kernel_task high memory usage

Thank you, Pastor Brew Master!

Uninstalling TeamViewer, LibreOffice and removing of kexts for HP printer helped me too. It seems that problem was in HP printer because reinstalling of TeamViewer and LibreOffice didn't affected memory usage. After all of it I decided to use printer with another computer (OS X, but not Mavericks).

Same problem for me -- kernal_task memory usage consistently >4.7GB leading to maxed out memory and a virtually unusable system.

What I do notice is that this problem only seems to happen when I am running Safari. And I can make the problem go away immediately simply by closing Safari (without rebooting or anything additional). I prefer Safari, but when when I reopen, the problem reoccurs after a few hours.

I rebuilt the Preferences folder as suggested and saw a brief improvement. Then I reset PRAM and also reset the System Management Controller. Now my machine is purring like a kitten again. Hope this helps someone else.

I rebuilt the Preferences folder as suggested in a previous post and saw a brief improvement. Then I reset PRAM and also reset the System Management Controller. Now my machine is purring like a kitten. And the infamous "kernel_task" has NEVER reappeared in Activity Monitor.

Thank you Franco428 for your suggestion, but not help me because all funs works right!

I suppose was a third part software update / malware... it seems solved since last few days. How?

1. EtreCheck find a Malware

2. Some users here suggest me AdwareMedic for a quit clean... reboot

3. IceClean: Cleanup-> Deep System Cleanup -> Remove all files and after Maintenance -> All Tasks and reboot

Kernel_task use less RAM and loading wheel appears less often. That's it...

outtacontext I'm going to suggest you actually start a "New" Post, as this post is rather long, and already marked answered. That will reduce the number of people looking at your issues.

Kernel Extensions: ℹ️

/Applications/Utilities/DiskWarrior.app

[not loaded] com.alsoft.Preview (4.4) [Click for support]

/Users/[redacted]/Library/Application Support/Sparkle/Transmit/Transmit 4.1.7 Update 1/Transmit.app

[not loaded] com.panic.TransmitDisk.transmitdiskfs (3.0.0 - SDK 10.5) [Click for support]

/Users/[redacted]/Library/Services/ToastIt.service/Contents/MacOS

[not loaded] com.roxio.TDIXController (2.0) [Click for support]

/Volumes/External 3/Applications not using/Toast 10 Titanium/Toast Titanium.app

[not loaded] com.roxio.BluRaySupport (1.1.6) [Click for support]

One of these drivers is most likely responsible. kernel extensions can be dynamically loaded, so you should really look when kernel_task is using excessive memory.

Startup Items: ℹ️

CiscoVPN: Path: /System/Library/StartupItems/CiscoVPN

ProTec6: Path: /Library/StartupItems/ProTec6

ProTec6b: Path: /Library/StartupItems/ProTec6b

Startup items are obsolete in OS X Yosemite <--- My note: but I'm not using Yosemite. I'm using 10.9.5

Apple depreciated Startup Items many versions ago. If you are still using these products, you should see if the vendor has newer versions that use Launch daemons or agents to start the service.

[loaded] com.macpaw.CleanMyMac2.Agent.plist [Click for support]

[loaded] com.macpaw.CleanMyMac2Helper.diskSpaceWatcher.plist [Click for support]

[loaded] com.macpaw.CleanMyMac2Helper.scheduledScan.plist [Click for support]

[loaded] com.macpaw.CleanMyMac2Helper.trashWatcher.plist [Click for support]

You do not need a Mac cleaner. They tend to consume system resources and often fight the operating system.

The fact that you have 16GB and 12.22 GB Page-ins in ONLY half a day, means something is throwing away process memory, forcing Mac OS X to page process code back into memory over and over. Does CleanMyMac claim it will give you more free memory? If so it is wearing out your disk and defeating Mac OS X file system caching.

The long term forum contributes have seen Mac cleaners, memory cleaners, anti-malware products cause performance problems, and kernel panics. We do not like them.

My kernel_task was up to 4.7 GB! I uninstalled LogMeIn, and everything resolved. I cannot believe what havoc this created, freezing up all my CC apps and browswers. I had forgotten I even had it, really never used it. So grateful I found this!

For me this solved it:

I no longer use 2 screens

As soon as I plug in a large 2nd screen, my CPU spikes to 400-500% for a mysterious kernal_task.

