fans going into "hyper" mode ? at DVinfo.net

Andy Graham · April 26th, 2007, 03:08 AM

I was wondering what it is that causes the mac to freeze up and then cause the fans to go into hyper mode?.If it has happend to you you will know what i mean, The only thing that sorts it is holding in the off button and leaving it a min. I was wondering if it is just needing more memory....it has 2gig in at the moment but i do have a feature length film in it which could be drawing too much memory.

Any thoughts

Andy.

Greg Boston · April 26th, 2007, 06:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andy Graham

I was wondering what it is that causes the mac to freeze up and then cause the fans to go into hyper mode?.If it has happend to you you will know what i mean, The only thing that sorts it is holding in the off button and leaving it a min. I was wondering if it is just needing more memory....it has 2gig in at the moment but i do have a feature length film in it which could be drawing too much memory.

The fans respond to the intensity of processor usage. If the system should go into an infinite loop somehow, this will cause the fans to go to max. It's not uncommon for the system to become unresponsive and max out the fans if it has a lot of stuff to chew on.

-gb-

Andy Graham · April 26th, 2007, 07:24 AM

Thanks Greg, nothin to worry about then :)

Andy.

Tom Vandas · April 26th, 2007, 09:01 AM

The fans go into hyper mode when the Mac freezes because the Mac can no longer regulate its internal temperature automatically; the fans kick in to full effect just to be safe.

If the total freeze is happening a lot, I would investigate. I had a G5 that started doing it with increasing frequency, it ended up getting replaced because after a while it wouldn't stay on for more than 5 minutes.

The replacement G5 Quad hasn't had a single hiccup since I got it a year ago.

Steve Maller · April 26th, 2007, 09:52 AM

Do you see anything on the screen? Or is the screen off (like from a screensaver)? If the machine appears to be unresponsive and the fans are running full-blast, then you've probably suffered what's called a "kernel panic", or a complete system crash. OS X is pretty robust, and almost impossible for an application to crash (FCP for example). BUT, if you have any of the following problems, they can lead to a kernel panic. I'd be very wary...I had a G5 Quad that was prone to these, and ended up needing a new motherboard.

1) bad or borderline RAM (can fail under high thermal load)
2) bad or borderline motherboard
3) poorly-written hardware drivers (do you have any low-cost Firewire drives?)
4) bad or borderline hard drive where OS X is installed

April 26th, 2007, 03:08 AM	#1
Andy Graham Major Player Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Lanark,Scotland Posts: 736	fans going into "hyper" mode ? I was wondering what it is that causes the mac to freeze up and then cause the fans to go into hyper mode?.If it has happend to you you will know what i mean, The only thing that sorts it is holding in the off button and leaving it a min. I was wondering if it is just needing more memory....it has 2gig in at the moment but i do have a feature length film in it which could be drawing too much memory. Any thoughts Andy. __________________ Actor: "where would that light be coming from?" DP: "same place as the music" -Andrew Lesnie-

April 26th, 2007, 07:24 AM	#3
Andy Graham Major Player Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Lanark,Scotland Posts: 736	Thanks Greg, nothin to worry about then :) Andy. __________________ Actor: "where would that light be coming from?" DP: "same place as the music" -Andrew Lesnie-

April 26th, 2007, 09:52 AM	#5
Steve Maller Major Player Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Burlingame, CA USA Posts: 285	Do you see anything on the screen? Or is the screen off (like from a screensaver)? If the machine appears to be unresponsive and the fans are running full-blast, then you've probably suffered what's called a "kernel panic", or a complete system crash. OS X is pretty robust, and almost impossible for an application to crash (FCP for example). BUT, if you have any of the following problems, they can lead to a kernel panic. I'd be very wary...I had a G5 Quad that was prone to these, and ended up needing a new motherboard. 1) bad or borderline RAM (can fail under high thermal load) 2) bad or borderline motherboard 3) poorly-written hardware drivers (do you have any low-cost Firewire drives?) 4) bad or borderline hard drive where OS X is installed __________________ me@facebook: http://facebook.com/stevemallerphotography

April 26th, 2007, 09:01 AM	#4
Tom Vandas Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: currently in Kigali, Rwanda Posts: 144	The fans go into hyper mode when the Mac freezes because the Mac can no longer regulate its internal temperature automatically; the fans kick in to full effect just to be safe. If the total freeze is happening a lot, I would investigate. I had a G5 that started doing it with increasing frequency, it ended up getting replaced because after a while it wouldn't stay on for more than 5 minutes. The replacement G5 Quad hasn't had a single hiccup since I got it a year ago.