kernel_task when downloading?

[crozbomb]

hi, this is my first thread here.
i recently bought a new macbook air 11 inch 1.3ghz and straight away noticed that the mac was very slow and got hot when doing very little on it(streaming a sports event) for a brand new apple laptop.
i noticed then in activity monitor that when i watched a stream, vimeo or youtube or downloaded via torrent or any other way of downloading that the cpu% of kernel_task would be at least 30% but sometimes(most of the time) around 100%+. after various calls with "genius'" and then reinstalling osx to find it still happened i have been left with the option of repair. i don't want a repair, am i in my right to ask for a total refund? has anyone else had this problem?

 

[robvas]

Perfectly normal. When you push the system it will get warm. The Air is designed to turn on the fans and regulate it's temperature and clock down to stay within thermal limits.

 

[theSeb]

hi, this is my first thread here.
i recently bought a new macbook air 11 inch 1.3ghz and straight away noticed that the mac was very slow and got hot when doing very little on it(streaming a sports event) for a brand new apple laptop.
i noticed then in activity monitor that when i watched a stream, vimeo or youtube or downloaded via torrent or any other way of downloading that the cpu% of kernel_task would be at least 30% but sometimes(most of the time) around 100%+. after various calls with "genius'" and then reinstalling osx to find it still happened i have been left with the option of repair. i don't want a repair, am i in my right to ask for a total refund? has anyone else had this problem?

You don't have a problem, apart from the fact that you're using flash. Go to youtube.com/html5 and enable HTML 5 instead of flash. Even my rMBP heats up when watching Flash videos. That's how all computers work. Even brand new ones not from Apple.

 

[crozbomb]

flash was never installed.
my issue is that kernel_task is running excessively high in activity monitor when downloading or watching video(html5 not flash) were as with my previous machines this had never happened,example: watching south park on my 2009 macbook via html5=10-20%cpu, watching the same video on 2013 macbook air=70-100%cpu.
i have already discussed my issue with senior support staff at applecare and they agree my macbook is faulty and that this is not "normal".

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Perfectly normal. When you push the system it will get warm. The Air is designed to turn on the fans and regulate it's temperature and clock down to stay within thermal limits.

watching a single video or downloading a single torrent when in reference to a brand new macbook no matter what model in no way can be described as pushing the system.

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Perfectly normal. When you push the system it will get warm. The Air is designed to turn on the fans and regulate it's temperature and clock down to stay within thermal limits.

 

[theSeb]

If you're using Chrome, then it uses its own built-in Flash so whether you have flash installed or not is irrelevant. You did not mention that you were using HTML5 so I had to assume you were not, since most users do not. If you're already using HTML5, then you are experiencing the kernel_task bug that has been reported on the Apple support site by a number of users. Do you have headphones or speakers plugged in? This

kernel_task is meant to prevent overheating by throttling your CPU. However it is widely reported to be buggy.

Read this

http://www.rdoxenham.com/?p=259

I would ask for a refund since this does not happen to all users and should not happen how you describe.

 

[Robyr]

This kernel_task is meant to prevent overheating by throttling your CPU.

Please do not open your mouth if you have no clue what you are talking about. Kernel_task is PID0 and the base OS kernel. It is a major bug in the audio system and, yes, it affects ALL MBA11, MBA13, and rMBPs by default. Reinstalls, hardware swaps, etc will solve nothing. A Mountain Lion reinstall, however, will.

 

[theSeb]

Please do not open your mouth if you have no clue what you are talking about. Kernel_task is PID0 and the base OS kernel. It is a major bug in the audio system and, yes, it affects ALL MBA11, MBA13, and rMBPs by default. Reinstalls, hardware swaps, etc will solve nothing. A Mountain Lion reinstall, however, will.

Which is exactly why I asked if headphones or speakers are plugged in.

I could have worded the post a bit better to make it easier to read and more understandable, but thanks for setting me straight though....

The physical environment of the computer can contribute to the kernel trying to compensate for increased heat. If your computer's vents are obstructed then the kernel may ramp up in trying to prevent overheating. You can try changing the CPU speed to the "reduced" setting in the Energy Saver system preferences, and also consider moving your system to a cooler place (a tabletop instead of a bed or your lap, for portables).

 

[CJM]

Please do not open your mouth if you have no clue what you are talking about. Kernel_task is PID0 and the base OS kernel. It is a major bug in the audio system and, yes, it affects ALL MBA11, MBA13, and rMBPs by default. Reinstalls, hardware swaps, etc will solve nothing. A Mountain Lion reinstall, however, will.

Hi, thanks, your comment seems to reinforce what I read on this discussion https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5497235?start=0&tstart=0 over at the Apple forums, with other users having the same problems. (along with myself) Ugh, Mavericks.

 

[robvas]

watching a single video or downloading a single torrent when in reference to a brand new macbook no matter what model in no way can be described as pushing the system.

Depends on the video codec being used. I can stream Breaking Bad in HD from Google Play in Chrome on my 2012 and it barely uses 10% of my CPU. The fans never come on.

I can also run Transmission to download torrents without any issues either.

 

[ItHurtsWhenIP]

Please do not open your mouth if you have no clue what you are talking about. Kernel_task is PID0 and the base OS kernel. It is a major bug in the audio system and, yes, it affects ALL MBA11, MBA13, and rMBPs by default. Reinstalls, hardware swaps, etc will solve nothing. A Mountain Lion reinstall, however, will.

Interesting...I'm glad you have access to every single MacBook out there, but you seemed to have missed mine? My kernel_task is sitting at 3% with a 720p youTube video playing..

Guess I must not have an Air since all of them are affected by this bug?

 

[Robyr]

Interesting...I'm glad you have access to every single MacBook out there, but you seemed to have missed mine? My kernel_task is sitting at 3% with a 720p youTube video playing..

Guess I must not have an Air since all of them are affected by this bug?

Not seeing symptoms != not having a bug. This is kernel level stuff, it is inherent to Mac OS right now. Your anecdote doesn't say, well, anything.

 

[crozbomb]

so im not the only one then? I've had other macs on other osx versions and i never had a kernel task run at 100%cpu on top of whatever safari or transmission uses itself. seems strange how my old 2009 macbook could handle html5 better than this piece of crap