Cooling fan not working?

[kurzer82004]

Last week my aluminium power book G4 12in died. Immediately I noticed that the case was noticeable hotter than normal at the time of failure.
I ran the diagnostic disk and found a bad HDD.
I replaced the HDD and reinstalled osx.
Now I've noticed that the no matter how hot the notebook gets, the cooling fan NEVER turns on.
I'm not sure if this is the reason for the failure in the first place, but I'm assuming that it is.

My question is, what is the best way to diagnose why this is happening?
Could the temp sensor have gone bad? Are the fans in the G4's known to stop unexpectedly?
How do I monitor the temp or adjust the set points for when the fan turns on?
Any information you may lend in this matter would be beneficial to me,
Thank you

 

[Doctor X]

A couple of suggestion:

Goeth thou to: Temperature Monitor It be freeware. I had it on my Ancient Widdle Pismo--whose fan only turned on if you set it on fire!--and it would let me know if my HD was getting "warm."

I am not familiar with your computer, but it may have other monitors that TM can . . . well . . . monitor.

Then get thineself a cooling plate for your laptop. Seriously. Back to my "widdle Pismo," it actually prevented the fan from having to turn on and kept the temperature down. It is not "magic"--but it helps.

I still use it on my current MacBook of Doom, and my fan rarely has to turn on--temperatures well below 50 C throughout.

Now, that may not solve your problem--fan not working--but the first will help you monitor temperatures as you sort things out--and the last will not hurt.

I defer to the Gurus on how to diagnose what is wrong with your fan. I do not know if the general Hardware Test--from your OS Disks--will diagnose it.

--J.D.