Any fix for battery problems with Mavericks?

[Roman2K~]

Sounds like a VLC problem

As much as I would like it to be the case, it can't be. Yesterday I had only Chrome running before closing the lid. Upon wakeup, quit Chrome and the core went idle (after ~15 sec). Today, neither Chrome nor VLC and the thread was stuck indefinitely, had to reboot.

I sent a bug report to Apple, hopefully they'll come back to me so that I can provide them with Spindump.txt and sysdiagnose.tar.gz.

 

[DisplacedMic]

As much as I would like it to be the case, it can't be. Yesterday I had only Chrome running before closing the lid. Upon wakeup, quit Chrome and the core went idle (after ~15 sec). Today, neither Chrome nor VLC and the thread was stuck indefinitely, had to reboot.

I sent a bug report to Apple, hopefully they'll come back to me so that I can provide them with Spindump.txt and sysdiagnose.tar.gz.

ug..i was thinking vlc as well.
i'm sorry you guys are having all this trouble - i hope they sort it out soon!

my battery life has only improved as i've owned my machine (2013 11" air)

 

[robvas]

As much as I would like it to be the case, it can't be. Yesterday I had only Chrome running before closing the lid. Upon wakeup, quit Chrome and the core went idle (after ~15 sec). Today, neither Chrome nor VLC and the thread was stuck indefinitely, had to reboot.

I sent a bug report to Apple, hopefully they'll come back to me so that I can provide them with Spindump.txt and sysdiagnose.tar.gz.

Sounds like a Chrome problem. Returning your laptop because a third-party program leaves a stuck process at 100% doesn't make any sense.

 

[Robyr]

Sounds like a Chrome problem. Returning your laptop because a third-party program leaves a stuck process at 100% doesn't make any sense.

I have tried without chrome as well. This problem we are describing will happen on a brand new fresh install with nothing else installed or transferred.

 

[Roman2K~]

Sounds like a Chrome problem. Returning your laptop because a third-party program leaves a stuck process at 100% doesn't make any sense.

Except it's obviously not a Chrome problem, given the following:

Today, neither Chrome nor VLC and the thread was stuck indefinitely, had to reboot.

And I agree, I would never return perfectly fine hardware for what's obviously a software (OS) issue, that's why I filed a bug report. I don't know why you suggested I would have.

 

[halledise]

or you could try this from osx daily - http://wp.me/ps4An-aMv

 

[Robyr]

or you could try this from osx daily - http://wp.me/ps4An-aMv

Which would be super duper cool stuff... except the issue involves kernel level issues (manifested in CPU usage nearing 100% of a core by PID0, aka kernel_task).

 

[halledise]

Which would be super duper cool stuff... except the issue involves kernel level issues (manifested in CPU usage nearing 100% of a core by PID0, aka kernel_task).

ok Robyr - we get your point, but not all others are agreeing with you, in case you hadn't noticed.

trust you have a Merry Christmas, kernel issues notwithstanding 😉

 

[Roman2K~]

ok Robyr - we get your point, but not all others are agreeing with you, in case you hadn't noticed.

trust you have a Merry Christmas, kernel issues notwithstanding 😉

There's nothing to agree with. It's a fact that it's kernel_task that's hogging one core after wakeup (not Finder or anything else):

 

[halledise]

There's nothing to agree with. It's a fact that it's kernel_task that's hogging one core after wakeup (not Finder or anything else):

Image

you may well have a valid point, but I'm blowed if I can replicate it …

kernel_task varies between 1.1 and 8.7 %CPU on mine

 

[MysticDragon]

I have been having the same issue. After sleep one core is stuck at 100% and battery life is cut in half. (No programs open)
After a reboot everything is ok. I've already tried a clean install, repairing permissions, resetting SMC; no luck.

I've resolved the issue by reverting back to Mountain Lion. Now I'm back to 12ish hours of battery while web browsing.

(13" i5 MBA with 8GB RAM)

 

[Robyr]

I have been having the same issue. After sleep one core is stuck at 100% and battery life is cut in half. (No programs open)
After a reboot everything is ok. I've already tried a clean install, repairing permissions, resetting SMC; no luck.

I've resolved the issue by reverting back to Mountain Lion. Now I'm back to 12ish hours of battery while web browsing.

(13" i5 MBA with 8GB RAM)

Yep, revert to 10.8 and all issues go away. Nothing else matters, and Apple refuses to even acknowledge it when I make display units at the store exhibit the issues.

There's nothing to agree with. It's a fact that it's kernel_task that's hogging one core after wakeup (not Finder or anything else):

Image

Thank you, you seem to get the issue pretty well as well. I am getting just about tired of users on here, who don't seem to actually understand the gravity of this issue, telling me and others who have had this problem since the launch of 10.9 that we are doing something wrong or installing the wrong applications.

Unfortunately, the answer is "Revert to 10.8 until Apple decides to treat their flagship notebooks as priorities." This affects the 2013 Airs and 2013 MacBook Pro Retinas. Its a complete embarrassment.

 

[halledise]

I am getting just about tired of users on here, who don't seem to actually understand the gravity of this issue, telling me and others who have had this problem since the launch of 10.9 that we are doing something wrong or installing the wrong applications.

Nobody is saying you (or others) are doing something wrong, it's just that many with current model Airs and MBPros are not experiencing this issue.

