[Ti] Noisy Fan Again

[Marcus Benjamin]

It sounds to me like you have a fan with a bad bearing/bushing.
You can't take the panel off & have it get as hot as it normally gets  
unless you introduce some heat to it.
But then the heat is from a different area than normal & it isn't  
replicating your exact problem.

On 7:33 AM~9/29/09, at 7:33 AM, Simon Royal wrote:

> Hi.
>
> For the last few months I have been having some trouble with a noise  
> fan on my TiBook. At first I thought it was the one on the right  
> hand side (under the power button), but after closer inspection  
> today it sounded like the middle one. There are three on this model,  
> one under ear speaker grill and one directly in the middle at the  
> back.
>
> I took the bottom casing off a few weeks ago, blew out as much dust  
> and rubbish as I could and it seemed to have solved it. However, the  
> last few days the noise is back and worse than ever. It is a  
> horrible dry grinding noise, but I still can't 100% tell where it is  
> coming from.
>
> Today I took the bottom off again, this time with the machine  
> running, stood it on one end and then ran a number of heavy apps -  
> iTunes, OpenOffice, Scribus, GIMP, Sequel 2 and MacTracker - at the  
> same time to try and stress it out enough to get the fans on. Only  
> the middle one came on and it was pretty quiet, just a normal fan  
> noise. The other two didn't come on.
>
> I put it all back together and within minutes the noise was back  
> again - and is still doing it now. Listening carefully it sounds  
> like it is the right hand side fan. I cannot feel any air coming out  
> of the left or the back vent, but when I put my hand over the right  
> vent the fan seems like it gets faster and the noise worsens.
Can you cut little strips of paper & put them in the vent holes to see  
if they rattle & therefore are spinning?
Just a quick dumb thought, or maybe a twist-tie from your grocery  
store bread loaf?
>
> I have checked and there is nothing stuck in it and no wires over it/ 
> near it.
>
> 1. Is it dangerous, as in will it stop working?
It can be problematic if your Mac gets too hot too often.
> 2. Is it a known/common problem with the TiBooks?
> 3. Should replace it?
> 4. I cannot remember ever feeling the left hand side fan come on (no  
> air coming out), would this put additional stress on the other two  
> fans?
> 5. Can anyone with a Ti tell me if their left hand side fan comes on?
> 6. Can I spray it with WD40 or anything similar?
NEVER spray WD-40 on a fan assembly especially in small electronics.
WD-40 is a Water Deterrent
> 7. Is it the fan or is it just a noise vibration through some of the  
> casing?
It sounds to me like the fan bushings/bearings are shot, I've had that  
a lot.
> 8. What would be needed for all the fans to come on?
Email me back to remind me, I should have a take-apart guide for you.

Good Luck,

Marcus

>
> I know I have probably asked this before, but I never got to the  
> bottom of it. This TiBook is my only Mac and I do not want it to die.
>
> Simon Royal
> ---
> Site: http://www.simonroyal.co.uk. Twitter: http://twitter.com/SimonRoyal 
> . Skype: Simon-Royal. (PowerBook G4 867Mhz, 1GB RAM, 80GB HD,  
> SuperDrive, Mac OSX 10.5)
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Titanium mailing list
> Titanium at listserver.themacintoshguy.com
> http://listserver.themacintoshguy.com/mailman/listinfo/titanium