Suddenly this morning, a Kernel Task using over 700 MB RAM is slowing down my Mac Pro. Saving in Photoshop gives the wait cursor, and slow progress bars. I have 8 2.8 GHz cores and 10 GB RAM! What is going on? Mountain Lion, in spite of a carefully prepared clean install, has been buggy with numerous glitches. The most annoying Mac OS I can remember since OS 9.
Mac Pro, OS X Mountain Lion, 8 x 2.8 GHz 10 GB RAM, Radeon 4870
Looking around a bit, I see that this issue is not limited to Mountain Lion, and some conjectured it is heat related, so I unhooked everything and blew the dust bunnies out of my CPU. On restart, Kernel Task is still at it.
up ti date on cs5.5/6.x?
upgrade the 4870, it kacks support and you'll find even a lowly 5770 better
10GB may not cut it, 24GB is common for CS
Had alook at www.macperformanceguide.com at all lately?
CS still yses scrat h regardless of how much RAM, don't assign boot drive, and do use multiple drives for every function
My Photoshop is CS5.1. Adobe shows no update for this. The 4870 is a $400 OEM video card upgrade straight from Apple, so I doubt it lacks support, plus this is the first time I have seen this issue, and I've had the Mac over 4 years. 10 GB RAM has always been plenty for the work I do. I have never seen slow Photoshop before today. I do have a blank 100 GB partition for scratch, not on the book disk, or the disk where the Photoshop files are kept.
there is 5.5
so...? OpenGL and now OpenCL suppirt, and people do find benefit.
sure it cist too much and is only 3 yrs old, 4 uf you look when it came out.
you will never know what 8x2GB or more will do.
8 DIMMs ?
you want it to run better or like it dis, maybe you should stay with 10.6.8, just saying.
Frankly, I think it's Mountain Lion. No expensive video cards in my budget right now. I will look into more RAM, cuz I still have a couple slots open. Dumb machine came with only 2 x1 GB chips. I immediately added 4 x 2 GB. It has always kicked butt until today.
Thx to you, I just ordered 4 x 2 GB RAM chips from Data Memory Systems. Now, I am going to have 8 x 2 GB when the order arrives. Talk about an impulse buy!
First, back up all data immediately, as your boot drive may be failing.
Take these steps when you notice the problem.
Step 1
Launch the Activity Monitor application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Activity Monitor in the page that opens.
Select the CPU tab of the Activity Monitor window.
Select All Processes from the menu in the toolbar, if not already selected.
Click the heading of the % CPU column in the process table to sort the entries by CPU usage. You may have to click it twice to get the highest value at the top. What is it, and what is the process? Also post the values for % User, % System, and % Idle at the bottom of the window.
Select the System Memory tab. What values are shown in the bottom part of the window for Page outs and Swap used?
Next, select the Disk Activity tab. What approximate values are shown for Reads in/sec and Writes out/sec?
Step 2
You must be logged in as an administrator to carry out this step.
Launch the Console application in the same way as above. Make sure the title of the Console window is All Messages. If it isn't, select All Messages from the SYSTEM LOG QUERIES menu on the left.
Post the 50 or so most recent messages in the log — the text, please, not a screenshot.
When posting a log extract, be selective. Don't post more than is requested.
PLEASE DO NOT INDISCRIMINATELY DUMP THOUSANDS OF LINES FROM THE LOG INTO A MESSAGE. If you do that, I will not respond.
Important: Some personal information, such as your name, may appear in the log. Edit it out before posting.
Thank you. Here is the information you requested, Linc:
Highest CPU: Changes constantly, and they are all small. Highest is AppleIDAuthAgent at 1.3%
% User: 0.12
% System: 0.25
% Idle: 99.63%
Page outs: 0 bytes
Swap used: 0 bytes
Reads in: 61302
Writes out: 85078
9/10/12 1:02:56.031 PM com.apple.backupd[947]: Starting post-backup thinning
9/10/12 1:03:00.517 PM com.apple.backupd[947]: Deleted /Volumes/Terra/Backups.backupdb/Gary P’s Mac Pro/2012-09-09-121751 (1.8 MB)
9/10/12 1:03:03.641 PM com.apple.backupd[947]: Deleted /Volumes/Terra/Backups.backupdb/Gary P’s Mac Pro/2012-09-09-111757 (2.7 MB)
9/10/12 1:03:03.641 PM com.apple.backupd[947]: Post-back up thinning complete: 2 expired backups removed
9/10/12 1:03:04.088 PM com.apple.backupd[947]: Backup completed successfully.
9/10/12 1:04:42.000 PM kernel[0]: Sandbox: sandboxd(984) deny mach-lookup com.apple.coresymbolicationd
9/10/12 1:04:42.858 PM sandboxd[984]: ([845]) WebProcess(845) deny mach-lookup ATS Query Port 621
9/10/12 1:11:10.045 PM com.apple.backupd-helper[1025]: Not starting scheduled Time Machine backup - less than 10 minutes since last backup completed.
