Early 2011 13" i7 Abnormally Slow

[stevier95]

Hi everyone,
Got a quick issue i need some help with. Ive got an early 2011 13" i7 that i bought a few weeks after it came out. When I'm running just Firefox with just 3 tabs and NO other applications open, the fan kicks in to about 6000 and the laptop heats up to about 100 at times. I'll also get the good old beachball extremely regularly with just Firefox open. For a 1600 dollar laptop i kind of expected better. Any suggestions to what i can do.

(Currently have youtube, facebook and macrumours open and that fan/heat just kicked in. No other open applications)

 

[ZZ Bottom]

OpEn up activity monitor (applications>utilities>activity monitor). Then select "all processes" instead of "my processes", then click on the CPU column to prioritize by whatever is consuming most. This should tell you what the culprit is.

 

[stevier95]

Heres a screenshot. Surely i should be able to have Firefox and other applications open without everything freezing?

 

[ZZ Bottom]

It's not clear from your first post, does this only seem to be occurring while usig Firefox? Open the same tabs in safari with ff completely closed. Getting same problem? Does the problem persist even after rebooting?

If yes then look up the procedure for resetting the SMC (system management controller). This controls fan systems. The smc can become off balance which doesn't necessarily mean there is any deeper problem with your mbp. If resetting the smc corrects the problem, I wouldn't be concerned with the cause unless it begins again at some point... Then have apple check it out.

Also, in case you're new to SMC resetting, please keep in mind for future purposes, don't EVER reset the SMC while the system is updating the efi firmware. You'll know if you're updating the efi. Resetting smc while this update is undergoing can brick your logic board. Just a precautionary tip that almost stung me.

 

[stevier95]

It's not clear from your first post, does this only seem to be occurring while usig Firefox? Open the same tabs in safari with ff completely closed. Getting same problem? Does the problem persist even after rebooting?

If yes then look up the procedure for resetting the SMC (system management controller). This controls fan systems. The smc can become off balance which doesn't necessarily mean there is any deeper problem with your mbp. If resetting the smc corrects the problem, I wouldn't be concerned with the cause unless it begins again at some point... Then have apple check it out.

Also, in case you're new to SMC resetting, please keep in mind for future purposes, don't EVER reset the SMC while the system is updating the efi firmware. You'll know if you're updating the efi. Resetting smc while this update is undergoing can brick your logic board. Just a precautionary tip that almost stung me.

Thanks for the reply. This also occurs when using other applications, its just seems to happen more frequently when using Firefox. Will try reboot and will try using Safari and let you know how it goes. If it doesnt help, i'll try reset the SMC.

 

[Ansah]

Could it be an Adobe Flash issue? Assuming you're running Flash, try disabling the hardware acceleration and see if Firefox behaves differently.

 

[saberahul]

What are you running in those 3 tabs? If I run gtalk video - I kick the processors up as Firefox and Safari are horrible with it. Chrome seems to work best for that for me.

 

[sweetbrat]

Flash doesn't cause me to get beachballs, but it does definitely kick up the temp and the fan speed. That behavior is very common when using Flash.

 

[stevier95]

Could it be an Adobe Flash issue? Assuming you're running Flash, try disabling the hardware acceleration and see if Firefox behaves differently.

Just disabled hardware acceleration. Will see if there is any difference.

What are you running in those 3 tabs? If I run gtalk video - I kick the processors up as Firefox and Safari are horrible with it. Chrome seems to work best for that for me.

Usually just Facebook, YouTube, eBay or other things like that. Nothing major.

 

[Young Spade]

Just disabled hardware acceleration. Will see if there is any difference.



Usually just Facebook, YouTube, eBay or other things like that. Nothing major.

Keep the hardware acceleration on; something is running in the background to cause your CPU to spike. When you look at the activity monitor, sort by CPU. What is using up the most when you're doing whatever you're doing?

Also, how long has this been happening?

 

[stevier95]

Just a quick update - I've switched to Safari and I'm yet to have the same problem. Will try opening a few more applications and see how it manages. Should i reenable hardware acceleration? (Not sure if the solution was disabling it, or the change from Firefox to Safari?)

 

[ZZ Bottom]

Just a quick update - I've switched to Safari and I'm yet to have the same problem. Will try opening a few more applications and see how it manages. Should i reenable hardware acceleration? (Not sure if the solution was disabling it, or the change from Firefox to Safari?)

Run for a while without, then flip it back on. Give yourself enough time to be confident the problem isn't appearing.

Also, you could try removing FF and installing fresh if you are very attached to that browser. To thoroughly remove it try using a program like "Appcleaner." Not sure if it's on the app store, but where ever you get it from it should be free.

 

[abdu2s]

Flash plugin,,, just as i thought.


If you use your laptop on your lap, stop doing that .

As a last resort i'd suggest Clearing the cache and temporary files from your browsers, if that doesn't work , Back up files>re-install lion fresh