Sierra crashes - kernel task taking 1.4 GB of Memory

Question

Level 1

5 points

Sierra crashes - kernel task taking 1.4 GB of Memory

I have a iMac (2013) and have been having recurring crash issues on Sierra. I have cleaned up all applications, ran validation on Font book (there were some issues), ran Oynx to clean up everything as well as running Rebuild on Spotlight as well as fixing Permissions. My system will run fine for a day or two, locks up and reboots. This has been happening for the past 1 year and have not been able to resolve it. The one thing that stays the same is the amount of memory Kernel Task is using (over 1.4 GB). I have no login items setup. This usually happens when I watch videos as well as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. AND it has happened in Chrome and Firefox. Firefox tends to have some video issues. I have noticed that some websites play video automatically. I have a plug-in that stops it. My computer seems to run much faster, however, my computer still keeps locking up and rebooting. I am wondering if there is an app that even though it is not active, is running something in the background. When I look at Activity Monitor, there seems to be a ton of processes. I am wondering if I uninstalled something that did not truly uninstall everything.

Thoughts?

treCheck version: 3.4.4 (448)

Report generated 2017-09-04 13:15:17

Download EtreCheck from https://etrecheck.com

Runtime: 1:46

Performance: Excellent

Click the [Lookup] links for more information from Apple Support Communities.

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

Problem: Computer is restarting

Hardware Information:ⓘ

iMac (27-inch, Late 2013)

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

iMac - model: iMac14,2

1 3.2 GHz Intel Core i5 (i5-4570) CPU: 4-core

32 GB RAM Upgradeable - [Instructions]

BANK 0/DIMM0

8 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok

BANK 1/DIMM0

8 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok

BANK 0/DIMM1

8 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok

BANK 1/DIMM1

8 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok

Handoff/Airdrop2: supported

Wireless:
en1: 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac

iCloud Quota: 4.99 GB available

Video Information:ⓘ

NVIDIA GeForce GT 755M - VRAM: 1024 MB

iMac 2560 x 1440

Disk Information:ⓘ

APPLE HDD ST1000DM003 disk0: (1 TB) (Rotational)

[Show SMART report]

EFI (disk0s1 - MS-DOS FAT32) <not mounted>
[EFI]: 210 MB

Macintosh HD (disk0s2 - Journaled HFS+) /
[Startup]: 999.35 GB (925.20 GB free)

Recovery HD (disk0s3 - Journaled HFS+) <not mounted>
[Recovery]: 650 MB

USB Information:ⓘ

USB30Bus

Apple Inc. BRCM20702 Hub

Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller

Apple Inc. FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)

Apple, Inc. Keyboard Hub

Apple Inc. Apple Keyboard

Sunplus Innovation Technology. USB to Serial-ATA bridge

HDS721010CLA332 disk1: (1 TB)

EFI (disk1s1 - MS-DOS FAT32) <not mounted>
[EFI]: 210 MB

BackupDisk (disk1s2 - Case-sensitive Journaled HFS+) /Volumes/BackupDisk : 999.86 GB (639.71 GB free)

Apple Inc. iPhone

EPSON EPSON WF-3620 Series

Thunderbolt Information:ⓘ

Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus

System Software:ⓘ

macOS Sierra
10.12.6 (16G29) - Time since boot: about 15 hours

Gatekeeper:ⓘ

Mac App Store and identified developers

Kernel Extensions:ⓘ

/System/Library/Extensions

[not loaded] com.avira.kext.FileAccessControl (1.0.0d1 - SDK 10.9) [Lookup]

System Launch Agents:ⓘ

[not loaded] 6 Apple tasks

[loaded] 174 Apple tasks

[running] 102 Apple tasks

System Launch Daemons:ⓘ

[not loaded] 41 Apple tasks

[loaded] 175 Apple tasks

[running] 102 Apple tasks

Launch Agents:ⓘ

[running] com.epson.Epson_Low_Ink_Reminder.launcher.plist (EPSON - installed 2015-09-29) [Lookup]

