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Level 1

8 points

mdworker32 takes up 97% of CPU all the time?

Hi all,
I have been suffering from mdworker32 taking up to 97% of the CPU. This lead to a mechanical failure of HD days ago and apple replaced one for me. However, the phenomenon still exits.

Details: MBPro late 2008 unibody 2.4G 4G and 320 HD
After upgrade to SL, the system keeps running at a high fan status. Roughly around 4000, and one process, mdworker32 keeps taking 97% of the CPU (20% of total) power.
I removed all importers from /Library/Spotlight but this didn't help.

An inspection in console suggesting the mdworker32 keeps throw exit code 75? (Anyone know what this means?)

Thanks much,
Sean

Macbook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6), 2.4G/4G/320

Posted on Sep 6, 2009 9:20 AM

Best reply

Viztang Author

Level 1

8 points

Posted on Sep 8, 2009 8:19 AM

The ultimate solution for me now is to exclude the Microsoft Office 2008. This app will confuse mdworker32 and keep the mac running hot. I re-Imaged mbp with SL and didn't install the office suite but everything else, it runs great.

Hope there will be a work around or M$ will update the application. I do need it to write a paper though....aggrrrh

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37 replies

pravin1

Level 1

0 points

Mar 25, 2011 10:58 AM in response to Viztang

I was having the same problem, but after I Iet it run for about 2 hrs it went back to normal. I think it was re-indexing since I had just installed the 10.6.7 OSX update.

arno_o

Level 1

4 points

Apr 6, 2011 1:47 AM in response to Viztang

same problem here.
Running office 2010
Having an external (network) 'dropbox' drive.
Processing to 100%, due to mdworker32.

- checked via the activity monitor which files where listed and found 2 excell files with .xlsx
- these where saved there by another person from an Microsoft machine.

- opened the files, saved them as .xls and deleted the .xlsx versions.

Processing went back to 'normal' ..

gef_cal

Level 1

0 points

May 31, 2011 7:44 PM in response to OverPowerFred

Thanks for this. I was having issues doing an initial TC backup to an external RAID 1 HD. Kept freezing at various stages of the backup. Removed the Microsoft Office.mdimporter files and the backup re-engaged and is moving along nicely.

Cheers

Macbook Pro OSX 10.6.7

2TB G-Drive External - Firewire

Sep 1, 2011 1:38 PM in response to Blurred Vision

Same problem here.

Used: Activity monitor, select the mdworker32 process, click "inspect" and select "Open Files & Ports"

Found an .xlsx file that was emailed as an attachment. I had opened and closed the attachment, and left excel open, then forwarded the message with attachment. "Open Files & Ports" showed the same filename listed twice.

I closed excel and restarted mail.app and the problem went away.

Sep 23, 2011 6:06 PM in response to FrequentFlyer

Okay, the problem was gone once "Microsoft Office.mdimporter" had been removed!

Oct 2, 2012 7:49 PM in response to mileszhou

I found this thread while searching for mdworker32 problems. It had started causing mutiple crashes on my iMac a few days ago and became almost continuous yesterday. The crash reports usually said the same thing. I never tried reading/understanding those reports but I finally noticed it was claiming an 'importer' file in a word processor I rarely use anymore was the possible problem. I had tried many changes, removing things from the Startup Items list, etc. to no avail. However, I also found Time Machine stalling and decided I needed to do something. Activity Monitor was showing 100%+ almost constantly for mdworker32!

I followed the path the crash report gave, found the "WriteImporter.mdimporter" file and compressed it and then deleted it. Restarted. Not had a crash for any reason for over 24 hours! mdworker32 doesn't even show up in AM!

Lessons learned:

1. Look at those crash reports more carefully! Some of it is actually in English! 🙂

2. Try removing the file(s) that are reported by those crash reports, but make a copy before deleting them, they may not be the direct cause of a problem.

I've established a habit of always copressing the current version of any app before I install an update. That's a safe method to use when you suspect a pref file to be corrupted; Quuit the app, compress its plist, then just move the original to the Desktop and restart the app.

Mar 21, 2013 11:09 AM in response to Viztang

I had problems with mdworker32 hogging CPU when I created a backup drive. It really got bad using Time Machine. The problem was solved when I added the backup drive to the privacy list under Spotlight preferences.

mdworker32 takes up 97% of CPU all the time?