2011 iMac getting HOT!

[Brad93]

Right I've just dropped my iMac on to be serviced by a local computer repair company who had decent reviews. However I've left there feeling a bit concerned that they're just going to mask the issue by turning the fan speed up on the machine.

It's a 2011 27" iMac and it's been faultless in the 7 years I've had it.

I want the heat sinks stripped, cleaned and new thermal paste applied but the woman didn't seem too keen on doing this and just said it would be dust and the fans needed turning up.

Well I can turn the bloody fans up on the computer without paying £120 for the privilege.

What do you guys think?

Should I demand the paste be changed or take the machine back? She has already said she can't fix the machine until Monday which leaves me in the lurch over the weekend.

 

[Welderpaul]

It's your machine, it's up to you what you want doing with it.

 

[Kayos]

Do it yourself, Macs are beautifully engineered and easy to strip and work on

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

They forgot the first rule. Customer is always right.

Personally if they made it clear they were not going to do as requested id have walked.

Easy enough to do yourself anyhow.

 

[Brad93]

They forgot the first rule. Customer is always right.

Personally if they made it clear they were not going to do as requested id have walked.

Easy enough to do yourself anyhow.

Is it really? Never stripped one before looks a lot of work? I’d have to get some tools.

 

[daleyd]

Is it really? Never stripped one before looks a lot of work? I’d have to get some tools.

They are quite packed in but everything comes apart fairly easily.

Out of interest why do you think the paste requires replacement? Mines a couple of years older than yours and I’ve never had a problem, and replacing the paste isn’t something I’d consider doing unless I had taken it apart previously. (I’m not saying your wrong but it’s just not something I’d do personally...)

 

[steve_s]

My Mac book pro went that way it was terminal and nobody would guaranty a repair not even apple would touch it. i ended up emailing a guy in the states Louis Rossman got lots of vids on youtube he said I would waste my time and money, apple did a recall on them but thats long gone, it was my sons who died so I was very motivated to get it repaired but its still dead.
I took mine apart cleaned the fans re thermal paste the cpu and video card all to no use it still died. sorry to say

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

Is it really? Never stripped one before looks a lot of work? I’d have to get some tools.

Ebay will probably have a cheap set of pc tools. Non magnetic.
Anti static band too.

Thermal paste does degrade over time.
Thats if it was applied properly in the beginning.
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/186756-29-does-thermal-paste-lose-efficiency-time

Modded a few prebuilt rigs over the years and the coverage of thermal paste left a lot to be desired upon removal.

A good clean will make a massive difference too.

 

[Brad93]

They are quite packed in but everything comes apart fairly easily.

Out of interest why do you think the paste requires replacement? Mines a couple of years older than yours and I’ve never had a problem, and replacing the paste isn’t something I’d consider doing unless I had taken it apart previously. (I’m not saying your wrong but it’s just not something I’d do personally...)

I’ve got temps of 77 degrees on the GPU and the back of the machine was too hot to hold your hand on. Hard drive was in the 50s

 

[roofman]

funny this thread...my apprentice came into work this morning moaning his Ipad has died with no power coming out of it after almost cooking his dinner off it as it went that hot last night

 

[daleyd]

I’ve got temps of 77 degrees on the GPU and the back of the machine was too hot to hold your hand on. Hard drive was in the 50s

If I watch internet tv or videos on mine the back of the case gets really hot, but I believe it’s fairly normal for an iMac- I’d be looking at things like making sure fans working correctly or vents not blocked before reapplying paste

 

[knighty]

Blow through the vents with an air line... Blow through backwards to normal air flow

Chances are it's just a build up of dust and junk that will easily blow out

 

[knighty]

My Mac book pro went that way it was terminal and nobody would guaranty a repair not even apple would touch it. i ended up emailing a guy in the states Louis Rossman got lots of vids on youtube he said I would waste my time and money, apple did a recall on them but thats long gone, it was my sons who died so I was very motivated to get it repaired but its still dead.
I took mine apart cleaned the fans re thermal paste the cpu and video card all to no use it still died. sorry to say

I'm sorry for your loss.

