stupid apple
I upgraded my mac to a bigger hard drive and more RAM in the past week, as I badly needed it. I was also hoping that it might help with the extreme loudness from one of the fans in the machine, this loud, whining, whirring, buzzing noise that drives me up the motherscratching wall.
It’s hard to explain the sound, but it’s significant. You can hear it from other rooms in the house. It starts whirring about 3-4 mins after turning the computer on, regardless of what you’re doing, and doesn’t stop until you turn the computer off or put it to sleep.
But my upgrades didn’t help in the slightest. I did a bit of research on this issue, and apparently it’s quite common with my generation of iMac, OF COURSE. I am no longer in my warranty, OF COURSE. Not that I didn’t try several times when I had the chance. I was always cut off at the pass, though. OF COURSE.
I lugged my mac into the apple store 3000 times to have it checked out. Nothing was ever resolved.
One of the times, they said the noise level of the fan was within the normal and acceptable range. bah! On another visit, I got them to replace the fans, but it didn’t change the noise at all. On one of my last visits, I finally got the tech to agree the fan noise was abnormal, but according to the “tests” he ran, it was a software issue, not hardware, and erasing my hard drive and installing everything fresh again would clear up the problem. By the time I got around to doing it, my warranty had expired, so when his solution didn’t work, I couldn’t bring it back to them to fix. I suppose it’s my own fault for not being more persistent, but I just got tired of trying. and bringing the thing in and waiting in line and having them tell me, “oh, it’s fine, you’re just being picky.”
I think I’ll try one of the modifications I’ve read about and hope I don’t break anything.
here’s my suggestion–never buy an apple product in the first wave. always wait. wait wait wait. you will be much happier. also, if something isn’t working right, don’t be shy. bring it back a hundred billion times if you have to, until you are satisified. And buy the extended warranty. Really. It’s a good investment. And I guarantee you will need it.
install and run applejack. it might clear up some shit. if not, reload the system… backup your user folder, and I’ll send you a 10.4 (Tiger) disc if you need one.
yep, my friend Kari’s mac did the same thing, in class sometimes it would sound like the thing was going to either explode or take flight. it was pretty embarassing for her. she bought the extended warranty, so she got a new one.
This is a nice look…..so many looks so little time.
As a last resort, try the iMac warranty extension program. Apple made a ton of those first-generation iMacs that have trouble with their power supplies and backplanes, and those malfunctioning parts can cause dozens of different symptoms.
And while I too really endorse Applejack, I don’t think it’ll do the trick..maybe if you do a deep cleaning with AUTO instead of auto.