I have no idea if this is typical functioning, or if this indicates something not good? At this point its more of a curiosity of " routine iMac cycling" than concern
of a power supply issue.
My aluminum 20" iMac when running (random intervals) and when completely shut down even when its powered off, it will make a very quiet and barely noticeable repetitive ticking sound, if you put your ear next to the top left of the back cover and listen inside the top left back cover air vent.
I ran Disk Utility and The SMART drive shows as "verified" and of no hardware problems. When the iMac is unplugged the near silent ticking immediately goes away, but returns when plugged back in. I'm not majorly concerned at this point, I just find it odd, or should I say "new" as I've never noticed this until I did put my ear up to the upper left back panel.
The iMac is running OS X 10.5.1 and works A-1. I have had absolutely no problems whatsoever with the computer or with Leopard minus an iMovie issue which simply required an update and it was resolved, but back to the quiet ticking....
Is this how a typical iMac runs? I saw a picture online of someone's iMac in which they took apart, it seems that area where the ticking comes from is the Optical Drive I believe. I'm just thinking perhaps this is how that drive runs and the near silent ticking is the drive cycling itself as the iMac runs, and cycling itself in an idle state when the iMac is shut down. Right now as I'm running it, there is no quiet ticking whatsoever. You can just hear the faint sound and hum of the fans.
I figure thats alot of hardware inside a compact computer casing, so the computer making noises of some sort would be normal and expected. Minus this near silent ticking (which requires you to put an ear to the cabinet and listen in a dead quiet room), my iMac is very quiet.
Just my thoughts on that.
Anyone have a similar "ticking" experience with your aluminum 2007 iMac?
BTW: I got rid of all those third party "fan control" add ons, since then the iMacs temperature is stable, runs very quiet and has actually in my opinion improved fan noise and temperature stability.
Many thanks to those in past posts for helping me understand to simply let the iMac run as it was factory set in context of cooling fan control.
Aluminum iMac Specs:
iMac INTEL Desktop 20" Monitor 1680x1050 32 Bit Color 320GB Hard Drive
Processor: 2.4ghz Intel Core 2 Duo
Memory 3GB 667mhz DDR2 SD RAM
4mb L2 Cache, 800mhz Bus Speed ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro
VRAM 256mb
Possibly just a normal state of the screen sleep function
I think this quiet ticking may be something to do with the sleep function. I noticed when my screen went to sleep the ticking began again and when I moved the mouse and woke the computer up, immediately the ticking stopped. Maybe thats what it is, just simply the Optical Drive doing its job while idle, and that ticking is just what it does until you turn the computer on or wake up the screen.
I am also having a weird ticking problem with my 24 Aluminum Imac. It seems to be sporadic and is coming from the left side. I only notice it when it is very quiet in the room. However my concern is this may be something that will cause a long term problem. The noise best as I can describe it sounds like an old fashion movie projector. So hey if anyone has a clue to what this is please share
I noticed the ticking in mine too, and I traced it to the Energy Saver in System Preferences. I have the Energy Saver set to dim my screen every 15 minutes when I'm not using the iMac (btw mine is a 20" Aluminum iMac).
When the Energy Saver dims the screen partially is when I noticed the ticking starts. If I come back and jiggle the mouse and wake the screen the ticking will immediately stop. I'm not as concerned about it no more, I think it is some kind of a timer function built in the Optical Drive that sleeps and wakes the screen.
I don't notice the ticking as much anymore unless I put my ear to the top left vent area on the back of the iMac, but I think knowing the probable concept of whats going on has helped give me some peace of mind. I do admit is rather odd to have an audible sound like that coming on during the Energy Saver process, thats what had me wondering whats going on too. And as you say it does somewhat sound like an old fashioned movie projector.
To date I haven't noticed any issues or concerns regarding this in context of operating performance or system conflicts, so perhaps this is just how the Optical Drive runs its course in saving screen wear and overall energy/CPU consumption; with the near silent ticking as an outcome.
This is about as much as I can elaborate on it from my own experiences, sorry I can't give you a certain answer as far as long term concerns go. I'd kind of like to know the answer myself as to if this is actually a normal running audible outcome for this function.
Hello,
My new, month old 24" Intel iMac, 2.8GHz is ticking. More of a random rattling now. Its the CPU fan. I don't have to be quiet to hear it either. Woodpeckers. I downloaded smcfancontrol and if I speed up the CPU fan it just ticks faster. I have to jet the fan up to 3500 rpm just to stop the ticking. Great! It seems to be happening more and more frequently. How long will I wait before it magically goes away or I throw something? dunno. I've got to back up my hard drive before I call the Apple store. More chores. I'll keep you all posted if there is a change or if Apple gives me a song and dance. oh Apple....
Dave
My aluminum 20" iMac when running (random intervals) and when completely shut down even when its powered off, it will make a very quiet and barely noticeable repetitive ticking sound
I'm really not sure how this is even possible when powered off.
See if it does it if you UNPLUG the machine. A turned-off Mac still draws a tiny bit of power, so that's the only possible way (other than a wood beetle living inside the thing) the thing could be ticking (insert "bomb" joke here).
Linear Mode
