kernel_task high memory usage

And I as well. After dealing with this since Autum, removed all of my printer .kext files and have been running great ever since.

I have an 2011 iMac with 20gb of memory. Over the last several weeks, I was having my memory drop into the low single digits. I was using the FipLab Memory cleaner to keep it above 4 or 5 gb constantly. My kernel was about 1.25g, largest, but not too bad. I performed the PRAM reset and I am sitting at 12g now. We will see how this holds, and I will update.

I've been reading every online forum about this for a couple months now, and I think the answer is that Mavericks is just very temperamental and I think that there's no one solution. I've been systematically and carefully clearing out old prefs and ext, and (I'm embarrassed to admit this) I have migrated from mac to mac from a G3 to a G4 to my last iMac to the current iMac that I bought in March. I am also embarrassed to admit this, but I found a SCSI driver in my system folder. Obviously, I removed it. And YES I should have done a clean install. I know. However, I always end up having to buy a new Mac under duress when I'm on a deadline, and I always TELL MYSELF I'll go back and wipe and do a complete clean install LATER and later never comes. That's how I ended up with a SCSI driver causing me kernel panics in 2014.

That said, my last iMac was a complete POS that I bought cheap from a friend when my G4 bit the dust and it was supposed to be a lot more temporary than it became. I made the choice to get a new macbook before a new desktop, and then I was holding out for a Mac Pro, but I couldn't stand it anymore. I was running Snow Leopard and it had no ram and a hard drive the size of a pea, and I was running Creative Suite on it. BUT I wasn't getting kernel panics, even with that same SCSI driving lurking around.

I think Mavericks is just very temperamental, and it needs a clean install of everything at the time of the OS upgrade. Everyone who solves this problem seems to have a solution specific to their own Mac that always seems to involve outdated prefs, ext, or drivers from outdated peripherals (Palm Pilots and SCSI devices) or software and former OS. I also pulled a bunch of CS3 and CS4 prefs, and I don't know why they were left behind each time I updated my CS package. When I have time after this current deadline, I'm just gonna back up all my files, wipe my hard drive, and do a clean install of everything. And this time, I'm REALLY going to do it.

1. In Finder use Command + Shift + G: and enter /System/Library/Extensions/IOPlatformPluginFamily.kext/Contents/PlugIns/ACPI_SMC _PlatformPlugin.kext/Contents/Resources

2. Create folder on your desktop called 'Resources backup' or similar (does not matter) and move (not copy, but move) the files from the previous folder to this new one

3. Restart your Mac holding Cmd + Alt + P + R, only release those keys after you hear the startup sound for the second time

4. You should be fine after that, my Mac's back okay and I tried all the previous methods.

Credits go to some guy on YouTube and me for the NVRAM thing (which may have helped too) 😝

Yes, a simple reboot will TEMORARILY solve the problem but it will happen again. I'm having this problem and it seems to have to do with Firefox and/or one of the plugins or extensions. If I keep my computer on overnight when I come back to it in the morning many of the apps have been paused because they ran out of memory. My kernal_task is up to 9GB (I have 16GB total). If I force quit Firefox then the kernal_task goes back to a normal 1GB or so.

So, now I'm trying to figure out why, all of a sudden this is happening. I am on Mavericks 10.9.5. Now I did add an external drive, daisy-chained with Firewire 800 recently.

If I quite Firefox at night, I have no problems in the morning.

Update: It looks like removing the preferences folder and restarting was the answer. kernel_task isn't even showing up in my activity monitor anymore. This was a HUGE pain to deal with.

try downloading batchmod and resetting all the permissions for the activity monitor then restart.... this just worked for me

Bobharris is right! EtreCheck and some unusefull app/plugin uninstall help me to solve... hope you too!

I'm on OS X 10.11.4 beta I removed all .kext from 2012 and older (Mostly HP printer stuff and an old Audio HiJack) Now Kernal_task is running around 500MB from close to 2GB! Thank you HP 😉

Swapping IS the problem, at least in my case. After the upgrade to Maverics my Mac begins to swap far more often than before. And once it gets to that state, the only way to clear out the RAM is to reboot. Even if I close all applications and PURGE the RAM, I can only reopen a few apps before it begins to swap again.

I was noticing the same problem with my MacBook Pro with Retina display Mid 2012, the kernel_task running at in excess of 600 MB, with over 90 threads. The Mac was sluggish which should not happen as it has the 512 SSD, 8 Gb and was just sucking ram.

I had done a software update on my MBR previously and remembering back, it almost seemed like the problem occurred right after the update.

I did the same software update from the App Store today on my 27" iMac late 2013 (Safari v 7.0.6, iTunes v 11.3.1, Epson Printer Software Update v 2.18, Digital Camera RAW compatibility Update v 5.06, Mactracker v 7.3.3, Artboard v 1.9.4, Memory Diag v 1.0.2, Memory Clean V 4.6. Prior to the update, I had no problems at all with the kernel_task problem on the iMac. I have been using the iMac to compare and try to find the solution for the MBP. Guess what started happening after the update, yup kernel_task problem 686 MB of memory, 91 threads, port 0, PID 0, user root. Memory sucking as well.

No problem before, it was not even visible.

I took a look into System/Library/Extensions/IOPlatformPluginFamily/Contents/PlugIns/ACPI_SMC_Plat formPlugin/Contents as has been mentioned in my search for an answer. I do not find my MBP listed, nor my iMac in that plugin list.

I ran the Apple hardware profile. Initialing I had done it with my MBP unplugged from power and got this error 4SNS/1/40000001:IDOR-0.000, but as others had noted it was because it was only powered with the battery. When i re-ran it plugged in, no error was detected. I even tried the bachmod thing to reset Activity Monitor, nothing.

So is the update responsible for this problem?

ThiagoFeitosa wrote:

...

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

Actually, you're running it once every minute, from 3:00 to 3:59... Pretty sure you want a value in the first column.

Quoting crontab(5):

The time and date fields are:

field allowed values

----- --------------

minute 0-59

hour 0-23

day of month 1-31

month 1-12 (or names, see below)

day of week 0-7 (0 or 7 is Sun, or use names)

A field may be an asterisk (*), which always stands for ``first-last''.

I also have an early 2011 (Macbook Pro), and same identical symptoms. Not being

sharp enough to understand most diagnostics including the Activity Panel reports,

but finally asked Google the right question,got to this social Help. I guessed that

the correct Extension to remove was an HP printer (as you suggest) , I removed just

one named hp_Inkjet8_io_enabler.kext, that one only and find that the Activity Panel shows that

problem of computer going super-slow, has apparently cleared. And again after a couple hours,

it also appears that my Super-Slow computer problem has also cured. There is still

so much that I don't understand, but very nice we could solve this problem at home.

Any tips about future vulnerability with my Early 2011 Macbook Pro would of course

be appreciated. I'll be looking for ways to interpret the Activity Panel in future.

What an astonishing process to clear max irritating problem.

i found this discussion https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5497235?start=0&tstart=0 my be a hint - everybody seeing high CPU also has headphones in like me?

chees.kg

Article on CNet explaining it a little better... http://www.cnet.com/news/kerneltask-taking-up-ram-in-os-x/