MacBook Pro having frequent CPU spikes

Question

Level 1

111 points

MacBook Pro having frequent CPU spikes

I have an early 2011 MacBook Pro that is having frequent spikes in CPU use (usually kernel_task). It doesn't seem to be caused by specific software and is cleared by just putting it to sleep for a minute. It is constantly happening, though, and driving me crazy.

I've replaced the battery, replaced the hard-drive (with a SSD), and upgraded the RAM. No change. I'm running El Capitan with a clean install, but the issue happens with a clean install of Yosemite, too.

Apple Hardware Test just reports an error on the battery (4xxx/4/40000005: G "Battery") but I think that's just because it is a 3rd party battery. It's working fine.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

The Sytem CPU otherwise runs at about 1%, but here is an EtreCheck report that was run with the spiked CPU (kernel_task at 623%):

EtreCheck version: 2.6.4 (224)

Report generated 12/12/2015, 12:57 PM

Runtime 13:23

Download EtreCheck from http://etresoft.com/etrecheck

Click the [Click for support] links for help with non-Apple products.

Click the [Click for details] links for more information about that line.

Hardware Information: (What does this mean?)

MacBook Pro (15-inch, Early 2011)

[Click for Technical Specifications]

[Click for User Guide]

MacBook Pro - model: MacBookPro8,2

1 2.3 GHz Intel Core i7 CPU: 4-core

16 GB RAM Upgradeable

[Click for upgrade instructions]

BANK 0/DIMM0

8 GB DDR3 1333 MHz ok

BANK 1/DIMM0

8 GB DDR3 1333 MHz ok

Bluetooth: Old - Handoff/Airdrop2 not supported

Wireless: en1: 802.11 a/b/g/n

Battery: Health = Normal - Cycle count = 5 - SN = W00030C0L77ZC

Video Information: (What does this mean?)

Intel HD Graphics 3000

AMD Radeon HD 6750M - VRAM: 1024 MB

Color LCD 1680 x 1050

LED Cinema Display 2560 x 1440

System Software: (What does this mean?)

OS X El Capitan 10.11.2 (15C50) - Time since boot: about 3 days

Disk Information: (What does this mean?)

Samsung SSD 850 EVO 1TB disk0 : (1 TB) (Solid State - TRIM: No)

EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB

Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted> [Recovery]: 650 MB

SSD (disk1) / : 998.97 GB (774.31 GB free)

Core Storage: disk0s2 999.35 GB Online

MATSHITADVD-R UJ-898 ()

USB Information: (What does this mean?)

Apple Inc. FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)

Apple Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad

Apple Inc. BRCM2070 Hub

Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller

GenesysLogic USB2.0 Hub 2 TB

Western Digital Ext HDD 1021 2 TB

EFI (disk3s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB

Ext Backup (disk3s2) /Volumes/Ext Backup : 2.00 TB (74.61 GB free)

Apple Inc. Keyboard Hub

Apple Inc. Apple Keyboard

Seagate Expansion Desk 4 TB

EFI (disk2s1) <not mounted> : 315 MB

M4TB (disk2s2) /Volumes/M4TB : 4.00 TB (749.55 GB free)

Apple Inc. Apple LED Cinema Display

Apple Inc. Display iSight

Apple Inc. Display Audio

Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver

Thunderbolt Information: (What does this mean?)

Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus

Gatekeeper: (What does this mean?)

Mac App Store and identified developers

Kernel Extensions: (What does this mean?)

/Library/Extensions

[not loaded] com.FTDI.driver.D2XXHelper (1 - SDK 10.11) [Click for support]

/System/Library/Extensions

[not loaded] com.wacom.kext.wacomtablet (6.3.15 - SDK 10.11) [Click for support]

Launch Agents: (What does this mean?)

[running] com.wacom.wacomtablet.plist [Click for support]

Launch Daemons: (What does this mean?)

