kernel_task CPU issues

[Hitrate]

Hey y'all,

I've been noticing some "strange" behavious on my Lioin equipped 2011 MBP - I don't know what causes this, but let's say I have a fresh restart/boot up of the laptop - open up let's say Reaper (music sequencer program), and start making music...after a little while, I'll notice I start to get clicks in the audio - check the activity monitor, and sure enoug, the kernel_task is using up between 250% and 3xx% cpu for no apparent reason. The ram usage is no problem, very little ram used...however, it means that I cannot use this laptop for live use, which sucks cause I'm rehearsing for live solo shows :S

I've tried using cleanmymac and ccleaner, powering down, restarting etc. It usually reverts back to normal after doing all of the above. But I just tried doing this now, and the cpu/kernel_task is at around 250% after cleaning and a restart of Lion (latest version).

Here's a link to the txt acitity monitor report, and here's a copy paste, anyone got some advice on how to get rid of this problem and a healthy clean running system? (thinking about starting from scratch with a new install, but then again I might wait for the new MBP's to come before going through all that hassle)

Active Memory: 565.4 MB
Free Memory: 6.35 GB
Wired Memory: 1,018.4 MB
Used Memory: 1.64 GB
Inactive Memory: 91.8 MB
Total VM: 192.81 GB
Number of processes: 84

PID Process Name User CPU Real Mem Virtual Mem
0 kernel_task root 258.2 573.3 MB 6.64 GB
1 launchd root 0.1 1.9 MB 2.40 GB
10 kextd root 0.0 6.5 MB 2.39 GB
11 UserEventAgent root 0.0 7.3 MB 2.42 GB
12 notifyd root 0.1 1.2 MB 2.35 GB
13 diskarbitrationd root 0.0 2.1 MB 2.39 GB
14 configd root 0.0 5.8 MB 2.42 GB
16 ntpd root 0.0 1.4 MB 2.32 GB
19 warmd nobody 0.0 2.7 MB 2.39 GB
20 usbmuxd _usbmuxd 0.0 2.7 MB 2.39 GB
22 SystemStarter root 0.0 1.2 MB 2.38 GB
23 syslogd root 0.0 1.0 MB 2.40 GB
25 stackshot root 0.0 1.2 MB 2.35 GB
26 securityd root 0.0 7.8 MB 2.41 GB
28 revisiond root 0.0 3.4 MB 2.39 GB
29 powerd root 0.0 2.6 MB 2.41 GB
32 opendirectoryd root 0.2 10.6 MB 2.41 GB
34 mds root 50.0 23.0 MB 2.52 GB
35 mDNSResponder _mdnsrespo 0.0 3.1 MB 2.40 GB
37 loginwindow TorbenScha 0.0 27.4 MB 2.46 GB
39 KernelEventAgent root 0.0 1.1 MB 2.34 GB
41 hidd root 3.1 2.0 MB 2.39 GB
42 fseventsd root 0.8 3.0 MB 2.40 GB
44 dynamic_pager root 0.0 732 KB 2.32 GB
46 dpd root 0.0 1.5 MB 2.35 GB
50 autofsd root 0.0 1.8 MB 2.38 GB
51 applepushserviced root 0.0 26.8 MB 2.45 GB
52 aosnotifyd root 0.0 4.9 MB 2.41 GB
54 licenseDaemon root 0.0 3.3 MB 647.6 MB
55 M-Audio FireWire Device H root 0.0 2.2 MB 665.3 MB
56 L6KSettingMgr root 0.0 1.4 MB 613.7 MB
57 qmasterd root 0.0 7.0 MB 663.5 MB
58 lsd root 0.0 5.9 MB 672.7 MB
59 taskgated root 0.0 3.5 MB 2.41 GB
60 distnoted root 0.0 2.0 MB 2.39 GB
61 coreservicesd root 0.3 49.4 MB 2.47 GB
64 xpchelper root 0.0 4.7 MB 2.38 GB
101 netbiosd _netbios 0.0 2.6 MB 2.40 GB
106 360Daemon root 0.0 1.6 MB 2.36 GB
118 socketfilterfw root 0.0 4.3 MB 2.41 GB
120 racoon root 0.0 2.3 MB 2.38 GB
121 xpchelper _netbios 0.0 4.7 MB 2.38 GB
123 WindowServer _windowser 7.0 42.8 MB 3.09 GB
124 ocspd root 0.0 1.9 MB 2.32 GB
127 rpcsvchost root 0.0 3.1 MB 2.40 GB
139 CVMServer root 0.0 1.1 MB 2.33 GB
140 launchd _cvmsroot 0.0 892 KB 2.35 GB
144 CVMCompiler _cvmsroot 0.0 2.9 MB 2.33 GB
146 launchd _spotlight 0.0 948 KB 2.36 GB
154 distnoted _spotlight 0.0 1.4 MB 2.38 GB
155 xpchelper _spotlight 0.0 4.5 MB 2.39 GB
156 logind root 0.0 1.8 MB 2.36 GB
172 launchd _securitya 0.0 948 KB 2.37 GB
174 CVMCompiler _securitya 0.0 15.1 MB 2.34 GB
180 mdworker _spotlight 0.0 5.7 MB 2.41 GB
182 launchd TorbenScha 0.1 1.5 MB 2.40 GB
185 UserEventAgent TorbenScha 0.0 9.4 MB 2.42 GB
187 distnoted TorbenScha 0.1 2.6 MB 2.40 GB
188 xpchelper TorbenScha 0.1 5.0 MB 2.39 GB
192 Dock TorbenScha 0.0 36.1 MB 2.48 GB
193 talagent TorbenScha 0.0 7.2 MB 2.43 GB
194 SystemUIServer TorbenScha 0.0 20.6 MB 2.52 GB
195 Finder TorbenScha 0.1 23.6 MB 2.47 GB
196 coreaudiod _coreaudio 0.0 5.6 MB 2.41 GB
198 pboard TorbenScha 0.0 1.0 MB 2.32 GB
208 fontd TorbenScha 0.0 5.2 MB 2.43 GB
211 warmd_agent TorbenScha 0.0 1.9 MB 2.38 GB
215 imagent TorbenScha 0.0 6.8 MB 2.41 GB
216 helpd TorbenScha 0.0 2.1 MB 2.38 GB
220 AirPort Base Station Agen TorbenScha 0.0 2.0 MB 2.36 GB
222 Little Snitch UIAgent TorbenScha 0.0 5.5 MB 711.4 MB
223 Little Snitch Network Mon TorbenScha 0.1 5.9 MB 716.0 MB
235 com.apple.dock.extra TorbenScha 0.0 12.1 MB 2.44 GB
236 cookied TorbenScha 0.0 2.7 MB 2.39 GB
238 gfxCardStatus TorbenScha 0.0 11.7 MB 2.45 GB
239 NoSleepHelper TorbenScha 0.0 8.5 MB 2.45 GB
240 BetterTouchTool TorbenScha 0.7 14.7 MB 2.44 GB
242 NIHardwareAgent TorbenScha 0.0 10.4 MB 681.1 MB
247 automountd root 0.0 2.4 MB 2.39 GB
251 Quick Look Helper TorbenScha 0.0 8.1 MB 2.91 GB
254 Activity Monitor TorbenScha 24.0 33.2 MB 2.55 GB
263 CVMCompiler TorbenScha 0.0 2.6 MB 2.33 GB
265 activitymonitord root 0.8 1.3 MB 2.33 GB
266 launchdadd root 0.0 1.8 MB 2.37 GB

