kernel_task is using large Memory

Question

Level 1

8 points

kernel_task is using large Memory

Dear apple comunity,

kernel_task is using a large percentage of my Mac memory and CPU all the time, which slows down my computer significantly.

Do you have any idea how to solve this problem.

MacBook Pro, macOS High Sierra (10.13.6)

Posted on Dec 3, 2018 11:26 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Tesserax

Level 10

158,208 points

Dec 4, 2018 12:16 PM in response to foobooo31

Thanks for the report. Here are some observations/comments:

Major Issues:

Failing hard drive - This machine has an older, mechanical hard disk that appears to be failing.

Minor Issues:

Upgradeable hard drive - This machine’s hard drive could be replaced with an SSD. This would dramatically improve your machine’s performance.

Upgradeable RAM - This machine has upgradeable RAM that would help its performance.

Out of RAM - This machine is running short on RAM and has a mechanical hard drive, reducing the speed of the virtual memory system.

High battery cycle count - Your battery may be losing capacity.

Let's start with the obvious:

Your notebook's hard drive is failing.
Your notebook has a limited amount of RAM.
Your notebook's battery is nearing its useful life.

What you will want to do about any of these will depend on how much the notebook is worth to you to "fix" it.

Hardware Information:

4 GB RAM - Upgradeable

BANK 0/DIMM0 - 2 GB DDR3 1333 ok

BANK 1/DIMM0 - 2 GB DDR3 1333 ok

Battery: Health = Replace Soon - Cycle count = 1284

4 GBs of RAM may have been fine in 2011, but it is totally inadequate for today's apps. Your MBP would benefit from a RAM upgrade to, at least, 8 GBs.

Also note the battery cycle count. This is indicating that the internal battery needs to be replaced soon unless you want to only run the notebook via an AC connection.

Drives:

disk0 - Hitachi HTS545032B9A302 320.07 GB (Mechanical - 5400 RPM)

Mounted Volumes:

disk1 - Macintosh HD 318.84 GB (89.26 GB free)

Your current system drive is running low on disk space. This will affect the overall performance of your MBP.

Performance:

Write speed: 22 MB/s

Read speed: 20 MB/s

The read/write speeds of your notebook's system drive are dismal. This will definitely affect overall drive access performance.

Virtual Memory Information:

Available RAM 1.12 GB

Free RAM 385 MB

Used RAM 2.88 GB

Cached files 765 MB

Swap Used 94 MB

Anytime Swap Used is more than zero, indicates that there was not enough RAM to hold all of the apps that you were attempting to run and they were swapped to the hard drive. This will also definitely affect performance. Again, adding additional RAM, would help.

Reply

Answer 2

Tesserax

Level 10

158,208 points

Dec 3, 2018 1:02 PM in response to foobooo31

It's possible that you are "pushing" your Mac's CPU "too hard," and the kernel_task process is running (on purpose) to help it cool down.

In addition to the article that ajcooke01 has provided, you may also find the following helpful as well:

What Is kernel_task, and Why Is It Running on My Mac? - How-To Geek

If you believe that there is potentially something else that may be causing this, I would suggest that you run an EtreCheck report and post it here so that we can help you figure out what that may be.

To help troubleshoot your Mac, I would suggest that you consider using EtreCheck and posting the resultant report for us to review. (Note: The EtreCheck report does NOT contain any personal information.)

You can download EtreCheck fromhere.
Start EtreCheck from a normal user account. Optionally, you can run it from a user account with Administrator privileges.
Select a problem from the drop-down menu to enable the "Start EtreCheck" button. Optionally, you can add comments on what issues your Mac is experiencing, especially to aide others with similar Mac issues.
Click on Start EtreCheck
Allow the program to run to completion.
When done, select Report from the left-side window to display it.
Select the "Share Report" icon.
Select Copy Report
Paste the report to your reply post.

Ref: Using EtreCheck - ASC (etresoft)

Reply

Answer 3

foobooo31 Author

Level 1

8 points

Dec 4, 2018 11:46 AM in response to Tesserax

Hi Tesserax, Thank you for your support. please find bellow my report. Broadly, I understood that I have an old Macbook Pro, but I have never experienced this problem before!!

EtreCheck version: 5.0.3 (5018)

Report generated: 2018-12-03 22:40:50

Download EtreCheck from https://etrecheck.com

Runtime: 8:37

Performance: Poor

Sandbox: Enabled

Full drive access: Disabled

Problem: Computer is too slow

Major Issues:

Anything that appears on this list needs immediate attention.

Failing hard drive - This machine has an older, mechanical hard disk that appears to be failing.

Minor Issues:

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

Upgradeable hard drive - This machine’s hard drive could be replaced with an SSD. This would dramatically improve your machine’s performance.

Upgradeable RAM - This machine has upgradeable RAM that would help its performance.

Out of RAM - This machine is running short on RAM and has a mechanical hard drive, reducing the speed of the virtual memory system.

High battery cycle count - Your battery may be losing capacity.

Clean up - There are orphan files that could be removed.

Unsigned files - There are unsigned software files installed. They appear to be legitimate but should be reviewed.

Vintage hardware - This machine may be considered vintage.

32-bit Apps - This machine has 32-bits apps that may have problems in the future.

Abnormal shutdown - Your machine shut down abnormally.

Limited drive access - More information may be available with Full Drive Access.

Hardware Information:

MacBook Pro (13-inch, Early 2011) - Vintage!

MacBook Pro Model: MacBookPro8,1

1 2.3 GHz Intel Core i5 (i5-2415M) CPU: 2-core

4 GB RAM - Upgradeable

BANK 0/DIMM0 - 2 GB DDR3 1333 ok

BANK 1/DIMM0 - 2 GB DDR3 1333 ok

Battery: Health = Replace Soon - Cycle count = 1284

Video Information:

Intel HD Graphics 3000 - VRAM: 384 MB

Color LCD 1280 x 800

Drives:

disk0 - Hitachi HTS545032B9A302 320.07 GB (Mechanical - 5400 RPM)

Internal SATA 3 Gigabit Serial ATA

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

disk0s2 [Core Storage Container] 319.21 GB

disk1 - Macintosh HD (Journaled HFS+) 318.84 GB (229.32 GB used)

disk0s3 - Recovery HD (Journaled HFS+) [Recovery] 650 MB

Mounted Volumes:

disk1 - Macintosh HD 318.84 GB (89.26 GB free)

Journaled HFS+

Mount point: /

Encrypted

Network:

Interface ZTEUSBModem_: ZTEUSBModem

Interface usbmodemfa132: C7-00 3

Interface usbmodemfa134: C7-00 4

Interface usbmodemfd122: C7-00

Interface usbmodemfd124: C7-00 2

Interface en0: Ethernet

Interface fw0: FireWire

Interface en1: AirPort

802.11 a/b/g/n

Interface en3: Bluetooth PAN

Interface HUAWEIMobile-Modem: HUAWEI Mobile

Interface HUAWEIMobile-Diag: HUAWEI Mobile 2

Interface HUAWEIMobile-Pcui: HUAWEI Mobile 3

Interface en4: iPhone

Interface en1: Wi-Fi 2

802.11 a/b/g/n

Interface bridge0: Thunderbolt Bridge

System Software:

macOS High Sierra 10.13.6 (17G3025)

Time since boot: About 2 hours

Security:

System	Status
Gatekeeper	Enabled
System Integrity Protection	Enabled

Unsigned Files:

Launchd: /Library/LaunchAgents/com.orange.Update.plist

Executable: /Applications/BusinessEverywhere.app/Contents/MacOS/UpdteApp.app/Contents/MacOS /UpdteApp