iCloud Photos using considerable cpu

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iCloud Photos using considerable cpu

All of a sudden, around 2 weeks ago, my Macbook Pro 15" (late 2008 model) started to run really really slow.

After the usual shut down and restart it continued to run slowly so i dived into Activity Monitor and imeadiately found that the processes "iCloud Photos" and "icbaccountsd" were using the majority of avalilble cpu. Im talking 89-98%.

I went into system preferences and turned off Photos in iCloud and that has stopped the cpu consumption.

Any ideas of why this would happen and how i rectify it? I would like to turn iCloud Photos back on at some stage.

Im running 10.9.2 with 8GB of ram.

Cheers for your ears.

OS X Mavericks (10.9.2)

Posted on Apr 16, 2014 9:49 PM

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Answer 1

Old Toad

Level 10

207,733 points

Apr 17, 2014 10:46 AM in response to bitbumpy

Do you have iPhoto's iCloud preference pane set to upload all new photos to the library to iCloud?

That could be taking up resources uploading to the My Photo Stream.

OT

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Answer 2

bitbumpy Author

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Apr 18, 2014 12:05 AM in response to Old Toad

Hi Toad,

I do have this enabled but I have always had this enabled. (I've used icloud since it was introduced how ever many years ago) Why would this be causing problems now?

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Answer 3

léonie

Level 10

195,113 points

Apr 18, 2014 12:17 AM in response to bitbumpy

Why would this be causing problems now?

There may be one corrupted video or image file in your photo stream, that cannot be processed and causing the photo stream agent trying over and over again to process the items.

You could try, if removing the contents of the Photo Stream from your User library to a backup folder will help: "My Photo Stream" is buffered in this folder in your User Library:

~/Library/Application Support/iLifeAssetManagement/assets/sub/

You user library may still be hidden, as is the default in Mavericks: To open your hidden user library:

Select the "Home" folder icon (the little house) in the Finder's sidebar and press the key combination ⌘J to open the "view options".

Enable "Show Library Folder".

Then open the Home folder and open the Library folder inside and navigate to ~/Library/Preferences

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Answer 4

bitbumpy Author

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May 7, 2014 9:59 PM in response to léonie

Hi léonie,

There were files in this folder and I have removed them but the problem persists.

Any other suggestions?

Cheers for your ears.

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Answer 5

léonie

Level 10

195,113 points

May 7, 2014 10:25 PM in response to bitbumpy

hmmmmm - your original post mentions two processes that are hogging the CPU time

that the processes "iCloud Photos" and "icbaccountsd" were using the majority of avalilble cpu.

Have you checked in the Console window for diagnostic messages? Are there error messages relating to icbaccountsd? This problem can also be caused by trouble with account settings or your keychain, accounts settings, but also by the PhotoStream being unable to import to your iPhoto Library. Have you moved your iPhoto library to a different drive?

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Answer 6

bitbumpy Author

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May 7, 2014 11:06 PM in response to léonie

Have you moved your iPhoto library to a different drive?

No. iPhoto library hasn't been moved.

Have you checked in the Console window for diagnostic messages? Are there error messages relating to icbaccountsd?

Console window has some errors relating to icbaccountsd but i wouldn't have a clue what they mean... But im guessing this is a problem...?

8/05/2014 4:04:38.910 pm PhotoStreamAgent[837]: <MSASServerSideModel: 0x7fc810596750>: 4611: SQL operation failed: database disk image is malformed

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Answer 7

bitbumpy Author

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May 7, 2014 11:29 PM in response to bitbumpy

There is also this:

8/05/2014 4:13:29.000 pm kernel[0]: Sandbox: mdworker(893) deny file-read-data /Users/bitbumpy/Library/Application Support/SyncServices/Local/Contents/PkgInfo

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Answer 8

léonie

Level 10

195,113 points

May 7, 2014 11:30 PM in response to bitbumpy

But im guessing this is a problem...?

Photo stream agent has a problem, yes. But I am not sure, which SQL database this is referring to. It could be a permissions problem or corrupted file in your User Library, or the SQL database files in your iPhoto Library. Back up your iPhoto Library and run the iPhoto Library First Aid Tools and rebuild your iPhoto Library. This can take a long time for a large library, so let it run over night.

The procedure is described here by Old Toad:

Rebuild iPhoto Version 11: Old Toad

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5064228?answerId=22114274022#22114274022

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Answer 9

bitbumpy Author

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May 7, 2014 11:34 PM in response to léonie

Thanks. I'll give it a go.

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Answer 10

léonie

Level 10

195,113 points

May 7, 2014 11:54 PM in response to bitbumpy

8/05/2014 4:13:29.000 pm kernel[0]: Sandbox: mdworker(893) deny file-read-data /Users/bitbumpy/Library/Application Support/SyncServices/Local/Contents/PkgInfo

SyncServices/Local is a package, that contains references to the state of your sync, your keychain, etc.

It looks, like this database is corrupted. Quit all applications.

Bring the Finder forward and copy and paste

/Users/bitbumpy/Library/Application Support/

into the Finder's "Go > Go To Folder" field.

Drag the package "Local" to the Trash and restart the system.

But this will reset the state of all your sync services, Contacts, Photo stream, ..

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Answer 11

bitbumpy Author

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May 8, 2014 12:32 AM in response to léonie

If you mean drag the package "Local" from /Users/bitbumpy/Library/Application Support/SyncServices - i have done this, restarted and still the same when i switch Photo Stream on.

I rebuilt the iPhoto library also. No help unfortunately.

What about SyncedPreferences? I see a icbaccountsd.plist in there...? Would that do anything?

Just stabbing in the dark...

Cheers for your ears.

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Answer 12

léonie

Level 10

195,113 points

May 8, 2014 1:29 AM in response to bitbumpy

Anyone?

Just stabbing in the dark...

I would be stabbing in the dark too. I hope, someone else will chime in. I asked for help from the system experts.

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