"caught burning CPU!" explanation/cause/fix

[Wildenstein]

Hi,

I have a 12 core Mid 2010 2.93ghz Xeon Mac Pro, 24gb of 1333mhz DDR3 ECC RAM, AMD Radeon HD 7xxx Graphics Card, OWC Mercury Accelsior PCIe SSD, running El Capitan 10.11.6

My machine shut down and when I went to Console there were several warnings showing 'caught burning CPU', for 'kernel: process Live....caught burning CPU!', 'kernel: process Firefox....caught burning CPU!'. Live is music production software, very CPU hungry and Firefox too seems to have issues using lots of processing power when I look at Activity Monitor, I'm not alone with that issue with Firefox.

I reset the SMC and the PRAM. After that I have installed Macs Fan Control, which I am using carefully, and it's many sensors seem to indicate normal temperature readings, increased when the computer is working hard, and the fans indicate they are all working and responding to temp changes to cool the system. I'm guessing all the sensors are working and the fan controls too.

I have also run stress tests with Geekbench stress tester for an hour and it shows up no CPU burning warnings in console, which I would have expected. You can also see that Macs Fan Control is providing better customizable cooling when things get busy.

What's causing the CPU burn warnings if anything and what can I do to rectify it?

Thanks,

Michael

 

[h9826790]

Hi,

I have a 12 core Mid 2010 2.93ghz Xeon Mac Pro, 24gb of 1333mhz DDR3 ECC RAM, AMD Radeon HD 7xxx Graphics Card, OWC Mercury Accelsior PCIe SSD, running El Capitan 10.11.6

My machine shut down and when I went to Console there were several warnings showing 'caught burning CPU', for 'kernel: process Live....caught burning CPU!', 'kernel: process Firefox....caught burning CPU!'. Live is music production software, very CPU hungry and Firefox too seems to have issues using lots of processing power when I look at Activity Monitor, I'm not alone with that issue with Firefox.

I reset the SMC and the PRAM. After that I have installed Macs Fan Control, which I am using carefully, and it's many sensors seem to indicate normal temperature readings, increased when the computer is working hard, and the fans indicate they are all working and responding to temp changes to cool the system. I'm guessing all the sensors are working and the fan controls too.

I have also run stress tests with Geekbench stress tester for an hour and it shows up no CPU burning warnings in console, which I would have expected. You can also see that Macs Fan Control is providing better customizable cooling when things get busy.

What's causing the CPU burn warnings if anything and what can I do to rectify it?

Thanks,

Michael

AFAIK, that doesn't really mean that your CPU is burning (high temperature). It simply means some software using lots of CPU resources. No need to worry about that.

 

[Wildenstein]

AFAIK, that doesn't really mean that your CPU is burning (high temperature). It simply means some software using lots of CPU resources. No need to worry about that.

Thx for the reply. The thing that alerted me to the Burning CPU, was the machine switching itself off and giving me a black screen with a white square in the top left corner. It was then looking at console and seeing the Burn warning at the same time as the shutdown. So, I'm not sure if it is beyond normal.

 

[h9826790]

Self shutdown : crash site is not normal, but most likely nothing to do with that CPU burning warning in console.

And since you already perform the stress test. So, it's quite sure nothing to do with real CPU overheat as well.

Anyway, did you try GPU stress test? Also, did you try to boot from another drive (just in case the SSD cause the issue)?

 

[Wildenstein]

Hi, thx for the reply. I used the Geekbench CPU stress tester, which GPU stress tester is there available you would recommend? Another question is that I don't have boot options, like booting from a disc or USB, and I think this may be down to the graphics card preventing this, a PC card (?), AMD Radeon HD7xxx 3072 MB, ATI. Is this something you are aware of?

 

[h9826790]

Hi, thx for the reply. I used the Geekbench CPU stress tester, which GPU stress tester is there available you would recommend? Another question is that I don't have boot options, like booting from a disc or USB, and I think this may be down to the graphics card preventing this, a PC card (?), AMD Radeon HD7xxx 3072 MB, ATI. Is this something you are aware of?

For GPU stress test in MacOS, Furmark is the way to go.

You don't need boot screen to boot from another drive. System preference have the start up disk option. Anyway, most likely your card is flashable, if you really want boot screen.

 

[Wildenstein]

I will give Furmark a go. I know about the boot options in prefs, but don't think you can specify a disc as a start up volume, well at least mine won't with a disc like the AHT disc inserted. Thx for your input, much appreciated.

 

[h9826790]

I will give Furmark a go. I know about the boot options in prefs, but don't think you can specify a disc as a start up volume, well at least mine won't with a disc like the AHT disc inserted. Thx for your input, much appreciated.

Because no need to do that.

Holding C during boot will boot from disc.

Holding D during boot will boot to AHT.

 

[Wildenstein]

Because no need to do that.

Holding C during boot will boot from disc.

Holding D during boot will boot to AHT.

Thanks