Getting a bit fed up now... CPU still throttling...

[theMouthPiece]

OK, I am almost at the admit defeat point, after all the issues I have experienced recently which I have posted about in various threads, I seriously am getting close to conceding defeat and moving from my MacBook Pro to a Windows machine

I have attached a file which shows my Mac throttling ridiculously after a reboot, then simply loading up Safari, checking my gmail account and playing a YouTube video.

I have today installed a fresh clean copy El Capitan 10.11.6, with a minimal amount of additional apps installed (Final Cut Pro X, Logic Pro X - though none of these were running when I took the screenshot) and I am unable to do anything on the Mac when this happens. The kernel_task process is simply killing my Mac. I have no idea why it is running, I have no idea why it is at a ridiculous 600% plus... I simply rebooted, launched Safari, checked email and went to a youtube page.

Starting to lose interest in getting this sorted.

Can anyone offer any help. Please?

 

[BrianBaughn]

I don't think Activity Monitor demonstrates the type of CPU throttling that has been the subject of discussion lately.

 

[treekram]

Does this same behavior happen in safe mode? If it doesn't, then the high kernel_task CPU % is likely due to a 3rd-party kernel extension. If it does, I've seen high kernel_task CPU % when there is something not right with the battery although that's typically more of a 15" issue. What happened with your battery issue?

 

[theMouthPiece]

Does this same behavior happen in safe mode? If it doesn't, then the high kernel_task CPU % is likely due to a 3rd-party kernel extension. If it does, I've seen high kernel_task CPU % when there is something not right with the battery although that's typically more of a 15" issue. What happened with your battery issue?

treekram... you've really have been superb help of late, and I really appreciate your prompt reply here, too. Thank you.

Re the battery issue: Well, I ordered a replacement battery a few days ago off Amazon, fitted it, and it seems to be working fine; charging nicely and lasting aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaages!!

Must admit though, and apologies for not doing so, but I've yet to try the Safe Mode option you mentioned. I will certainly try this tomorrow as I am off from work for the day (not sure where you are but it's past 11:00pm here) and as usual, I will report findings in this thread as soon as I have done so. Thanks again.

 

[treekram]

If you have changed the battery, it might help if you reset the SMC.
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201295
(No need to reset NVRAM as that would have happened when you changed the battery.)

You should also check the battery information in the System Information app.
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201585

Hopefully, safe mode or one of these will point the way to a solution. Finding why kernel_task takes up a lot of CPU can be a hair-pulling experience.

 

[theMouthPiece]

Not done the safe mode as yet treekram, but an interesting discovery was made that I am sure you'll be interested in reading about when I went to bed last night that I guess in reality, I should pretty much have thought of sooner.

I rarely use my Mac away from my desk, and as such it is positioned on a tilted and well ventilated shelf to facilitate air flow, and I always have it connected to a few devices, namely; external 32" monitor, a separately powered iDsonix 7-port USB with various devices connected, and my focusrite saffire pro (excellent piece of kit) firewire sound card.

When I went to bed I decided to have a browse on the Mac whilst led on my bed, so of course I disconnected these devices. When I turned the Mac on, lo-and-behold, the kernel_task issues went away to almost nothing! I immediately tested the items one by one by reconnecting them individually; the external monitor caused no issue, neither did the firewire sound card, but when I connected the USB port, the kernel_task high CPU load returned immediately. I haven't tested the individual items that are connected to the USB port, but it seems to be this that is causing the high CPU load in this instance. The items connected are 1TB external HDD, and three items used for my amateur radios; a USB sound device used for converting digital radio signals from the 3.5mm jack connectors of one of my radios, a serial USB device specifically for cat control of my Kenwood HF transceiver radio, and a USB connector used for separate data on the same radio. OK, a lot if items for sure, but often simply never in use so I have no idea why any one or more of these would be causing the kernel_task issues, but they do seem to be the ones causing it.

One final note; I noticed this morning that upon downloading additional content from Apple re LogicPro X (something one needs to do to get the full audio suite for that pro app), whenever I access a www page, any www page, the kernel_task use goes up high but only temporarily, then comes back down to acceptable levels. I assume that this is because the simultaneous download of 45GB of data is running concurrently and kernel_task has to do some legitimate work to manage the apps. it's going to take an hour or two to dl this data, so I will report back later today once this has been done.

Off out now to buy a new cheap colour printer....

 

[treekram]

Not done the safe mode as yet treekram, but an interesting discovery was made that I am sure you'll be interested in reading about when I went to bed last night that I guess in reality, I should pretty much have thought of sooner.

