spotlight (mds process) using over 100 cpu and 150mb of Real Memory

hi, ever since i upgraded to Leopard on my macbook, spotlight, specifically the mds process has been using rediculously high amounts of cpu. spotlight has finished the initial indexing a long time ago, so i know thats not the problem. the problem is that more frequently than not, the mds process suddenly spikes, using 130+ cpu and causing my computers fan to turn on. mds is also always using around 120mb of Real Memory, and at times spiking to up to 150mb. this cant be normal, a process such as spotlight should not take that much cpu, it didnt on tiger. why is it doing this? is this normal? if not, how can i fix it so that mds no longer uses exorbitant amounts of cpu?

Thanks alot

Message was edited by: coreymon77

Message was edited by: coreymon77

MacBook, Mac OS X (10.5.1), core 2 duo, 2.16ghz processor, 2gb ram, 120gb HD

Posted on Nov 18, 2007 7:25 PM

17 replies

Mar 6, 2008 1:50 PM in response to coreymon77

Still the 100% CPU issue. Countless permission fixes, disk verifications, cache cleanings, spotless, onyx, disk warrior, etc...

Some new info to add:

# mdutil -v -s /
/:
Indexing enabled.
Scan base time: 2008-03-05 17:50:55 -0600 (78585 seconds ago), reasoning: 'scan required - mount side'

Anyone know what the above means?

Console shows lots of these:

3/5/08 3:25:45 PM mds[36] (Error) Task: Invalid storeTokenID (6b000000) in MDSFetchTask
3/5/08 3:25:45 PM mds[36] (Error) Task: Invalid storeTokenID (6b000000) in MDSFetchTask
3/5/08 3:25:45 PM mds[36] (Warning) Task: MDSStoreTask failed to resolve storeID (6b000000)

# top -u
PID COMMAND %CPU TIME #TH #PRTS #MREGS RPRVT RSHRD RSIZE VSIZE
7712 mds 100.1% 3:11:18 18 442 1068 298M 13M 267M 392M

Ed.M

Level 1

0 points

Mar 8, 2008 7:01 AM in response to Basictheprogram

Hey folks! I am having the exactly same problem... Even though the "unload" command is in theory not for Leopard, unloading spotlight is the only way my computer comes back to "life"... 🙂 It's annoying to use it when mds is running... as cpu goes +100% and the fan runs on and on... Temperature's close to 90Cs 😟

Yeah, the estimate time for a full indexation would be +3200 HOURS!!! I've basically cancelled and tried AGAIN, after deleting the database... it went on and on and ended up with another +1000 hours and counting up.. so I basically gave up on Spotlight! Cant afford to have the computer running for months and not even know if it's gonna work!

I've even tried to renice those processes, at no luck! if there is a way of letting them run i the background, without suckin'up the CPU, I'd be glad to try.. otherwise... I can't...

Whenever mds / mdimport were running, Parallels refused to run, as it gave me a msg saying it can't read from the partition (BootCamp), but it runs smoothly when there's no mds...

Another thing I've noticed is that Time Machine requires spotlight, so, if anyone knows of an alternative to it, lemme know! 🙂 I'm even thinking of using a Linux based application running on Parallels...

Anyways, I have a screenshot of the process, +3200 hours... but I cannot post it here... for those who might wanna laugh a bit... 😟

Regards,
Ed

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spotlight (mds process) using over 100 cpu and 150mb of Real Memory