Fan Mail

Q: I have owned Macs for over 9 years. The first was a strawberry colored Imac G3 and now I have an iMac G5 1.8 GHz for the past 2 years.
I wouldn't think of trading it in for a PC, but my iMac G5 drives me crazy with its loud fan noise. Despite going through almost all available support and chats about this problem. I was not able to find a solution. A lot of iMac G5 owners have the same questions. Do you have any ideas how to get rid of this annoying noise? I tried to contact Apple support, but they only answer you if you pay a (not so small) fee for the support if you don't have this Apple insurance. I would appreciate your answer and thank you for your time.
Marlene F.
A: Fan noise seems to be one of the few complaints voiced by iMac G5 owners. I can offer three viable options to correct your hyperactive fan annoyance. The first option is to buy a can of canned air if you don’t own one already. Many times, even an apparently small build up of dust can interfere with your computers ability to accurately determine how much air is needed to cool your system. Armed with your canned air, unplug your computer and blow out as much dust as possible. Needless to say, you should focus heavily on removing dust from the fan itself, then the rest of the system. If you are comfortable with taking your system apart, then you may want to disconnect the fan and give it a good once over. After dusting the insides, restart your computer. If your fan silences its noise, then all is well.
If it doesn’t, then try the second option. Many Mac users are unaware that there are different speed settings for the system fan. Normally, the systems are set to the lowest setting, but sometimes during software upgrade the fan setting is changed to the highest setting. To check the fan settings for your system go to the preferences panel in the Energy Saver System. Next you need to select the Options tab, and the Processor Performance menu. It is here that you can change the settings. I would suggest trying different settings until your fan sounds normal to you. However, I would advise against setting it to Automatic. If the setting was the root of your fan troubles, then having it set to Automatic will only leave the door open for similar mishaps in future.
Now if your fan is still in overdrive, you are left with one other option. This option is to bite the bullet and call the Apple support helpline. This is the last option because your fan may have a physical malfunction, which causes it to run faster than normal. In which case, you may be able to have it replaced if your system is still under warranty.