On Tue, Mar 16, 2010 at 1:04 AM, Jonathon Kuo
<[email protected]> wrote:

> On Mar 15, 2010, at 8:25 PM, Macs R We wrote:
>>
>> On Mar 15, 2010, at 4:29 PM, Jonathon Kuo wrote:
>>
>>> We have a 2007 intel Mac mini that shut itself down due to overheating. 
>>> Now, as soon as power is connected to it, the fan runs at high speed. The 
>>> power button does nothing, the mini remains off. Is there some sort of 
>>> 'hardware reset' button to get this running again?
>>
>> The SMC is reset by disconnecting everything including power, then waiting 
>> 30 seconds.  Presumably, you've already done that without even meaning to.
>>
>> I see nothing in the repair manual about the presence of any temperature 
>> sensors.  If your Mini really did shut itself down due to temperature 
>> issues, it was not gracefully, and therefore starting it back up may not go 
>> easily.
>
> I've never heard of a system that didn't have overtemp protection. The 
> MacBooks, MacPros and iMacs have it, but not the minis? When the temp comes 
> back to normal, so does the system, in theory. I'm assuming that there's some 
> hidden reset button inside the case somewhere that's gotta get pushed, which 
> is why the fan is stuck on high. Just trying to think positive...

Overtemp protection just shuts things down when a certain limit is
exceeded at a sensor.  In some situations this is not enough.  In a
typical machine room when the A/C fails temps continue to rise as
systems start to fail so by the time you realize there is a problem it
is too late.   Add to that typical accumulations of dust on the
cooling surfaces and you may find that peak temps in the places that
matter occur after the power has been removed.   We often see failed
components after A/C failures in our small machine room.   I suspect
that (since the most useful place for a temp sensor is near the
component you want to protect) that many of these failures are
actually the temp sensor itself reporting bogus values (hence things
like fan running at high speed) after a temp spike, but the end result
is all too often system board needing replacement.

-- 
George N. White III <[email protected]>
Head of St. Margarets Bay, Nova Scotia
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