When my Power Supply fan reaches a certain RPM, I hear clicking?

[Korican100]

What is the deal?
If the temp goes up, and my PS fan hits about 700-750ish RPMS, I start hearing a clicking?
Does anyone know what this could be?

I hope my power supply isn't going bad, I had this replaced already once.
I see no other signs of power supply failure.

I have a 3,1.

 

[brand]

Does anyone know what this could be?

A faulty power supply.

 

[Korican100]

A faulty power supply.

So this isn't a fan issue... Just straight up bad power supply?

That's great. Just finished giving this thing a major overhaul, and now the PS is faulty...

sigh

Thanks

 

[brand]

So this isn't a fan issue... Just straight up bad power supply?

Almost all computer power supplies have a fan in them so if the fan in the power supply is faulty you have a faulty power supply.

You asked what the problem could be and I gave you one possibility. There could be other possibilities like it having nothing to do with the power supply.

 

[ScottishCaptain]

Almost all computer power supplies have a fan in them so if the fan in the power supply is faulty you have a faulty power supply.

You asked what the problem could be and I gave you one possibility. There could be other possibilities like it having nothing to do with the power supply.

The power supply fan is a separate module in the MacPro3,1. It is installed directly in-front of the PSU itself, and is removable and listed as a separate component by Apple (fan P/N 076-1294, PSU P/N 661-4677).

Ergo, a faulty fan is most certainly not a faulty PSU, since they are two completely different components. The fan isn't even hooked up to the PSU directly- it runs through the logic board and is throttled by the SMC.

So this isn't a fan issue... Just straight up bad power supply?

If the fan is defective, it should be replaced. The rotor could be misbalanced or something else could be wrong with it mechanically, which might cause a clicking noise.

The PSU itself does have a relay inside it, but this relay controls the state of the DC output. If the relay were clicking, the entire computer would be turning on and off and generally freaking out, which makes me think that the fan is defective and not the PSU.

You should probably just open the machine up while it's running and listen around to determine where the noise is coming from. There is only one fan in the entire top portion of the system, and that's the fan in-between the optical disk drives and the power supply. The PSU does not have a fan built-in anywhere.

-SC

 

[brand]

The power supply fan is a separate module in the MacPro3,1. It is installed directly in-front of the PSU itself, and is removable and listed as a separate component by Apple (fan P/N 076-1294, PSU P/N 661-4677).

Ergo, a faulty fan is most certainly not a faulty PSU, since they are two completely different components. The fan isn't even hooked up to the PSU directly- it runs through the logic board and is throttled by the SMC.

That is god to know. I have a 3,1 but have never had PSU or fan issues so I have not had to mess with either.

 

[Korican100]

The power supply fan is a separate module in the MacPro3,1. It is installed directly in-front of the PSU itself, and is removable and listed as a separate component by Apple (fan P/N 076-1294, PSU P/N 661-4677).

Ergo, a faulty fan is most certainly not a faulty PSU, since they are two completely different components. The fan isn't even hooked up to the PSU directly- it runs through the logic board and is throttled by the SMC.



If the fan is defective, it should be replaced. The rotor could be misbalanced or something else could be wrong with it mechanically, which might cause a clicking noise.

The PSU itself does have a relay inside it, but this relay controls the state of the DC output. If the relay were clicking, the entire computer would be turning on and off and generally freaking out, which makes me think that the fan is defective and not the PSU.

You should probably just open the machine up while it's running and listen around to determine where the noise is coming from. There is only one fan in the entire top portion of the system, and that's the fan in-between the optical disk drives and the power supply. The PSU does not have a fan built-in anywhere.

-SC

thank you thank you. Yea when my first power supply went bad, I had random shut downs, and one day it never turned on, only "clicked". So I feared my replaced PS went bad.

but currently everything is running A-OK right otherwise, and I only hear clicking when its really hot in my room/in the computer; in turn, the fan speeds up and the clicking noise begins. On the same note, the room cools off, heavy tasks are finished, and the noise goes away as the fan slows down.

Thanks again, you put my mind at ease, now off to check out this raggedy fan!