Apparent high CPU usage (maybe due to kernel_text)

Question

Level 1

10 points

Apparent high CPU usage (maybe due to kernel_text)

Hello,

I have need of help. System Activities shows an extremely high CPU usage for kernal_text and System Indicator fluctuates from 83% to 100% usage for CPU. I have seen other post in this and other forums pertaining to this issue. Some mention to move certain files within the Library while others are near adamant to not do this (mostly within this forum). I would like a safe fix so am posting this here. I have attached a screenshot of the System Activities. I hope that helps diagnose. Thank you for your time thus far and I hope you have a great day!

doformon

MacBook Pro with Retina display, macOS High Sierra (10.13.2)

Posted on Jan 19, 2018 11:29 PM

Reply

Answer 1

seventy one

Level 7

27,476 points

Jan 20, 2018 1:47 AM in response to dofromon

Bit of a puzzle, this one. I see only one of the usual troublemakers and that would not normally disrupt the machine too badly.

How long has the machine been running very slow. Can you relate the time when it started to any particular download?

It seems like you have fitted a new battery. Who did it?

Run time of 24 minutes could suggest a HD problem.

I dont recognise the entry com.makerbot and neither does other browsers. Please remove it. Also follow the instructions in red ink. There is much more than your original post suggested.

Must remove valvesoftware.steamclean. Absolutely unnecessary.

When you have done this do a further etrecheck report but do not publish it. Just use it to check you have done everything necessary and see if the performance state is the same. Then come back with your findings.

Regards, 71.

Reply

Answer 2

seventy one

Level 7

27,476 points

Jan 19, 2018 11:33 PM in response to dofromon

Hello dofromon,

Suggest you download, run and publish the results from an Etrecheck report. This will give an analysis of your machine and probably point towards the culprit.

http://www.etresoft.com/etrecheck

Reply

Answer 3

dofromon Author

Level 1

10 points

Jan 20, 2018 3:58 AM in response to seventy one

Hello seventy one,

You are right I just changed the battery yesterday. I did a SMC reset also. Problems started after the battery install. I should note that I changed the RAM at the same time although that does not seem to be a problem.

The makerbot item is for a 3D printer (we have one at the local library). If you look up Makerbot online you'll see and the software is to make Autodesk etc. drawings printable.

I am unsure what you mean by there is more then my original post suggested I click the red links in etrecheck (think that's where you are referring to it does n't really do anything. For instance... when I click on cleanup a pop up shows with clean up but there is nothing clickable. It looks like an info box not a GUI.

I have removed the steamclean and makerbot items you mentioned. I am perplexed though as to how a new battery install could cause either of those items to cause problems when they both have been on my machine for years. Do you have any idea about the correlation there? Also after the battery install the shut down process takes much longer. that still is an issue.

Reply

Answer 4

dofromon Author

Level 1

10 points

Jan 20, 2018 7:25 AM in response to dofromon

I managed to be able to do a check while the CPU wasn't showing a blistering percentage (it has the same problem still but is more periodic btw). I can't seem to get rid of the makerbot item. I removed the whole program (I haven't been to 3D print in some time anyway) but in etrecheck it still shows up. I went to command line in Terminal and tried to rm it but command line says it doesn't exist. In etrecheck even when the CPU wasn't high it still says the machine is below average.

The back-up is because I had it set up to keep precious back-ups and the last time I did a back-up it ran out of room. I received a message asking if I wanted it to copy over the earliest version. At least that is my guess as to why that message appears.

I think I should send you the one where the CPU isn't as high so you can compare. I hope it helps.

