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Kernel Task = >500% CPU Usage, and Fans won't turn off!

F

forumz

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 10, 2009
20
0
Hi all,

My Macbook Pro (2010, 17" 8GBRAM), started running extremely slow today. I opened up Activity monitor, and kernel_task runs at about 500-600%. Closed all apps, including browsers (No Flash), but it still stayed up. Cleared PRAM, Re-setted SMC, Ran Onyx and deleted caches + ran maintenance scripts - no good.

Finally, tried to boot into safemode - and it was gone - but the Fans still won't turn off.

I'm using this for school right now and I'm mainly concerned that it'll overwork itself and give out (not worried about battery consumption, always plugged in).

Any ideas on how to fix this? Any helpwould be greatly appreciated! With exams coming up and me on an island with no Apple stores around, I'm desperate.
Thank you.

(Notes: Also tried booting natively into Windows via BootCamp, Fans still ran high but no lag. Problems started while InsomniaX was running (was downloading a file and went to bed), but forgot to plug it in, and it died before I woke up. Turned it on, and this started).
 
Last edited:
Also, would running the recovery partition made by Lion fix this? (As a last resort?)
 
Sorry to bump this guys, but I'm desperate! I did an Archive and Install of Lion, same problem. I'm not too concerned about the fans, but if someone could help me kill Kernel_task, I'd be forever grateful. (As I mentioned, it does not consume much CPU power in Safe mode, so it can't solely be a hardware problem!).
 
forumz said:
Sorry to bump this guys, but I'm desperate! I did an Archive and Install of Lion, same problem. I'm not too concerned about the fans, but if someone could help me kill Kernel_task, I'd be forever grateful. (As I mentioned, it does not consume much CPU power in Safe mode, so it can't solely be a hardware problem!).
Click to expand...
You don't kill kernel_task. That's Mac OS X. If you kill it, your Mac doesn't run. If you've done all the things you posted with no success, it sounds like it could be hardware. Make sure you don't have something else launching at startup that could be causing problems. Delete any non-essential or suspicious items from the following locations:
  • System Preferences > Accounts > yourusername > Login Items
    (Lion users: System Preferences > Users & Groups > yourusername > Login Items)

  • /Library/LaunchAgents/ and ~/Library/LaunchAgents/
    (Lion users: In Finder, click Go > Go to Folder > then enter the path)

  • /Library/StartupItems/
    (Lion users: In Finder, click Go > Go to Folder > then enter the path)
 
Ishmumrhmn said:
How can something use 500%
Sry im a windows guy
Click to expand...
Apple - MacBook Pro - Superfast processors, graphics, and I/O.
Hyper-Threading.
Hyper-Threading is now standard on every MacBook Pro. This technology allows two threads to run simultaneously on each core, so OS X recognizes eight virtual cores on a quad-core processor and four on a dual-core processor. When you’re running multiple applications at once, the processor spreads tasks more evenly across a greater number of cores.
Click to expand...
2 core + 2 virtual core = 400%
4 core + 4 virtual core = 800%
 
Ishmumrhmn said:
Oh I see
LoL I got a core i7 860, it is always at 5% whenever I play high res games
Click to expand...
What is at 5%? To see how much CPU all processes are using, launch Activity Monitor and change "My Processes" at the top to "All Processes", then click on the CPU column heading once or twice, so the arrow points downward (highest values on top). Then look to see what may be consuming system resources.
 
GGJstudios said:
What is at 5%? To see how much CPU all processes are using, launch Activity Monitor and change "My Processes" at the top to "All Processes", then click on the CPU column heading once or twice, so the arrow points downward (highest values on top). Then look to see what may be consuming system resources.
Click to expand...

No, I am talking about my windows PC
BF3 on max is only 5% cpu usage while my frnds cpu is like at 40% lolol
 
kernel task uses 800% of cpu permanently

:apple: I have kernel task problems, too. it is using >800% of cpu (YES, eight hundred percent). it slows my 15" macbookpro 8,2 (mid2011) in all functions down to unusability. the answers here unfortunately doesn't help at all. system usage of cpu is about 90% permanently even though there is nothing to do. the download of 35MB took almost 2 hours at a speed of 7KB/s. the mac is useless like it is now. :mad:
my battery is somehow involved, too.
I hope someone can help about it. if u post it here, I will check again later. thx. :cool:
 
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