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Audio Decoding KILLS MacPro (2009) green factor

The CPU Temperatures seem lower on my 8-Core 2.26 - I have noticed a bizarre change in Activity Monitor under the CPU tab however. The percentage idle will show around 50% rather than around 99% when the computer is idling. The user and system percentages will still be less than 1.

If I give the computer something to do - like a Flash advert :) It jumps back to 98% idle. I assume this is some kind of processor throttling to save power?

iStat Pro shows 100% idle still.
 
I CAN CONFIRM THIS IS FIXED.

macpro2009fixed.jpg


Run 1: No Music
Run 2: Music
Run 3: No Music
Run 4: Music

macpro2009fixed2.jpg


Still some randomness there, but pretty much the issue IS fixed.

Power usage is 3-5W idle and 3-5W when playing audio.

We've done it :)
 
A sincere thank you to everyone here for keeping this in the spotlight! I am really looking forward to moving on from this issue.
 
Just installed the update. I ran music on VLC and streamed video for a half hour, and was very pleased to see that the temps remained within 3 deg C, and that no fan speeds increased, so it's not just some hack to speed up fans. HUGE sigh of relief!

It may be time to update the first post on page 1 of this thread, just so people who navigate here don't have to read 57+ pages to find out that it's been fixed!

Edit: Forgot to mention how thankful I am to you all. I like to think that Apple secretly thanks you, as well.
 
Seems to work OK

So, I guess it's fixed. I performed a test playing various files, one over the other, for 15 minutes:
  • Flash radio streaming via Safari
  • MP3 song via iTunes
  • AVI movie via QuickTime x
  • AAC song via VLC
  • TV station via EyeTV w/elGato 250+
  • AAC via Quicktime 7
  • Audio file via Soundtrack Pro

As far as temperatures go (CPU A Temp Diode and CPU Core 1), they rose ≈2ºc when multiple Safari tabs and a Flash audio stream was launched. Temperatures further rose gradually ≈3ºc when the first 3 files/apps played simultaneously, and added ≈2ºc when reaching the end of the test with Soundtrack Pro (which is a heavy app). User CPU% ≈5.6.

Temperatures went back down ≈6ºc as all files and apps were closed, except for the flash audio streaming in Safari. User CPU% ≈1.2.

(See attached Temperature Monitor Graph. Minimum temperatures are from startup after being off all day. CPU %User is 5.6 at the end of test according to activity monitor, though AM hasn't proved to be reliable in this issue. I have no data about power consumption, will purchase Hardware Monitor today - uninstalled iStat 'cause it gave me some trouble)

So this seems to work OK. No glitches or side effects noted so far - but still I'll have to test my USB and firewire audio devices to make sure they work after this.

Good job by everyone involved in raising awareness and developing the fix. Cheers!
 

Attachments

  • MacPro Fix.png
    MacPro Fix.png
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Good job and thank to you everyone here that helped brought the matter to Apple. I have tested audio in Flash, iTunes, Plex, Reason and many more. The CPU doesn't spike anymore hence temperatures are finally 'within limits'. I can confirm that the problem should be behind us for now (hopefully for good). We can all go back to our work. :D

Thank you to Apple engineers albeit a tad long for the fix. Looks like a nice week ahead of us. Cheers everyone!
 
I suppose now that the problem is fixed, I can say that from what I understand it wasn't that engineering was slow in getting this fixed, but communication broke down and this issue wasn't passed on to the proper team capable of fixing it for months.

Once I lucked out in speaking to a certain person regarding this issue the wheels started turning quickly and it took them under ten days.
 
Wow wow wow... are you kidding me?! I just picked up my Mac Pro today, just finished setting up the wireless internet and thought I'd check Mac Rumors out to see if there was an update on the issue.

And what do you know.

There is!

Big thanks to everyone who helped bring this issue to light and bring about a fix. You have helped make this day of unboxing truely awesome.

Let us crank the volume in peace!
 
Good news indeed. Thanks to all who helped on this.

Chris Foresman (Ars), if you read this, we especially thank you!!

Just finished the install - my MP increases 1 Deg F. during playback! Very excite!

Guys, I have been digging around a bit - this fix has a date signature of November 3, 2009!!!!

-bill
 
Finally Victory!

Thank you MacRumors Forum for your persistence and determination to resolve the audio overheating problem.
Thanks also to smcFanControl and Ars Technica.