EtreCheck version: 3.4.6 (460)

Report generated 2018-01-20 10:01:48

Download EtreCheck from https://etrecheck.com

Runtime: 7:01

Performance: Below Average

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

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

Problem: Other problem

Hardware Information:ⓘ

MacBook Pro (15-inch, Early 2011)

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

MacBook Pro - model: MacBookPro8,2

1 2.3 GHz Intel Core i7 (i7-2820QM) CPU: 4-core

16 GB RAM Upgradeable - [Instructions]

BANK 0/DIMM0

8 GB DDR3 1333 MHz ok

BANK 1/DIMM0

8 GB DDR3 1333 MHz ok

Handoff/Airdrop2: not supported

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

Battery: Health = Normal - Cycle count = 1

Video Information:ⓘ

Intel HD Graphics 3000 - VRAM: 512 MB

Color LCD 1680 x 1050

AMD Radeon HD 6750M - VRAM: 1 GB

Disk Information:ⓘ

APPLE HDD HTS541075A9E662 disk0: (750.16 GB) (Rotational)

[Show SMART report]

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

(disk0s2) <not mounted> [CoreStorage Container]: 749.30 GB

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

MATSHITADVD-R UJ-8A8 ()

USB Information:ⓘ

USB20Bus

Apple Inc. FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)

hub_device

Apple Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad

Apple Inc. BRCM2070 Hub

Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller

USB20Bus

hub_device

Compx 2.4G Receiver

Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver

Thunderbolt Information:ⓘ

Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus

Virtual disks:ⓘ

Macintosh HD (disk1 - Journaled HFS+) / [Startup]: 748.93 GB (189.56 GB free)

Physical disk: disk0s2 749.30 GB Online

System Software:ⓘ

macOS High Sierra 10.13.2 (17C205) - Time since boot: less than an hour

Gatekeeper:ⓘ

Mac App Store and identified developers

Kernel Extensions:ⓘ

/Library/Extensions

[loaded] com.globaldelight.driver.BoomDevice (1.4 - SDK 10.10) [Lookup]

System Launch Agents:ⓘ

[failed] com.apple.cloudd.plist (Apple, Inc. - installed 2017-12-01)

[not loaded] 9 Apple tasks

[loaded] 185 Apple tasks

[running] 95 Apple tasks

System Launch Daemons:ⓘ

[not loaded] 36 Apple tasks

[loaded] 195 Apple tasks

[running] 101 Apple tasks

Launch Agents:ⓘ

[failed] com.adobe.ARMDCHelper.cc24aef4a1b90ed56a725c38014c95072f92651fb65e1bf9c8e43c37a2 3d420d.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2017-01-12) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.oracle.java.Java-Updater.plist (? e299d3bd 72ac4dde - installed 2017-10-25) [Lookup]

[loaded] org.macosforge.xquartz.startx.plist (Apple Inc. - XQuartz - installed 2014-05-17) [Lookup]

Launch Daemons:ⓘ

[loaded] com.adobe.ARMDC.Communicator.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2017-01-12) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.adobe.ARMDC.SMJobBlessHelper.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2017-01-12) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2017-12-14) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.iainnovation.primo.HelperTool.plist (? ? ? - installed 2017-03-25) [Lookup]

[failed] com.makerbot.conveyor.plist (? 72ef1f2e e4bfae6 - installed 2014-06-12) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.malwarebytes.MBAMHelperTool.plist (Malwarebytes Corporation - installed 2016-06-01) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.oracle.java.Helper-Tool.plist (Shell Script e3fefdd2 - installed 2017-09-05) [Lookup]

[loaded] jp.co.canon.MasterInstaller.plist (Canon Inc. - installed 2016-04-02) [Lookup]

[loaded] org.macosforge.xquartz.privileged_startx.plist (Apple Inc. - XQuartz - installed 2014-05-17) [Lookup]

User Launch Agents:ⓘ

[loaded] com.valvesoftware.steamclean.plist (? f532c592 f3aca444 - installed 2018-01-20) [Lookup]

User Login Items:ⓘ

SpeechSynthesisServer Application

(/System/Library/Frameworks/ApplicationServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks /SpeechSynthesis.framework/Versions/A/SpeechSynthesisServer.app)

iTunesHelper Application (Apple, Inc. - installed 2017-12-18)

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

Boom Application

(/Applications/Boom.app)

CIJSUAgent SMLoginItem - Hidden (Canon Inc. - installed 2016-04-02)

(/Applications/Canon Utilities/IJ Scan Utility/Canon IJ Scan Utility2.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/CIJSUAgent.app)

SystemIndicatorHelper SMLoginItem - Hidden (Apple, Inc. - installed 2016-12-15)

