Unable to force quit some processes on OS X El Capitan (10.11.6)

Question

Level 1

11 points

Unable to force quit some processes on OS X El Capitan (10.11.6)

Sometimes there is a process that I cannot close. I cannot even force quit it. If I try to force quit the process, nothing happens. For example, if I go to "About this Mac" -> System Report, it will open an app called "System Information." It is not possible for me to close the app "System Information." When I try to use command + q, the window goes away but the process is still running in my dock. When I try to use the Force Quit option -> "System Information", nothing happens.

I read in another thread to try to open Activity Monitor and force quit the process "loginwindow", but that does nothing as well. I get a prompt saying that "Quitting loginwindow will log you out" but that never happens.

Whenever I have this problem with any process (unable to quit), the only way to totally kill the process is to do a hard reboot on my Macbook Pro Retina 13''.

MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Mid 2014), OS X El Capitan (10.11.6)

Posted on Aug 23, 2016 6:45 PM

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Answer 1

BobHarris

Level 9

56,717 points

Aug 23, 2016 7:03 PM in response to junwong

A process that cannot be killed, is a process that has made a kernel call, and that call is not returning.

A process will not know it has been killed until it transitions from kernel space to user space. So if it cannot be killed, it is stuck in kernel space.

If you have 3rd party kernel extensions installed, that could be interfering with the process stuck in kernel space.

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Answer 2

junwong Author

Level 1

11 points

Aug 23, 2016 7:46 PM in response to BobHarris

How can I find out what 3rd party kernel extensions I have installed? I don't think I have any installed but I'm not sure

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Answer 3

Eric Root

Level 10

685,167 points

Aug 23, 2016 7:50 PM in response to junwong

Try running this program and then copy and paste the output in a reply. The program was created by Etresoft, a frequent contributor. Please use copy and paste as screen shots can be hard to read. On the screen with Options, please open Options and check the bottom 2 boxes before running. Click “Share Report” button in the toolbar, select “Copy to Clipboard” and then paste into a reply. This will show what is running on your computer. No personal information is shown.

Etrecheck – System Information

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Answer 4

junwong Author

Level 1

11 points

Aug 23, 2016 8:15 PM in response to junwong

I used this command in terminal to find all the 3rd party kernel extensions I have installed (I think):

kextstat | grep -v com.apple

It told me that I had one: Soundflower. I used Soundflower in the past to record internal audio. I uninstalled it, rebooted, and now I have zero 3rd party kernel extensions.

When I opened the "System Information" app I'm still unable to force quit the app.

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Answer 5

junwong Author

Level 1

11 points

Aug 23, 2016 8:21 PM in response to Eric Root

Okay, looks like I have more kernel extensions after all? Maybe those are causing my issue?

EtreCheck version: 3.0.2 (306)

Report generated 2016-08-23 22:19:01

Download EtreCheck from https://etrecheck.com

Runtime 1:38

Performance: Excellent

Click the [Support] links for help with non-Apple products.

Click the [Details] links for more information about that line.

Click the [Remove] links to remove adware.

Problem: Other problem

Description:

unable to force quit process

Hardware Information:ⓘ

MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Mid 2014)

[Technical Specifications] - [User Guide] - [Warranty & Service]

MacBook Pro - model: MacBookPro11,1

1 2.6 GHz Intel Core i5 CPU: 2-core

8 GB RAM Not upgradeable

BANK 0/DIMM0

4 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok

BANK 1/DIMM0

4 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok

Bluetooth: Good - Handoff/Airdrop2 supported

Wireless: en0: 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac

Battery: Health = Normal - Cycle count = 76

Video Information:ⓘ

Intel Iris

Color LCD 2560 x 1600

System Software:ⓘ

OS X El Capitan 10.11.6 (15G31) - Time since boot: less than an hour

Disk Information:ⓘ

APPLE SSD SD0128F disk0 : (121.33 GB) (Solid State - TRIM: Yes)

EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB

Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted> [Recovery]: 650 MB

Macintosh HD (disk1) / : 120.11 GB (23.22 GB free)

Encrypted AES-XTS Unlocked

Core Storage: disk0s2 120.47 GB Online

USB Information:ⓘ

Apple Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad

Apple Inc. BRCM20702 Hub

Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller

Corsair Corsair Gaming SABRE RGB Optical Mouse

Thunderbolt Information:ⓘ

Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus

Gatekeeper:ⓘ

Mac App Store and identified developers

Adware:ⓘ

~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.spigot.ApplicationManager.plist