[running] com.prey.agent.plist [Click for support]

[loaded] com.wacom.displayhelper.plist [Click for support]

User Launch Agents: (What does this mean?)

[loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist [Click for support]

User Login Items: (What does this mean?)

iTunesHelper Application (/Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunesHelper.app)

Dropbox Application (/Applications/Dropbox.app)

Other Apps: (What does this mean?)

[running] com.etresoft.EtreCheck.200992

[running] com.wacom.TabletDriver.179552

[running] com.wacom.WacomTouchDriver.178912

[loaded] fm.last.Scrobbler.168352

[loaded] org.videolan.vlc.182432

Internet Plug-ins: (What does this mean?)

Default Browser: Version: 601 - SDK 10.11

QuickTime Plugin: Version: 7.7.3

WacomTabletPlugin: Version: WacomTabletPlugin 2.1.0.6 - SDK 10.9 [Click for support]

3rd Party Preference Panes: (What does this mean?)

WacomTablet [Click for support]

Time Machine: (What does this mean?)

Time Machine not configured!

Top Processes by CPU: (What does this mean?)

623% kernel_task

20% UserEventAgent(2)

9% WindowServer

0% askpermissiond

Top Processes by Memory: (What does this mean?)

1.12 GB kernel_task

475 MB softwareupdated

410 MB mds_stores

213 MB Console

197 MB Finder

Virtual Memory Information: (What does this mean?)

8.94 GB Free RAM

7.05 GB Used RAM (9.46 GB Cached)

0 B Swap Used

Posted on Dec 11, 2015 6:34 PM

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Answer 1

Dec 11, 2015 6:39 PM in response to Trephination

Trephination wrote:

I have an early 2011 MacBook Pro that is having frequent spikes in CPU use (usually kernel_task). It doesn't seem to be caused by specific software and is cleared by just putting it to sleep for a minute. It is constantly happening, though, and driving me crazy.

Why is it bothering you? How do you know it is happening, other than monitoring the cpu use?

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Answer 2

Trephination Author

Level 1

111 points

Dec 11, 2015 6:48 PM in response to BobTheFisherman

Because the whole system slows to a crawl.

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Answer 3

my ginger

Level 5

4,948 points

Dec 11, 2015 7:13 PM in response to Trephination

You might be having a problem with Dropbox. It has been known to use a lot of the CPU. If you open activity monitor in utilities it might show up. I know that your kernel tasks are high, but that could be that Dropbox is running. http://blog.twicetwice.net/2014/08/08/how-to-fix-dropbox-using-100-cpu-on-os-x/

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Answer 4

Trephination Author

Level 1

111 points

Dec 11, 2015 7:33 PM in response to my ginger

my ginger wrote:

You might be having a problem with Dropbox.

Thanks for the suggestion but I don't think that's it. On the clean install of Yosemite I didn't have Dropbox installed and still had the problem. I've quit Dropbox on Capitan, though, to see if it makes a difference.

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Answer 5

my ginger

Level 5

4,948 points

Dec 11, 2015 7:46 PM in response to Trephination

When you say clean install. Does that mean that you erased the hard drive and installed Yosemite. And without having any personal files on the macbook Pro except for a home folder it ran slow? A clean install is like starting up a brand new Macbook Pro for the first time.

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Answer 6

Trephination Author

Level 1

111 points

Dec 11, 2015 8:02 PM in response to my ginger

my ginger wrote:

When you say clean install. Does that mean that you erased the hard drive and installed Yosemite. And without having any personal files on the macbook Pro except for a home folder it ran slow? A clean install is like starting up a brand new Macbook Pro for the first time.

Yes, exactly. I installed some software so I could actually do something that used some memory and it spiked after a little while. It doesn't seem to be related to specific software, though, as it happens when I've been doing completely different things with different apps running. Not specific to eith Yosemite or El Capitan either, as I've done clean installs of both.