Did you just want it working again or was there stuff on the hard drive you'd like to keep? (Photos etc?)

Even if the computer is dead the drive might be fine... you could remove it and copy everything off?

 

[gaz1]

its sometimes better to replace the fan

theres 2 parts gpu and cpu for thermal paste

 

[Farside]

Reading this thread prompted me to de-clag the fans and heatsinks in my desktop, plus re-route the fan supplies for a bit better airflow. It's now a about ten degrees cooler than it was.

 

[frank horton]

where I live the average summer temp is always above 30 deg......the computor upstairs is in a converted airing cupboard with no ventilation so I just use a small QUIET desk fan for extra cooling...runs all day....
I can of course hear the fan running inside the machine/iMac.....
as for lap tops ours sit's on 2 hardback books with a gap in the middle BUT there is a pre built stand with a fan (usb driven ?)
for a few squids in China......must get 1........
just bought a second new iMac (for downstairs) and the back is stone cold, can't hear the fan and it's been on solid for 3 hours.....
just sayin.......

 

[slim_boy_fat]

@Brad93 Just make sure your back-ups are up to date.

 

[angellonewolf]

as above ive taken meny latops apart 90 percent of over heating problems is the fan on the cpu and rare the chipset some times have them as well is blocked with fluf and blowing through with an air compresser will help but generaly only is a short term fix as there is no where for the fluf to escape it just blows it back towards the fan and over a short time gets blown back over the vent the only way is to remove the fan unit take it apart and clean and finsh with the air compresser to get rid of the last bits of dust

i have over the years changed the thermal paste as above it does degrade and when new they do not use the top quality paste some times just a thermal pad and its does make a differance normaly a couple of degreses is the best you get unless there is a problem with the way the heatsink is seated

remove the fan on the cpu unit is first port of call if things are getting hot

 

[wookie]

They forgot the first rule. Customer is always right.

Personally if they made it clear they were not going to do as requested id have walked.

As others have said thermal paste does degrade over time, I've have numerous machines/laptops apart to clean/upgrade over the years, just blowing them out with an airline is just a temp fix, pulling it apart and removing all the dust and fluff and then redoing the paste on the heatsinks is doing the job properly.

Also check the bearings on any fans, you might need to replace the cooling fans if the bearings aren't smooth, laptops are particularly bad for this as they have to be so small to fit in the space available.

Another thing to consider is generally software gets bloated and more demanding as time progresses, is it possible you are asking the machine to do more so it's working harder and producing more heat ? I'd be having a look at the CPU load, if that is high when the temp is high you might need to clear out some software/use lighter software.

I used to use Firefox as my main browser but it was getting bloated & slow so changed to Pale Moon, which was better for awhile but that now maxes out my CPU while QupZilla shows the same website at only 32% load.

 

[Brad93]

As others have said thermal paste does degrade over time, I've have numerous machines/laptops apart to clean/upgrade over the years, just blowing them out with an airline is just a temp fix, pulling it apart and removing all the dust and fluff and then redoing the paste on the heatsinks is doing the job properly.

Also check the bearings on any fans, you might need to replace the cooling fans if the bearings aren't smooth, laptops are particularly bad for this as they have to be so small to fit in the space available.

Another thing to consider is generally software gets bloated and more demanding as time progresses, is it possible you are asking the machine to do more so it's working harder and producing more heat ? I'd be having a look at the CPU load, if that is high when the temp is high you might need to clear out some software/use lighter software.

I used to use Firefox as my main browser but it was getting bloated & slow so changed to Pale Moon, which was better for awhile but that now maxes out my CPU while QupZilla shows the same website at only 32% load.

Load on my CPU can be 2% and it will be hot.
I use the computer for Netflix, Office and occasionally I might run photoshop or Autodesk.

Photo attached is after being on for 5 minutes doing nothing.