One adware file found. [Remove]

Kernel Extensions:ⓘ

/Applications/Tunnelblick.app

[not loaded] net.tunnelblick.tap (20111101 (Tunnelblick build 4055.4198) Unsigned - 2015-01-08) [Support]

[not loaded] net.tunnelblick.tun (20111101 (Tunnelblick build 4055.4198) Unsigned - 2015-01-08) [Support]

/Library/Extensions

[not loaded] com.mice.driver.Wireless360Controller (1.0.0d15 - SDK 10.10 - 2016-08-23) [Support]

[not loaded] com.mice.driver.WirelessGamingReceiver (1.0.0d15 - SDK 10.10 - 2016-08-23) [Support]

/System/Library/Extensions

[not loaded] com.mice.driver.Xbox360Controller (1.0.0d15 - SDK 10.10 - 2016-08-03) [Support]

[not loaded] com.wacom.kext.pentablet (Pen Tablet 5.3.6-6 - SDK 10.9 - 2016-08-03) [Support]

[not loaded] org.walisser.driver.DWXBoxHIDDriver (1.3.2 - 2016-08-03) [Support]

Startup Items:ⓘ

ProTec6b: Path: /Library/StartupItems/ProTec6b

Startup items are obsolete in OS X Yosemite

System Launch Agents:ⓘ

[not loaded] 7 Apple tasks

[loaded] 157 Apple tasks

[running] 74 Apple tasks

System Launch Daemons:ⓘ

[not loaded] 47 Apple tasks

[loaded] 158 Apple tasks

[running] 87 Apple tasks

Launch Agents:ⓘ

[running] com.amazon.sendtokindle.launcher.plist (2015-11-13) [Support]

[loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist (2016-07-11) [Support]

[loaded] com.oracle.java.Java-Updater.plist (2014-11-02) [Support]

[not loaded] com.teamviewer.teamviewer.plist (2016-02-01) [Support]

[not loaded] com.teamviewer.teamviewer_desktop.plist (2016-02-01) [Support]

[running] com.wacom.pentablet.plist (2014-12-23) [Support]

Launch Daemons:ⓘ

[loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist (2016-06-28) [Support]

[loaded] com.google.keystone.daemon.plist (2016-07-11) [Support]

[running] com.mice.360Daemon.plist (2014-10-09) [Support]

[loaded] com.microsoft.office.licensingV2.helper.plist (2015-12-06) [Support]

[loaded] com.oracle.java.Helper-Tool.plist (2014-11-02) [Support]

[loaded] com.teamviewer.Helper.plist (2016-02-01) [Support]

[not loaded] com.teamviewer.teamviewer_service.plist (2016-02-01) [Support]

User Launch Agents:ⓘ

[loaded] com.bittorrent.uTorrent.plist (2016-01-10)

[running] com.lastpass.LastPassHelper.plist (2016-07-19) [Support]

[running] com.spigot.ApplicationManager.plist (2016-01-10) Adware! [Remove]

~/Library/Application Support/Spigot/ApplicationManager

[running] com.spotify.webhelper.plist (2016-08-08) [Support]

[loaded] com.valvesoftware.steamclean.plist (2016-08-23) [Support]

[loaded] net.tunnelblick.tunnelblick.LaunchAtLogin.plist (2015-01-08) [Support]

User Login Items:ⓘ

Flux Application (~/Applications/Flux.app)

iTunesHelper Application (/Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunesHelper.app)

Google Drive Application (/Applications/Google Drive.app)

BambooCore Application (/Library/Application Support/Wacom/BambooCore.app)

Internet Plug-ins:ⓘ

FlashPlayer-10.6: 22.0.0.209 - SDK 10.9 (2016-07-15) [Support]

QuickTime Plugin: 7.7.3 (2016-08-03)

Flash Player: 22.0.0.209 - SDK 10.9 (2016-07-15) [Support]

Default Browser: 601 - SDK 10.11 (2016-08-03)

o1dbrowserplugin: 5.41.3.0 - SDK 10.8 (2015-12-11) [Support]

nplastpass: 4.1.2 - SDK 10.11 (2016-07-19) [Support]

googletalkbrowserplugin: 5.41.3.0 - SDK 10.8 (2015-12-11) [Support]

MeetingJoinPlugin: Unknown - SDK 10.2 (2015-11-17) [Support]

