Several users have reported an issue in which, after updating to Mac OS X 10.6.3, a process called PTMD persistently uses 50% or more of CPU time and shortens battery life dramatically. This issue can also result in constant disk access and fan activity, and high procesor temperature.
As described by Apple Discussions poster Masanori:
“I’m also having the same problem. After updating from 10.6.2 to 10.6.3, ptmd is running at 55% and kernel_task at 39% of CPU usage. I’ve tried PRAM clear, SMC reset, cache deleting, applying 10.6.3 combo update again etc. and still have the problem. Killing ptmd seems a workaround”
Per the site “Understand Mac OS X Processes,” PTMD stands for platform thermal monitor daemon and “relays to hardware any OS notifications effecting thermal conditions.”
Some users have reported success resolving the issue with an SMC reset, but most have only been able to stop the excessive CPU usage and fan activity by manually killing the PTMD process with Activity Monitor. To do so, follow these steps:
- Launch Activity Monitor (access Spotlight in the upper-right corner of the screen, and beging to type “Activity Monitor”)
- In the top menubar, switch from “My Processes” to “All Processess” using the drop-down menu
- Organize by Process Name, then scroll down to find “ptmd”
- Click the “Quit Process” button in the upper-left portion of the Activity Monitor window.
Similar issue? Please let us know.