As soon as I remove it, cpu usage normalizes

Right. The general conclusion from this and other threads on the subject (there are several of them) seems to be that the culprits for this are usually .kexts installed by hardware devices which have outstayed their welcome, but which the Mavericks installer doesn't pick up as incompatible.

The good news is that the remedy is often straightforward once you've identified suspects. However, I guess some care needs to be exercised when removing .kexts, as if you find later that something doesn't work as a result, simply putting them back into the Extensions folder won't necessarily work, as they need to be properly installed. It's also better to uninstall with the proprietary uninstaller rather than simply removing them from the folder, if you can work out where the .kests came from. The problem is that this is often not obvious, as in my case, where finding out would presumably have required going through the tech specs of every hard drive I've ever used. So I just went for it, with no deleterious results so far. But I think I'm right in saying that often devices which need the extensions will reinstall them, and with luck update them in the process. To be on the safe side, checking with the device's website or support might be advisable, though this puts you at the mercy of their willingness to help...

Hello,

I just thought I'd let everyone know what I did to fix the problem. I just went to my User>Library folder. It is normally hidden, so if you go to the Finder "Go" menu and hold down the Option key it will show up in the menu, then select it. In your Library folder just drag out your Preferences folder to your Desktop. Then restart your Mac.

A new Preferences folder will automatically be created by your system when you log in.

You will have to configure your Apple settings. However, once logged in you can drag the files inside your old Preferences folder into your new one making sure NOT to replace the new Apple preference files. Basically, just replace the preferences for all the apps that have not yet had new preferences created by the system. The replace dialog box will give you the option to not replace the files already in the folder.

After I did this I opened my Activity Monitor and the kernal_task was not even showing up in it anymore. Perhaps it will appear again over time? I don't know, but this fixed the issues (at least for now) for me.

I've been struggling with what appears to be some sort of a memory leak after upgrading to Mavericks. After restarting, the OS seemed fine, but it would quickly degrade after that, becoming so slow that I got used to pressing buttons in applications and then watching as the button when down a few seconds later and then up again a few seconds after that. So slooooww!. But, based on this post, I deactivated the auto-logout feature when I close my laptop, then restarted. So far since then (which has only been a day, but still...), things have been fine. Fingers crossed. Thanks for the tip!

I experienced a problem similar to this a few months back. My Virtual ram reached 200+GB, and my kernel_task was using 300% CPU. My iMac would beach ball just by trying to log in; that would last for a few minutes. then because the apple menu was gone and the status menu didn't work I would try to open system preferences, which would cause my Mac to beach ball until I restarted it. I managed to fix this problem by Go>Go to Folder (Shift-Command-G)> type /Library/Preferences

You will see a lot of .plist files. and delete any that say Zero bytes (this means that the file is corrupted, by deleting it you remove the corrupted file which will automatically be replaced by one that is not corrupted) then restart your computer and reset the PRAM, then verify/ disk permissions.

This was able to fix my problem, so I hope this helps.

This solved my problem..

Method 1:

1. Go to About this mac under the apple in the upper left and click on More info

2. Click on system report

3. make a note of what it says after Model Identifier

4. go to your master drive – System -Library – Extensions – IOPlatformPluginFamily.kext -Contents – Plugins – ACPI_SMC_PlatformPlugin.kext – Contents – Resources – find the name from step 3 and move it to a folder that you can find again if needed.

4.1. Open Applications->Utilities->Terminal and type:

cd /System/Library/Extensions/IOPlatformPluginFamily.kext/Contents/PlugIns/ACPI_SMC_PlatformPlugin.kext/Contents/Resources/ ls

*Do you see your Mac Model Identifier listed? If not, move on to Method 2, if so then type the following if your model is Macbook Pro 1,2:

sudo mv MacbookPro1_2.plist ~

5. Restart and you’re done

I disabled the screensaver (System Preferences -> Desktop & Screen saver -> "Start After" menu -> Select "Never") and had no kernel_task high memory or high CPU usage ever since.

Might not work for everyone but it appears to work for me with my MacBook Pro (15-inch, Early 2011 / Yosemite 10.10.3).

My solution:

open terminal.

type:

sudo su

put the password

and then, type:

crontab -e

press "i" to insert and type at bottom of file:

* 3 * * * purge

press "esc" and "wq"

restart our mac.

What it does? After 3 hours, the purge command is executed to clean memory used by system. my kernel_task reduced from 4.75GB to 800MB