Mouzy

Q: High kernel_task Memory Usage on MBP mid 2012 after 10.8.3 upgrade

Hi! i have a MBP Mid 2012 (4gb ram/500gb HD) and till yesterday everything was smooth. After i upgraded from ML 10.8.2 to ML 10.8.3 i saw a huge difference in kernel_task RAM Usage... before the upgrade it was around 400-500mb but now it went up to 750(at startup) and it can go up to 900mb... when i launch the MBP on Safe Mode the kernel_task is using 280-300mb... anyone having the same problem? or having a solution about that? ty

MacBook Pro, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.3)

Posted on Mar 15, 2013 9:30 AM

Close

Q: High kernel_task Memory Usage on MBP mid 2012 after 10.8.3 upgrade

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

Previous Page 2 of 3 last Next
  • by Lexiepex,

    Lexiepex Lexiepex Mar 17, 2013 5:13 AM in response to Mouzy
    Level 6 (10,536 points)
    Mac OS X
    Mar 17, 2013 5:13 AM in response to Mouzy

    To all:

    For ML 10.8.3 a memory usage of 900 or more is quite normal, you'll see also that the CPU% is quite low. See my above post

  • by mantheybln,

    mantheybln mantheybln Mar 17, 2013 10:40 AM in response to mantheybln
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 17, 2013 10:40 AM in response to mantheybln

    mantheybln wrote:

     

    I'm having this problem as well on my MBPr 15,4 , 256 GB SSD and 8GB of RAM.

    kernel_task shows 1.11 to 1.2 GB of memory consumption.

     

    On my macbook unibody late 2008 (256GB SSD / 8GB RAM) with 10.8.2 the kernel_task shows only around 400MB.

     

    Both macbooks have the similar configuration and installed tools.

    After the update of my macbook unibody late 2008 from 10.8.2 the kernel_task shows around 600 MB of consumption instead of around 400 MB.

    I'm not sure how to detect 3rd party kernel extension, but the kextstat tool shows only "com.apple".. modules.

     

    I guess the difference 600MB -> 1.2GB to the MBPr is caused by different kernel modules for different hardware.

  • by Lexiepex,

    Lexiepex Lexiepex Mar 17, 2013 11:23 AM in response to Mouzy
    Level 6 (10,536 points)
    Mac OS X
    Mar 17, 2013 11:23 AM in response to Mouzy

    did you count Safari webcontent and Kernel together in the older OS versions? And did you do this in 10.8.3 also? What differences do you get?

  • by blerim1,

    blerim1 blerim1 Mar 17, 2013 11:33 AM in response to Lexiepex
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 17, 2013 11:33 AM in response to Lexiepex

    Memory normal yes, but kernel_task 900 , 1 gb i think is so much from old version 10.8.2 have 400 max 600 mb, and in Macbook pro 13 inch Battery is less , and heats up quickly , this is not normal apple developers must be fixed the problems

  • by Lexiepex,

    Lexiepex Lexiepex Mar 17, 2013 11:38 AM in response to blerim1
    Level 6 (10,536 points)
    Mac OS X
    Mar 17, 2013 11:38 AM in response to blerim1

    in old it was more than 1GB for Safari and Kernel together, that has not changed very much: OS AND Safari have been changed in this new update.

  • by blerim1,

    blerim1 blerim1 Mar 17, 2013 12:18 PM in response to Lexiepex
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 17, 2013 12:18 PM in response to Lexiepex

    This is likely to come from Intel HD Graphics 4000 512 MB . 400 + 512 = 912, Is it possible to be stored in RAM. but it is possible again to return kernel_task to 400, 600 mb But here should help Apple developers.

     


    Screen Shot 2013-03-17 at 7.55.58 PM.png

  • by danielfromemerald hills,

    danielfromemerald hills danielfromemerald hills Mar 18, 2013 2:27 PM in response to Mouzy
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 18, 2013 2:27 PM in response to Mouzy

    I had this on my MBP mid-2010 8GB. Also observed >50% System CPU utilization.