9/10/12 1:11:43.990 PM syncdefaultsd[883]: AOSKit ERROR: XPC CLIENT: Connection [0x7ff47bc15b20] event handler received event with type: [XPC_TYPE_ERROR]. Description: [Connection interrupted]
9/10/12 1:23:48.831 PM 1PasswordAgent[608]: Failed to return databaseID, encryption key is not loaded
9/10/12 1:23:52.082 PM 1PasswordAgent[608]: reloadAllObjects
9/10/12 1:23:52.095 PM 1PasswordAgent[608]: Database (AGHtmlDatabase:file://localhost/Users/garyp/Dropbox/Documents/1Password.agilek eychain/) load time [Cache]: 0.012+0.000 (144 objects)
9/10/12 1:23:55.055 PM 1PasswordAgent[608]: reloadAllObjects
9/10/12 1:23:55.068 PM 1PasswordAgent[608]: Database (AGHtmlDatabase:file://localhost/Users/garyp/Dropbox/Documents/1Password.agilek eychain/) load time [Cache]: 0.012+0.000 (144 objects)
9/10/12 1:24:17.056 PM 1PasswordAgent[608]: reloadAllObjects
9/10/12 1:24:17.068 PM 1PasswordAgent[608]: Database (AGHtmlDatabase:file://localhost/Users/garyp/Dropbox/Documents/1Password.agilek eychain/) load time [Cache]: 0.012+0.000 (144 objects)
9/10/12 1:31:44.000 PM kernel[0]: CODE SIGNING: cs_invalid_page(0x1000): p=1174[GoogleSoftwareUp] clearing CS_VALID
9/10/12 1:33:26.605 PM sandboxd[1189]: ([845]) WebProcess(845) deny mach-lookup ATS Query Port 621
9/10/12 1:33:26.000 PM kernel[0]: Sandbox: sandboxd(1189) deny mach-lookup com.apple.coresymbolicationd
9/10/12 1:33:26.618 PM sandboxd[1189]: ([845]) WebProcess(845) deny mach-lookup ATS Query Port 621
9/10/12 1:34:06.839 PM Safari[672]: CGContextClipToRect: invalid context 0x0
9/10/12 1:34:12.556 PM Safari[672]: CGContextClipToRect: invalid context 0x0
9/10/12 1:40:19.521 PM Safari[672]: CGContextClipToRect: invalid context 0x0
9/10/12 1:40:37.983 PM Safari[672]: CGContextClipToRect: invalid context 0x0
9/10/12 1:52:42.802 PM sandboxd[1333]: ([1332]) mdworker(1332) deny file-read-data /Volumes/Portfolio/Project Files/Bob/Jordan Signs/Sketch Sheet - Proportional Rectangles.psd4161823345303/..namedfork/rsrc (pre-ls-info fstype:hfs fsflag:4809000 flags:240000005E diag:0 uti:com.adobe.photoshop-image plugin:/Library/Spotlight/Image.mdimporter - find suspect file using: sudo mdutil -t 568323)
9/10/12 1:52:42.000 PM kernel[0]: Sandbox: sandboxd(1333) deny mach-lookup com.apple.coresymbolicationd
9/10/12 2:03:07.060 PM helpd[600]: Could not find access page in directory /Applications/SketchBookExpress.app/Contents/Resources/English.lproj/Help
9/10/12 2:03:07.067 PM helpd[600]: Could not find access page in directory /Applications/SketchBookExpress.app/Contents/Resources/English.lproj/Help
9/10/12 2:03:17.074 PM helpd[600]: CFPropertyListCreateFromXMLData(): Old-style plist parser: missing semicolon in dictionary on line 1. Parsing will be abandoned. Break on _CFPropertyListMissingSemicolon to debug.
9/10/12 2:03:17.075 PM helpd[600]: CFPropertyListCreateFromXMLData(): Old-style plist parser: missing semicolon in dictionary on line 1. Parsing will be abandoned. Break on _CFPropertyListMissingSemicolon to debug.