(/Applications/Utilities/System Indicator.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/SystemIndicatorHelper.app)

BoomDaemon SMLoginItem - Hidden (Apple, Inc. - installed 2016-02-18)

(/Applications/Boom.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/BoomDaemon.app)

Internet Plug-ins:ⓘ

JavaAppletPlugin: Java 8 Update 151 build 12 (installed 2017-10-25) Check version

FlashPlayer-10.6: 28.0.0.137 (installed 2018-01-09) [Lookup]

QuickTime Plugin: 7.7.3 (installed 2017-12-18)

AdobePDFViewerNPAPI: 17.012.20098 (installed 2017-11-30) [Lookup]

AdobePDFViewer: 18.009.20050 (installed 2017-11-30) [Lookup]

Flash Player: 28.0.0.137 (installed 2018-01-09) [Lookup]

Autodesk123D64: Autodesk123D64 1.0.8 (installed 2013-10-08) [Lookup]

EPPEX Plugin: 10.0 (installed 2016-04-02) [Lookup]

Unity Web Player: UnityPlayer version 5.3.4f1 (installed 2016-09-18) [Lookup]

iPhotoPhotocast: 7.0 (installed 2013-09-15)

User internet Plug-ins:ⓘ

Autodesk3DPrinting64: Autodesk3DPrinting64 1.0.12 (installed 2014-06-10) [Lookup]

Safari Extensions:ⓘ

[disabled] oneSafe - Lunabee Pte. Ltd. - http://www.onesafe-apps.com (installed 2015-12-01)

3rd Party Preference Panes:ⓘ

Akamai NetSession Preferences (installed 2016-01-16) [Lookup]

Flash Player (installed 2017-12-14) [Lookup]

Java (installed 2017-10-25) [Lookup]

Time Machine:ⓘ

Skip System Files: NO

Mobile backups: OFF

Auto backup: NO - Auto backup turned off

Volumes being backed up:

Macintosh HD: Disk size: 748.93 GB Disk used: 559.36 GB

Destinations:

Toshiba 750GB [Local]

Total size: 749.81 GB

Total number of backups: 2

Oldest backup: 2016-12-12, 7:34 PMGMT-5

Last backup: 2017-11-25, 5:51 AMGMT-5

Size of backup disk: Too small

Backup size 749.81 GB < (Disk used 559.36 GB X 3)

Top Processes by CPU:ⓘ

12% coreaudiod

9% WindowServer

2% kernel_task

2% Boom

0% System Indicator

Top Processes by Memory:ⓘ

839 MB kernel_task

79 MB WindowServer

60 MB mds_stores

58 MB media-indexer

55 MB ReportCrash

Top Processes by Network Use:ⓘ

Input Output Process name

2 MB 9 KB mDNSResponder

8 KB 6 KB apsd

6 KB 1 KB netbiosd

0 B 64 B SystemUIServer

Top Processes by Energy Use:ⓘ

13.94 coreaudiod

9.82 WindowServer

1.44 Boom

0.58 syncdefaultsd

Virtual Memory Information:ⓘ

13.24 GB Available RAM

11.47 GB Free RAM

2.76 GB Used RAM

1.77 GB Cached files

0 B Swap Used

Software installs (last 30 days):ⓘ

Total Video Converter Lite - Totally Free to Convert Any Format: 3.6.3 (installed 2017-12-29)

Adobe Flash Player: (installed 2018-01-09)

Total Video Converter Lite - Totally Free to Convert Any Format: 3.6.3 (installed 2018-01-14)

Sid Meier's Railroads!: 1.1.1 (installed 2018-01-14)

The Bard's Tale: 1.3.4 (installed 2018-01-14)

Install information may not be complete.

Diagnostics Events (last 3 days for minor events):ⓘ

2018-01-20 07:26:04 World of Tanks Blitz.app High CPU use [Open] [Details]

2018-01-20 04:22:40 com.apple.WebKit.Plugin.64 High CPU use [Open] [Details]

2018-01-19 23:17:47 mdworker High CPU use [Open] [Details]

Files deleted by EtreCheck:ⓘ

2018-01-20 09:13:28 - ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.akamai.single-user-client.plist - Unknown

Reply

Answer 5

dofromon Author

Level 1

10 points

Jan 20, 2018 12:16 PM in response to seventy one

Hello seventy one,

I ran MalwareBytes and there was nothing to report. It came up clear. I managed to get rid of the makerbot item completely. It doesn't comeback at all anymore. that valve steam one though never goes away.