JavaAppletPlugin: Java 8 Update 91 build 14 (2016-05-17) Check version

User internet Plug-ins:ⓘ

WebEx64: 1.0 - SDK 10.10 (2015-09-30) [Support]

Safari Extensions:ⓘ

AdBlock - Michael Gundlach - https://getadblock.com (2015-09-11)

LastPass - LastPass - https://lastpass.com (2016-08-04)

3rd Party Preference Panes:ⓘ

Flash Player (2016-06-28) [Support]

FUSE for OS X (OSXFUSE) (2013-07-18) [Support]

Java (2016-05-17) [Support]

XBox 360 Controllers (2015-09-15) [Support]

Time Machine:ⓘ

Time Machine not configured!

Top Processes by CPU:ⓘ

4% WindowServer

2% fontd

1% kernel_task

0% com.apple.WebKit.WebContent

0% Google Drive

Top Processes by Memory:ⓘ

680 MB kernel_task

557 MB com.apple.WebKit.WebContent

287 MB Safari

205 MB mdworker(11)

197 MB Google Drive

Virtual Memory Information:ⓘ

2.95 GB Free RAM

5.05 GB Used RAM (1.67 GB Cached)

0 B Swap Used

Diagnostics Information:ⓘ

Aug 23, 2016, 10:09:50 PM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/PenTabletDriver_2016-08-23-220950_[redacted].cr ash

com.wacom.PenTabletDriver - /Library/Application Support/Tablet/PenTabletDriver.app/Contents/MacOS/PenTabletDriver

Aug 23, 2016, 10:08:42 PM Self test - passed

Aug 23, 2016, 05:23:10 PM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/PenTabletDriver_2016-08-23-172310_[redacted].cr ash

Aug 22, 2016, 05:08:41 PM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/PenTabletDriver_2016-08-22-170841_[redacted].cr ash

Aug 21, 2016, 10:01:30 PM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/PenTabletDriver_2016-08-21-220130_[redacted].cr ash

Aug 21, 2016, 03:45:54 PM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/PenTabletDriver_2016-08-21-154554_[redacted].cr ash

Reply

Answer 6

BobHarris

Level 9

56,717 points

Aug 24, 2016 6:25 AM in response to junwong

Boot into Safe mode

<http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1564>

If you start System Information, can you force quit/kill it now?

Safe mode will not load 3rd party extensions, nor 3rd party daemons and agents. If they are interfering then they should not be a factor in Safe mode. It is an easy way to test.

If you still have the problem in Safe mode, then it is something else preventing you from terminating System Information.

Reply

Answer 7

junwong Author

Level 1

11 points

Aug 24, 2016 4:13 PM in response to BobHarris

When I reboot in Safe mode, I am able to kill System Information without a problem.

After I reboot into normal mode, I am unable to kill System Information at all. I also noticed just now that I can't reboot at all in normal mode actually. I am unable to shut down or reboot my Mac without doing a hard reboot.

So I guess I have a 3rd party agent causing a problem on my Mac. How can I figure out which one it is?

Reply

Answer 8

junwong Author

Level 1

11 points

Aug 24, 2016 4:40 PM in response to junwong

I got rid of some stuff. Still having the same issue. Updated Etrecheck:

EtreCheck version: 3.0.2 (306)

Report generated 2016-08-24 18:35:27

Download EtreCheck from https://etrecheck.com

Runtime 1:34

Performance: Excellent

Click the [Support] links for help with non-Apple products.

Click the [Details] links for more information about that line.

Problem: Other problem

Description:

system unable to reboot or force quit apps

Hardware Information:ⓘ

MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Mid 2014)

[Technical Specifications] - [User Guide] - [Warranty & Service]

MacBook Pro - model: MacBookPro11,1

1 2.6 GHz Intel Core i5 CPU: 2-core

8 GB RAM Not upgradeable

BANK 0/DIMM0

4 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok

BANK 1/DIMM0

4 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok

Bluetooth: Good - Handoff/Airdrop2 supported

Wireless: en0: 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac

Battery: Health = Normal - Cycle count = 76

Video Information:ⓘ

Intel Iris

Color LCD 2560 x 1600

System Software:ⓘ

OS X El Capitan 10.11.6 (15G31) - Time since boot: less than an hour

Disk Information:ⓘ

APPLE SSD SD0128F disk0 : (121.33 GB) (Solid State - TRIM: Yes)

EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB

Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted> [Recovery]: 650 MB

Macintosh HD (disk1) / : 120.11 GB (23.99 GB free)

Encrypted AES-XTS Unlocked

Core Storage: disk0s2 120.47 GB Online

USB Information:ⓘ

Apple Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad

Apple Inc. BRCM20702 Hub

Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller

Thunderbolt Information:ⓘ

Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus

Gatekeeper:ⓘ

Mac App Store and identified developers

Kernel Extensions:ⓘ

/System/Library/Extensions

[not loaded] com.wacom.kext.pentablet (Pen Tablet 5.3.6-6 - SDK 10.9 - 2016-08-24) [Support]

Startup Items:ⓘ

ProTec6b: Path: /Library/StartupItems/ProTec6b

Startup items are obsolete in OS X Yosemite

System Launch Agents:ⓘ

[not loaded] 7 Apple tasks

[loaded] 159 Apple tasks

[running] 72 Apple tasks

System Launch Daemons:ⓘ

[not loaded] 47 Apple tasks

[loaded] 160 Apple tasks

[running] 85 Apple tasks

Launch Agents:ⓘ

[running] com.amazon.sendtokindle.launcher.plist (2015-11-13) [Support]

[loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist (2016-07-11) [Support]

[loaded] com.oracle.java.Java-Updater.plist (2014-11-02) [Support]

[not loaded] com.teamviewer.teamviewer.plist (2016-02-01) [Support]

[not loaded] com.teamviewer.teamviewer_desktop.plist (2016-02-01) [Support]

[running] com.wacom.pentablet.plist (2014-12-23) [Support]

Launch Daemons:ⓘ

[loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist (2016-06-28) [Support]

[loaded] com.google.keystone.daemon.plist (2016-07-11) [Support]

[loaded] com.microsoft.office.licensingV2.helper.plist (2015-12-06) [Support]

[loaded] com.oracle.java.Helper-Tool.plist (2014-11-02) [Support]

[loaded] com.teamviewer.Helper.plist (2016-02-01) [Support]

[not loaded] com.teamviewer.teamviewer_service.plist (2016-02-01) [Support]

User Launch Agents:ⓘ

[loaded] com.bittorrent.uTorrent.plist (2016-01-10)

[running] com.lastpass.LastPassHelper.plist (2016-07-19) [Support]

[running] com.spotify.webhelper.plist (2016-08-08) [Support]

[loaded] com.valvesoftware.steamclean.plist (2016-08-23) [Support]

User Login Items:ⓘ

Flux Application (~/Applications/Flux.app)

iTunesHelper Application (/Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunesHelper.app)

Google Drive Application (/Applications/Google Drive.app)

BambooCore Application (/Library/Application Support/Wacom/BambooCore.app)

Internet Plug-ins:ⓘ

FlashPlayer-10.6: 22.0.0.209 - SDK 10.9 (2016-07-15) [Support]

QuickTime Plugin: 7.7.3 (2016-08-03)

Flash Player: 22.0.0.209 - SDK 10.9 (2016-07-15) [Support]

Default Browser: 601 - SDK 10.11 (2016-08-03)

o1dbrowserplugin: 5.41.3.0 - SDK 10.8 (2015-12-11) [Support]

nplastpass: 4.1.2 - SDK 10.11 (2016-07-19) [Support]

googletalkbrowserplugin: 5.41.3.0 - SDK 10.8 (2015-12-11) [Support]

MeetingJoinPlugin: Unknown - SDK 10.2 (2015-11-17) [Support]

JavaAppletPlugin: Java 8 Update 91 build 14 (2016-05-17) Check version

User internet Plug-ins:ⓘ

WebEx64: 1.0 - SDK 10.10 (2015-09-30) [Support]

Safari Extensions:ⓘ

AdBlock - Michael Gundlach - https://getadblock.com (2015-09-11)

3rd Party Preference Panes:ⓘ

Flash Player (2016-06-28) [Support]

FUSE for OS X (OSXFUSE) (2013-07-18) [Support]

Java (2016-05-17) [Support]

Time Machine:ⓘ

Time Machine not configured!

