[csimon2]

I have a PM G5 Quad and both the 4G and 5G iPods. I would like to use the 4G primarily as a portable disk drive, but I run into major issues using it for large file transfers (single files over 3GB). The file will start to transfer and write fine to the iPod for about the first 50%, but soon after that threshold has been reached, the CPUs and fans will start to kick in and the machine basically becomes unusable. The Finder reports that it is using 100% CPU level, and when I look at the CPU Usage chart, all markings are in red.

I am plugging in the iPod into the front USB port. I have seen this occur with both iPods, and I don't believe it happens when using iTunes to do a sync, but then again none of the files in my iTunes library is larger than 1GB. It is hard to determine if this is an iPod or G5 problem, or a specific combination of the two, but if I use a standard USB 2.0 portable drive connected to the same port, this issue does not occur.

If anyone has any ideas or suggestions they would be appreciated. Thanks.

[csimon2]

OK, well I am having the same issue again tonight. This time it is with my newly installed RAID. I bought a HighPoint 2310 PCIe card and four Maxtor 300GB SATA II drives, and whenever I first access the RAID, one of the cores becomes completely maxed out. Activity monitor tells me the culprit is "kernel_task" and even though the system has been idle for the last two hours, it still reads as one core being maxed out.

I am beginning to think I have a lemon. Hopefully it is just an OS issued that can be resolved by reinstalling though.

[csimon2]

3 months later and a new OS, and still having the same problem.

[reader50]

Have you reported this to AppleCare? They may not support the HighPoint-connected RAID, but they need to support the Quad <-> iPod combination.

If it were a hardware issue, the only common element would be the southbridge chip on the motherboard, which would require a motherboard replacement. However, since you report large file transfers work fine to a USB2 portable drive, that eliminates the southbridge.

My reading of the symptoms is a software or firmware issue. My suggestion would be to bug Apple about it regarding the iPod issues at least. Bring up the HighPoint card issues if you like, but they may kick support for that onto HighPoint. Better yet, bring both iPods and the system into an Apple store and lock it up for the genius.