation of the OS.

Trust me... Give it a go before you do anything else. It will work!!!

It worked for me :)

Hope this helps...
 
UserName said:
Try a total reinstall of Snow Leopard (erase and install) before you take it back to the Apple Store.

The loud fans could be caused by a faulty factory installation of the OS.

Trust me... Give it a go before you do anything else. It will work!!!

It worked for me :)

Hope this helps...
Click to expand...

I'll give it a try. How do I go about doing it?
 
Just follow this link:
http://www.brighthub.com/computing/mac-platform/articles/48174.aspx

or follow these detailed instructions (from the above link) :)

Clean Install Process

To start the clean install, insert your OS X Snow Leopard disc into your Mac and restart the computer. As soon as you hear the chime of the computer restarting, immediately hold down the "c" button on your keyboard. This will force the Mac to boot from the disc. As soon as you see the Apple logo with the spinning wheel, you can release the "c" button. You may have to wait a couple of minutes for OS X to load the disc.

The first screen you get will say "Welcome to OS X Snow Leopard". Click continue to proceed to the next screen.

Now, move your mouse cursor towards the top of the screen and the OS X menu bar will appear. You should see a drop down list for "Utilities". Click "Utilities" and select "Disk Utility". Disk utility should now be opened and visible on your screen. You will see your hard drive listed along the left side of the disk utility window. Click it once to select it. Next, click the "Erase" tab located in the center of the disk utility window.

You will see three options: erase free space, security options, and erase. If you want to erase your hard drive securely with no chance of data recovery, click security options and select Zero out disks. If you just want to erase your hard drive and install Snow Leopard, click erase. The "Erase" button is the much faster option.

OS X will then ask you to verify that you are going to erase your hard drive. Make sure that the drive format is set to "OS X Extended Journaled" and type in a name for your hard drive. By default, the name would be "Macintosh HD". Click erase. You have now erased everything on your hard drive. Now, you need to install Snow Leopard.

Click on the disk utility tab located on the top navigation bar, and select "Quit Disk Utility". OS X will now go back to the install screen. Select your new hard drive, agree to the license, and click install.

Installation will take approximately 30 minutes since you are doing a clean install. After it is done, you will need to fill in your personal info, location, wireless internet info, etc.. That's it you now have a clean install of OS X Snow Leopard.

Note: You will no longer have iLife on your computer. However, you can use the same discs that came with your computer to install iLife. Eject Snow Leopard, and insert the first disc that came with your computer. It should say something like iMac Install Disc: 1. After Snow Leopard automatically detects the disc and opens the window, you will see an option to install bundled applications only. Double click this icon, type in your password and let it install. Half way through, it will ask you to insert the 2nd disc to continue. Insert the 2nd disc that came with your computer and let the installation finish.

Restart your Mac and you should now have a fresh install of OS X Snow Leopard plus your iLife software!

Please report back if this fixes your problem.
 
Thanks a lot. I'm gonna give it a try now. Hope it'll work!

EDIT: just did a clean install + smc reset but problem is still existent.
 
Sorry to hear that :(

I was certain a reinstall would've fixed your problem.

Well... time to pay a visit to the Apple Store :D
 
Thanks for the help guys, eventually went down to the store to do a hardware test, and i got a replacement. Hope nothing goes wrong now!
 
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