Hi all -- I just upacked a new Dual 2.0 G5 and 20" Apple display, set it up, and am now checking out the hardware before I zero the drive and reinstall the software. So far so good.

While I'm here, I figured I'd ask: Has anyone noticed a strong scent of sickly sweet soap-perfume or bathroom air freshener emanating from their new Apple hardware? It's much more than just a plastic or warmed metal odor: when the computer is turned on the entire room smells like an aromatherapy counter at a New Age gift shop -- not at all pleasant. In fact, it's pretty nauseating and it's giving me and my housemate a headache. Is this nuts or what?? Does it eventually go away, I hope I hope I hope?

TIA,
Zali

P.S. I didn't register yet but will nex time I pass through. Excellent site!

I didn't notice anything with mine. It should wear off.

I guess anything is pssible I didnt notice any odor from my new rigg... my guess is that it'll wear off...

No odor here on my new G5.

BTW, just curious, but why do you want to erase the hard drive and reinstall? There are some things that may not be on the installation or recovery disk set, particularly bundled apps, so I would at least make a backup before you jump in. In the past, I've partitioned my hard drive, but have concluded it's mostly a waste of time and disk space. I prefer to acquire a 2nd hard drive for large projects and collections.

I too wondered about this and never really dove into a discussion with Sailfish. I however, on a whim of frustrastion built up from family not wanting to hear the whirl-n-whine of the G5, decided to take on Sails advice. I backed up what I thought was everybody's user folder " NOT " and zeroed out the drive. I reloaded and updated almost everything. We now have a silent machine I next loaded up Aquarium, all good. I have not reloaded Konfabulator. I will sit that one out this time, till Tigger hits the shelves. One note: Your disks that come from the factory have everything installed. You just need to update after installation. I have found that if I run Backlight2 and Aquarium, I start gettting the whine back.It is not as nearlly as pronounced as before, but I can hear somthing . I do not think it is the Vidcard " 9800XT ". I will get this unit to the fruit company store and figure out what is causing the noise soon as time allows. For the most part, everything is running better than before. I presently think that for backing up, Apple's Backup is not all that it should be, for a multi user machine.I will try Retrospect next and as soon as $ allows, CarbonCopy the drive to another. So in a nut shell zeroin the disk mapped out any bad spaces, made me reload up a fresh OS and gave us the mac I dreamed of. I always had it of course , it was gummed up from user errors and rampid load everything with each new Mac Addict disk that comes in the mail.
Don

Isn't that the new iStink feature the new Macs are shipping with?

Heheh..it ain't iStink, it's G5-Stink™..probably something you can buy as a $29.95 add-on at the Apple Store.

Actually, the odor is diminishing by about 15% every day, but phew! The whole room smells like someone went berserk with with a can of Glade.

Anyhoo, I zero the HD and reinstall the sys/apps for a few reasons: first, to give the read/write heads a little more exercise before I load up the drive and spend a bunch of time configuring everything; second, to catch any bad sectors that didn't get marked during the formatting; third, to make sure the OS is properly installed; and finally, to custom-install only the apps I'm going to be using so that I'm not stuck with all the bundled detritus I didn't want in the first place.

And who knows? Maybe the auto-scent feature will be disabled in the process!

-- Zali

Just a thought...you did remove the plastic from the side door, didn't you?

There is "burn in" period on some new PowerMac's, I don't think Apple lets them run long enough to get over this.

I hear a lot of PC companies have a burn in period when they make a new machine, they use Folding@home or similar program to do this (cycles goes to medical science)

Anyway load up InCrease with F@h for dual processors and let it run 24/7 you'll notice the smell will get stronger and finally dissipate.

I break in all my Mac's this way, if it's going to break down I want it to do so during the warranty period.

Thorzdad: Yeah, the plastic strips are off, thanks. I almost wish that were the problem.

Sailfish: I hate to belabor the point, but when you say "the smell will get stronger and finally dissipate," are you referring to a sickeningly sweet perfume aroma that emanates from the tower immediately upon powering up and continues to stink until the Mac sleeps or is turned off? Or do you just mean the conventional "new hardware" odor of warm plastic and heated metal? If the former, I don't think I could stand it any stronger!

As for f@h, right now this machine is on a dialup connection. As soon as I switch it to broadband I'll look into the f@h setup. Thanks for the reminder.

-- Zali

Something doesn't smell right here . Make a phone call to the fruit company and take the new G5 in.
No, I have never read about new smelly macs before other than those that self ignited.

Is the machine brand new or is it a refurb? Maybe the previous owner had it in a potporri store??

No, not a refurb; it's brand new and direct from Apple (via Amazon), so I can't even attribute the smell to a retail store's hyperscented tech or sales rep. Maybe Apple's assembler/tester has a thing about storing cranked-up potpourri in his/her underwear drawer?

Fortunately, each day brings a significant diminishment in the gag quotient, so I'm not going to bother Apple's pretty little head with my trivial complaint. If a wafting odor of bathroom air freshener is the most severe problem I experience with this machine, I'll consider myself way ahead of the game.

Still, I must say it's the most bizarre add-on I've ever encountered!

-- Zali

I think we all now know what will be announced at the MacWorld Expo in January

Zali,
No smell from mine either!
Have you looked over the G5's innards for any signs of spillage?, does the box have the aroma also? Possibly somewhere along the journey it shared space on a truck\train\plane with some odorifous cargo that may have oozed onto the G5 but then the box should smell too. My only worry would be some kind of residue that winds up causing a premature component failure. Probably treated like a hidden damage issue by the shipper???
Personally, I don't think I could stand having that kind of odor coming out of my machine, at the very least I'd want it on record w\Apple just in case.
John