(forwarded with permission from Tom Dams): Apple G4 MDD 'Fan Noise' Issue >From Tom Dams
You may already have heard or read about the ongoing complaining aka 'fan noise' of the international G4 MDD Macintosh user community : Since the new G4 MDD series was released in august 2002 owners are trying to help themselves, either by contacting their dealers, the 'Apple Care' service, or the computer manufacturer directly - with no success to date. Even moreso, Apple internationally refuses to admit 'a problem' even though they have released a firmware update which only seemed to help in a few known cases. What is wrong with the MDD series ? - Most of all: fan noise. there are five internal fans altogether and investigations have shown that at least the big main fan (aka 'leafblower') and the two power supply fans are responsible for irritating noise levels - in some cases more than 60 db. (e.g. in Germany, due to the overwhelming amount of annoyed buyers, two big computer retailer chains have started to offer 'silence kits' for the MDD series. one of these retailers promises to keep up the void warranty if customers decide to have this modification installed; the other does not. extra cost for the kit 'including warranty' : 199.- Euro (only if the MDD was purchased at the same retailer chain). The other silence kit, which is of at-your-own-risk - type, costs 75.- Euro. Users report half-satisfactory results from both). (See also http://www.powerpage.org/story.lasso?newsID=10358) - Audio hum : there is a 33/34 Hz hum in the PCI audio output as well as other unwanted noise artefacts in the audio out jack that seem to correspond to the fan rpm's - making the audio output of the 'digital hub' G4 useless for most Pro Audio Users. What are the users doing ? - They have organized themselves and agree in seriously demanding an acceptable solution from Apple for at least the noise problem. Hundreds of users from all over the (western) world, most of them professionals from audio, video, graphic, medical or scientific backgrounds, share a mailing list that was started months ago (To see the 1st list of User problems and Case #s reported at Apple.com's "G4 Usage" Discussion Board, follow this link: http://makeashorterlink.com/?V38C125B2 ) and now continue to exchange various fan modification and ground loop experiences. They also do frequency analysis, talk to fan manufacturers worldwide, try out various dampening materials, case and PSU mods, make various efforts to go public, visit forums worldwide, monitor the communications between apple-the-company and their loyal-high-end-customers-for-decades and even discuss the pros and cons of legal steps to take if Apple continues to stonewall. (See http://groups.yahoo.com/group/G4noise/) - They have built a main website and started a tracking database for international listing and organizing of MDD owners. Here you can also find 'Switcher'-type movies and stories of various int'l MDD owners. (See http://www.g4noise.com) - They have created an online petition ready to be sent to the responsible heads @ Apple that has received more than 400 signings to date. (See http://www.PetitionOnline.com/applemdd/) Being a MDD owner myself, I would appreciate you letting others know about all this. I am writing here on my own behalf and I personally believe the timing for letting a major group of affected apple G4 MDD customers is perfect since 'Macworld Expo' in San Francisco will start soon. Please do not hesitate to contact me for further information. Best regards Tom Dams (Pro Audio Producer, Germany) Email: "Tom Dams" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -- PCI-PowerMacs is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | -- Sonnet & PowerLogix Upgrades - start at $169 | & CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> PCI-PowerMacs list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/pci-powermacs.shtml> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive:<http://www.mail-archive.com/pci-powermacs%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Mac? Free email & more at Applelinks! http://www.applelinks.com