Mac Pro Quad 2.93, OSX10.6.2, Mac Pro Audio Update 1.0
 
I'm really really really happy for all you MP '09 ppl! I'm even more happy for the rest of us. I suspect I'm not the only one who's grown tired of seeing this thread at the top of the forum day after day after day, week after week... :)
 
I don't see a temperature increase when playing audio... should I apply the fix? :p

J/K... I'm just anticipating the posts that will come!

A sincere thanks to everyone for their efforts on this!!! :)

I have to admit, I was skeptical that Apple would address this issue before the 2010 Mac Pros... they have given me new faith in their commitment to excellence. :)
 
Awesome, was gonna go for a 08, but decided to wait for a 2010, and hope Apple would fix the audio issues before. They just did it, so please, release the 2010 refresh already kthx
 
VirtualRain said:
I have to admit, I was skeptical that Apple would address this issue before the 2010 Mac Pros... they have given me new faith in their commitment to excellence. :)
Click to expand...

I had my doubts too. I thought they might hide this fix in an OS update, and never publicly acknowledge it.

I guess they had some free time now that the iPad is out in the open to work on other projects. :)
 
Cynicalone said:
I had my doubts too. I thought they might hide this fix in an OS update, and never publicly acknowledge it.

I guess they had some free time now that the iPad is out in the open to work on other projects. :)
Click to expand...
The recent media attention is what likely kept it from being a silent update.
 
since updating, my computer CRAWLS while rendering video and audio and in FCP from a scratch RAID to another disk. it's so slow that i have to wait for text to appear on the screen after i type it. that's NEVER happened.

my computer shows less than 1% CPU usage (odd), 1gb of RAM in use, 2 inactive, and 9 free

i also hear a lot of disk activity. smaller temperature changes than before, though.
 
Fomaphone said:
since updating, my computer CRAWLS while rendering video and audio and in FCP from a scratch RAID to another disk. it's so slow that i have to wait for text to appear on the screen after i type it. that's NEVER happened.

my computer shows less than 1% CPU usage (odd), 1gb of RAM in use, 2 inactive, and 9 free

i also hear a lot of disk activity. smaller temperature changes than before, though.
Click to expand...

Roll back (TM or image) and wait until 10.6.3.
 
For several reasons I still have to use 10.5.8. The fix says it's for 10.6.2.

If you open the installer package you find two updated kexts:

AppleHDA.kext and
IOPlatformPluginFamily.kext

Has anyone tried to use these to replace the same kexts in 10.5.8? Would this work, or would it simply wreck the system? I need to keep my MP running, so I don't have the freedom to experiment. It would be really nifty if the same fix could be applied to Leopard.
 
Firewire. Can anyone weigh in?

diazj3 said:
So this seems to work OK. No glitches or side effects noted so far - but still I'll have to test my USB and firewire audio devices to make sure they work after this.
Click to expand...

Yes. No one is talking about firewire. Can someone please evaluate this or confirm my findings? I am now seeing a power usage of 4-5 watts per CPU (above idle conditions) when transferring files to a drive via firewire with a 1-2 deg C temp increase. Example 3-4 W @ idle and 7-9 W with firewire in use. I just want to be sure that this behavior is normal.

I am really happy that the excessive power drain and increased temps due to audio are gone. I just want to make sure that the whole problem is fixed before I do the victory dance.

--Thanks
 
bootstrapjesse said:
Yes. No one is talking about firewire. Can someone please evaluate this or confirm my findings? I am now seeing a power usage of 4-5 watts per CPU (compared with idle conditions) when transferring files to a drive via firewire with a 1-2 deg C temp increase. Example 3-4 W @ idle and 7-9 W with firewire in use. I just want to be sure that this behavior is normal.

I am really happy that the excessive power drain and increased temps due to audio are gone. I just want to make sure that the whole problem is fixed before I do the victory dance.

--Thanks
Click to expand...
The same goes for USB audio devices as well.
 
Long patch testing period?

FYI:
The info on the patch says an extension called AudioAUUC version 1.0 is installed. The date listed in system profiler for AudioAUUC version 1.0 is 11/3/09 2:24 PM. It looks like Apple was working on this for a lot longer than this thread would suggest. Unless Apple's programmers are backdating their extensions...

...and yes it seems to fix the problem.

P.S. First post, long time lurker...
 
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