Level 1

5 points

Kernal_task taking up over 250% of CPU usage, making my iMac incredibly slow - How do you fix this problem?

This problem has been plaguing me for months. I'll be using my iMac to do normal tasks on the web, when it will suddenly start moving SOOOOOO SLOOOOOOOOOOW, causing an incredible lag in typing, and most websites (ie youtube) will be so slow to the point that it's useless!

I go to the activity monitor to find that kernal_task is using over 250% of the CPU, but I've seen it hit as high as 2932% (honestly, that's not a typo! almost 3000%!) as I type this out.

I've used Clean My Mac to properly uninstall all unused apps, programs, artefacts, etc that I'm not using, but this doesn't work. The only solution is to shutdown my mac, but what's the point if I restart it only to have to do it again literally 10 mins after restart?

Here are my stats:

iMac (27 in, Late 2013)

OS - Catalina v 10.15.2

CPU 3.2 GHz Quad Core intel Core i5

RAM - 24 GB 1600 MHz DDR3 (according to CMM, there's usually at least 13 GB of RAM available)

HDD - 1 TB, with about 450 GB free atm.

Is there anyone out there who can offer a fix for this problem? I see people from many years ago having this problem, but there never seems to be any solution given by anyone (other than people replying "I've got that problem too", which doesn't help at all). I've got rid of all my junk files/apps/programs and RAM shouldn't be a problem, but still, such a slow machine.

Anyone?

iMac 27", macOS 10.15

Posted on Apr 11, 2020 4:22 AM

Similar questions

28 replies

DiverDoug70 Author

Level 1

5 points

Apr 11, 2020 4:08 PM in response to BDAqua

Report from EtreCheck

My last reply didn't seem to go through, but here's the latest EC when the kernal_task issue became noticeable.

Thanks for your help, BDAqua.

Why is CMM the problem here? The issues started before I installed CMM, which is why I purchased CMM, hoping that it would solve the problem. Much appreciated for your help (and everyone else's!)

DiverDoug70 Author

Level 1

5 points

Apr 11, 2020 4:41 PM in response to BDAqua

Is there anyone here who can answer the question that I've posed regarding CMM? I don't know how many times I have to repeat it, but the problem started before I installed CMM, which is why I purchased it in the first place. People are telling me to get rid of it, but are not telling me why doing so would solve the problem

Why would uninstalling CMM solve the problem if the problem existed before I got CMM?

Apr 12, 2020 4:14 AM in response to DiverDoug70

Diver Doug — Your question is, “Why would uninstalling CMM solve the problem if the problem existed before I got CMM?“

CMM perhaps solved the original issue, but has also caused its own set of issues, with similar symptoms.

DiverDoug70 Author

Level 1

5 points

Apr 11, 2020 4:48 AM in response to Lexiepex

Thanks for your reply, but Clean My Mac is not the issue, as the kernal_task issue was happening long before I installed CMM. Nothing really changed after the installation

DiverDoug70 Author

Level 1

5 points

Apr 11, 2020 5:04 AM in response to den.thed

Thanks for your reply, but I had already ran EtreCheck in the past and posted the results here and nothing improved because of it.

I'll run another test and post it here.

BDAqua

Level 10

251,131 points

Apr 11, 2020 7:26 AM in response to DiverDoug70

Report not showing here, as for pics...

Lexiepex

Level 6

14,118 points

Apr 11, 2020 7:43 AM in response to DiverDoug70

" ran EtreCheck in the past and posted the results here and nothing improved because of it."

Etrecheck is not a repair unit, but it can help to find the issues.

DiverDoug70 Author

Level 1

5 points

Apr 11, 2020 2:05 PM in response to SeaPapp

The report is posted as extra text from a few posts ago (see screengrab).

I'll take a photo using my mobile phone of the etrecheck report that shows the HDD issue

DiverDoug70 Author

Level 1

5 points

Apr 11, 2020 2:41 PM in response to Old Toad

Report from EtreCheck

Ok, I did it again. Does this work now?I'm updating EC now, but of course, the problem isn't there as I run this now...

BDAqua

Level 10

251,131 points

Apr 11, 2020 2:43 PM in response to DiverDoug70

Report is blank here.

DiverDoug70 Author

Level 1

5 points

Apr 11, 2020 2:49 PM in response to BDAqua

ok, thanks for that.

How's this? It's from the upgraded version, but you can see form the report that I'm using less than 50% of my Mac 1 TB HDD, but it says that it is critically low?

Report from EtreCheck

DiverDoug70 Author

Level 1

5 points

Apr 11, 2020 4:22 PM in response to BDAqua

Ok, I did that, restarted the computer, and within 5 mins, it started doing the same thing.

kernal_task went up to about 500%, but then steadied at around 250%

BDAqua

Level 10

251,131 points

Apr 11, 2020 6:22 PM in response to DiverDoug70

Don't uninstall it, don't worry about it then.

This thread has been closed by the system or the community team. You may vote for any posts you find helpful, or search the Community for additional answers.

Kernal_task taking up over 250% of CPU usage, making my iMac incredibly slow - How do you fix this problem?