 

[GGJstudios]

Rather than a copy/paste of the text, it's easier to read if you do screen caps of Activity Monitor. Launch Activity Monitor and change "My Processes" at the top to "All Processes", then click on the CPU column heading once or twice, so the arrow points downward (highest values on top). Also, click on the System Memory tab at the bottom. Then take a screen shot, scroll down to see the rest of the list, take another screen shot and post them.

I've tried using cleanmymac and ccleaner

I would not recommend CleanMyMac, based on the number of complaints that have been posted in this forum and elsewhere. As an example: CleanMyMac cleaned too much. While you may not have experienced problems yet, enough people have that it's wise to avoid it, especially since there are free alternatives that have better reputations, such as Onyx.

You don't need "cleaner" or "maintenance" apps to keep your Mac running well, and some of these apps can do more harm than good. Most only remove files/folders or unused languages or architectures, which does nothing more than free up some drive space, with the risk of deleting something important in the process.

These apps will not make your Mac run faster or more efficiently, since having stuff stored on a drive does not impact performance, unless you're running out of drive space. In fact, deleting some caches can hurt performance, rather than help it, since more system resources are used and performance suffers while each cache is being rebuilt.

Many of these tasks should only be done selectively to troubleshoot specific problems, not en masse as routine maintenance.

Mac OS X does a good job of taking care of itself, without the need for 3rd party software. Among other things, it has its own maintenance scripts that run silently in the background on a daily, weekly and monthly basis, without user intervention.

