Trouble with Windowserver and Google Chrome/Discord

Question

Level 1

16 points

Trouble with Windowserver and Google Chrome/Discord

I'm having a recent issue with performance, it started yesterday and I'm not sure why it's happening. I am currently running Mac OSX High Sierra 10.13.3 on a Mid-2011 21.5-inch iMac, 2.7 GHz Intel Core i5, on which I have had no hardware issues apart from a PSU failure last year.

I am experiencing lag with certain programs - Google Chrome and Discord especially. In Chrome, visual effects on most pages are sluggish, and videos are choppy. In Discord, everything lags badly. I have noticed that while I'm actively using these programs, the Windowserver process goes bonkers, jumping from around 5% CPU to anywhere between 60-90% that I can see (because Activity Monitor starts to get sluggish so it might be even higher). As a result, anything else I try to do lags until I stop actively using the programs - i.e. if I try to type in a different program while watching a video on Chrome, the program hangs until I stop the video, and then operates as normal afterwards.

Restarting these programs does nothing to alleviate the problem. Restarting the computer worked temporarily, but the problem recurred after a few hours. An Etrecheck report revealed no major issues.

The problem did not occur until yesterday. I had run all these programs on High Sierra 10.13.3 with no appreciable issues (aside from a known bug with hardware acceleration and Chrome that was resolved). Yesterday I experienced a brief power failure which caused my computer to restart unexpectedly, and that was when the problem began to occur. I did restart the computer but the issue returned a few hours later. I appreciate any insight that anyone can offer on this matter.

Etrecheck report, in case anyone wants to see it:

EtreCheck version: 4.0.4 (4A150)

Report generated: 2018-02-28 13:23:21

Download EtreCheck from https://etrecheck.com

Runtime: 4:12

Performance: Good

Problem: Beachballing

Description:

High Windowserver CPU when using Discord and Google Chrome after ~12 hrs uptime, limited to while the programs are being actively used (not merely open). Causes considerable lag in both programs while in use and prevents other programs from being used at the same time (causes them to hang until all active elements of the offending programs are stopped, e.g. YouTube videos).

Major Issues: None

Minor Issues:

These issues do not need immediate attention but they may indicate future problems.

Heavy RAM usage - This machine is using a large amount of RAM.

Unsigned files - There is unsigned software installed. It appears to be legitimate but should be reviewed.

Hardware Information:

iMac (21.5-inch, Mid 2011)

iMac Model: iMac12,1

1 2.7 GHz Intel Core i5 (i5-2500S) CPU: 4-core

24 RAM Upgradeable

BANK 0/DIMM0

8 GB DDR3 1333 ok

BANK 1/DIMM0

8 GB DDR3 1333 ok

BANK 0/DIMM1

4 GB DDR3 1333 ok

BANK 1/DIMM1

4 GB DDR3 1333 ok

Video Information:

Intel HD Graphics 3000 - VRAM: 512 MB

AMD Radeon HD 6770M - VRAM: 512 MB

iMac 1920 x 1080

Drives:

disk0 - ST31000528AS 1.00 TB (Mechanical)

Internal SATA 3 Gigabit Serial ATA

disk0s1 - EFI (MS-DOS FAT32) [EFI] 210 MB

disk0s2 - Macintosh HD (Journaled HFS+) 999.35 GB

disk0s3 - Recovery HD [Recovery] 650 MB

disk1 - Western Digital My Passport 0748 1.00 TB

External USB 480 Mbit/s

disk1s1 - EFI (MS-DOS FAT32) [EFI] 210 MB

disk1s2 - V**********p (Case-sensitive Journaled HFS+) 999.83 GB

disk2 - Seagate Backup+ Desk 3.00 TB

External USB 480 Mbit/s

disk2s1 - EFI [EFI] 315 MB

disk2s2 - T*****0 (Case-sensitive Journaled HFS+) 3.00 TB

Mounted Volumes:

disk0s2 - Macintosh HD 999.35 GB (320.37 GB free)

Journaled HFS+

Mount point: /

disk1s2 - V**********p 999.83 GB (196.08 GB free)

Case-sensitive Journaled HFS+

Mount point: /Volumes/V**********p

disk2s2 - T*****0 3.00 TB (1.10 TB free)

Case-sensitive Journaled HFS+

Mount point: /Volumes/T*****0

Network:

Interface modem: Internal Modem

Interface Bluetooth-Modem: Bluetooth

Interface en1: AirPort

802.11 a/b/g/n

One IPv4 address

2 IPv6 addresses

Interface en3: Bluetooth PAN

Interface bridge0: Thunderbolt Bridge

Interface fw0: FireWire

Interface en0: Ethernet

Interface en4: iPhone

System Software:

macOS High Sierra 10.13.3 (17D47)

Time since boot: About 12 hours

System Load: 2.17 (1 min ago) 2.24 (5 min ago) 2.86 (15 min ago)

Security:

System	Status
Gatekeeper	Mac App Store and identified developers
System Integrity Protection	Enabled

Unsigned Files:

Launchd: /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.adobe.fpsaud.plist

Executable: /Library/Application Support/Adobe/Flash Player Install Manager/fpsaud