Safari heat and iTunes system lag in OS X

[SanJacinto]

Hi MacRumors friends,

I have a problem with my MacBook. More than a month ago I updated from Snow Leopard to Lion.
After Spotlight did its indexing (2 days) I thought everything was alright. Unfortunately, I still have 2 problems till day one after the update.

Problems:
1. When I just open Safari and don't start surfing, just Safari and a Google tap open, my CPU increases its temperature near 70°C (160° F). I thought, that maybe Safari has to do some indexing too, so I let Safari stay in the background (70°C for two hours) but nothing changed.

2. When iTunes changes from one song to another one, the system lags. I can't wipe back to desktop from fullscreen iTunes to desktop for about 5-10 seconds. This is also true if iTunes is not in fullscreen.
Also I observed, that when iTunes starts the next song and I am not in iTunes fullscreen mode, the desktop wallpaper disappears (replaced by a grey-screen) for around 2 seconds.

What I did:
Tried to repair permissions for several times, from my main user account as well as from recovery disk. Nothing changed.

I hope someone can help, regarding the heat created by Safari and the lags regarding iTunes.

Thanks for your help and time.


Have to revise my statement: Started Safari some minutes ago and CPU gets +90° C (194° F).
To make it clear, it's just a Google tab open, without any search input.

 

[ScoobyMcDoo]

CPU Temperature is really a silly benchmark to watch unless you think you have cooling problems due to fan issues or dirt.

If you think you have performance issues, use Activity Monitor to see what processes are using CPU. Also watch for memory page-outs.

 

[SanJacinto]

CPU Temperature is really a silly benchmark to watch unless you think you have cooling problems due to fan issues or dirt.

If you think you have performance issues, use Activity Monitor to see what processes are using CPU. Also watch for memory page-outs.

In this case I don't think that CPU temp is a silly benchmark.
My fans are clean. When I use Opera or Firefox I don't get 90°C. I start Safari and I do nothing, just the Google homepage (as mentioned before) and I get 90°C.
Activity Monitor says that there is a QTKit-Server process. It doesn't make sense to state the number in brackets behind "QTKit-Server" because sometimes it is a -321 and sometimes a -337.

I also did a PRAM reset after writing my post. Nothing changed.

Also enough free RAM of around 1.5GB.
The system alone runs great. Just the Safari heat for nothing (!!) and the iTunes lags when changing songs.
For future readers, please read my first post.

 

[Mr. Retrofire]

In this case I don't think that CPU temp is a silly benchmark.

It is a silly benchmark.

 

[SanJacinto]

I guess I don't need MacRumors, just a clean install.

I think you just don't read my two post.
Just seeing "temperature" and writing your response.

Thanks all very much.

 

[MLinneer]

My best guess is you have an extension in Safari that is hitting your GPU. Safari runs the coolest on my MBAir but will get up to 200F with heavy Flash or WebGL. Firefox also sometimes but, for me anyway, Chrome is the hottest raising my CPU temp 30F with just a blank tab. Heavy Flash will drive it over 215F and the fans to full speed. Even running iTunes, Word, Excel, and PhotoShop simultaneously won't drive the CPU temp high enough to turn the fans on.

iTunes... I have no clue. Unless both problems are related since they both effect your graphics card/driver. Try downloading and re-applying the latest combo updater for Lion.

 

[SanJacinto]

My best guess is you have an extension in Safari that is hitting your GPU. Safari runs the coolest on my MBAir but will get up to 200F with heavy Flash or WebGL. Firefox also sometimes but, for me anyway, Chrome is the hottest raising my CPU temp 30F with just a blank tab. Heavy Flash will drive it over 215F and the fans to full speed. Even running iTunes, Word, Excel, and PhotoShop simultaneously won't drive the CPU temp high enough to turn the fans on.

iTunes... I have no clue. Unless both problems are related since they both effect your graphics card/driver. Try downloading and re-applying the latest combo updater for Lion.

MLinneer, thank you very much for your comprehensive answer.
In the past I never had temperature problems. I will try the reinstall of the Lion combo update, hope it will solve the problem.

 

[ScoobyMcDoo]

You might find that a clean install will help quite a bit. If doing that, you might consider going to ML. I have a mid-2010 MBP that was shipped with Leopard. I did upgrades to SL, then Lion. At that point, the machine was starting to get kind of sluggish. When I decided to go to ML, I bought an SSD and did a clean install of ML, then did a very selective migration from Time Machine. My MBP runs like a screaming banchee now.

I know you said it runs pretty well other than the lag when changing songs, but just thought I would share my experience with you.