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Answer 7

my ginger

Level 5

4,948 points

Dec 11, 2015 8:09 PM in response to Trephination

Does it do it even if you have no peripherals plugged in?

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Answer 8

Trephination Author

Level 1

111 points

Dec 11, 2015 8:14 PM in response to my ginger

my ginger wrote:

Does it do it even if you have no peripherals plugged in?

I think so but I will try that again to be sure.

Reply

Answer 9

Trephination Author

Level 1

111 points

Dec 11, 2015 8:17 PM in response to Trephination

Just spiked again. Only web browser and iTunes running.

Here's the log messages from Console:

12/12/2015 3:09:05.048 PM appleeventsd[55]: SecTaskLoadEntitlements failed error=22

12/12/2015 3:09:06.119 PM launchservicesd[81]: SecTaskLoadEntitlements failed error=22

12/12/2015 3:09:06.126 PM launchservicesd[81]: SecTaskLoadEntitlements failed error=22

12/12/2015 3:09:18.000 PM syslogd[47]: ASL Sender Statistics

12/12/2015 3:09:18.019 PM navd[10614]: 2015-12-12 15:09:18.019, 10614, a8d0b130, [NAVDaemonLocalProxy]: Location error message: Error Domain=kCLErrorDomain Code=0 "(null)"

12/12/2015 3:09:46.243 PM apsd[80]: MessageTracer: load_domain_prefix_whitelist:120: Missing default whitelist file: /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/CrashReporterSupport.framework/Resources/Subm itDiagInfo.default.domains

12/12/2015 3:09:47.345 PM com.apple.spotlight.IndexAgent[496]: [com.apple.corespotlight.log] Not allowed to pass in bundle ID

12/12/2015 3:09:47.346 PM IMDPersistenceAgent[450]: [com.apple.corespotlight.log.index] Finished "index items"(176) with error:Error Domain=CSIndexErrorDomain Code=-1003 "(null)"

12/12/2015 3:09:47.347 PM IMDPersistenceAgent[450]: [Warning] IMDChatAddMessageToSpotlight: indexing searchable items failed with error Error Domain=CSIndexErrorDomain Code=-1003 "(null)"

12/12/2015 3:09:47.379 PM IMDPersistenceAgent[450]: [Warning] IMDChatAddMessageToSpotlight: indexing searchable items failed with error Error Domain=CSIndexErrorDomain Code=-1003 "(null)"

12/12/2015 3:09:47.446 PM soagent[498]: Can't allocate SOHelper <SOMessageHelper: 0x7f91fb78e490> inside com.apple.soagent

12/12/2015 3:09:47.549 PM com.apple.spotlight.IndexAgent[496]: [com.apple.corespotlight.log] Not allowed to pass in bundle ID

12/12/2015 3:09:47.600 PM IMDPersistenceAgent[450]: [com.apple.corespotlight.log.index] Finished "index items"(178) with error:Error Domain=CSIndexErrorDomain Code=-1003 "(null)"

12/12/2015 3:09:47.601 PM IMDPersistenceAgent[450]: [Warning] IMDChatAddMessageToSpotlight: deleting message for searchable items failed with error Error Domain=CSIndexErrorDomain Code=-1003 "(null)"

12/12/2015 3:09:47.618 PM IMDPersistenceAgent[450]: [Warning] IMDChatAddMessageToSpotlight: deleting message for searchable items failed with error Error Domain=CSIndexErrorDomain Code=-1003 "(null)"

12/12/2015 3:09:48.009 PM apsd[80]: MessageTracer: load_domain_prefix_whitelist:120: Missing default whitelist file: /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/CrashReporterSupport.framework/Resources/Subm itDiagInfo.default.domains

12/12/2015 3:10:03.776 PM apsd[80]: MessageTracer: load_domain_prefix_whitelist:120: Missing default whitelist file: /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/CrashReporterSupport.framework/Resources/Subm itDiagInfo.default.domains