[not loaded] com.epson.ecrp.launcher.plist (EPSON - installed 2016-04-11) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.epson.esua.launcher.plist (Seiko Epson Corporation - installed 2017-06-24) [Lookup]

[running] com.epson.eventmanager.agent.plist (Seiko Epson Corporation - installed 2017-07-24) [Lookup]

[running] com.epson.scannermonitor.plist (Seiko Epson Corporation - installed 2017-07-24) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.oracle.java.Java-Updater.plist (? df742982 be93c7fb - installed 2017-07-23) [Lookup]

Launch Daemons:ⓘ

[loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist (? 2afb3af7 e92009a9 - installed 2017-07-24) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.microsoft.autoupdate.helper.plist (Microsoft Corporation - installed 2017-04-12) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist (? 6d8cb30e 442fdde9 - installed 2011-03-10) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.opendoor.doorstopdaemon.plist (? 90863dd4 9f2638a0 - installed 2008-03-03) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.oracle.java.Helper-Tool.plist (Shell Script e3fefdd2 - installed 2017-07-12) [Lookup]

User Launch Agents:ⓘ

[loaded] com.adobe.ARM.[...].plist (? 56ebbe7d b8887e79 - installed 2014-06-07) [Lookup]

[running] com.amazon.music.plist (? 7c73c27a de67f3c1 - installed 2015-05-24) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist (Google, Inc. - installed 2017-07-10) [Lookup]

Internet Plug-ins:ⓘ

Silverlight: 5.1.50901.0 (installed 2017-06-04) [Lookup]

FlashPlayer-10.6: 26.0.0.151 (installed 2017-08-08) [Lookup]

QuickTime Plugin: 7.7.3 (installed 2017-07-20)

Flash Player: 26.0.0.151 (installed 2017-08-08) [Lookup]

JavaAppletPlugin: Java 8 Update 141 build 15 (installed 2017-07-23) Check version

PepperFlashPlayer: 26.0.0.151 (installed 2017-08-08) [Lookup]

3rd Party Preference Panes:ⓘ

Flash Player (installed 2017-07-24) [Lookup]

Java (installed 2017-07-23) [Lookup]

Time Machine:ⓘ

Skip System Files: NO

Auto backup: YES

Volumes being backed up:

Macintosh HD: Disk size: 999.35 GB Disk used: 74.14 GB

Destinations:

BackupDisk [Local]

Total size: 999.86 GB

Total number of backups: 298

Oldest backup: 1/11/12, 7:18 AM

Last backup: 9/4/17, 12:46 PM

Size of backup disk: Adequate

Backup size 999.86 GB > (Disk used 74.14 GB X 3)

Top Processes by CPU:ⓘ

4%
WindowServer

2%
kernel_task

1%
Finder

1%
hidd

0%
fontd

Top Processes by Memory:ⓘ

1.43 GB
kernel_task

341 MB Google Chrome

281 MB Google Chrome Helper

275 MB Google Chrome Helper

192 MB softwareupdated

Top Processes by Network Use:ⓘ

Input Output Process name

190 KB 120 KB mDNSResponder

103 KB 5 KB netbiosd

8 KB 7 KB apsd

5 KB 3 KB assistantd

3 KB 3 KB ntpd

Top Processes by Energy Use:ⓘ

9.06 WindowServer

2.18 Finder

1.70 hidd

1.06 Google Chrome

Virtual Memory Information:ⓘ

26.49 GB
Available RAM

22.55 GB
Free RAM

5.51 GB
Used RAM

3.94 GB
Cached files

0 B Swap Used

Software installs:ⓘ

Adobe Flash Player:
(installed 2017-08-08)

Adobe Pepper Flash Player:
(installed 2017-08-08)

Microsoft Remote Desktop: 8.0.27319 (installed 2017-08-25)

Install information may not be complete.

Diagnostics Information:ⓘ

2017-09-03 21:41:08 Last shutdown cause: -128 - Unknown

iMac (27-inch, Late 2013), macOS Sierra (10.12.5)

Posted on Sep 4, 2017 12:06 PM

Reply

Answer 1

etresoft

Level 9

57,212 points

Sep 4, 2017 2:26 PM in response to czapp1

Hello czapp1,

I can give you some information, but it will be a bit frustrating.