Top Processes by CPU:ⓘ

9% com.apple.WebKit.WebContent(2)

4% WindowServer

3% Safari

3% kernel_task

3% fontd

Top Processes by Memory:ⓘ

720 MB kernel_task

328 MB com.apple.WebKit.WebContent(2)

213 MB Safari

197 MB Google Drive

139 MB mds_stores

Virtual Memory Information:ⓘ

2.63 GB Free RAM

5.37 GB Used RAM (2.35 GB Cached)

0 B Swap Used

Diagnostics Information:ⓘ

Aug 24, 2016, 06:27:26 PM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/PenTabletDriver_2016-08-24-182726_[redacted].cr ash

com.wacom.PenTabletDriver - /Library/Application Support/Tablet/PenTabletDriver.app/Contents/MacOS/PenTabletDriver

Aug 24, 2016, 06:27:18 PM Self test - passed

Aug 24, 2016, 06:11:21 PM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/PenTabletDriver_2016-08-24-181121_[redacted].cr ash

Aug 24, 2016, 06:04:00 PM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/PenTabletDriver_2016-08-24-180400_[redacted].cr ash

Aug 23, 2016, 10:09:50 PM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/PenTabletDriver_2016-08-23-220950_[redacted].cr ash

Aug 23, 2016, 05:23:10 PM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/PenTabletDriver_2016-08-23-172310_[redacted].cr ash

Aug 22, 2016, 05:08:41 PM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/PenTabletDriver_2016-08-22-170841_[redacted].cr ash

Aug 21, 2016, 10:01:30 PM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/PenTabletDriver_2016-08-21-220130_[redacted].cr ash

Reply

Answer 9

BobHarris

Level 9

56,717 points

Aug 24, 2016 4:51 PM in response to junwong

Process of elimination. EtreCheck is telling you all the 3rd party extensions, launch agents, launch daemons, and login items you have on your system. Work your way through them to figure out which ones are interfering.

Reply

Answer 10

junwong Author

Level 1

11 points

Aug 25, 2016 9:43 PM in response to BobHarris

Okay I give up. This was all a huge waste of time. I literally uninstalled every single app I could find, and deleted every single kernel extension. Stil couldn't solve the issue.

Process of elimination doesn't work because I can't view all of the launch agents. Etrecheck just gives me the number of launch agents, not any specifics. There are over 200 anyways so it would take me days if not weeks to do that. I'm just going to do a full factory reset. This was all so stupid. What kind of OS literally locks itself so that it can't shut off, with literally zero ways of figuring out why? I literally have never had this problem with Microsoft, even since Windows 98.

Reply

Answer 11

BobHarris

Level 9

56,717 points

Aug 26, 2016 6:04 AM in response to junwong

There are over 200 anyways

The Apple Launch agents and daemons are not the issue, as you proved when you booted into Safe mode. Safe mode does not load 3rd party additions, it still uses the Apple one, so you have already given the Apple ones a clean bill of health.

EtreCheck has given you the list of 3rd party agents and daemons, and that is 16, some of which are from the same app, so they would be removed together.

You can find all the Launch Agents and Daemons in the following folders (~ tilda is operating system abbreviation for your home directory):

/Library/LaunchAgents

/Library/LaunchDaemons

~/Library/LaunchAgents

Finder -> Go -> Go to folder... can be used to get to each of these folders. You can copy and paste each one from this reply.

You can also use a utility such as EasyFind to locate components of any of these 3rd party additions

<http://www.devontechnologies.com/products/freeware.html>

What kind of OS literally locks itself so that it can't shut off

The cannot kill a process stuck in kernel space is common on every Unix based operating system since the original developed at Bell Labs, back in the 1970's.

The GUI shutdown is the one complaining. I'm sure that if you start an Applications -> Utilities -> Terminal session and use the command

sudo shutdown -h now

it will shutdown (again standard Unix behavior). sudo will ask for your logged in account's password, which needs to be the admin account (generally the first account you created on your Mac). You will not see anything echoed back as you type the password, but it will be seen. After typing the password, press the <return> key and sudo will process the password, and then execute the shutdown command.

I literally have never had this problem with Microsoft, even since Windows 98.

Windows is not the only operating system in the world.

Also this is typically not a problem for the vast majority of Mac users (Unix users either), but you installed something on your system that is interfering with the normal operation of OS X. I'm sure that if you find the right 3rd party addition to Windows it will cause it is own Windows problems that would make anyone unhappy.

I'm just going to do a full factory reset.

That is a perfectly acceptable way to address this, however, it would be wise to carefully check your system after re-installing any of the 3rd party additions currently listed by EtreCheck, and also making sure you have the latest El Capitan compatible version when you install it. Especially any thing that installs a kernel extension.

Reply