iMac fans starting to get hot and very noisy again!

[musicman691]

jamesleonard:
What happens if you play some YouTube videos? Do the fans go full tilt boogie?

[jamesleonard]

Originally Posted by musicman691

jamesleonard:
What happens if you play some YouTube videos? Do the fans go full tilt boogie?

Heyyyy, musicman691 There seems to be 'no-problem-whatsoever' when I play YouTube videos. No heat. No noisy fans. Nothing! The iMac seems to be operating as it should... Normal.

I have been playing YouTube videos for the last two hours - without so much as a whisper. ''This is getting stranger and stranger!''

[Bob L]

jamesleonard, you're iMac is haunted.

It's the only explanation.

1) Carefully unhook the iMac from all connections.
2) Walk or drive the iMac to the nearest body of water.
3) Throw the iMac into the water.
---a) If it sinks, it isn't haunted and the problem was elsewhere, or
---b) If it floats, it is indeed haunted. Smash it with a medium-sized rock. You will have no further overheating problems with it.

Amazingly, I see that you're soliciting advice about buying yet another iMac!
--- "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."
--- "If it is broke, don't buy another one."

------ Carry on -------

[jamesleonard]

Thanks for the comments. I would laugh, if I wasn’t crying. This is indeed a very strange problem. At this moment I have Pro Tools onscreen and playing and the fans have started their noise again - and hot air is bellowing out the vents.

I wish I could get someone from Avid to witness this, because this is VERY STRANGE. I minimise edit and mix windows to dock - and the fans switch off, I maximise a window over the edit and mix windows and the fans turn off.

YET, when the edit and mix window is visible onscreen - the problem starts AGAIN, WHY? It is absolutely ridiculous and infuriating.

I need Avid to witness this, I will have to record it and let their experts decipher the problem, or maybe they would like to come round my house and witness THIS with their own eyes and ears. I am starting to lose it Man!

Could someone please advise me?

[_JJ_]

Might be a silly question but do you have "continuous" scrolling selected, where the play head stays stationary and all the waveforms scroll by? I think the heaviest graphical lifting PT does is drawing the visual representations of the waveforms in real time. See if selecting "no scrolling" makes any difference.
Just a thought.

[jamesleonard]

Originally Posted by _JJ_

Might be a silly question but do you have "continuous" scrolling selected, where the play head stays stationary and all the waveforms scroll by? I think the heaviest graphical lifting PT does is drawing the visual representations of the waveforms in real time. See if selecting "no scrolling" makes any difference.
Just a thought.

You mean: Options/Edit Window Scrolling and check 'No Scrolling?' Unfortunately, that is already checked on 'No Scrolling' automatically. Thanks for your suggestion though.

[Darryl Ramm]

What difference do you see with CPU use in the macOS Activity Monitor? Between the windows being visible and not on the screen.

[arche3]

Its is the graphics system imo.

Protools imo has issues with graphics cards. It causes a rise in cpu usage. If your graphics card is faulty it can most definitely go berserk with protools window open.

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

[jamesleonard]

Originally Posted by Darryl Ramm

What difference do you see with CPU use in the macOS Activity Monitor? Between the windows being visible and not on the screen.

This example is an eight bar loop. The CPU % readings are shown below:

1a. % CPU = 251.7 (Fans are barely audible! Edit and Mix window minimised to dock.) The activity monitor was the only window present onscreen.
1b. % CPU = 293.1 (Fans are very loud and heat is blowing from the back vent) Edit and Mix window onscreen.


For this example I have looped an entire song - which is included in my subscription plan - and the song is called: Earth and stars, by Kelly Malone. Incidentally, this song never made the fans go into overdrive originally (the iMac was very quiet). For some reason - or another - this song NOW makes the fans go into overdrive as well:


2a. % CPU = 103.5 (Fans are barely audible! Edit and Mix window minimised to dock.) The activity monitor was the only window present onscreen.
2b. % CPU = 132.2 (Fans are very loud and heat is blowing from the back vent) Edit and Mix window onscreen.


Comparing 1a and 1b with 2a and 2b, one would assume that 2b would be quiet as well, but it wasn’t - although it didn’t sound as intense as 1b - it was still very loud and dissipated heat nevertheless.

[jamesleonard]

Originally Posted by arche3

Its is the graphics system imo.

Protools imo has issues with graphics cards. It causes a rise in cpu usage. If your graphics card is faulty it can most definitely go berserk with protools window open.

How would I tell if my Graphic card (AMD Radeon R9 M395X with 4GB video memory card) is faulty though?

Is there some kind of troubleshooting procedure to determine a malfunction?