I've also been trying to figure out what makes it happen since it seems to be happing intermittently now. It was all the time before so I guess that's something. My trouble shooting tells me it happens more when I load World of Tanks Blitz but it's not exclusive to those times.

I did another etrecheck while it was happening and the kernel_text was blistering again. I guess that only makes sense. If I need to take it in to the repair shop then I can't do that until Monday. I really hope we can figure this out.

Reply

Answer 6

etresoft

Level 9

57,796 points

Jan 21, 2018 4:59 AM in response to dofromon

Don't use the old battery if it is damaged like that. You can try running the machine without a battery. However, I suspect that the old battery may have damaged the machine. I suggest you start shopping for a new machine.

Reply

Answer 7

seventy one

Level 7

27,476 points

Jan 20, 2018 11:18 AM in response to etresoft

Greetings, John.

We seem to have established that this is a new battery, probably put in by the poster.

What concerns me is the valvesoftware.steamclean.

Reply

Answer 8

dofromon Author

Level 1

10 points

Jan 20, 2018 12:30 AM in response to seventy one

Hello seventy one,

Thanks for your quick reply. Here is the etrecheck stats you requested.

dofromon

EtreCheck version: 3.4.6 (460)

Report generated 2018-01-20 03:23:05

Download EtreCheck from https://etrecheck.com

Runtime: 24:44

Performance: Poor

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

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

Click the [Clean up] link to delete unused files.

Problem: Other problem

Description:

High CPU usage

Hardware Information:ⓘ

MacBook Pro (15-inch, Early 2011)

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

MacBook Pro - model: MacBookPro8,2

1 2.3 GHz Intel Core i7 (i7-2820QM) CPU: 4-core

16 GB RAM Upgradeable - [Instructions]

BANK 0/DIMM0

8 GB DDR3 1333 MHz ok

BANK 1/DIMM0

8 GB DDR3 1333 MHz ok

Handoff/Airdrop2: not supported

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

Battery: Health = Normal - Cycle count = 1

Video Information:ⓘ

Intel HD Graphics 3000 - VRAM: 512 MB

Color LCD 1680 x 1050

AMD Radeon HD 6750M - VRAM: 1 GB

Disk Information:ⓘ

APPLE HDD HTS541075A9E662 disk0: (750.16 GB) (Rotational)

[Show SMART report]

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

(disk0s2) <not mounted> [CoreStorage Container]: 749.30 GB

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

MATSHITADVD-R UJ-8A8 ()

USB Information:ⓘ

USB20Bus

Apple Inc. FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)

hub_device

Apple Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad

Apple Inc. BRCM2070 Hub

Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller

USB20Bus

hub_device

Compx 2.4G Receiver

Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver

Thunderbolt Information:ⓘ

Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus

Virtual disks:ⓘ

Macintosh HD (disk1 - Journaled HFS+) / [Startup]: 748.93 GB (188.47 GB free)

Physical disk: disk0s2 749.30 GB Online

System Software:ⓘ

macOS High Sierra 10.13.2 (17C205) - Time since boot: about one hour

Gatekeeper:ⓘ

Mac App Store and identified developers

Clean up:ⓘ

~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.akamai.single-user-client.plist

~/Applications/Akamai/netsession_mac

Executable not found!

One orphan file found. [Clean up]

Kernel Extensions:ⓘ

/Library/Extensions

[loaded] com.globaldelight.driver.BoomDevice (1.4 - SDK 10.10) [Lookup]

System Launch Agents:ⓘ

[not loaded] 9 Apple tasks

[loaded] 175 Apple tasks

[running] 106 Apple tasks

System Launch Daemons:ⓘ

[not loaded] 36 Apple tasks

[loaded] 187 Apple tasks

[running] 109 Apple tasks