Constant high CPU after Security Update today

Thanks Greg... this one worked... it was like my windows system for two days now ...

whew I can breathe again 🙂

MRT is Malware Removal Tool right ?? ... so should I install anything to

stay protected .. anyone?? or am I fine?

Thx

> MRT is Malware Removal Tool right ?? ... so should I install anything to

> stay protected .. anyone?? or am I fine?

Yes, that's what MRT means but works only one time when you install the update. Sound like perhaps it did not work for you, so you might want to do a manual check if you suspect you may have installed something.

The other components that were included in the update should now protect you against future issues, such as this, but only if you chose to keep your Safe Downloads database up-to-date.

References to Apple documentation of all this has been cited earlier in this thread.

Thanks for the solution, Greg and MadMacs0 !!!!

FWIW I have Sophos running,

I suffered from CPU spikes caused by MRT

Applied the disk verify and permissions repair guidelines from R C-R

Problem persisted

I think there is a conflict between whatever is on my system (incl MS Office and Entourage) and this MRT thingy

dirk

Model Name: MacBook Pro

Model Identifier: MacBookPro5,3

Memory: 4 GB

System Version: Mac OS X 10.6.7 (10J869)

Kernel Version: Darwin 10.7.0

This is interesting as I had almost immediate issues with MS Office 2008 and was not able to open Word and other apps complained. I ran an updater for Office and this seemed to fix those issues but the MRT problem persisted until I applied Greg's fix above.

Thanks for the summary Greg.

For the thread, my machine details are:

Model Name: MacBook Pro

Model Identifier: MacBookPro6,2

Processor Name: Intel Core i5

Processor Speed: 2.53 GHz

Number Of Processors: 1

Total Number Of Cores: 2

L2 Cache (per core): 256 KB

L3 Cache: 3 MB

Memory: 8 GB

MRT constantly respawning (two hours of high - 98-100% cpu ).

Poor poor update from apple.

If I wanted to spend my time debugging updates, I would go back to a crappy windows machine.

What about people (my old mum) who just use their MBP... They stand no chance of sorting this one out

I applied this fix (thanks Greg!!) a week or two ago after MRT just about "melted down" ;-) my macbook pro following the security update. Things were working fine until...

OSX update to 10.6.8 last night. Now MRT is back in full-effect constantly restarting and running like crazy. The CPU utilization is regularly at 99-100% for that process (I love how the top & Activity Monitor show 200% for your total utilization...kinda like saying the processor is 200 proof I guess).

Anyway, I'm going to try to fix permissions again first to see if that resolves it, but if not, I'm back to using the fix Greg recommended above again. And, potentially, EVERY TIME APPLE RELEASES A NEW OS UPDATE.

Seriously, there's got to be a root cause here that can be addressed. Any suggestions? Please don't say reinstall Mac OSX. Fine, I can do that, but seriously, people make fun of Windows because everyone's always telling you to "reboot" to fix issues, but you're going to tell me to reinstall Mac OS and that's "really no big deal."

Please. </end rant>

Yeah, that was of no use. Applying the fix Greg recommended. Again. 😕

mlsommer wrote:

Seriously, there's got to be a root cause here that can be addressed. Any suggestions? Please don't say reinstall Mac OSX. Fine, I can do that, but seriously, people make fun of Windows because everyone's always telling you to "reboot" to fix issues, but you're going to tell me to reinstall Mac OS and that's "really no big deal."

Please. </end rant>

I think the problem was that we focused Apple on the continuing problems of the XProtect process not updating as it should. The MRT issue was short lived and may have involved fewer users, so it didn't get the attention it should have. I think the only way it will get the focus it deserves is if those of you who experience the problem and still have AppleCare support give them a call and get it on the books. If everybody simply follows the quick fix laid out by Greg and others, the problem will probably follow you all with every update.

New Update - I just installed the OS X 10.6.8 update today which once again created the MRT process (Malware Removal Tool). I watched it for 15 minutes to see what it would do on a fresh restart with no other programs running. I have a MacBook Pro, 2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4 GB DDR3 memory.

The MRT process consumed from 0.1% to 99.9% of CPU, fluctuating broadly within that range with every refresh. I waited to see if it would settle down like the old Windows Security updates would do after a few minutes, but to no avail. I tried running a few other programs simultaneously to see if it would be pushed to the background, but it would not.

MRT ran with High Priority (Root, Intel 64 Bit Process), interfering with system performance utilizing:

• 0.1%-99.9% CPU
• 100MB-300MB Real Memory
• 2 Threads
• 30 Ports

I performed the following two commands to unload and delete the process ...

Open Utilities/Terminal, run the command to unload the process:

• sudo launchctl unload /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.mrt.plist
• copy and paste that command, enter your password, wait about 10 seconds

Open Finder, select the file and Move to Trash:

• /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.mrt.plist
• enter your password to complete the removal

Restart.

All worked and was back to normal after the restart. Like many other recent Windows converts to Apple, this issue reminded me all too much of what I left behind and I hope that it is not a precursor of what's to come from OS X 'Security' updates.

Greg

Greg's fix worked for me as well. It seems odd that we have to delete a security update process in order to keep the CPU from being overrun. I took my MBP into Apple and they claimed it was not a known issue. Isn't the Apple logo at the top of this page?? 🙂

Do we know definitively what is "causing" this issue. We all seem very good at identifying the symptom, has anyone figured out the actual root cause?

ChrisConnelly wrote:

Greg's fix worked for me as well. It seems odd that we have to delete a security update process in order to keep the CPU from being overrun.

And that's an important point. Although this process deletes itself after completion, I don't think any of us knows whether it had finished or even started to accomplish what it was designed to do.

I took my MBP into Apple and they claimed it was not a known issue. Isn't the Apple logo at the top of this page?? 🙂

Do we know definitively what is "causing" this issue. We all seem very good at identifying the symptom, has anyone figured out the actual root cause?

Good for you on taking it to Apple. I've been encouraging folks to do that. I think the problem has been that the fix came too fast and was too easy, so nobody bothered to take the problem to Apple over the phone or in the store. Perhaps it was because their AppleCare had expired, or because we all focused on other issues with the update or just had better things to do after it was fixed.

FYI, Apple provides us with this forum, but it's run by the user community. Apple does drop in periodically to monitor, but reporting it here is not the official way they do business. Users start here: http://www.apple.com/support/contact/.

I have not read here or elsewhere of even a theory on the cause. Again, I think we jumped on the cure and moved on to what were to each of us bigger issues. The danger, of course, is that the MRT process did not accomplish what it was designed to do and leaves the user with malware on his computer that he believes has been taken care of. There are also probably users out there who are having this problem, are unaware of this forum and wonder why their fans are running so high.

Whatever is triggering this for some and not others, I have two MBP's that updated fine with no fan issues. It would be nice if we could tie it to something specific. Your right, if the process doesn't complete as it should, the user could be at risk...

Same problem here.

Clean permissions scan and a clean disk verify scan.

I have to manually remove MRT each time I reboot.

MRT != Malware Removal Tool

MRT == Malware REPLACEMENT tool.

:-)

I have no malware on my machine, so apple kindly provided me some. MRT.

sspooner wrote:

I have to manually remove MRT each time I reboot.

Well, this is something I've not heard before. Please tell us exactly what you removed and from where and did you empty the trash afterward? I don't see how it could be recreating itself without reinstalling the update.

Ah, when I say "remove" I mean remove from the current running processes, not remove the the actual file from disk.