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theMouthPiece

macrumors member
Original poster
May 9, 2007
53
1
Wales, UK
Hi All. So, for the last 9 months or so I have been experiencing some significant performance issues (that I think are throttling issues) on my MacBookPro. I will try to provide as much detail and information here as I can recall, and will list all of the issues I experience in no particular order, regardless of seriousness in case they are related, in the hope that someone might be able to shed some light on what might be wrong with my Mac.

The specification MacBookPro is: early 2011 13" model, i5, 2.3GHz, 16GB RAM, I have just successfully installed a 500GB SSD to replace the 350GB HDD supplied with the machine. I also swapped out the Superdrive for a 750GB HDD some 4 years ago, and have not experienced any issues with this.

I am currently running the latest up-to-date version of El Capitan 10.11.6

Issue 1: fan on full 99% of the time
The fan on my MBP run at full speed almost all the time, the only time they don’t run at full speed is when I boot from power up, or awake from overnight sleep etc, and then they will come on within a few mins regardless of what tasks I am doing on the machine.

Current fan speed reported by HWMonitor: 6200 rpm

Issue 2: CPU Temps always high
Again, the temps are always reported as being pretty high regardless of what I have been doing on the Mac. Even when viewing web content or emails, the temps are always high.

Current temps as reported by HWMonitor
CPU Core 1: 88
CPU Core 2: 85
CPU Core 3: 84
CPU Core 4: 85

Issue 3: CPU load goes incredibly high very often
Of course, when totally idle, the CPU demand is low as expected. But again, regardless of the activity I am doing, the CPU % is often excessively high. I can run a YouTube video, and the CPU often goes to 150% on the youtube process which surely isn’t right, and the video stutters and pauses. Even as I type this message on the forums here, the CPU % for that process is 49%… again surely this isn’t right.

Issue 4: some keys not working on MBP keyboard and a delay in characters appearing on screen
When I boot from power up all the keys work, but after a period of say 10 mins, some of the keys (always the same ones) stop working when pressed. this is regardless of awakening from sleep state.. The only time they work is from a cold power up. I always use an Apple Bluetooth keyboard and carry this with me when I need to use the MBP away from home. There is often also a delay in characters appearing on the screen up to a second after typing them on the keyboard. This doesn't happen all the time, but it does happen often.

Issue 5: battery not lasting
Appreciate this is probably not a related issue, but I know the battery is on its way out as it only lasts around 60 mins, sometimes less. I use my MBP on power 99% of the time.

There you go. More than happy to add additional information as required if needed.

I have suspected a Logic board issue, possibly related to temperature sensors and I have found a company here in the UK who can do logic board repair for a lot less than the cost of a replacement logic board itself. I thought I might try to post here to see if there's anything that can be identified as a possible fix prior to sending it off for repair. I had also considered doing a thermal paste replacement on the cooling system on the underside of the logic board, though the thought of my doing this does actually fill me with fear!!!

Here's hoping someone can offer some advice and perhaps a little help... thanks all.
 
Last edited:
May sound simple but did you try resetting the PRAM & SMC? See if any of the problems go away. I know it's simple but should always be the first step .
 
May sound simple but did you try resetting the PRAM & SMC? See if any of the problems go away. I know it's simple but should always be the first step .
Hi videotape74, yep I had checked both reseting the PRAM and SMC.

Also - I had overlooked this thread and should have updated it. The issue seems to have been multifold.

A rogue system file caused by the installation of a certain app (as yet unidentified) sometime over the last 5 years which had been causing kernel issues and CPU throttling. Also one or more of the devices plugged into my 7 port powered USB hub.

Right now after actions following a visit to the Apple genius bar, and help off some knowledgable member here, I have a MacBookPro that is performing pretty darned well.
 
Hi videotape74, yep I had checked both reseting the PRAM and SMC.

Also - I had overlooked this thread and should have updated it. The issue seems to have been multifold.

A rogue system file caused by the installation of a certain app (as yet unidentified) sometime over the last 5 years which had been causing kernel issues and CPU throttling. Also one or more of the devices plugged into my 7 port powered USB hub.

Right now after actions following a visit to the Apple genius bar, and help off some knowledgable member here, I have a MacBookPro that is performing pretty darned well.

glad to hear it! :D
 
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