I rarely use my Mac away from my desk, and as such it is positioned on a tilted and well ventilated shelf to facilitate air flow, and I always have it connected to a few devices, namely; external 32" monitor, a separately powered iDsonix 7-port USB with various devices connected, and my focusrite saffire pro (excellent piece of kit) firewire sound card.

When I went to bed I decided to have a browse on the Mac whilst led on my bed, so of course I disconnected these devices. When I turned the Mac on, lo-and-behold, the kernel_task issues went away to almost nothing! I immediately tested the items one by one by reconnecting them individually; the external monitor caused no issue, neither did the firewire sound card, but when I connected the USB port, the kernel_task high CPU load returned immediately. I haven't tested the individual items that are connected to the USB port, but it seems to be this that is causing the high CPU load in this instance. The items connected are 1TB external HDD, and three items used for my amateur radios; a USB sound device used for converting digital radio signals from the 3.5mm jack connectors of one of my radios, a serial USB device specifically for cat control of my Kenwood HF transceiver radio, and a USB connector used for separate data on the same radio. OK, a lot if items for sure, but often simply never in use so I have no idea why any one or more of these would be causing the kernel_task issues, but they do seem to be the ones causing it.

One final note; I noticed this morning that upon downloading additional content from Apple re LogicPro X (something one needs to do to get the full audio suite for that pro app), whenever I access a www page, any www page, the kernel_task use goes up high but only temporarily, then comes back down to acceptable levels. I assume that this is because the simultaneous download of 45GB of data is running concurrently and kernel_task has to do some legitimate work to manage the apps. it's going to take an hour or two to dl this data, so I will report back later today once this has been done.

Off out now to buy a new cheap colour printer....

There's a decent chance that at least one of the USB devices (but not the external HDD unless you're using software provided by the HDD manufacturer) uses a kernel extension and that is what's causing the problem. However, I have a USB DAC and a USB ADC and neither use kernel extensions so it's also possible that they don't use kernel extensions. You can use EtreCheck to find out or if you had to install software for any of these devices, you can check that software.

 

[theMouthPiece]

There's a decent chance that at least one of the USB devices (but not the external HDD unless you're using software provided by the HDD manufacturer) uses a kernel extension and that is what's causing the problem. However, I have a USB DAC and a USB ADC and neither use kernel extensions so it's also possible that they don't use kernel extensions. You can use EtreCheck to find out or if you had to install software for any of these devices, you can check that software.

There's no doubt that it is one of these devices treekram, that's causing the issues I have been experiencing. Today, I have been using the Macbook all day, editing video using Final Cut Pro X, and though the performance from this aged Macbook isn't the best with that app, it has been working fine all day with no kernel_task issues. Yes, the CPU has often been maxed out whilst rendering and carrying out other intensive FCPX tasks, but I've not had any issues when browsing.

I did have a peculiar issue when I ran Mail for the first time since updating the OS. Mail maxed out at very high CPU for a few mins, but then settled down again.

I have been monitoring Activity Monitor for the last few mins and the CPU load has barely gone above 15%.

 

[MBAir2010]

weird but thanks I'm trying to get the mac mini to read a nikon camera card (i can't do abbreviations) into the slot, that did not read, so i successfully used the macairbook.
after reading the mouth piece's piece on USB drive, i realized i had 2 external HDs and a magic mouse connected as well.
why does that happen?
why have the 4 slots then?
why the fuss with the bus?

Mac mini runs elcapitan, 4 gb ram and had a gerbil spooling the hard drive.
his name is cecil!

 

[theMouthPiece]

weird but thanks I'm trying to get the mac mini to read a nikon camera card (i can't do abbreviations) into the slot, that did not read, so i successfully used the macairbook.
after reading the mouth piece's piece on USB drive, i realized i had 2 external HDs and a magic mouse connected as well.
why does that happen?
why have the 4 slots then?
why the fuss with the bus?

Mac mini runs elcapitan, 4 gb ram and had a gerbil spooling the hard drive.
his name is cecil!

Hi Expobill - I have stumbled across this type of issue with USB ports previously. Apparently, even though the machines have several external USB ports (mine has 2), they are also used by other internal adapters such as the blue tooth card and wifi (I think). I came across this as I also do a lot of music creation - I own an Access VirusTI synthesiser - which can connect to the Mac when using LogicProX etc. When I first started using this, Access music advised me to use a single USB port on the Mac, and NOT a shared port connected to a hub. The USB ports are already part of a hub you see!!

When I did this, all was well with the synthesiser. I am guessing you have experienced similar issues with multiple heavy bandwidth use devices connected to a single USB hub.