ntpd constant CPU usage

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Level 1

18 points

ntpd constant CPU usage

I am looking for causes of intermittent spikes in CPU usage, and I have noticed that the ntpd process is constantly taking between 16% and 20% of CPU. This is surprising, why a process which should just periodically synchronize the local clock with a reference on the Internet should require so much resources? For instance, while I am typing, it is the most CPU consuming process, followed by the activity Monitor.

I have a MacBook Pro, 2011, with an i7 processor and 16 GByte RAM, running El Capitan 10.11.2.

MacBook Pro, OS X El Capitan (10.11.2), Early 2011

Posted on Dec 24, 2015 6:21 AM

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Answer 1

Stollentroll Author

Level 1

18 points

Dec 24, 2015 6:27 AM in response to Stollentroll

Actually, I just found a fix: I was using an obsolete NTP server, which probably wasn't responding.

It easy to fix: go to System Preferences -> Date & Time, enable the modifications and change the NTP server to one of those proposed (I chose the Apple one in my zone). The high cpu usage by NTP is gone.

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Answer 2

link270

Level 1

0 points

Feb 4, 2016 11:14 PM in response to Stollentroll

Hey thanks for figuring out an answer to your own questions for me, haha

I was having the exact same issue with the crazy amount of CPU usage being taken up.

I just jumped into the settings and turned off the automatic time setting thing then re-enabled it and it fixed my issue right away just like you said.

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Answer 3

smkied

Level 1

22 points

Apr 4, 2016 9:09 PM in response to Stollentroll

Thank you, this 100% solved it for me as well.

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