[Starstream]

I hope this is okay to post here, wasnt sure if its the right place to ask but my ATV while watching something via XBMC last night started making a very loud sound like a hair drier running. I think the fan is failing or something has gone wrong it so I turned it off, today I turned it back on again and it is still making that noise.

Has anyone seen this before, can the ATV's cooler be replaced ?

It's not my week as my Boxee Box went kaput the day before as well

Edit: There doesn't seem to be any way of replacing the fan, I've read elsewhere that it's okay to disable/remove the fan if you remove the rubber base so theres more airflow, is that true would it be safe to do so ?

[Tcalp]

I cannot say one way or another if removing the fan on the aTV is a safe move or not, but if you do you maybe best off using a flash drive for the OS if you do (a lot of the heat generated by the aTV is by the hard drive).

Also, I don't see any aTV direct replacement fans available on ebay or other sources, but you maybe able to order one directly from Apple.

An alternative is opening the unit measuring what size the fan area can support and ordering a similar type replacement on ebay (or similar)

http://shop.ebay.com/?_from=R40&_trksid=...Categories

and if needed getting thermal adhesive as you won't be able to use the same latches that exist on the aTV.
http://shop.ebay.com/i.html?_nkw=thermal...m270.l1313

you can find a guide to removing the fan here:
http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Repair/Insta...ent/1433/2

[Tcalp]

Also looking at 'laptop fan' replacements may yield something useful..

eg. this looks similar, but images can be hard to say for sure
http://cgi.ebay.com/Cooling-Cooler-fan-S...4cf38ec48e

if searching ebay use a search term like 'laptop fan -usb -pad'


... also it doesn't look like the fan directly cools anything in particular, just to bring general airflow (see p1 / p2 of tear down here)
http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Apple-TV-...down/439/1

[Starstream]

I've already removed the fan, thanks for the links a chipset fan might work if I can find one of the right dimensions. The problems will be mounting it and connecting it to the ATV motherboard.

The ATV already has an SSD instead of HDD so that might help if it's possible to run without a fan in it. Does the ATV have a means of protecting itself from overheating or would it kill itself if it got too hot ?

[dynaflash]

Edit: There doesn't seem to be any way of replacing the fan, I've read elsewhere that it's okay to disable/remove the fan if you remove the rubber base so theres more airflow, is that true would it be safe to do so ?

I lost my fan in my atv 1 about three months ago. I just removed it and its been fine ever since. Same sound. To test just unplug it and reboot it. If there is no sound its the fan. That said however ... I do not have an internal drive in this particular unit as its modded to use an eSata drive. Yes, if you do remove the fan especially get rid of the rubber bottom and stick four felt furniture leg pads (self adhesive) or something to elevate it a bit. The metal bottom is perforated and will let a considerable amount of heat out. I have done this to all three of my atv 1 s whether they have fans, internal drives or not and have had no issues. If anything I think they run cooler with that rubber pad off.

[Tcalp]

You'll have to splice the wiring with whatever you pick-up (if you do) with the old fan connector. If your already running a SSD drive the unit should be running pretty cool as it is so I doubt you'll need the fan. I have no idea if there is thermal sensors / shut-ff built-in to the aTV itself , making a post on the apple support community may yield a more reliable answer then here for that. Thermal adhesive or thermal tape should get a replacement mounted

[Starstream]

Thanks for the info guys.