MS300 question

M

mrpinkk

New Member
Hi guys, what can I do about the fan in my MS300 ?!
I understand that a hard disc needs cooling for longevity, but
is it normal for the fan to go on for 7 hours at a time while the MS300
has not even been turned off for days? Fan is louder at times than my TV, I can't understand the conversations...
Sometimes the fan would go all night cooling a cold turned off unit......
 
Register to hide this ad
If you search the threads, there were a number of people who replaced the fans. It was all detailed with parts..etc.
 
Where do you keep it? I have owned mine for quite awhile and I have never heard it turn on. I sit not 8 from the unit.
 
The problem may be other than the fan. Since your unit runs the fan even when the MS300 is cold, there may be a problem with the temp control circuitry.
 
.

I think you're right, PHC1.
However, there is no way I will send this back to McIntosh and wait a month and deal with customs, etc.

Can I just disable the fan?
 
When you say your unit is off, is it unplugged, because the unit is really on all the time even when the switch is in the off position. It isn't totally off unless you unplug it.

Disabling the fan wouldn't be a good idea because then it would never cool the hard disk.

If it's in a space without a lot of ventilation it will come on more often.
 
.

The unit is in standby, I never unplug it.
It is on the top of a rack, open space around it.
The fan is on and loud as we speak, the unit has not been
turned on for 4 days and is totally cold to the touch.
 
Is sure sounds like there is something wrong with your MS300 fan circuit. With good ventilation the fan should only stay on for a little while (less than an hour).

I figure you have 3 options:

1) Call the MS hotline (866-458-6910) and explain your fan problem and send in your MS300 to get it repaired if that is what they recommend. (highly recommended).

2) Replace the stock fan with a more quiet one. Since your fan is on longer than it needs to be you could even put in a lower CFM fan which should be fine in your unit.

3) Disconnect your fan and hope for the best. I don't recommend this but I would not be surprised if your MS300 worked for a few years without a fan. Other than when I'm loading music on my MS750, I can't remember the last time I heard my fan come on. If you do this, you could get a little external fan to blow on your MS300 once in a while.

No matter what you decide to do, make sure and do a backup of your MS300.
 
re: option #3: It's my understanding that McIntosh used enterprise grade Seagate Hard drives in the MS750, not sure about the MS300 though...

"the 750GB hard drive, which McIntosh's product manager, Ron Cornelius, described as a mission-critical Seagate."

These hd's are designed to be on 7x24x365 in data centers. You might think data centers are very cold, but usually any device with many (>10) hard drives, such as a raid or san, get hot, even with massive hvac handlers forcing cold air through the dc. Designed to function in this type of environment, these drives have a mtbf of 1.2 million hours. The Seagate ST31000340NS is the 1TB sata model if you want to read up on the technical details.

I personally run equipment in multiple data centers, and I would speculate that your hd will be fine if you disable the fan, though it's obviously not optimal. That's assuming your room is not generally hot, say during a hot summer day, or if you have other hot equipment around this device without reasonable ventilation. Simply running the a/c at 75F would probably keep your system happy or maybe you can only use it during cooler hours and can leave it powered off on hot summer days.

That being said, your hd will be happier with the fan functioning properly, and mtbf is a statistic. Also, I've only presented information on the hard drive itself, not the components surrounding it within the MS300. Just trying to provide more information and options you can factor into your decision...

Cheers, Steve
 
I am using the seagate 750gb sata drive in my external network mass storage on my pc server. It is the same drive as the MS750 ide drive but with sata interface. This drive runs warmer than the maxtor 300gb ide drive in the MS300. Therefore the seagate 750 is in a drive case with a fan. The seagate is on 24/7. The only time the MS300 fan comes on is when I use the unit as a cd player. Otherwise the fan stays off most of the time.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom