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Java process causing 100%+ cpu load! Grrr!!!

I was wondering if anyone can help me troubleshoot my problem. The problem I'm having is my MacBook Pro will begin to run slower and I'll notice the fan(s) will be running on full blast even when not being used and should be at idle. When I pull up the Activity Monitor, I notice the "java" process is soaking up 100% or more of the CPU. The CPU usage moves around, but on average hovers between 97% and 100% using one or both of the processors. I checked the hard drive and it's ok...minimal disk activity. What I'm really looking for is if anyone knows how I can find out what program is causing java to run that high so that I can either make changes to the program or uninstall it altogether.


First off, the hardware I have: a MacBook Pro 2.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 8GB RAM running Lion OS X v10.7.1 and current with OS X updates. Hard drive space is not a problem with 200GB free space on a 7200RPM SATA 500GB HD.


More details of the issue: I have done a lot within my technical knowledge to try to troubleshoot the issue, but have come up with nothing. It's very frustrating. I won't list every single thing I've done because my post will be longer than it already is so I'm omitting a lot. I first started to notice this problem a few weeks ago and I was running OS X Snow Leopard v10.6 and current on updates. I tried many things to troubleshoot before deciding that it was a good time to format the hard drive and do a fresh install. I also decided to upgrade to OS X Lion. Installed, no problem, and installed updates. Installed needed apps including latest version of java. The same java process eating up the CPU started happening within a day of installing Lion. I first started with the simple task of ending that process. That didn't help because it would start right back up within seconds to minutes. I began uninstalling programs (even the needed programs), one by one, to see if one of them was the culprit. Still the same problem. So I'm running a bare bones, or close to bare bones OS, with this problem occurring.


So here's one of the things I did to dig a little deeper. In terminal, I ran the command "ps -axwwwp "(process id)". The problem java process id varies as it changes each time the process starts back up. In the results displayed, I'll scroll to that java process id and the 'cmd' running or attempting to run is "java -Djava.awt.headless=true -jar /tmp/ics29586". The time that this process is running will vary and I'm not sure when it attempts to restart itself, but currently it's been running for 30:38.80. I'm assuming that's 30 min. In Activity Monitor, I drilled down through all the parent processes of the java process and I'm not able to find out what program is starting this process. Here's the drill down of the parent processes: java (PID varies) --> cron (PID varies) --> cron (21) --> launchd (1) --> kernel task (0). But this doesn't tell me much. I ran a sample of the process but I don't understand it. I've removed all login items and turned off Time Machine backups. So I was thinking that maybe the process was hanging up on a scheduled task since one of the parent processes was the cron. I tried deleting the "ics29586" file out of the /tmp directory after ending the problem java process. That didn't work. It just recreated itself. I checked support on the java website and came up empty-handed. I've googled this issue in all sorts of ways and can't find anything. Nothing changed that I can remember when this issue first started happening...no new programs or updates. Does anyone know how to troubleshoot this further? What is that "ics29586" file and what is java getting hung up on?


Please help! This is slowing me down and I've never had this problem before. Sorry for the long post, but wanted to include as much detail as possible.


Thank you in advance!

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.1), 2.8GHz Core 2 Duo, 8GB RAM, 500GB

Posted on Aug 24, 2011 3:44 PM

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Posted on Sep 3, 2011 11:40 AM

I have the same issues, though more sporadic than yours, it sounds. I have tried removing apps, etc, with no real solution. By the time I want to bring into the Apple Store, the java process calms down and no proof of the process issue. It's very frustrating!!!! 😟

30 replies

Sep 6, 2011 10:32 AM in response to SenorRosales

Todd and slyinthefield, I'm sorry that you both are experiencing the same frustration as I am. I feel your pain. Are you guys also seeing that same "Java" process in Activity Monitor maxing out your processor or is it another process? I'm really hoping someone can help me/us troubleshoot and resolve this. If either of you come across a resolution, please post the it here. I'd like to try to work this out before going to the Apple store.


Update: I have found that I can get the "Java" process to finally stop running without starting back up if I end the process more than 20 times or so. The number of times is an estimation because I lose count after a few times of ending that process. It's difficult to get an accurate count because it takes anywhere from a few seconds to several minutes before the Java process starts back up and can take up to half the day ending the process again and again and again. I'll try to get a more accurate count after a few times of doing this and update this post.


Oh yeah, another thing, there are other java processes that run alongside the problem java process so I don't believe it's an issue with Java. These other java processes start up as Java is needed by the system and appear to function normally with minimal CPU usage.


Also, I didn't mean to mark Todd's reply as a "Correct Answer". I clicked that by mistake when trying to reply. Unfortunately, there's no option to remove it. Nice one Apple (sarcasm)! 🙂

Sep 6, 2011 9:43 PM in response to SenorRosales

Over the last few days I have quit all my toolbar apps and several "background" processes, including CrashPlan (java-based), BetterTypeTool, DropBox, Skitch, and Growl. Planning to restart each app once per day individually (and quit those that were reenabled previous day) to try to narrow this sucker down.


So far I have reenabled CrashPlan and Dropbox on separate days and independent of one another, and didn't see any java craziness (yet).


So frustrating that I have to do this at all. -T

Sep 15, 2011 8:43 AM in response to Todd Campbell

hej all,


This is an informative thread that simply stopped on Sept. 6th. I have nothing to add to the fault checking procedures but note teh stopped thread. Does this mean you have a) found a solution, b) given up or c) gone elsehwere? If option A or c and you inform the rest of us learning from your skillset and efforts?


might it have been a result of a migration upgrade vs a clean and new install of the OS? I have run into that problem in past upgrades..along with permissions issues. and on and on..


Duane

Sep 15, 2011 11:44 AM in response to dtruex

Hi dtruex, sorry for the confusion. This is not a stopped thread. This is still an issue and I haven't found a resolution yet. My reply on Sept. 6th was simply an update to my original post. I am able to stop the problem process, but it is not a resolution. It's just a poor workaround that takes hours to finally get it to stop. The problem reappears when the system is shutdown and restarts.


Please note in my original post that I had formatted the hard drive and performed a clean install of OSX Lion and installed all OSX updates.


So I guess the answer to your question is d) this is still an open issue and actively looking for a solution 🙂


If I do ever find a solution to the problem, I will be sure to post it here for others.


Thanks.

Sep 18, 2011 10:40 PM in response to slyinthefield

@slyinthefield: No, I didn't do a Time Machine restore. I only used the Time Machine backups for the data files in my user folder....documents, music, photos, movies, desktop, etc. I didn't do anything complicated, just a simple drag and drop. After copying my data files, I installed my needed applications one by one. I'm pretty sure I installed Java shortly after the format and fresh install of OSX Lion. That was because one of the applications I installed required Java. Things ran fine for an hour or two after all the needed apps were installed and then the problem started happening.

Sep 18, 2011 11:15 PM in response to SenorRosales

Well, nothing I have needed has required Java yet so CPU is sitting at 97% idle currently.


I found this discussion:


https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2598002


in which Geoff Fitch says:



Found the problem. I found some command line thing to look and what java app was actually being launched, removed it from my system and now have no more problem.


If only he would tell us what the tool was we could all move on with our lives.

Sep 24, 2011 6:30 PM in response to SenorRosales

Java is not a simple program. It is an Operating Environment used by many software Applications. Seeing that it is running does not tell you what started it, or what it is doing.


But you can shut it off:


Java Preferences.app in the Utilities folder.


If you don't want it running, disable it. Then see what is not working any more.

Java process causing 100%+ cpu load! Grrr!!!

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