12/12/2015 3:10:47.358 PM apsd[80]: MessageTracer: load_domain_prefix_whitelist:120: Missing default whitelist file: /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/CrashReporterSupport.framework/Resources/Subm itDiagInfo.default.domains

12/12/2015 3:10:50.103 PM apsd[80]: MessageTracer: load_domain_prefix_whitelist:120: Missing default whitelist file: /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/CrashReporterSupport.framework/Resources/Subm itDiagInfo.default.domains

12/12/2015 3:11:01.430 PM apsd[80]: MessageTracer: load_domain_prefix_whitelist:120: Missing default whitelist file: /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/CrashReporterSupport.framework/Resources/Subm itDiagInfo.default.domains

12/12/2015 3:11:02.623 PM com.apple.spotlight.IndexAgent[496]: [com.apple.corespotlight.log] Not allowed to pass in bundle ID

12/12/2015 3:11:02.625 PM IMDPersistenceAgent[450]: [com.apple.corespotlight.log.index] Finished "index items"(180) with error:Error Domain=CSIndexErrorDomain Code=-1003 "(null)"

12/12/2015 3:11:02.640 PM IMDPersistenceAgent[450]: [Warning] IMDChatAddMessageToSpotlight: indexing searchable items failed with error Error Domain=CSIndexErrorDomain Code=-1003 "(null)"

12/12/2015 3:11:02.642 PM IMDPersistenceAgent[450]: [Warning] IMDChatAddMessageToSpotlight: indexing searchable items failed with error Error Domain=CSIndexErrorDomain Code=-1003 "(null)"

12/12/2015 3:11:03.115 PM apsd[80]: MessageTracer: load_domain_prefix_whitelist:120: Missing default whitelist file: /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/CrashReporterSupport.framework/Resources/Subm itDiagInfo.default.domains

12/12/2015 3:11:03.287 PM apsd[80]: MessageTracer: load_domain_prefix_whitelist:120: Missing default whitelist file: /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/CrashReporterSupport.framework/Resources/Subm itDiagInfo.default.domains

12/12/2015 3:11:03.492 PM apsd[80]: MessageTracer: load_domain_prefix_whitelist:120: Missing default whitelist file: /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/CrashReporterSupport.framework/Resources/Subm itDiagInfo.default.domains

12/12/2015 3:11:04.996 PM apsd[80]: MessageTracer: load_domain_prefix_whitelist:120: Missing default whitelist file: /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/CrashReporterSupport.framework/Resources/Subm itDiagInfo.default.domains

12/12/2015 3:11:08.290 PM apsd[80]: MessageTracer: load_domain_prefix_whitelist:120: Missing default whitelist file: /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/CrashReporterSupport.framework/Resources/Subm itDiagInfo.default.domains

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Answer 10

my ginger

Level 5

4,948 points

Dec 12, 2015 12:54 AM in response to Trephination

What I am able to read from your report is that spotlight is running and having trouble indexing some files Try reindexing spotlight. It may be getting stuck on a file. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201716 You can also control the files that are indexed. If there are files that change a lot you might not want them indexed You can do this in the search setting or privacy by adding to it.

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Answer 11

Trephination Author

Level 1

111 points

Dec 12, 2015 12:56 AM in response to my ginger

my ginger wrote:

What I am able to read from your report is that spotlight is running and having trouble indexing some files Try reindexing spotlight. It may be getting stuck on a file. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201716 You can also control the files that are indexed. If there are files that change a lot you might not want them indexed You can do this in the search setting or privacy by adding to it.

Thanks! This might be it. It's certainly caused the CPU spike with the kernel_task. I'll let it run and see what happens. Am I better off doing it in sections to try and determine which files are problematic, or just let it do the whole thing?

