[lectroblez]

hello,
i've got a G5, dual 2.0. I've been hearing some weird fan noises that sound like fan is spinning faster and faster and faster, like the indy 500... then slowly slows down to nothing... then speeds back up. this doesn't happen all the time but it's happening right now and i'm concerned. does anyone know what's up?
thanks in advance,
lectro

[marccolvin]

These are just normal fan sound nothing to be concerned with, it is probably just a background application running , my G5 frequently does this it has even been known to 'suck' paper onto the front where the fans are.

[lectroblez]

hey thanks marc. i thought at first my G5 was gearing up for the new nascar season. i'm still kinda worried about it.
months ago i was looking at the CD's that came with and decided to run the apple hardware test, starting up from the included CD. and the first time it ran, the fan ran super fast and hard and then the prog got stuck, cpu froze with the fan running at full speed. i had to reboot and then tried it a couple more times thinking that it would work. each time it did the same thing.
so now i feel like my G5 is affected from that. anyone else ever run the apple hardware test with these similar results?

[lectroblez]

bump

[Nobody]

the apple hardware test does appear to halt progress sometimes, particularly when it's checking memory (and hence stops responding to the user, etc. for an extended period of time). you're sure that it actually froze, and wasn't just very-busy?
this may be a good problem to consult apple about too.

[DawnG]

I also have a G5 DP 2 GHz Powermac and noticed changes with the fan after the update to 10.3.8. I've also been wondering if it signifies a problem or if it's normal.
Approx. 5x/day the fan kicks in, speeds up (nascar-like), and then winds down, all within about a one minute timeframe. My first guess is that it's normal activity, but I didn't notice it before this latest upgrade.
I found a couple of documents on Apple's support knowledgebase that might apply to your situation:
Apple Hardware Test 2.1: Interpreting Certain Error Messages

Apple Hardware test for PM v. 2.2.5 reports fan error
and there's this document that explains how and why to reset the SMU:
How to reset the SMU on a PM G5 (Late 2004)
Even though your situation doesn't exactly fit with the scenarios in the above documents, I think they're close enough to consider. I'm thinking of trying the SMU reset today and see if it makes any difference. I'll let you know...

[DawnG]

Well, I tried resetting the SMU, but there's been no change in the fan noise.

[scmac]

So the fans just get louder at times ... I suppose that makes sense.

[DawnG]

Yeah, I agree...it's probably normal...an "improvement" Apple made in the OS updates. It's just more annoying now than before. /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

[lectroblez]

thanks for the info dawn. had no idea about the smu until now. maybe i'll give it a try. i'm having a myriad of problems, tho i don't think the smu will solve it. gonna flash my pram. i hope the nascar fan noise is an improvement. maybe it's helping with efficiency. who knows.