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  #1  
Old 07-04-2019, 07:44 AM
jamesleonard jamesleonard is offline
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Default iMac fans starting to get hot and very noisy again!

This letter has been written to Avid… I am entitled to free support because I have an: Annual Upgrade Plan for Pro Tools. I still have five months left before I renew it. However they are not responding to me. I do not know what the heck is going on down there?? Can anyone give me some sound advice about this dreadful iMac Fan issue? Basically, I am talking about the Pro Tools GUI windows (Edit & Mix windows)

Thanks


Hello,

I have had the song: *Kelly Malone, Earth and Stars, playing on loop for a while now (as can be observed in the Activity Monitor).
*Kelly Malone, Earth and Stars comes included with the Annual Upgrade Plan for Pro Tools.

During this session I have ‘occasionally maximised’ the activity monitor over the GUI (so that it is obscures the GUI Edit and Mix windows), and the fans will not engage - in fact: The fans do not come on AT ALL!! Even with internet on!!

However, as soon as I ‘minimise the Activity Monitor to dock’ - or get rid of it altogether - The fans on my iMac start to be heard.

Why is that Avid… WHY?

I play computer games and watch videos on my iMac - and my iMac doesn’t even SWEAT (check my specs), the fans never come on… That is, until I put Pro Tools on - and I start to hear the fans - and I know my iMac is working unnecessarily!

It has NEVER done this before - this problem only become apparent, when I loaded up your latest version of pro tools (I am back on the 2019.5 version now), However, the problem still exists when the GUI is present!

How is that? How can a basically ‘STATIC IMAGE’ contribute to the fans working unnecessarily. It defies belief, it honestly does???

I have never had this problem before - until I uploaded your newest version of Pro Tools. I have reverted back to the 2019.5 version, hoping it would rectify the problem… But it has not. It still has this problem!


* Why is The GUI contributing to my fans needlessly working?

* Why is it that: When I obscure the GUI with ‘any window whatsoever’ - the fans are silent - or become silent? (In one of the examples I have sent you, it is the Activity Monitor window that is obscuring the GUI)

* Why is it that: When I minimise the GUI to dock - the fans are silent?

* Why is it that when the GUI is present onscreen, the fans are coming on FULL BLAST?

* How are the Peak level meters and the timeline contributing to this error. Because that is all that is present onscreen. It is just basically a static image, except, for a few green ‘peak level meters’ on the mix window - and a ‘counter’ and ‘timeline cursor.’ This should not EVEN be a problem!?

* WHY?



I have had my iMac fully serviced and have a brand new 1TB flash storage, fitted by apple, a couple of months ago… This should not even be an issue… It is in PRISTINE condition - and I will even get apple to verify this, thus, confirming the fact. I think this will be necessary before you start paying attention to my concerns about this error, problem: Call it what you will!


As you know ‘Heat’ is the main killer of components in any electrical device!

Something is not right here and I would like you to address this problem immediately. Because I am very concerned about my iMac!

As I have stressed: Time-and-time again (over-and-over). The GUI is the main culprit in every situation!

Here are my specifications below:

* Pro Tools 2019. 6 (now back in 2019.5 - but fan noise is still present)
* Computer: 27-inch iMac (i7)_5K Retina display: (Mojave 10.14.5)
* Processor: 4.0GHz quad-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 4.2GHz
* Memory: 32GB 1867MHz DDR3 SDRAM - four 8GB
* Storage: 1TB Flash Storage
* Graphics: AMD Radeon R9 M395X with 4GB video memory

* External Hardware: 003 Workstation (Control Surface)
* Roland TR-8S (USB Connection), I use this all the time now - and have done for about a year - with no problems whatsoever!

Last edited by jamesleonard; 07-04-2019 at 08:06 AM.
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  #2  
Old 07-04-2019, 08:12 AM
JFreak's Avatar
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Default Re: iMac fans starting to get hot and very noisy again!

Not happening here.

How have you installed your system, is it a clean Mojave or upgrade from something? One thing to keep in mind is Apple's next operating system doesn't allow 32bit processes at all so they are also in the middle of rewriting the rest of their QT which PT also uses. It may or may not be a factor.
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  #3  
Old 07-04-2019, 11:32 AM
jamesleonard jamesleonard is offline
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Default Re: iMac fans starting to get hot and very noisy again!

