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You are here: MacNN Forums > Software - Troubleshooting and Discussion > macOS > iMac G5, Tiger, seem like high CPU usage for idle. Anyone else? (also fan noise)

iMac G5, Tiger, seem like high CPU usage for idle. Anyone else? (also fan noise)
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johnMG
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May 8, 2005, 04:18 PM
 
I just brought home my new iMac G5 1.6 GHz yesterday. Yes, the fan is annoyingly loud, but that's not entirely what I'm posting about.

With just iChat, Safari, and ActivityMonitor running, my computer is using up about %40 CPU usage (for system processes, shown in red). Just sitting there doing nothing. About %40. I've got 1.25 GB of memory in this thing. It's a *G5* -- a real firebreather. Why would it need so much CPU for system processes just to sit there?

Is anyone else's system using as much resources to just sit idle?

I was thinking that maybe the fan noise was connected to this issue... I don't see any firmware updates on Apple's site...
     
johnMG  (op)
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May 8, 2005, 04:19 PM
 
I should mention, when I brought it home, it had 10.3.x on it. CompUSA included an OS X Tiger 10.4 set of disks, so the first thing I did when I got home was do a clean install (with reformat I'm pretty sure) of 10.4.
     
Big Mac
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May 8, 2005, 07:07 PM
 
Yeah, something's very wrong with your iMac, unfortunately. On my lowly iBook 466 running Panther I have Preview, Mariner Write, Safari, Mail and activity monitor open, and while idle CPU usage hovers around 8-9%. Since you did what would normally be suggested - clean install of the OS - I am stumped. Are you sure there is not a background task like mdimport sucking up your processor time?

"The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground." TJ
     
johnMG  (op)
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May 8, 2005, 09:24 PM
 
Thanks for the reply Big Mac.

Ok, the problem is only when I'm connected to the Net (I'm on dialup). When I'm connected, I look in ActivityMonitor, show all processes, and "kernel_task" is the hog (hovering around %40 CPU). This is the case whether or not Safari is running. (It also says real memory: 68 MB, virtual mem: 1.11 GB for this kernel_task).

Anyone else on dialup with Tiger seeing this kernel_task high CPU usage?
( Last edited by johnMG; May 8, 2005 at 09:31 PM. )
     
chrislooney
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May 29, 2006, 04:24 PM
 
I have iMac Intel Core Duo, and since recently I have been experiencing something very wheird. My CPU usage is between 45-50% as reported by Activity Monitor (and this seams to makes sense given the CPU temperature hovering around 64 deg C), but if I look at the list of all active processes, their CPU utilization only adds up to a max of 15%.

Anyone has seen this before?
     
freshS0LE
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Jun 3, 2006, 11:02 AM
 
I upgraded to a 17" Macbook Pro this week and I am experiencing the same high CPU usage as well - between 40% and 50% when idle with no running applications. During this time, the highest rated process (by %CPU) is kernel_task at 1.5% (probably not accurate).
Something here just doesn't add up. On average, 'top' reports a load average of around 1.30 (*very* high for idle) with CPU usage of 45% User and 16% sys. The total %CPU by pid/process breakdown is on average about 15%.
Clearly some process is briskly churning, yet not reporting activity within 'top' or Activity Monitor.
Curious.
     
bokaroseani
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Jun 4, 2006, 09:39 PM
 
Originally Posted by MarcinK
I have iMac Intel Core Duo, and since recently I have been experiencing something very wheird. My CPU usage is between 45-50% as reported by Activity Monitor (and this seams to makes sense given the CPU temperature hovering around 64 deg C), but if I look at the list of all active processes, their CPU utilization only adds up to a max of 15%.

Anyone has seen this before?
I have had exactly the same thing happen to me. I was starting to think it was a virus because I could not explain what was using the cpu. I also noticed there was constant writing to the harddrive which also looked suspicious. Until I stumbled onto the solution to mine just now!! I went into system preferences, into sharing and tried turning off each one in turn. When I got to Windows Sharing the cpu usage dropped to 0%. I turned it back on again and it stayed at 0%. I network my machines and do not turn them off, so something on the network must have been keeping it busy. It is back to normal now though!

I hope this helps others.
Regards
macknutt
     
Drizzt
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Jun 4, 2006, 10:06 PM
 
Could it be Spotlight updating it's database?