     

    I restarted while holding the shift key down. Looked as though the firmware was being updated (progress bar on grey apple start-up screen.

     

    Once this occurred, upon reboot, the problem was gone.

     

    I suspect a firmware update failed to install during the 10.8.3 install.

     

    Hope this helps(tm)!

     

    Dan.

  • by Mouzy,

    Mouzy Mouzy Mar 19, 2013 3:25 AM in response to danielfromemerald hills
    Level 1 (1 points)
    Mar 19, 2013 3:25 AM in response to danielfromemerald hills

    What you did , was just enteeing safe mode. If you restart your mac , the problem will be back..:/

  • by danielfromemerald hills,

    danielfromemerald hills danielfromemerald hills Mar 19, 2013 9:00 AM in response to Mouzy
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 19, 2013 9:00 AM in response to Mouzy

    Hmmm... I may have indeed just started in safe mode. However, rebooting without holding the shift-key down does not cause the problem to return.

  • by Attilas,

    Attilas Attilas Mar 19, 2013 7:47 PM in response to Mouzy
    Level 1 (45 points)
    Mar 19, 2013 7:47 PM in response to Mouzy

    Have a Macbook Air with 8 gig ram. After upgrade to 10.8.3 i noticed 1.2Gig kernel_task then found this task. Nothing installed since a while, only the OS update +Xcode update for me.

  • by rikb2,

    rikb2 rikb2 Mar 27, 2013 3:01 PM in response to Mouzy
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 27, 2013 3:01 PM in response to Mouzy

    i'm also bumping into this thread as someone now using 10.8 for the first time on a new 8 Gig MBP.   my kernel task reliably uses > 1G and so i'm wondering what that's about.  i got a good deal on the just ( ! )  8 gig MBP, and the only extension i have are:

    - MenuMeters

    - Flash

    - TeXdistribution

     

    could any of these be the issue?  else, if MacOS is now taking > 1 G for system, it's seeming even more like Microsoft.

  • by bheiser1,

    bheiser1 bheiser1 Apr 9, 2013 9:06 PM in response to Mouzy
    Level 1 (74 points)
    Apr 9, 2013 9:06 PM in response to Mouzy

    Well how about this ... 2.57 GB for the kernel_task.  Safari/webcontent etc are listed separately.  This is on an early 2013 rMBP (10,1) running 10.8.3.

  • by chifromhong kong,

    chifromhong kong chifromhong kong Apr 11, 2013 6:59 PM in response to Mouzy
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 11, 2013 6:59 PM in response to Mouzy

    MBPr 15", 8G Ram. After 1.8.3. kernel_task used up 1.19GB. The worst part is that wired memory, 5.3G?  The usage of the wired memory seems never went down, and when it used up ~ 7G, it will hang my macbook.  Never happen before the update and I didn't install any new software after the OS update.

    Screen Shot 2013-04-12 at 9.53.10 AM.png

  • by felipetrovador,

    felipetrovador felipetrovador Sep 22, 2013 10:12 AM in response to chifromhong kong
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 22, 2013 10:12 AM in response to chifromhong kong

    Pals, I think the explanation is:

     

    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3246#intel4000

     

    Intel HD graphocs 4000 consumes up to 768Mb from RAM...

     

    Hope that helps...

  • by descobarpicasso,

    descobarpicasso descobarpicasso Nov 14, 2013 7:24 AM in response to Mouzy
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 14, 2013 7:24 AM in response to Mouzy

    I have a macbook pro early 2011(13-inch) with the last OSX(Mavericks). My Activity Monitor shows 372.6Mb max on kernel_task activity, but my system starts slow(above 3min or more) and in some moments it becomes unuseful and very laggy, I don't know why. I'm start believing it's something with the HDD but what if I replace it and the problem is still there...

Previous Page 2 of 3 last Next