Then again, do you have a really huge itunes library? Just wondering if having a large library would cause the lag when changing songs.

 

[throAU]

If you have 4 GB of RAM, add more.

Without an SSD, Lion and onwards is a PIG without 8 GB or more.

Also: second the notion for a clean install.

If it's going to be a pain because you don't have backups, then thats another problem you will want to rectify while you're at it.




For what it's worth, I did have some Lion issues resolved (back when I ran it) by doing a clean install instead of an SL upgrade. Maybe I had something slightly b0rked in my SL install. Maybe you do as well.

It's still a pig of a thing with 4 GB is less though.

Also, if you haven't updated Lion to at least 10.7.4, do so - performance was quite a bit better than earlier versions of Lion, at least for me.

 

[SanJacinto]

Both ScoobyMcDoo and throAU, thanks for your response.

I don't want to update to Mountain Lion, because Mavericks is just around the corner.
Also, updating my RAM isn't the solution and also shouldn't be the solution.
This is a Macintosh and it should run great on 4GB of RAM, especially since my MacBook Pro and Lion were born in the same year
Likewise a RAM upgrade doesn't make sense, because Mavericks should use less RAM

Nonetheless, I hope there is a solution besides clean install (next clean install is planned for Mavericks).
I did a Combo 10.7.5 install but nothing changed.

My iTunes library isn't that enormous. The lag occurs in every song change, even when I click pause and then again play -> lag of 5 seconds where I am unable to change from iTunes to Desktop or anywhere else.

Another side effect of this lag is that Dashboard is reloaded.
Could this be an indicator for something?
(by reloaded I mean: all widget have to reload themselves, comparable with a OS restart).

 

[Mr. Retrofire]

Also, updating my RAM isn't the solution and also shouldn't be the solution.

Why not!? Your machine runs hotter and slower, if the OS must write/read memory pages to/from the disk.

Nonetheless, I hope there is a solution besides clean install (next clean install is planned for Mavericks).

Yeah, upgrade the RAM (i recommend Crucial or Kingston RAM) and install the final version (Mac App Store version) of Mavericks! I think this should solve your problem. Lion is not really an efficient OS.

 

[SanJacinto]

Why not!? Your machine runs hotter and slower, if the OS must write/read memory pages to/from the disk.


Yeah, upgrade the RAM (i recommend Crucial or Kingston RAM) and install the final version (Mac App Store version) of Mavericks! I think this should solve your problem. Lion is not really an efficient OS.

Ok, first of all, I don't have access to Mavericks.

Second, why should I upgrade RAM when, besides Safari my system runs efficiently and cool (Opera and Firefox on with +10 Tabs also when running youtube).
With the above stated browsers, iTunes and iPhoto running simultaneously my CPU works around 45°C which is great.

So it doesn't run hot or hotter under normal circumstances, it's just Safari.

I guess, I have to use Opera and Firefox until this fall (Mavericks), than doing a clean install.

 

[Mr. Retrofire]

Ok, first of all, I don't have access to Mavericks.

I mean the final version from the MAS (Mac App Store).

 

[SanJacinto]

I mean the final version from the MAS (Mac App Store).

Ok, but this means three or more months of waiting. And this is exactly why I opened this thread, to ask for a faster solution.

Faster than Mavericks.
Faster than clean install.

 

[ScoobyMcDoo]

Second, why should I upgrade RAM when, besides Safari my system runs efficiently and cool (Opera and Firefox on with +10 Tabs also when running youtube).

If all you do is web surf, then maybe you don't need more memory. Hard to say since you haven't told us about your page-out situation (an actual meaningful benchmark).

So it doesn't run hot or hotter under normal circumstances, it's just Safari.

I guess, I have to use Opera and Firefox until this fall (Mavericks), than doing a clean install.

Still don't understand why you are so concerned about the temperature of your CPU. Is it affecting something else that your haven't mentioned such as battery life? CPUs get hot when they are used. I see mine get over 100 degC quite often, but I get my money's worth out of my CPUs - I work the crap out of them - on purpose.

Faster than clean install.

In the time spent on this thread, you could have easily done a clean install. Although there is no guarantee it would have improved your situation.

 

[SanJacinto]

Regarding the iTunes lag I opened Apple's console, and this is what I got.
Maybe this could help to understand the problem.

Short problem description for new readers:
I open iTunes and everytime I click a song or a new songs starts (even in loop of the same song) I get a lag of approximately 5-10 seconds (no enormous iTunes library).
The console picture relates to this time period.

To those of you with helpful comments thanks.