Syslogd makes high CPU Load and standby mode doesn´t work.

Same problem with my MacBook 2.0Ghz, 2GB Ram.
I usually don't shut down or reboot often.
After closing all my apps, the only thing still running was Transmission.
CPU fans were going nuts. Did a reboot and now everything is stable.
However, I did turn off Files Sharing (AFP & SMB). Transmission is currently running and CPU fans are 'normal'.

As many of you have I tried everything with no change so I did an archive and install. Now the problem is gone. I think this is an Apple problem for sure. I removed all my 3rd party apps before resulting to archive and install.

Hope this helps someone.

Don't try to make those go away. (Not that you really could, anyway.)

kernel_task is the root task for the entire OS (the process that creates all others) and WindowServer is what draws and manages the windows on the screen. Rather important functions, those.

Remember folks, it applies as much to your Mac as anything else- if you don't know what it does or why it's there, LEAVE IT ALONE!

I've had this same problem too: syslogd will take up all the available processor and start chewing up RAM. A very temporary fix is to find the program trying to do all the writes to the log file, kill it, and then "sudo killall syslogd". Unfortunately, there are two problems with this.

1) Finding the program is trial and error, because none of the messages are ever actually written to the log files. Several people above have suggested looking for some message repeated thousands of times in the logfiles, but I've dug through all of them and couldn't find one.

2) It only works until some other application starts making syslogd misbehave again (syslogd automatically relaunches). When I first experienced the problem I had a bunch of applications running. Then I quit them all opened them one by one to see if I could isolate the problem. Unfortunately, I've found that Microsoft Word 2004, XTorrent, and (most damningly) Time Machine all cause this problem. There are undoubtedly others that do too.

Guess we'll all just have to wait for 10.5.2...

Glad to hear that is not me that is going crazy with this problem... Have removed and/or not used just about every program and widget on my system with the same results... I can quit syslogd through activity monitor -- at least for a while... Otherwise it runs constantly...

Thanks for the info and possible solutions.. none of which have worked for me...

I'm having the same problem and I don't see it being "extra software". I've upgraded to Leopard on one machine and did a clean install on a second computer. Both machines run different "extra" apps and both crash the same!

Hey, also having this problem for a few weeks, but finally annoyed the **** out of me this morning. Using all of your advice, I found the following error in my console.app since Leopard was installed. Always the same one:

Nov 18 14:51:48 mDNSResponder[24]: Task Scheduling Error: Continuously busy for more than a second
Nov 18 14:51:48 mDNSResponder[24]: Task Scheduling Error: NewQuestion kykboy.members.mac.com. (SOA)
Nov 18 14:51:48 mDNSResponder[24]: Task Scheduling Error: m->NextCacheCheck 200935
Nov 18 14:51:48 mDNSResponder[24]: KQ SSLHandshake failed: -9806

I have turned Syncing off along with any iLife, iWork apps, but it is still pegging out my CPU (i.e., syslogd).

Anyone know what this error might mean?

Thanks in advance for any help or advice.

Mike

I disabled Back To My Mac and the
Macintosh-2 mDNSResponder[16]: KQ SSLHandshake failed: -9806

errors which caused the syslogd activity fell away. I suspect it was triggered by the firewall configuration at my office. While traveling and from home I had no excessive error activity.

Another "happy" member of the club...

According to console it is Mail.app that causes the problem on my Mac Pro (Archive and Install setup, from 10.4.8).

And syslogd continues even when Mail is closed.

Seems to be fixed, but dunno what of these solved it:

- ran the terminal command mentionned in this thread
- disabled/re-enabled Time Machine
- repair permissions

Wanted to add my voice to this thread. I am having the same issues as everyone else. I have yet to find the culprit for the logging going out of control.

Killing syslogd works as a temporary fix. Giving me about 2 minutes of fan-free peace, but, like the process comes back from the dead thereafter causing the same headaches.

I noticed that the discussion thread has been marked as "answered" yet I see no real solution in any of the posts. Has anyone had any luck getting thru to Apple, or finding a permanent fix for this vexing issue?

Thanks!,
dc

As I wrote (see above), for my personal case, it's fixed.

Hey! Back to My Mac was the culprit for me too - thanks for that...

Hi all. Same problem here.
I've the mbp 2,2 Ghz since last week. The first time I've done something via shell to try solving this problem. I'd many applications installed. Without a cause-effect relation It stopped (I had mDnsReponder using cpu too).
Then I've reinstalled leopard and all was ok until now.
Today I've installed only x-lite (www.countherpath.com) that crashed.

The strange thing is that I've a costant ethernet simmetric traffic: about 40 KB/s outbound and inbound.

When I'm not connected via lan cable It is all ok...

Strange!

I've had the same problem, but then something new (but i'm sure related) happened. Today, my CPU went to 100% usage, but when I opened Activity Monitor, the culprit wasn't evident....that is, the few apps that I had open, and other processes that were running didn't show more than maybe 10% total CPU usage.....however, at the bottom, my little red/green CPU graph was showing 100% usage! Anyone have an idea how to figure out which process is the CPU hog if Activity Monitor isn't showing me?? The only thing that's working for me is restarting.