High CPU Usage

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Level 4

1,201 points

High CPU Usage

I have a temperature app on my computer set to warn me if the CPU temp goes above 66º C. It normally runs from 38º C to 47º C. It seems that every few days the warning comes on. When I look at Activity Monitor two processes are using about 78% of the CPU each. They are

launchd

UserEventAgent

To stop this I have to stop launchd causing a reboot.

Does anyone have an idea?

I'm running 10.11.3 and have a MAC PRO 2.66GHz Quad-Core Intel Xe from 2009. I don't remember seeing this before 10.11 but I'm not sure.

Posted on Feb 3, 2016 2:00 PM

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Answer 1

Feb 29, 2016 12:28 PM in response to RobertJ

Same problem here. It's been a while that I see this behavior. It makes my Macbook Pro 2011 burn. I'm on 10.11.2. I try to manually force quit UserEventAgent and sometimes it works but not always. But is absolutely that process because once is done the CPU and fans go back to a normal state.

I've read somewhere that maybe was caused by the drivers of some hardware but is a macbook and I don't have anything connected when it happens.

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Answer 2

Pmintz25

Level 4

2,058 points

Feb 29, 2016 12:35 PM in response to RobertJ

Safe Boot and see if the issue happens there. You could also create a brand new user account and see if the issue persists.

Also, if the process can't find the necessary files to run properly could be causing the issue. Booting into the Recovery Drive and running First Aid on the hard could help.

Best of luck

OS X Yosemite: Start up in safe mode (works the same in El Capitan)

OS X: About OS X Recovery - Apple Support

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Answer 3

RobertJ Author

Level 4

1,201 points

Feb 29, 2016 2:21 PM in response to RobertJ

This happens only every couple of days so safe boot and using my test account is not an option.

I may have found the issue. I use an outbound firewall called Little Snitch. I have blocked all the Apple call homes. This has never been an issue before. It seems to be an issue with 10.11. In looking at the Console logs it seems that the call home won't take no for an answer and just keeps going. I assume, don't know, this might be controlled by launchd.

As a work around I have permitted all the call homes and have not seen the problem since. Again I'm not sure. If it happens again I will copy the relevant part of the Console log and paste it in here. Would need a real OSX wizard which from my experience here are not found.

Stay tuned.

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Answer 4

RobertJ Author

Level 4

1,201 points

Mar 23, 2016 11:25 AM in response to RobertJ

OK. I have found a couple of processes that if I kill in Activity Monitor things go back to normal and the machine does not reboot. The processes are:

mds

mds_stores

I know they have something to do with spotlight.

Still a bit of a pain to launch Activity Monitor and kill them; however, better than killing launchd causing a reboot.

Next time this happens after killing mds and mds_stores I will investigate the Console logs.

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Answer 5

Jun 24, 2016 1:53 PM in response to Pmintz25

I have the same problem on my mid-2009 macbook pro. When I boot in safe mode and on my Mac OS X Lion partition, I do not have this problem. It seems to be related to Yosemite. I have tried to delete the launchAgents in the library and I also tried killing the UserEevntAgent and launchd processes with the activity monitor. They always come back. I have this problem every day for months now. Updates did not fix it.

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Answer 6

Aug 28, 2016 11:51 AM in response to RobertJ

does it happen especially when there is a time machine backup running?

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