You have 32 GB of RAM in that machine. Your kernel task memory usage will grow with the amount of RAM installing. This means that 1.4 GB kernel task RAM is actually very good for your machine. Nothing to worry about there.

It is normal to have lots, even hundreds of processes running. Your EtreCheck report lists 208 processes running and another 358 that could run at any time. That is normal.

Your Avira antivirus software was not completely uninstalled. That is not unusual these days. The kernel extension is not loaded and there is no launch daemon to load it, so it is not contributing to your problem.

Now for the frustrating bit. There is no obvious indicator of any case. These shutdowns seem to be random restarts rather than kernel panics. What does Console.app show when you look at "System Reports" or "User Reports"? EtreCheck tries to list those, but it only looks for recent ones and sometimes system permissions prevent it from seeing anything at all.

The only thing I can recommend, and I don't have much hope of success, is to uninstall the DoorStop software, shown on your EtreCheck report under "com.opendoor.doorstopdaemon.plist". That software is ancient and is no longer supported on modern versions of macOS (see http://www.opendoor.biz/WhatsNewMavericks.html).

Reply

Answer 2

JimmyCMPIT

Level 7

29,306 points

Sep 4, 2017 12:09 PM in response to czapp1

Remove the Anti-Virus,

https://www.avira.com/en/support-for-business-knowledgebase-detail/kbid/1242

then boot into safe mode

then reboot normaly

The AV is most likely the culprit. If you can't live without it then reinstall it and see if the problem is solved, if not then you know whats causing it.

Reply

Answer 3

JimmyCMPIT

Level 7

29,306 points

Sep 4, 2017 1:00 PM in response to czapp1

the knowledgebase link I posted would probably be a good start. I may be going out on a limb to state this but Avira has something of a reputation to uphold so their instructions are less likely to be questionable than that of a products like "Mac Keeper" or "Clean My Mac"; both scam-ware products that should be avoided at all cost IMHO. I'd follow their directions on total removal and complete the steps I posted after the link and just keep an eye on the system. At this time OS X and all products for "Anti-Virus" for OS X do not seem to be very compatible if you look on these forums, and at this time they are not protecting your against any virus as no OS X virus has appeared at this time, further they don't prevent malware or adware infections so their effectiveness is in question as to how they would contend against an actually OS X virus if one were ever to be encountered "in the wild."

Reply

Answer 4

czapp1 Author

Level 1

5 points

Sep 4, 2017 12:23 PM in response to JimmyCMPIT

Interesting. But I uninstalled that application awhile back. Is there something I can run to remove it or do I need to install the software and uninstall it?

Reply

Answer 5

czapp1 Author

Level 1

5 points

Sep 4, 2017 1:58 PM in response to JimmyCMPIT

Here is the problem. I uninstalled Avira 2 years ago

Reply

Answer 6

etresoft

Level 9

57,212 points

Sep 9, 2017 7:27 PM in response to czapp1

Thanks for the follow up! I'll remember that and suggest it if someone has a similar problem. It is people like you that give us the information we need to help others.

Reply

Answer 7

czapp1 Author

Level 1

5 points

Sep 4, 2017 3:38 PM in response to etresoft

I removed "com.opendoor.doorstopdaemon.plist". That software was deleted many years ago. Starting to find out that it is necessary to have a good uninstaller. That is the third software that was uninstalled that is still showing items that were not removed. Do you know of a good app that uninstalls everything for an app?

User reports is empty and Systems reports (Diagnostic reports) has reports from Etrecheck, FontValidator (had weird issues with fontbook - had to validate the fonts 3X), Google Chrome Help, Helpd, Iconservicesagent and mds_stores (I did a rebuild on spotlight and it corrected some mds_stores issues). With the shutdowns, it all ties into something with playing videos. I do not do full screen so that is not the issue. I thought that by blocking sites from running html5 videos automatically would do the trick but it rebooted me last night. I did just boot up in safe mode and restarted in normally.