9/10/12 2:03:38.618 PM WindowServer[551]: CGXSetWindowBackgroundBlurRadius: Invalid window 0xffffffff
9/10/12 2:04:04.404 PM lsboxd[639]: @AE relay 4755524c:4755524c
9/10/12 2:06:24.982 PM Dock[579]: no information back from LS about running process
9/10/12 2:06:25.320 PM com.apple.security.pboxd[1423]: Bug: 12B19: liblaunch.dylib + 23849 [224CB010-6CF8-3FC2-885C-6F80330321EB]: 0x25
9/10/12 2:06:25.854 PM WindowServer[551]: _CGXSetWindowHasMainAppearance: Operation on a window 0x15f requiring rights kCGSWindowRightOwner by caller TextEdit
9/10/12 2:06:28.313 PM WindowServer[551]: _CGXSetWindowHasMainAppearance: Operation on a window 0x15f requiring rights kCGSWindowRightOwner by caller TextEdit
9/10/12 2:11:40.205 PM com.apple.backupd[1464]: Starting automatic backup
9/10/12 2:11:40.219 PM com.apple.backupd[1464]: Backing up to: /Volumes/Terra/Backups.backupdb
9/10/12 2:11:41.214 PM com.apple.backupd[1464]: Using file event preflight for Mac Pro
9/10/12 2:11:41.370 PM com.apple.backupd[1464]: Will copy (6.9 MB) from Mac Pro
9/10/12 2:11:41.378 PM com.apple.backupd[1464]: Using file event preflight for Portfolio
9/10/12 2:11:41.378 PM com.apple.backupd[1464]: Will copy (Zero KB) from Portfolio
9/10/12 2:11:41.379 PM com.apple.backupd[1464]: Found 286 files (6.9 MB) needing backup
9/10/12 2:11:41.418 PM com.apple.backupd[1464]: 5.72 GB required (including padding), 193.58 GB available
9/10/12 2:11:56.205 PM com.apple.backupd[1464]: Copied 2908 files (11.2 MB) from volume Mac Pro.
9/10/12 2:11:58.237 PM sandboxd[1470]: ([1469]) mdworker(1469) deny file-read-data /Volumes/Portfolio/Project Files/Bob/Jordan Signs/Sketch Sheet - Proportional Rectangles.psd4161823345303/..namedfork/rsrc (pre-ls-info fstype:hfs fsflag:4809000 flags:200000056 diag:0 uti:com.adobe.photoshop-image plugin:/Library/Spotlight/Image.mdimporter - find suspect file using: sudo mdutil -t 568323)
9/10/12 2:11:58.000 PM kernel[0]: Sandbox: sandboxd(1470) deny mach-lookup com.apple.coresymbolicationd
9/10/12 2:12:00.538 PM com.apple.backupd[1464]: Copied 3024 files (62 MB) from volume Portfolio.
9/10/12 2:12:00.546 PM com.apple.backupd[1464]: Using file event preflight for Mac Pro
9/10/12 2:12:00.550 PM com.apple.backupd[1464]: Will copy (4 KB) from Mac Pro
9/10/12 2:12:00.555 PM com.apple.backupd[1464]: Found 15 files (4 KB) needing backup
9/10/12 2:12:00.555 PM com.apple.backupd[1464]: 5.72 GB required (including padding), 193.52 GB available
9/10/12 2:12:05.063 PM com.apple.backupd[1464]: Copied 670 files (4 KB) from volume Mac Pro.
9/10/12 2:12:07.438 PM com.apple.backupd[1464]: Copied 690 files (4 KB) from volume Portfolio.
9/10/12 2:12:07.761 PM com.apple.backupd[1464]: Created new backup: 2012-09-10-141207
9/10/12 2:12:08.981 PM com.apple.backupd[1464]: Starting post-backup thinning
9/10/12 2:12:12.306 PM com.apple.backupd[1464]: Deleted /Volumes/Terra/Backups.backupdb/Gary P’s Mac Pro/2012-09-09-131753 (5.2 MB)
9/10/12 2:12:12.307 PM com.apple.backupd[1464]: Post-back up thinning complete: 1 expired backups removed
9/10/12 2:12:12.511 PM com.apple.backupd[1464]: Backup completed successfully.
SMC has been reset. Photoshop still being mysteriously slowed down. Now I am thinking it might be only Photoshop that is affected. Kernel Task has reduced RAM, but still going at 500 MB with nothing happening on the computer.
500 MB is a normal memory allocation for kernel_task. Mine is 700 MB right now. If only Photoshop is slow, that's an issue to take up with Adobe tech support.
OK, I have posted the issue on the Adobe Photoshop Forum.
and consider the hardware changes if you want optimize perfirmance.
keeping your drivers and background tasks and widgets to as close to zero lean mean and minimal does matter, esp. for production
macgurus wrote up and crwated a guide and personalized benchmark utility to help access performance, and MPG site has good suggestions, like sweet ram spot of 24GB
macrumors thread on CS5/6 and GTX 570+
I have a very similar issue with the kernal task as the one described by Gary P, however no Photoshop. The issue started very recently, and not being tech savvy, I am concerned.
Is resetting the SMC a standard protocol or should I review other possible options/reasons/fixes?
I am on a imac i5, 14GB RAM with almost half of my disc space available.
Would love any insight/troubleshooting.
thank you!
docpro11-
You would benefit from starting a new thread with a catchy title, to attract users who are familiar with your issue. This thread is really about Photoshop, and you are not running Photoshop.
Be sure to lay out your symptoms in detail not just camp-on someone elses description. Readers will be eager to help you with your specific probelm.
Kernel Task slowing down Everything
