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

48 replies

Trephination Author

Level 1

111 points

Dec 12, 2015 7:05 PM in response to my ginger

There's no recent hangs.

I don't know what the FTDI driver is. Apart from the Wacom tablet, I haven't installed any drivers.

Restarting in Safe Mode now.

Trephination Author

Level 1

111 points

Dec 12, 2015 10:49 PM in response to my ginger

Hmmm. It all seems fine in Safe Mode. So it could be the drivers? How do I remove them if I don't know what they are?

my ginger

Level 5

4,948 points

Dec 13, 2015 9:53 AM in response to Trephination

That driver is in library/ extensions. Most likely system/library/extensions/Com.FTDI Driver.D2xxhelper. You have two library extension folders. If not in the one ,it will be in the other. Do you still have spotlight turned off?

Trephination Author

Level 1

111 points

Dec 13, 2015 11:58 AM in response to my ginger

I restarted out of Safe Mode, with Spotlight on, and left it overnight. It seems fine when there is nothing running (but that's not very helpful, is it, because it may as well be turned off).

I've left the driver for now and have some things running to see if it happens again. It's frustrating because I can't pinpoint it.

If (when) the CPU spikes again, I'll remove the driver and try again.

I appreciate your help on this, my ginger!

my ginger

Level 5

4,948 points

Dec 13, 2015 12:28 PM in response to Trephination

You might have to run safari or something while having the activity monitor open to see if kernel task spikes again. Some thing I noticed in the report on spotlight is that you have (in the private var folder) two identical launch service plugins.Called ES-1340.cssstore. This seems to come by way of yahoo. Are you using Yahoo as a search engine? The private var folder is usually self fixing.

Trephination Author

Level 1

111 points

Dec 13, 2015 1:06 PM in response to my ginger

I noticed those, too. I haven't used Yahoo as a search engine for years.

Had another CPU spike. If it is Spotlight at fault, should I expect the kernel_task to return to normal if I turn off Spotlight?

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

It didn't make any difference.

my ginger

Level 5

4,948 points

Dec 13, 2015 1:35 PM in response to Trephination

Normally spotlight does not cause problems. If when indexing it gets caught on something that it is have trouble indexing, it can hang and cause a CPU spike. If you do a reindex of spotlight it can while running it slow down the computer till it completes. The time depends on the number of file it has to index. I'm not sure about the duplicate files in the Private Var Folder, because as I understand it, those file can change as the system runs. You could delete them .But you would have make sure you get the exact files. Have ever done or considered removing the back cover and cleaning out the dust from the logic board and fans. All you need is a can of compressed air. Excessive dust can slow down the cooling of the fans and make the cpu hot. Which could make it spike. Other than this, it would be good if someone like Link Davis could look at your problem as he has procedures that might be able to isolate the problem. https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/MacBook+Pro+15-Inch+Unibody+Early+2011+Teardown/ 4990

Trephination Author

Level 1

111 points

Dec 13, 2015 2:26 PM in response to my ginger

my ginger wrote:

Have ever done or considered removing the back cover and cleaning out the dust from the logic board and fans.

Yes, I did that when I upgraded the RAM and SSD. It wasn't too bad but is pretty clean now.

Dec 13, 2015 2:33 PM in response to Trephination

This may be "way out at left field" but this article helped me with problem CPU spikes because of spotlight:

http://osxdaily.com/2007/02/15/spotlight-wont-work-fix-a-broken-spotlight-menu-w ith-these-troubleshooting-tips/

my ginger

Level 5

4,948 points

Dec 13, 2015 2:47 PM in response to Trephination

Good. I was just trying to cover all the bases I could think of. Just to reiterate, in safe mode no CPU spikes. In regular boot, with spotlight off very few CPU spikes. Turn spotlight on the CPU spike are back. Have I got it right?

Trephination Author

Level 1

111 points

Dec 13, 2015 3:24 PM in response to 808armada

808armada wrote:

This may be "way out at left field" but this article helped me with problem CPU spikes because of spotlight:

http://osxdaily.com/2007/02/15/spotlight-wont-work-fix-a-broken-spotlight-menu-w ith-these-troubleshooting-tips/

Worth a shot. Thanks.

Trephination Author

Level 1

111 points

Dec 13, 2015 3:27 PM in response to my ginger

my ginger wrote:

Just to reiterate, in safe mode no CPU spikes. In regular boot, with spotlight off very few CPU spikes. Turn spotlight on the CPU spike are back. Have I got it right?

Just about. In regular boot with Spotlight on, it runs OK when it is idle. If I run something that uses a bit of memory (iTunes, Pixelmator, or just now, Onyx - it doesn't seem to matter what it is) the CPU will spike with kernel_task running up about 800%.

my ginger

Level 5

4,948 points

Dec 13, 2015 4:04 PM in response to Trephination

That would seem to say that spotlight is not necessarily the problem. I found two links that might mean something. One might be worth trying. Did you have this problem before changing memory, hard drive and battery? What brand of memory are you using as Mac's can be picky. https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6623697?tstart=0 andhttps://discussions.apple.com/thread/6780904?start=0&tstart=0

Trephination Author

Level 1

111 points

Dec 13, 2015 6:27 PM in response to my ginger

my ginger wrote:

That would seem to say that spotlight is not necessarily the problem. I found two links that might mean something. One might be worth trying. Did you have this problem before changing memory, hard drive and battery? What brand of memory are you using as Mac's can be picky. https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6623697?tstart=0 andhttps://discussions.apple.com/thread/6780904?start=0&tstart=0

I definitely had the problem before changing the memory and the hard drive (which is why I did it) and I'm fairly certain that it was happening before the battery was changed (I've still got it, though, so I'll put it back in to double check).

The new RAM is Crucial.

I've run through those tests (except the permissions repair, as I'm on El Capitan) so I'll see how it goes.

my ginger

Level 5

4,948 points

Dec 13, 2015 7:15 PM in response to Trephination

According to the way he wrote the post. You had to do it in exactly the order he put it.

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MacBook Pro having frequent CPU spikes