Activity Monitor - pkd and extreme overheating

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Level 1

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Activity Monitor - pkd and extreme overheating

I have OS X El Capitan Version 10.11, the latest of which I downloaded last night for my 2011 Macbook Air. All other applications are updated as well, except iPhoto 9.6.1, which whenever I press update, sends a pop up saying that it's not available yet. Anyways, every time I open the App Store after all the other updates, which I did as soon as I went on my laptop today to attempt updating iPhoto again, the fans go overboard and my laptop rapidly becomes extremely hot. I opened Activity Monitor and saw that something called "lsd" and "pkd" were at around 130% CPU each. I closed down App Store and the fans eventually slowed, although my laptop's still warm to the touch.

My battery health is dismal and it has the "Replace Now" tag, but it doesn't seem cheap, so I'm hoping to hold out a bit longer. I use a charger from my old white 2008 macbook because the wires frayed in my Mac Air one, surprise surprise Apple, so I'm not sure if there's an incompatibility that contributes to battery health/overheating issues.

I have absolutely no idea how to interpret what goes on in Activity Monitor, so if someone could take a look, it'd be much appreciated. When I just open the App Store, lsd and pkd stay below 100% but if I try to update iPhoto, it shoots up to well over 100% each. I didn't want to overheat my laptop again, so the %CPUs in the screenshot don't represent the extreme overheating stage, but it's always that "lsd" and "pkd" processes. What are they and how do I prevent them from overheating my laptop? Pkd wouldn't force quit for some reason, it eventually just disappeared on its own.

Also App Store takes absolutely forever to load. Not sure if this is normal.

Thanks!

MacBook Air, Version 10.10 OS X Yosemite Beta

Posted on Oct 9, 2015 12:33 PM

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Answer 1

John Galt

Level 10

140,808 points

Oct 9, 2015 6:43 PM in response to dychu15

The first problem may be easy: read Barney-15E's User Tip: Can't Update iPhoto because it is not available in the App Store

(Edit: You may be out of luck, if Apple removed the ability to do that with El Capitan)

As far as the App Store processes go: First try restarting your Mac. If that does not resolve it read below. If that still does not resolve it, write back for additional suggestions.

Follow this procedure to enable the App Store's Debug menu so that you can reset the App Store:

You will need to locate the Terminal app in your Mac's Utilities folder. It looks like this:

Find it by selecting Utilities from the Finder's Go menu.

Open Terminal.

Copy (triple-click to select the entire line) and Paste the following line into the Terminal window, followed by the Return or Enter key:

defaults write com.apple.appstore ShowDebugMenu -bool true

Quit the App Store and re-open it. There will be a new menu in the App Store named "Debug". From that menu first select Clear Cookies, and then Reset Application. Nothing will appear to happen.

Determine if that solves the problem.

You can leave the Debug menu present, but if you want to get rid of it choose the Debug menu > Enable Debug Menu, which will have a check mark adjacent to it. Then, quit the App Store. Next time you launch the App Store the Debug menu will be gone.

My battery health is dismal and it has the "Replace Now" tag,

You really ought not to put that off. "Replace Now" means exactly what it says.

A battery that has exceeded its useful life will cause a number of problems, quite possibly including the one you are experiencing. Neglecting it will eventually allow little problems to grow into big ones. https://www.apple.com/batteries/service-and-recycling/

Your MacBook power adapter is OK to use for now, but you ought to treat your MBA to a new power adapter also.

Read About Mac notebook batteries - Apple Support.

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Answer 2

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,535 points

Oct 9, 2015 8:34 PM in response to dychu15

"lsd" and "pkd" were at around 130% CPU each

In Activity Monitor, please select My Processes from the View menu, if not already selected.

Enter the name of the process in question in the search box on the right in the window's toolbar.

Double-click the process in the list. An inspection window should open. Select the tab Open Files and Ports. Below is a list of files. Copy that text and paste it into a reply.

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Answer 3

dychu15 Author

Level 1

0 points

Oct 9, 2015 9:32 PM in response to Linc Davis

For pkd:

/

/usr/libexec/pkd

/usr/share/icu/icudt55l.dat

/private/var/folders/46/rd1vtw_s70zd78tyc0w_lwlh0000gn/0/com.apple.LaunchService s-134501.csstore

/usr/lib/dyld

/private/var/db/dyld/dyld_shared_cache_x86_64

/dev/null

count=2, state=0x12

There were two LSD processes but one of them didn't have an Open Files and Ports tab.

/

/usr/libexec/lsd

/private/var/db/mds/system/mdsDirectory.db

/System/Library/Frameworks/Security.framework/Versions/A/PlugIns/csparser.bundle /Contents/MacOS/csparser

/private/var/db/mds/messages/se_SecurityMessages

/Library/Keychains/System.keychain

/System/Library/Keychains/SystemRootCertificates.keychain

/usr/share/icu/icudt55l.dat

/private/var/folders/46/rd1vtw_s70zd78tyc0w_lwlh0000gn/0/com.apple.LaunchService s-134501.csstore

/usr/lib/dyld

/private/var/db/dyld/dyld_shared_cache_x86_64

/dev/null

count=2, state=0x12

Opened the App Store and nothing's happening - no overheating, no crazy fans. This definitely happens more than once a week so not sure what's going on now.

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Answer 4

dychu15 Author

Level 1

0 points

Oct 9, 2015 9:34 PM in response to John Galt

When I opened the App Store prior to opening Terminal, my laptop didn't overheat and my fans didn't go into overdrive mode. Still went through with clearing the cookies and resetting the app.

Also, my battery definitely said "Replace Now" and it had poor health, but after my laptop cooled, it went back to "Replace Soon." Definitely taking the laptop to replace the battery soon though and I ordered a new charger.

Thank you!

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Answer 5

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,535 points

Oct 9, 2015 11:02 PM in response to dychu15

Although the problem is not the same, please follow the instructions in this support article to reset the Launch Services database. If you don't already have a current backup, back up all data before proceeding. You may have to log out or restart to see a change.

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Answer 6

oktan

Level 1

9 points

Oct 22, 2016 7:12 AM in response to Linc Davis

Hi and good day Linc,

Similar problem here, a few weeks ago it was the distnoted process, now it's pkd.

So here is the report:

/

/usr/libexec/pkd

/usr/share/icu/icudt55l.dat

/private/var/folders/ls/ybbxznzn42s7lwwdk25wh86w0000gn/0/com.apple.LaunchService s-134501.csstore

/usr/lib/dyld

/private/var/db/dyld/dyld_shared_cache_x86_64h

/dev/null

count=2, state=0x12

- - - - -

Same com.apple.LaunchService s-134501.csstore

only the path is slightl

Path differs, if that matters?

Also system freezes are far too often for it being Macos X.

/

with best regards,

Omar K N

Stockholm, Sweden

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