Hi,

The hard drive failed on me (a few months back), and Apple installed a new 1TB flash storage.

Basically, I received my iMac pre-installed with the latest version of Mojave and the next day: Pro Tools 2019.5 came out... So, I had to upload everything again (it took me a week).

Now it seems to be having the same problem.

The funny thing is: I thought the fan 'coming on all the time' back then - was normal - until I found out that it isn't.

This 'fan business' is probably what contributed to my original hard drives demise and, it looks like I am having the same problem again. (I should have engaged Time Machine, but I never set it up, so I can't go back to when it was functioning correctly. GROAN )

It is a weird problem as you can tell? When the Edit and Mix windows are visible onscreen, the fans go crazy, yet, when I minimise the Edit & Mix windows to dock or, the screen is completely blank - whilst PT is running through a session - the fans are dead silent. I have it running now and the GUI is being

obscured by the DUC page and it is quiet... Now I have removed the 'DUC page' and the GUI is visible once again - and the fans are getting noisier again!? Absolutely weird as you like??

The fans have been as 'quiet as a mouse' until last week when I uploaded 2019.6 - and thats when the problem seems to have started.

What could it possibly be?

Last edited by jamesleonard; 07-04-2019 at 11:45 AM.
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Old 07-04-2019, 11:53 AM
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Default Re: iMac fans starting to get hot and very noisy again!

Quote:
Originally Posted by jamesleonard View Post
This 'fan business' is probably what contributed to my original hard drives demise and, it looks like I am having the same problem again.

What could it possibly be?
Is it an oldskool hard drive or the infamous hybrid fusion drive that has never worked well with PT...?
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  #5  
Old 07-04-2019, 12:14 PM
jamesleonard jamesleonard is offline
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Default Re: iMac fans starting to get hot and very noisy again!

When I bought this, 'brand new' about 2 and a half years ago, I payed over the top for a 1TB flash storage, Hard Drive. I knew not to get a fusion drive, because I heard all the bad press surrounding them.

And... I told them that it never had a fusion drive either, when they replaced it. I assume it has been replaced with the same model HD or something equivalent.

APPLE SSD SM1024G I think that was the original model. It is definitely not a fusion drive
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Old 07-04-2019, 12:19 PM
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Default Re: iMac fans starting to get hot and very noisy again!

Oh okay then. Can you please download Blackmagic Disk Speed Test app from app store and tell us read and write perfomance of the drive just to sort it out of the equation..? You should expect +1000MB/sec read and write otherwise there's a problem
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Old 07-04-2019, 12:21 PM
musicman691 musicman691 is offline
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Default Re: iMac fans starting to get hot and very noisy again!

Quote:
Originally Posted by JFreak View Post
Is it an oldskool hard drive or the infamous hybrid fusion drive that has never worked well with PT...?
We can't really help because the op hasn't said what EXACT iMac he has and that makes a difference. If his original drive was a 7200m rpm spinner that might be the cause of the problem now. Those drives ran hot and helped to contribute to early failure of the video card system. I'm guessing the video card may be on the way out if my thought is correct.


As to not getting an answer back from Avid keep in mind that with it being the July 4th holiday in the US there's probably no one at the support desk and might not be until Monday. A lot of people & businesses that close on the 4th are also closed on Friday as well.
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Old 07-04-2019, 12:28 PM
jamesleonard jamesleonard is offline
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Default Re: iMac fans starting to get hot and very noisy again!

it is an iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2015) and I originally purchased it with Flash Storage 1TB, on: 13 sept 2016

I paid over the top for that Flash Storage, because: I didn't want a fusion drive...
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Old 07-04-2019, 12:28 PM
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Default Re: iMac fans starting to get hot and very noisy again!

Quote:
Originally Posted by musicman691 View Post
If his original drive was a 7200m rpm spinner that might be the cause of the problem now.
Said it was a flash drive as per model number.. ignore all references to hard drive from now on
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Old 07-04-2019, 12:39 PM
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Default Re: iMac fans starting to get hot and very noisy again!

Quote:
Originally Posted by musicman691 View Post
failure of the video card system
That may very well be the case, unfortunately. The major components generating heat are CPU, GPU, and storage. With flash storage, that can be ruled out. CPU is certainly working if there are no kernel panics so the only culprit possible is the graphics system.

If there is still time on AppleCare, it might be best to take the machine to service.
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