Powerbook's fan more active-is this a problem?

[jackieonasses]

i have this Go down to the bottom under Laptop coolers I got the second one for 10 bucks. It is quiet, and can really push some air.

kyle

 

[Espnetboy3]

My house is always very warm in winter particularly my bedroom. Any good website for places to buy a nice cooling system, maybe some external fans or something?

 

[Lacero]

I think you have some software issue if your PB fans run loud. It's a sign some app is eating up cpu cycles or is hung. That's the biggest offender when it comes to fan noise.

 

[vsp]

OK....latest update.

The Finder has still been grabbing the CPU usage and forcing the fan on.

This morning I was working in GoLive and placing jpeg images into a page. One image needed a bit of work so I closed GoLive and opened Photoshop. Made changes to the image but couldn't save because the file was still in use!!!

Nothing else was open but photoshop. Fan was running---opened and checked Activity Monitor and the Finder was around 89% of CPU. Relaunched the Finder and lo and behold I could now save the image!

So something is certainly up with the finder holding onto something.

I've just tossed finder.plist, run everything needed under Onyx (including all the daily, weekly, and monthly scripts) and did a complete test with TechTools. Everything is reported as OK. All seems to be running fine so far (haven't gone back to building the web site....that should be the true test).

One hitch is that I can't seem to boot to the TechTool CD. As instructed I've been holding down the "c" key during restart but all that happens is I boot to a blue screen. I can run the tests just fine from the harddrive but not repair anything. Any suggestions on booting to the CD that comes with AppleCare Protection Plan?

In another similar thread someone posted that they've noticed lots of powerbook problems possibly related to the recent OS update. If this continues I may just go back to 10.3.6.

 

[Whigga Spitta]

VSP, if you haven't already, create a new user and see if Finder is still taking up so much CPU.

I did that and found that the problem was only with my user. I placed all the files on my desktop into a folder (removing all icons from desktop) and then relaunched Finder. VOILA! problem fixed. I read that icons (?) can become corrupted on the desktop so Finder keeps working. Then go through the files and see which one is causing the problem...

good luck.

 

[vsp]

VSP, if you haven't already, create a new user and see if Finder is still taking up so much CPU.

I did that and found that the problem was only with my user. I placed all the files on my desktop into a folder (removing all icons from desktop) and then relaunched Finder. VOILA! problem fixed. I read that icons (?) can become corrupted on the desktop so Finder keeps working. Then go through the files and see which one is causing the problem...

good luck.

I'll try this tonight. Curious. Normally I keep my desktop clean but over the last three weeks or so there's been a lot of random things ending up there, including a few programs I'm trying out. Nice if it were this simple. Glad to hear you've solved your problem....

You can also ignore my question in the post you started. This covers it nicely. Thanks for the tip.

 

[slooksterPSV]

OK....latest update.

The Finder has still been grabbing the CPU usage and forcing the fan on.

This morning I was working in GoLive and placing jpeg images into a page. One image needed a bit of work so I closed GoLive and opened Photoshop. Made changes to the image but couldn't save because the file was still in use!!!

Nothing else was open but photoshop. Fan was running---opened and checked Activity Monitor and the Finder was around 89% of CPU. Relaunched the Finder and lo and behold I could now save the image!

So something is certainly up with the finder holding onto something.

I've just tossed finder.plist, run everything needed under Onyx (including all the daily, weekly, and monthly scripts) and did a complete test with TechTools. Everything is reported as OK. All seems to be running fine so far (haven't gone back to building the web site....that should be the true test).

One hitch is that I can't seem to boot to the TechTool CD. As instructed I've been holding down the "c" key during restart but all that happens is I boot to a blue screen. I can run the tests just fine from the harddrive but not repair anything. Any suggestions on booting to the CD that comes with AppleCare Protection Plan?

In another similar thread someone posted that they've noticed lots of powerbook problems possibly related to the recent OS update. If this continues I may just go back to 10.3.6.

Have the Tech Tools or Apple CD in the disc drive and go to Startup Disk under Preferences, let it load and show you what drives you can boot from. Choose the CD and click Restart. There you go, it'll boot from the CD w/out having to hold C.

EDIT: Just as a precautionairy, download clamXav - its an anti-virus program. I's only about 7MB to install and you never know when you might have a virus. I'm going to go check and see if Mac's have anti-spyware programs.

EDIT 2: http://macscan.securemac.com/files/MacScanPBCarbon.sit I'm going to try that program, and scan my mac for spyware, I suggest doing the same. - DANG IT They haven't updated it, so no one can download it.

 

[vsp]

Latest on the fan issue...

Couldn't replicate the problem under a new account I created. So I took every file on the desktop and put it into a folder, trashed the .plist file, repaired permissions, and then relaunched the Finder. Then restarted.

Everything worked well for a few hours. Then, working in GoLive, trying to place pictures from a specific directory, the fan comes on. I checked Activity Monitor and the Finder was up around 90%.

After checking various things it becomes apparent that any time I try to access this particular folder of images the Finder shoots up immediately and hogs everything it can. Doesn't matter how I try and access it, if the files are displayed the Finder blows its top. The reason this happens in GoLive, I believe, is because it uses a directory listing with an image of the icon displayed, though very small.

If the icons were the problem then it's not just the desktop. It's anywhere. Why these particular jpgs were a problem I don't know. I trashed all the images (I have backups that I can access with out driving the Finder kookoo) and all seems OK.

Now they weren't the initial cause of this thread, since they only existed as of four days ago and the fan issues started weeks back.

Tomorrow I try and recreate the directory of images. I'll see what happens then. For now, the system is clean, behaving well, and is quite zippy.

Still not too thrilled with all this, but if this solves the problem I'll be a happy man.

Thanks for all the feedback and advice.

 

[vsp]

Well, it's been about 48 hours since I removed all the icons from the desktop and threw away those photos and the fan has been behaving just fine. Guess it was corrupted icons.

And here I blamed Firefox at first. I feel...ashamed.

Thanks for all the help.