Trephination

Q: 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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