SystemUIServer problem?

Well, this was a very LOW TECH solution for me. But it seems to be related to TIME MACHINE. My Solution was to UNPLUG the external drives (from my FW800 port) and once the machine went to sleep the FANS stopped turning like crazy.

I too am also experiencing SystemUIServer going 100% CPU in all cores. I have only started having this problem with Moutain Lion upgrade. I've tried turning off menu items, deleting the SystemUIServer.plist but nothing is working.

I am also experiencing this problem - its got nothing to do with time machine. i think it has something to do with fact i upgraded from lion server to mount lion (non server). killing systemuiserver is a temp fix but it comes back.

OK, so I haven't had the problme now for weeks and can reproduce it as well. For me it was displaying certain icons in the menu bar, the WiFi and TimeMachine ones seem to be the major culprits.

Go to settings and turn off display of these and there is no more out of control SystemUIServer process. 100% fix for me and as soon as Iput them back, it starts again.

Other icons that change regularly, like the clock display, are no problem, so it's not obvious that it is rapidly changing icons that are the issue. Anyway, it's fixed for me although it is really annoying that I can't easily access WiFi settings as I do move from office to office a lot.

Just some other thoughts as I read through this...

System Server is a background process that specifically controls the right hand side of the menu bar where those menu extras are.

It also handles application launch after inserting CD or DVD and handles external devices. A bad external device will cause the system server to hang, often unplugging the device will unhang systemuiserver. So you may want to check that too.

To be more through if you want to try deleting the preference again, this time with the addition of the items in ByHost folder, it may work.

Go to your Finder "Go" menu hold the option key to choose "Library". Then go to the Preferences folder and find and delete com.apple.systemuiserver.plist. Then go to the By Host folder also inside your Preferences folder also and delete com.apple.systemuiserver.plist (also any with numbers). Then log out and back in, or restart.

The thing here is that so many of you are experriencing it on MBP and MBA (any desktops?) that I can see, that it does seem like a bug. After all, you certainly shouldn't need to take default Apple menu extras off the menubar for it to function properly. But the fact that it's happening on some MBPs and not others, is curious. My bet would be on a third party menu extra or Login Item being the culprit rather than a bug.

This is happening on my Mac Pro. I suspect because I moved from lion sever to mountain lion standar. Ie did not take the next step and install mountain lion server.

Just to be clear. Am on a desktop.

OK, I amend that... "on some Macs but not others".

@ macjack - I tried what you said, I'l report back. Thank you.

Hey guys -

So I just had my *** handed to me by this one.. A tech ran an unapproved update to 10.8.2 ....

Here's how I fixed it...

sudo rm -rf /System/Library/CoreServices/Menu\ Extras/TimeMachine.menu

TimeMachine.menu was killing systemUIServer - remove it.....

<Edited By Host>

I'm having the same problem on my MBP late 2009, Intel processor and 4GB memory -- reinitialized with Mountain Lion fresh installed from scratch. SystemUIServe consuming all %CPU and a lot of Real Memory, and the fans going crazy.

Now like macjack said, SystemUIServer also handles external drives, "a bad external device will cause the system server to hang and unplugging the device will unhang systemuiserver". That's exactly what happens to me. As soon as I unplug my external drive (a 1TB Western Digital connected through firewire) SystemUIServer immediately drops to the last positions in CPU and Memory usage, and the fans calm down.

Mine is definitely not a "bad" external drive though, because I've been using it with no problems for a couple of years on the same MBP with Snow Leopard (until I passed from Snow Leopard to Mountain Lion on that MPB). So the problem is with Mountain Lion. For now I just unplug the external drive when I don't need it and I don't want the machine to go crazy.

Hey guys, I have been working with a Senior Advisor from AppleCare on this issue. Recently, my advisor had me use an Apple Capture Data application to record the problems I'm having with SystemUIServer. My advisor is going to give the recording to Apple Engineers to see if they can figure out what in the world is going on with SystemUIServer.

I have observed and recorded this process using 90-100% of my CPU, return to 0.1%, then go back up in about 30 second intervals. I have a 27" Mid 2011 iMac with a 2.7 gHz processor and 12 gigs of RAM. I have a WD 1TB drive always connected via USB for Time Machine backups.

I will let you know if this issue is solved. Thanks!

Jaydon

Same problem running 10.8.2 on Mid-2009 3.06Ghz Macbook Pro, with 8Gb RAM.

Similar behaviour in terms of blank screens on waking after sleep, and CPU running at >90%. Doesn't seem to matter whether or not the Macbook's connected to a Timemachine disk, i.e. same behaviour when the disk isn't connected at all. I've removed the Time Machine menu item, and so far so good, i.e. within 2-mins the SystemUIServer process had returned to 0.1% CPU. Will keep you posted.

I have the same issue as well. 2009 MB w/ 4GB RAM, 2.4 Ghz Core 2 Duo. Upgraded to M. Lion from Lion. The SystemUIServer consistently spikes high on the CPU when I wake the laptop up and eventually settles down, only spiking high once in a frequent while when in use.

Where do you go to uncheck those items. I'm having the same problem. I went to activity monitor and stopped the SystemUIServer and that worked, but I don't want to have to keep doing that. I also use time machine and notice the freeze after the system goes to sleep. I have a 2007 iMac.