Macbook Pro Random High CPU Usage (iCoreService/DCAManager Using 400+% CPU???)

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Level 1

7 points

Macbook Pro Random High CPU Usage (iCoreService/DCAManager Using 400+% CPU???)

Hi,

I'm running an Early 2011 Macbook Pro running OS X Yosemite 10.10.5 with a 2.2 GHZ Quad Core i7 processor, 1TB Samsung 840 EVO SSD, and 16GB of Crucial RAM. For the past month roughly, I've noticed I'll be doing a simple task or two on my Mac, then suddenly, I notice the CPU temp spikes to 90+ degrees C and the fans kick into high speed trying to cool it down. Thing is, I don't know why this is happening when I'm not doing anything to warrant high CPU usage. I'm used to the CPU running hot when I do something graphically intensive like running Autodesk Inventor CAD software, running a VM, or even watching a 1080p @ 60FPS video on youtube (that's the lowest resolution that requires the Mac to switch to the dedicated AMD Radeon 6750M GPU which does usually end up heating up quickly), but this random high usage is happening when I have Mail open in the background, and a single tab open with a 720p @ 30FPS Youtube video open (or even less). I've taken a few screenshots of the Activity Manager showing the top processes and Intel Power Gadget showing the CPU temperature:

Does anyone know what iCoreService and/or DCAManager are and why they use so much of my CPU when this happens? And has anyone come across this weird behavior before? Thanks in advance!

MacBook Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10.5), Early 2011, 15"

Posted on Mar 11, 2016 3:27 PM

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Answer 1

theratter

Level 4

3,961 points

Mar 12, 2016 4:12 PM in response to Narimaan

Most likely cause could be an applicztion you have running that is corrupt and causing them to use the CPU too much. Have you been able to kill the processes in Activity Monitor? If you have not yet tried to do that, then I would try that first. I would also try quitting all open applications.

If you boot the computer into Safe Mode you can test if the problem still is there. If it isn't, then usually that means something that is being run by you in startup or an application you are using could be the cause.

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Answer 2

Narimaan Author

Level 1

7 points

Mar 11, 2016 4:04 PM in response to theratter

Because I wasn't sure what iCoreService and DCAManager are, I didn't want to risk killing a possibly important process. Is it ok to kill them even if they might be important?

And I haven't thought of looking at my startup applications or booting up in Safe Mode, so I will try those and post back if those work, so thanks for those.

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Answer 3

theratter

Level 4

3,961 points

Mar 12, 2016 4:12 PM in response to Narimaan

I don't know what they do either, but if they shouldn't be killed, then you won't be able to kill them or they will just re-start automatically. If the latter happens you may just find the problem has cured itself.

Be sure you have a backup. 😀

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Answer 4

Narimaan Author

Level 1

7 points

Mar 11, 2016 6:17 PM in response to theratter

Yeah I'm going to back my computer up tonight and play around with that tomorrow. I'm also going to take it to an Apple Genius to take a look at (at the very least to see if they can identify iCoreService and/or DCAManager), and if nothing comes out of it, I'll probably just wipe my Mac (as annoying as that is) because I can't begin to figure out which program might or might not be broken, and if I'm going to delete and reinstall everything, I might as well do it in one fell swoop. Thanks for the suggestions and I'll post back if I learn anything. I was hoping someone knew about iCoreService or DCAManager though, it's so weird that there's no information about either of them online.

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Answer 5

Narimaan Author

Level 1

7 points

Mar 12, 2016 10:39 AM in response to theratter

Okay so some interesting progress. I backed up my mac last night and haven't gone to the Apple Store yet (appointment is in a few hours). The random spike in CPU usage happened again, and since I had a backup, I thought "what the heck, I have a backup, so why don't I try quitting iCoreService and DCAManager?". I quit iCoreService (the one using about 400% CPU), was prompted if I was sure since it was owned by Root (so it probably is an OS process), quit it, then saw it disappear then reappear at the bottom of the list of processes since it was then using 0.0% CPU (kudos on calling that it would restart itself if it was really that important 😉).

The computer momentarily started cooling down, then less than a minute later, began heating up again. So then I quit DCAManager (the one using about 200% CPU, which wasn't Root so Activity Manager didn't care as much), and then saw the computer immediately cool down to ~40 degrees C which is normal for basically idle. DCAManager has NOT popped up again since then (it's been about 15 minutes) and I'm starting to think that was the culprit of a process. My only question now is, is there any way to find out what program uses it (if it pops up again in Activity Manager) to know what program I probably need to uninstall and reinstall?

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Answer 6

theratter

Level 4

3,961 points

Mar 12, 2016 11:41 AM in response to Narimaan

When you double click on a process you should get a dialog like this:

Click the Open Files tab as shown above. You may find the application using it in the listing.

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Answer 7

Narimaan Author

Level 1

7 points

Mar 12, 2016 11:53 AM in response to theratter

Ah-ha! Finally know what's causing it!

Seems to be my Trend Micro Internet Security application. Now I need to get into contact with Trend Micro and see if this is a known bug or if my installation just got corrupted with a recent update or something. Thanks for your tremendous help!

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Answer 8

theratter

Level 4

3,961 points

Mar 12, 2016 2:18 PM in response to Narimaan

Aha! The problem is Solved. 😀

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