Just ran permission maintenance:

volume_arg = /

Starting argv pass #2...

Processing files from package com.apple.pkg.EmbeddedOSFirmware...

Processing files from package com.apple.update.fullbundleupdate.16G29...

Processing files from package com.apple.pkg.FirmwareUpdate...

Processing files from package com.apple.pkg.update.os.10.12.6Patch.16G29...

Permissions differ on "usr/libexec/cups", should be drwxr-xr-x , they are dr-xr-xr-x .

Unable to set owner & group on "usr/libexec/cups". Error 1: Operation not permitted

Unable to set permissions on "usr/libexec/cups". Error 1: Operation not permitted

Processing files from package com.apple.update.fullbundleupdate.16F73...

Processing files from package com.apple.pkg.update.os.10.12.5Patch.16F73...

Processing files from package com.apple.update.fullbundleupdate.16E195...

Processing files from package com.apple.pkg.update.os.10.12.4.16E195...

Processing files from package com.apple.update.fullbundleupdate.16D32...

Processing files from package com.apple.pkg.update.os.10.12.3.16D32...

Processing files from package com.apple.update.fullbundleupdate.16C67...

Processing files from package com.apple.pkg.update.os.10.12.2Patch.16C67...

Processing files from package com.apple.update.fullbundleupdate.16B2555...

Processing files from package com.apple.update.firmwareupdate...

Processing files from package com.apple.pkg.update.os.10.12.1Patch.16B2555...

Processing files from package com.apple.pkg.Essentials...

Group differs on "Library/Application Support/com.apple.TCC", should be 0, group is 80.

Permissions differ on "Library/Application Support/com.apple.TCC", should be drwxr-xr-x , they are drwx------ .

Unable to set owner & group on "Library/Application Support/com.apple.TCC". Error 1: Operation not permitted

Unable to set permissions on "Library/Application Support/com.apple.TCC". Error 1: Operation not permitted

Permissions differ on "private/var/db/datadetectors", should be drwx--x--x , they are drwx-----x .

Unable to set owner & group on "private/var/db/datadetectors". Error 1: Operation not permitted

Unable to set permissions on "private/var/db/datadetectors". Error 1: Operation not permitted

Group differs on "private/var/db/diagnostics", should be 0, group is 80.

Repaired "private/var/db/diagnostics".

User differs on "private/var/db/displaypolicyd", should be 0, user is 244.

Group differs on "private/var/db/displaypolicyd", should be 0, group is 244.

Repaired "private/var/db/displaypolicyd".

Permissions differ on "private/var/db/lockdown", should be drwxrwxrwx , they are drwx------ .

Repaired "private/var/db/lockdown".

Processing files from package com.apple.pkg.BaseSystemResources...

Processing files from package com.apple.update.firmwareupdate...

Processed 449934 paths from 18 packages.

There is something that is causing this.. This issue started when I updated Silverlight. (and yes, I uninstalled and reinstalled it) But I don't believe netflix, amazon prime and You Tube uses Silverlight anymore. I could be wrong..

Reply

Answer 8

etresoft

Level 9

57,212 points

Sep 4, 2017 4:38 PM in response to czapp1

Hello again czapp1,

I don't have a good answer for you about uninstallers. The software that causes the most trouble will be the software that is the most difficult for some "app zapper" to remove.

macOS Sierra now uses System Integrity Protection. Repairing permissions is no longer possible because they are locked at the factory.

I don't know if Silverlight could be the cause of the problem. Why not remove it and find out? In the Finder, choose "Go to folder" in the "Go" menu and enter "/Library/Internet Plug-Ins" in the dialog. Then, in the Internet Plug-Ins folder, delete the Silverlight plug-in and restart.

Reply

Answer 9

czapp1 Author

Level 1

5 points

Sep 9, 2017 2:37 PM in response to etresoft

I removed Silverlight and it solved my issue!!! No crashes since I removed both silverlight 6.53.43 PM.plugin and silverlight.plugin. Found out that some of the streaming websites use Silverlight. If not found, the sites use Flashplayer.

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