iMac intel fan stuck on

We had a short power outage, and when the power resumed, the fan in our iMac (intel core duo) was stuck on full speed. It sounded like a jet plane. I waited a minute or two for it to slow down, but it didn’t stop. Even rebooting didn’t affect it.

After some Internet searching, I found that there is a chip which controls the fans, which can get stuck like this. Fortunately it can be reset also.

I eventually found the iMac intel reset procedure at the Apple support web site. The procedure varies with the model, but this was the correct one for my iMac core duo.

The basic procedure is:

  1. Unplug all cables from the computer, including the power cord and any display cables.
  2. Wait at least 15 seconds.
  3. Plug the power cord back in, making sure the power button is not being pressed at the time. Then reconnect your keyboard and mouse to the computer.
  4. Press the power button on the back to start up your computer.

Thirty seconds later, it was fixed. I like nice simple solutions.

Submitted by amillar on Mon, 2008-12-22 13:15

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