Help - root processes 90%+ CPU

[Scottyk9]

Occasionally I have found that 2 root processes are hogging all of the CPU resources, namely DCCMDaemon and kernal_task. They behave themselves after a restart of my 15" PB, but it is a little annoying - makes the fan go on, etc. Because these are at the root level I have been afraid to force quit.

Does anyone know how to resolve this? Are there any preferences that could be deleted to prevent it?

Thanks for your help.

 

[stoid]

How often and when do they run? Mac OS has maintenance tasks set to run late at night. I don't know what they are, and if these are them, but I notice sometimes working late on a college project that Activity Monitor will show some intense root level action for about 10 minutes max.

 

[Scottyk9]

stoid - fairly infrequently, maybe 3-4 times in the past month. I must admit, when I notice it, I have usually shut it down without waiting too long.

That is interesting regarding maintenance. I use a PB, and it is either sleeping, or actively being used. Should I leave it on for extended periods so that these maintenance tasks can be performed? Is there a setting to dictate when this maintenecance occurs?
Thanks

 

[ChrisFromCanada]

This is quite a common complaint here at macrumors about PowerBooks. The only solution seems to be a restart.