Five Mac maintenance myths​

 

[Hitrate]

Rather than a copy/paste of the text, it's easier to read if you do screen caps of Activity Monitor. Launch Activity Monitor and change "My Processes" at the top to "All Processes", then click on the CPU column heading once or twice, so the arrow points downward (highest values on top). Also, click on the System Memory tab at the bottom. Then take a screen shot, scroll down to see the rest of the list, take another screen shot and post them.


I would not recommend CleanMyMac, based on the number of complaints that have been posted in this forum and elsewhere. As an example: CleanMyMac cleaned too much. While you may not have experienced problems yet, enough people have that it's wise to avoid it, especially since there are free alternatives that have better reputations, such as Onyx.

You don't need "cleaner" or "maintenance" apps to keep your Mac running well, and some of these apps can do more harm than good. Most only remove files/folders or unused languages or architectures, which does nothing more than free up some drive space, with the risk of deleting something important in the process.

These apps will not make your Mac run faster or more efficiently, since having stuff stored on a drive does not impact performance, unless you're running out of drive space. In fact, deleting some caches can hurt performance, rather than help it, since more system resources are used and performance suffers while each cache is being rebuilt.

Many of these tasks should only be done selectively to troubleshoot specific problems, not en masse as routine maintenance.

Mac OS X does a good job of taking care of itself, without the need for 3rd party software. Among other things, it has its own maintenance scripts that run silently in the background on a daily, weekly and monthly basis, without user intervention.

Five Mac maintenance myths​

Thanks, I'll check out Onyx, and be gentle on the use of cleanmymac and ccleaner, however, I don't think that's the cause of the problem. If anything, it seems to help me get rid of the about 290+% kernel_task cpu issue some of the time..

I don't know what it is...I'll be using let's say Firefox, with like 10-20 tabs, be watching a youtube video in VLC player or whatever, and all of a sudden it gets sluggish - check the activity monitor, and it's the same problem...I'll restart or shut down, which sometimes helps, sometimes it boots up with the same problem, or the problem starts within 1-10minutes of me using Reaper or some other "big" program with plugins etc...but it also just happens with me using regular programs, safar/firefox etc. Might it have something to do with a background "maintenance" thing Lion starts or something like that? I've deliberately turned off indexing via terminal, so it doesn't index while I'm performing music (It would start indexing and take half a day at it, and then still do it so I finally was like, I can live without the search function...) otherwise I've had no kernel panics, no issues really with my mac and os x...

Here's the requested screen shots:

http://torbenscharling.com/activity.png

http://torbenscharling.com/activity2.png

 

[Hitrate]

I did a "test" today, where naturally the problem started again..I then left the computer going with whatever I was doing, everything was less responsive cause some of the CPU was in use, now about 1 1/2 hours later, the kernel_task at 290% thing seems to have gone (without me shutting the computer down or anything..) - so it must be some kind of background process thingy that starts and does some cpu intesive buisness and then stops after it's done...what could it be and how do I fix it experts?

 

[GGJstudios]

I did a "test" today, where naturally the problem started again..I then left the computer going with whatever I was doing, everything was less responsive cause some of the CPU was in use, now about 1 1/2 hours later, the kernel_task at 290% thing seems to have gone (without me shutting the computer down or anything..) - so it must be some kind of background process thingy that starts and does some cpu intesive buisness and then stops after it's done...what could it be and how do I fix it experts?

At the time it's performing like that, launch Activity Monitor and change "My Processes" at the top to "All Processes", then click on the CPU column heading once or twice, so the arrow points downward (highest values on top). Also, click on the System Memory tab at the bottom. Then take a screen shot, scroll down to see the rest of the list, take another screen shot and post them.

 

[Hitrate]

at the time it's performing like that, launch activity monitor and change "my processes" at the top to "all processes", then click on the cpu column heading once or twice, so the arrow points downward (highest values on top). Also, click on the system memory tab at the bottom. Then take a screen shot, scroll down to see the rest of the list, take another screen shot and post them.

 

[GGJstudios]

View attachment 337136
View attachment 337137

Start quitting apps, one by one, keeping an eye on the kernel task process in Activity Monitor, until the CPU usage drops to something more normal. You should be able to isolate which app is causing the problem.

 

[Hitrate]

Start quitting apps, one by one, keeping an eye on the kernel task process in Activity Monitor, until the CPU usage drops to something more normal. You should be able to isolate which app is causing the problem.

I can't trace it to a specific app. The kernel_task thing will start at some point...I'll shut down, wait for 5+ minutes, restart - it won't be there, I'll then open let's say a sequence in Adobe Premiere Pro and it'll start upping the CPU load on the kernel_task process...So there's no specific program that I can see, that causes the problem..