Fusion Kexts, CPU Temp and Fan

[parry]

I am running B4 on my Core 2 Duo MacBook and I noticed that after installation of Fusion my laptop was running hotter than it used to - even when I was not running any application at all. This behavior persisted across reboots. (Temp reached 69 C and Fan was 6100 RPM - I could hear the loud fan noise)

Just out of curiosity I tried unloading the vmmon vmci and vmioplug kexts (vmnet won't unload for some reason) and the temperature dropped back to 55C and fan went to 2000 RPM.

Is this a known problem? Is there going to be a fix? It's annoying to run a hot and noisy laptop especially when idling.

[admin]

What's taking up the CPU time (e.g. what's Activity Monitor or top say)? There is a problem with airport taking 100% CPU which seems aggravated by VMware kexts, although it's been observed on systems without Fusion installed.

[parry]

Top does not show anything taking CPU apart from top itself which takes about 11.5% when running and I find that weird esp. since VMware is not running at all. Would something running in kernel - like a kext thread say - show up in top? If not then that would explain it.

But the effect of unloading Vmware kexts is very noticeable - temperature drops, fans go to normal etc.

[admin]

I think top should show all processes, even those owned by root, though I don't know what kexts would show up as. Are you sure you were sorting by CPU? Can you double check in Activity Monitor?

[parry]

Yes, I checked in top as well as Activity Monitor by sorting with CPU usage - top / Activity Monitor are on the top and are the only processes that are consuming CPU.

If I leave the VMWare kexts there and let the machine idle the temperature goes to 72C and fans stay full speed 6000RPM. The moment I remove the kexts the temperature gradually goes back to 55C and fans go back to 2000 RPM which is the least speed.

[HobbitFootAussi]

kexts usually run as threads within the kernel or as functions that apps can call. They aren't processes themselves. You won't see them running in any process manager.

One thing I found interesting. Using VMWare B4 on a Core Duo MacBook Pro, I never had any temp issues. Using VMWare B4 on a 3g C2D MacBook Pro just running VMWare heats up the laptop and the fans run. Even with a 0-2% CPU use on the VM running.

[admin]

HFA, parry:

Hmm, interesting and somewhat alarming. Definitely file a bug report. Can you be more specific about your hardware model and OS revision?

Edit: HFA: Is this the exact same problem parry is seeing, e.g. does it occur even when Fusion is not running? -etung 2007.06.21 13:35

[parry]

Do you know where should I file a bug?

H/W - Core 2 Duo MacBook (White, pre Santa Rosa) , 2GB RAM.

OS - Mac OS X 10.4.9 (updating to 10.4.10 today.)

Thanks.

[admin]

http://www.vmware.com/r/support_requests.html

[parry]

Just filed a bug.

[ksc]

Any idea which kext specifically?

[brettpowley]

I've noticed the same thing -- 1st generation MacBook Pro. When VMWare Fusion is installed, the fan runs continuously, even when VMWare isn't running, even across reboots. Uninstalling (which I presume unloads the kexts) fixes it.

[Harliv]

Did you check for the airport process as mentioned above?