Let it run for a while, leave the computer on for the night, and see if it's fixed...
     
kleinemans
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Jun 5, 2006, 02:45 PM
 
Agreed. Let the task run for awhile, but if it continues to do this for a few days, I would use that warranty and let Apple worry about it. The consumer shouldn't have to worry about issues like that.
     
Big Mac
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Jun 6, 2006, 03:57 AM
 
Reinstall the OS.

"The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground." TJ
     
berkowit28
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Jun 6, 2006, 02:07 PM
 
Hey guys, i have a new MacBook (7 days), and today it happend to me, too. About 50-60% cpu usage, but no process taking that cpu usage! I turned off Windows sharing, it dropped to normal (10%), and turned it on again. Fixed! Strange...
edit: Hm, after a reboot (kernel panic.. but thats another prob..), the problem is back but i can fix it again with disbale/enable the windows sharing
( Last edited by Alexander Online; Jun 6, 2006 at 03:43 PM. )
     
berkowit28
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Jun 7, 2006, 05:58 AM
 
The problem returns also on normal usage suddenly...
     
mattfratt
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Jun 13, 2006, 10:28 AM
 
Originally Posted by macknutt
I have had exactly the same thing happen to me. I was starting to think it was a virus because I could not explain what was using the cpu. I also noticed there was constant writing to the harddrive which also looked suspicious. Until I stumbled onto the solution to mine just now!! I went into system preferences, into sharing and tried turning off each one in turn. When I got to Windows Sharing the cpu usage dropped to 0%. I turned it back on again and it stayed at 0%. I network my machines and do not turn them off, so something on the network must have been keeping it busy. It is back to normal now though!

I hope this helps others.
Regards
macknutt
Thank you! I'd run into exactly this problem, and had been going nuts trying to figure out what it was!
     
N0rg
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Jun 22, 2006, 07:52 AM
 
I have a iMac G5 17" 1.8Ghz and my fan would spin lke crazy, just by using Safari, some times a panic attack came around. After some research I solved the problem. First U can reset NVRAM to see if the fan problem can be solved (U can find how to do this in Apple Site). In my case the fan noise continued. Then I decided to check my iMac RAM, I had 2 Dimms DDR 400Mhz, one from Kingston and other had no brand. I decided to take out the one from Kingston, the problem persisted, then I swap them and decided to use the Kingston, for my suprise the problem was solved, no more panic Attacks or noisy fans. All this troble because of a Bad Ram Module.
     
iTivona
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Jul 22, 2006, 02:03 PM
 
I have had exactly the same thing happen to me. I was starting to think it was a virus because I could not explain what was using the cpu. I also noticed there was constant writing to the harddrive which also looked suspicious. Until I stumbled onto the solution to mine just now!! I went into system preferences, into sharing and tried turning off each one in turn. When I got to Windows Sharing the cpu usage dropped to 0%. I turned it back on again and it stayed at 0%. I network my machines and do not turn them off, so something on the network must have been keeping it busy. It is back to normal now though!

I hope this helps others.
Regards
macknutt

OOHHH MMYYY GODD! I HAVE BEEN SEARCHING EVERYWHERE FOR THIS FIX!!!!! YOU ARE THE BEST!!!!
     
Cutia
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Jul 31, 2006, 01:20 PM
 
Thank you, it does indeed seem to be Windows Sharing that is the culprit. Hopefully this will be fixed in the future.
     
danibo77
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Jan 30, 2007, 01:10 PM
 
Originally Posted by N0rg View Post
I have a iMac G5 17" 1.8Ghz and my fan would spin lke crazy, just by using Safari, some times a panic attack came around. After some research I solved the problem. First U can reset NVRAM to see if the fan problem can be solved (U can find how to do this in Apple Site). In my case the fan noise continued. Then I decided to check my iMac RAM, I had 2 Dimms DDR 400Mhz, one from Kingston and other had no brand. I decided to take out the one from Kingston, the problem persisted, then I swap them and decided to use the Kingston, for my suprise the problem was solved, no more panic Attacks or noisy fans. All this troble because of a Bad Ram Module.
My imac G5 has been in for repair 3 times for the fan noise.. They changed a fan everytime it was in, although I told them it was not the fan itself that was the problem..

Well, to make a long story short (it was after all over a timespan of 15 months)...

..I finally recieved a brand new intel core 2 duo iMac from applecare

It helps complaining..
     
   
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