Just installed the new midpane.
Sound/Noise got better, the machine is stil not deadsilent, but it has become better. Took some pictures during the procedure, will post them later to my .mac account. Was not the easiest task to do, but if you follow the steps in the manual it works fine. Only one mistake in the manual, there is no step to refit the video-cable to the motherboard.
Joachim

BTW: I'd really like to see the pictures with the leather-tuning

http://homepage.mac.com/joker_jh/PhotoAlbum28.html

Really think now the noise is because of the HD running hot. Any ideas? How about replacing with a Raptor? Cooler running?

Joachim

My Raptor runs real cool and quiet, but I'm not sure how it would be in an iMac G5. The problem is, everything is so compact and enclosed in there, it creates a cooling challenge.

Just wanted to add my story:

I'm on my second 1.8 17" iMac. The first one had the whine/buzz and Apple was willing to replace it. Unfortunately, the second one is even worse than the first. I'm going to continue to pursue this with Apple because it has been advertised as "Quieter than a whisper". I really love this iMac except for this annoying whine that's right in front of my face every time I use my mac.

-A

Will get a new iMac next week, Apple declared the machine after replacing power-supply and midplane and a dead power light doa.
My reseller will pick up the machine on Monday and will check for a cooler HD too. I really think most people with noise do have a problem with a large HD in their Imac 17. So I can't reommend Maxtor anymore, my resellers technician tells of many problems with this HD amd their temp. Press your thumbs, I really wpould like a cooler and calmer Imac.
Joachim

I have been using my iMac for two weeks now, and it has been very quiet. The only time I hear loud noise is if I decided to boot from the CD. I just tried that once to see how long it would take for it to boot from the CD drive, and it was loud!

FedEx delivered it to my door, and when I opened the carton to look for the manuals, both were written in German. However, the installed software was not in German, nor included the CD's.

During a chat session with an Apple Support Specialist, he told me that Apple was aware of the problem with the CPU fan noise, but had no consolidated solution so far...and no timeframe could be given as well...I would like to see a better description of the "leather strap" solution given above by another user, as the CPU fan seems really tough to disassemble...

Hello iMacG5 community...

..some of you wanted to see what I did to reduce the vibration noise of my cpu fan... so here´s the trick.....



Just some pieces ot leather as I mentioned before! No big deal but effective!

.. and I tried something else. Because I discovered that the bearing of the cpu fan was much louder than that
of the sys fan. I swapped the bearings. Needs some special pliers and calm hands.... but helped a bit ,too.




And my last advice:
After upgrading to 10.3.7 (or 10.3.8 DevPreview) my cpu fan went up to a 4400 speed very quick and did not reduce the speed anymore.
If you have this kinda (or any other odd powersavings behaviour) always reset the SMU like mentioned here before.



btw... does your HD or SYS fan speed change ever? Hardware Monitor says no for me..
what`s that... needs some more investigation.. stay tuned!


hth ...and sorry for bad quality pics... made with my shit samsung photo mobilphone!

Cheers

Q.




[img][/img]

and I installed a new Samsung P80 160 GB Drive insted of the 80 GB.
This HD is very silent and heats up very slowly. A real improvement against the Maxtor. I really think 250 GB are too much for the Imac unless Apple changes the the hardware (more air) or the software for the fans (faster response to the sensors). HD temperature does not rise above the allowed limits of Samsung. Maxtor was sometime 15° Celsius above.
Will keep you informed.
Joachim (now relatively happy)

I have 6 iMac G5s 17" 1.6Ghz and one has a fan issue now after two months of use. I'm going to see if there was an OSX upgrade done to this computer. Sounds like to me that it is either the PSU fan or Hard drive fan since it is a constant high speed fan noise. Sounds like my old PC when it ran for awhile and the PSU got hotter.
What 80 GB hard drives are they using in these?

Thanks,
Allen

I had just purchased an iMac instead of waiting for the Mac Mini from a little store called ComputerWorld in Appleton, WI. After a while, the airplane-engine noise of the fan mixed with the high-pitched whine coming from right in front of me gave me such a headache that I finally packed it up and am going to return it on Monday (I'm thinking of maybe getting a tower instead because seeing what everyone else is going through to fix this, I don't have confidence that getting another one will make any difference).

I was very nervous about buying a Mac again, but I wanted to support my software on the Mac. When I talked about the iMac with the salesman, I asked him if there had been any known problems with the computer -- he told me there wasn't. I called on Saturday (yesterday) and the person said nobody else has ever had the problem from their store. What I worry about, however, is the reason I have avoided Apple: service. They seem like nice guys and I hope they'll take care of it, but they are very strict about no refunds. Kinda like buying a car that says "AS IS". They also charge $100/hour for repairs. I'm hoping the fact that Apples are such a small part of the market does not translate into bad service because... what are you going to do, go to Best Buy? (insert evil laugh). I wanted to deal with a retailer instead of Apple directly due to a bad experience in the past with Apple store. Now, I get to see if they'll live up to their service claim.

So, I'll take it in on Monday and talk to them about it. If they're nice to me and treat me like a customer, I'll wind up probably giving them more money and buy a tower because OS X is just that good... but, I'm still nervous about this, and at the moment am having buyer's regret from what I've been reading about this common issue!

If they don't agree to deal with this, I'll be stuck with the computer. I suppose maybe I'll have to try that leather on the fan trick.

Developing... time to see if my apprehension about Apple is still valid...

Do you live in Appleton? I'm in Oshkosh. I was wondering how ComputerWorld was to deal with. They will be the ones that will have to service my unit if I ever have a problem or I think I would have to haul it to Green Bay or the Apple Store in the Mayfair Mall at Millwaukee. Let me know how you come out with them. Ask them why they don't have a Web site. Oh..also, if you buy a PowerMac and get AppleCare, they should come to your house for service. It says they make service calls in the phone book.

hi all,
I realize this story is old but I think there is value to adding more testimonials.
i ahave been cursed with the dreaded whine in my ne imac g5 17"/1.6/256. the noise does not respond to brightness up or down buut changes with processor intensive tasks.

i first contacted apple by online chat and was told (after 5 hours on hold) that they would only discuss the issue on the phone because its a noise issue. the helpful product specialist then told me that replacing a midplane may help. little did I realize that the process was so involved. anyway, the sound character changed but was not fixed, possibly louder. the next call was rather disturbing/insulting--I got the line about this being "normal". Clearly I wasnt taking any of that so I they are sending out another midpplane. they do acknowledge that they are trying to fix the problem but there is no problem....that makes sense.

I am encouraged that some users have reported getting a new model after being persistent....have these replacements worked? were the originals bought at the apple store?
any info would be appreciated
thanks

I received a new model and the CPU-Noise is still there. Talked again to second level eng. and they want another recording of the replacement-machine. Told me that hardware is working on a fix and I told him that I want to be part of that hardware solution. Looks like a lot of replacements will take place if the eng. is right.
Be persistent!

Joachim

Joachim, what model do you have? I heard the 17" models seem to make more noise.