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Answer 12

my ginger

Level 5

4,948 points

Dec 12, 2015 9:12 AM in response to Trephination

You know, I can't answer that, As I have never tried it. Normally, you reindex the whole drive. Here's an article about spotlight hanging at a file. http://www.tequilafish.com/2014/11/13/spotlight-hung-on-os-x-yosemite-with-100-c pu-us Kernel task is the various parts of the operating system. You can also see it spotlight is whats using cpu by checking in the activity monitor the MDS root-MD worker Root-MD worker user name.

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Answer 13

Trephination Author

Level 1

111 points

Dec 12, 2015 5:06 PM in response to my ginger

Well, that's not it. It indexed the whole drive (no peripherals plugged in) and CPU returned to normal. After a little while, though, it spiked again with kernel_task - Spotlight does not show that it is indexing.

The mds$ command from your link gives me this:

COMMAND PID USER FD TYPE DEVICE SIZE/OFF NODE NAME

mds 61 root cwd DIR 1,4 1088 2 /

mds 61 root twd DIR 1,4 1088 2 /

mds 61 root txt REG 1,4 2018000 1354136 /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/Metadat a.framework/Versions/A/Support/mds

mds 61 root txt REG 1,4 26283888 1386692 /usr/share/icu/icudt55l.dat

mds 61 root txt REG 1,4 3321856 1409731 /private/var/folders/zz/zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n0000000000000/0/com.apple.LaunchServic es-1340.csstore

mds 61 root txt REG 1,4 3321856 1432305 /private/var/folders/zz/zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n0000000000000/0/com.apple.LaunchServic es-1340.csstore

mds 61 root txt REG 1,4 638336 1384754 /usr/lib/dyld

mds 61 root txt REG 1,4 554396694 1387224 /private/var/db/dyld/dyld_shared_cache_x86_64

mds 61 root 0r CHR 3,2 0t0 303 /dev/null

mds 61 root 1u CHR 3,2 0t0 303 /dev/null

mds 61 root 2u CHR 3,2 0t1347 303 /dev/null

mds 61 root 3u KQUEUE count=2, state=0x12

mds 61 root 4r REG 1,4 2512 1423445 /private/var/run/utmpx

mds 61 root 5r DIR 1,4 1088 2 /

mds 61 root 6r DIR 1,4 1088 2 /

mds 61 root 7 FSEVENT

mds 61 root 8r DIR 1,4 1088 2 /

mds 61 root 9r DIR 1,4 2686 39 /System/Library

mds 61 root 10r DIR 1,4 782 392963 /System/Library/Spotlight

mds 61 root 11r DIR 1,4 4080 1424920 /.Spotlight-V100/Store-V2/9A4247C0-B0D6-49BB-815C-06C19B8C3D4F

mds 61 root 12r DIR 1,4 1088 2 /

mds 61 root 13r DIR 1,4 782 392963 /System/Library/Spotlight

mds 61 root 14r DIR 1,4 170 109655 /Library/Spotlight

mds 61 root 16r DIR 1,4 170 109655 /Library/Spotlight

mds 61 root 18u REG 1,4 53 1424968 /.Spotlight-V100/Store-V2/9A4247C0-B0D6-49BB-815C-06C19B8C3D4F/journalExclusion

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Answer 14

Trephination Author

Level 1

111 points

Dec 12, 2015 6:28 PM in response to Trephination

Stopping Spotlight with

sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.metadata.mds.plist

has no affect. Kernel_task is still 6-700%

Reply

Answer 15

my ginger

Level 5

4,948 points

Dec 12, 2015 6:45 PM in response to Trephination

The report you posted is spotlight indexing files. What happens if you boot to safe mode? Start with shift key held down. Then run safari or some other things and check activity monitor again for Kernel Task. Also in the activity monitor. if you double click on the Kernel Task ,it will open a window. I'm interested if at the box you see anything under resent hangs. MDS is part of spotlight.You have a FTDI Driver. Is that a driver for your external drive?

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