I realise that many are, in fact a friend with a 4 year old iMac (what was then top of the range model) was going fine with ML and has had nothing but issues with Mavericks - obviously not battery life but with other issues:

No good! I have reinstalled Maverick but nothing has changed. Finder, and everything associated with it, is totally unresponsive. From Apple Support, it seems to be a common problem. If I can find my stick with MountLion on it, I am going to have a try of reinstalling that. Will give you a progress report as the time unfurls!


good luck with ML and Happy Christmas!!

 

[Robyr]

Nobody is saying you (or others) are doing something wrong, it's just that many with current model Airs and MBPros are not experiencing this issue.

I realise that many are, in fact a friend with a 4 year old iMac (what was then top of the range model) was going fine with ML and has had nothing but issues with Mavericks - obviously not battery life but with other issues:

No good! I have reinstalled Maverick but nothing has changed. Finder, and everything associated with it, is totally unresponsive. From Apple Support, it seems to be a common problem. If I can find my stick with MountLion on it, I am going to have a try of reinstalling that. Will give you a progress report as the time unfurls!


good luck with ML and Happy Christmas!!

I bet real, cold hard cash that you DO have the issue, but don't know how to confirm it, or haven't looked when its been happening, on your 2013 Air. It simply affects all of them. It isn't something in hardware, as witnessed by some users multiple returns, and it isn't an application because a flat fresh install will exhibit the issues.

 

[bubulol]

is that normal after shutting down, battery lost 2/3%?
meaning yesterday i shut down it and today i opened it and notice few percentages left

 

[Robyr]

is that normal after shutting down, battery lost 2/3%?
meaning yesterday i shut down it and today i opened it and notice few percentages left

Yes, this is normal.

 

[halledise]

I bet real, cold hard cash that you DO have the issue, but don't know how to confirm it, or haven't looked when its been happening, on your 2013 Air. It simply affects all of them. It isn't something in hardware, as witnessed by some users multiple returns, and it isn't an application because a flat fresh install will exhibit the issues.

I confess, I too must have this problem but am ignorant of it.
perhaps when Apple resolve this disgraceful issue, I will no longer get only 7-8 hours from my 11" Air but something approaching 12 to 15 hours.
thank you. 🙂

 

[hwojtek]

There's nothing to agree with. It's a fact that it's kernel_task that's hogging one core after wakeup (not Finder or anything else)

If you say "Mavericks' got a bug" and "kernel task" in the same sentence (figuratively) one would think that the problem is with the OS itself.
Now I have three computers running this very same kernel (same build of 10.9.1 Mavericks) which are a C2D Mac Mini, an 8-core Mac Pro and an i5 Macbook Air 11". None of which displays any symptoms of this problem when put to sleep. I can (and have) even cross-booted the computers using target mode and even when I ran the OS from the Air on the Pro it didn't hog a single core after being waked up from sleep.

So after this bit-less-then-scientifical research I would say that this is not an OS X problem whatsoever, but there is a batch of computers that have a firmware issue. This is not going to be patched in a software update, but should rather be covered by replacing the computer.

Just my $0.02

 

[dirtnnasty]

I tested the kernel_task issue:
Before I send my mbpr into sleep, I opened the activity monitor.
When I wake up my mbpr, I can see the kernel_task using one core at maximum, but after 10 seconds, everything is normal again...

 

[Robyr]

I tested the kernel_task issue:
Before I send my mbpr into sleep, I opened the activity monitor.
When I wake up my mbpr, I can see the kernel_task using one core at maximum, but after 10 seconds, everything is normal again...

It is not every sleep/wake. Thats our problem that we're trying to pin down. What are the similarities and differences so we can narrow it down. At this point, beyond the fact that you can see CoreAudio hit an incredible number of wakeups/sec, I can't think of anywhere else to pull useful information. Either way, I have actually went to Apple stores, attempted a number of sleeps, and have reproduced this on two at random. Thats pretty damning.

 

[halledise]

If you say "Mavericks' got a bug" and "kernel task" in the same sentence (figuratively) one would think that the problem is with the OS itself.
Now I have three computers running this very same kernel (same build of 10.9.1 Mavericks) which are a C2D Mac Mini, an 8-core Mac Pro and an i5 Macbook Air 11". None of which displays any symptoms of this problem when put to sleep. I can (and have) even cross-booted the computers using target mode and even when I ran the OS from the Air on the Pro it didn't hog a single core after being waked up from sleep.

So after this bit-less-then-scientifical research I would say that this is not an OS X problem whatsoever, but there is a batch of computers that have a firmware issue. This is not going to be patched in a software update, but should rather be covered by replacing the computer.

Just my $0.02

+1 😉 - couldn't agree more 😀

 

[fedecape]

10.9.1

This is disgusting

 

[fedecape]

Got 4 hours and I was only browsing the web with Safari. Totally unacceptable.

I'm now considering a fresh install. Have you guys noticed any improvement?

 

[dirtnnasty]

Today I had the kernel_task-Issue...

One Core was used by kernel_task at maximum for about 30min and it did't stop, so I had to send my macbook to sleep, and after wake up everything was normal again....

 

[Robyr]

Got 4 hours and I was only browsing the web with Safari. Totally unacceptable.

I'm now considering a fresh install. Have you guys noticed any improvement?

No improvement here at all. It is definitely a massive problem.

Fresh install has not helped one bit, and I have done it 4 times, both full fresh and upgrade. The only fix, thus far, has been to revert to 10.8