Q: SystemUIserver using 90+% of CPU

Well, all went back to normal after raging for about half an hour. This problem seems so mysterious. I stumbled on this thread when I was googling the SystemUIServer. Google is FAST.

Same. Exact. Problem. SystemUIServer process was maxing out the CPU, battery was draining away at an insane rate, keyboard was as hot as my craptastic old Dell. As soon as I turned off Date & Time display in the menu bar, everything was fine. And like others have mentioned, just looking at the first tab of the Date & Time prefs panel (the one that shows the clock) was killing my CPU as well.

And get this: Like others of you in the eastern time zone, at 2:00 AM the problem disappeared.

Must be a Snow Leopard bug related to DST. That's all I can figure. Wow!

The irony is, this is my first Mac and I just bought it yesterday. Not exactly the welcome I was expecting.

Yep just turned my clock back on and things went back to normal. Man thats a weird bug.

Or maybe Apple was using all our computers secretly at once to create a giant super computer to calculate a reason why Windows Fanboys are such idiots.

P.s. I don't have anything against windows, just fanboys.

Also, if you open the Date and Time system preference pane, that uses a ton of CPU as well.

"Or maybe Apple was using all our computers secretly at once to create a giant super computer to calculate a reason why Windows Fanboys are such idiots."

so are apple fanboys, as evidenced by the fact that my computer overheated because of a clock application

Appleland2009 wrote:
Same. Exact. Problem. SystemUIServer process was maxing out the CPU, battery was draining away at an insane rate, keyboard was as hot as my craptastic old Dell. As soon as I turned off Date & Time display in the menu bar, everything was fine. And like others have mentioned, just looking at the first tab of the Date & Time prefs panel (the one that shows the clock) was killing my CPU as well.

And get this: Like others of you in the eastern time zone, at 2:00 AM the problem disappeared.

Must be a Snow Leopard bug related to DST. That's all I can figure. Wow!

The irony is, this is my first Mac and I just bought it yesterday. Not exactly the welcome I was expecting.

Welcome, just be happy that these kind of things do not happen as often as in Windsows. No OS is perfect, but OSX gets a **** of a lot more right the Windows does and maybe ever will.

I had this problem too. I hid the clock then brought it back (after 2:00am) and now it seems to be fine. What a weird bug.

lol too perfect luke, making fun of windows fanboys then downplaying one of the most ridiculous software bugs i've ever seen in windows or os x

Message was edited by: Deuz Augustine

The issues wasn't exclusive to 64 bit Macs. My old 32 bit had the same exact problem.

At least something exciting happened during my extra hour of insomnia

Thanks for the welcome, I will consider this my OS X trial by fire. Hahahaha.

Seriously, I am loving this machine so far, I can't believe how much easier everyday stuff is (like just installing apps, for one). But as you said, no OS is perfect. At least this issue worked itself out.

Now, I just hope Apple can isolate whatever was behind this before next March.

Deuz Augustine wrote:
"Or maybe Apple was using all our computers secretly at once to create a giant super computer to calculate a reason why Windows Fanboys are such idiots."

so are apple fanboys, as evidenced by the fact that my computer overheated because of a clock application

That statement makes no sense, what does an Apple fanboy have to do with a small bug in an OS. You didn't really think out that reply before you wrote it huh? It's ok we all make mistakes. Let's just agree that fanboys in general are dumb. I love Mac, after being a Windows user for over 20 years, but even I cannot stand a preachy Mac person. I love Mac, but see no reason to try and convince people to switch.

Not true. There are as many bugs in OSX as there used to be in Windows. The problem is, bugs in Windows do get fixed, while in OSX they remain for years. Before I switched to Macs, I used Windows XP on a Dell laptop, and had close to 1 year long uptimes, without reboots. With Mac I can barely make it through a week without having to reboot (usually because all memory suddenly disappeared, while no particular process is using it - apparently there are memory leaks in Snow Leopard). So yeah, OSX looks pretty, but just as buggy as Windows was.

it means that being a fanboy over os x is just as dumb because ridiculous things like this happen in it

i love mac as well, but i hate that most mac users will try to downplay this as unimportant (like you calling this a "small bug in the os" rather than "holy **** people's computers are overheating and shutting off because the time changed")

for every user that found this forum, there's a hundred users who wouldn't think to check activity monitor that are wondering why the **** their mac is melting

Deuz Augustine wrote:
lol too perfect luke, making fun of windows fanboys then downplaying one of the most ridiculous software bugs i've ever seen in windows or os x

Message was edited by: Deuz Augustine

I should have included Mac fanboys in that statement as well, I just have always found the Windows fanboys a bit more stubborn and annoying.

P.s. There have been far more trivial and dangerous bugs in OS's over the years, windows or Macs. Just be happy this one has seemed to work itself out.