How to solve kernel_task high CPU usage?

[VanessaKing]

Quick update, I'm still kernel panic-free, but I think this kext handles the keyboard backlight sensor. Since I removed it, my keyboard's backlight doesn't work—not manually or automatically. I'm happy to type in brighter light though, if it means no more crashing, overheating, runaway fanning.

Sorry for all of the updates, but I have since moved that kext back and the fan almost immediately started back up. So I opened System Preferences > Keyboard and unchecked the "Adjust keyboard brightness in low light" checkbox, then turned the backlight completely down/off (the F5 key on MBP keyboard). Again, I'm almost completely fan-free, only having a few seconds of fan activity when Photoshop opens, etc.

This way, when I need to, I can turn the backlight off and then back on when I need it, without having to move the kext back and reinstalling. I'm hoping that, like 10.6 and 10.8, 10.10 will be a better experience and my Mac won't go back to running out of control.

I don't know if this will work with any other laptop, but if you have a light sensor and use auto adjusting with your laptop's keyboard backlight, try these steps first, before moving ANY kexts.

I should have said before: MacBook Pro 6,1 (mid-2010), running OS X 10.9.2 (Mavericks).

 

[marielosp]

I was looking for a solution to this problem yesterday and tried to find my MacBook Pro 15 retina (10,1) in the plist without success. Then I saw someone's post saying they had solved the problem by turning off sharing in System Preferences...
I did this (luckily I don't use this feature often)... and my cpu has been purring like a kitten for the last 24 hours.

MacBook Pro 15 Retina (mid 2012), OS X 10.11.3

 

[Dimwhit]

I've been having this same problem, and it was driving me crazy. Started a month or two ago. I was going to try the .plist thing, but my model's file wasn't there. But I saw the posts about the dust buildup, so I opened up the bottom of my MacMini and blew out all the dust (which was considerable). Seems to have fixed the problem. so while the .plist thing might do the trick, I'd definitely encourage checking for dust, first.

 

[cemdata]

I was looking for a solution to this problem yesterday and tried to find my MacBook Pro 15 retina (10,1) in the plist without success. Then I saw someone's post saying they had solved the problem by turning off sharing in System Preferences...
I did this (luckily I don't use this feature often)... and my cpu has been purring like a kitten for the last 24 hours.

MacBook Pro 15 Retina (mid 2012), OS X 10.11.3

[doublepost=1456975414][/doublepost]This has been impacting me for weeks. Hard to believe it was such a simple solution, but it seems to have solved my problem. Also hard to believe that I can't do simple file sharing without hosing my machine. BTW, mine isn't a MacBook Pro, but rather a MacBook Pro without a screen, keyboard, or trackpad. Mac Mini, 2.6 gHz. My i7 MacBook Pro wasn't showing the same symptoms. And by the way, thank you, thank you, thank you. I was prepared to find a much more sinister problem.

 

[CouchBikeDude]

Properly clean your vents.

See my thread here: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/slow-macbook-pro-properly-clean-the-vents.1947229/

I've been having this same problem, and it was driving me crazy. Started a month or two ago. I was going to try the .plist thing, but my model's file wasn't there. But I saw the posts about the dust buildup, so I opened up the bottom of my MacMini and blew out all the dust (which was considerable). Seems to have fixed the problem. so while the .plist thing might do the trick, I'd definitely encourage checking for dust, first.

I've had the same experience as Dimwhit! Also many of the preferences panes wouldn't load. It's all good now, must be a design "feature" to save an overheated CPU.

 

[curiousmike1300]

[doublepost=1456975414][/doublepost]This has been impacting me for weeks. Hard to believe it was such a simple solution, but it seems to have solved my problem. Also hard to believe that I can't do simple file sharing without hosing my machine. BTW, mine isn't a MacBook Pro, but rather a MacBook Pro without a screen, keyboard, or trackpad. Mac Mini, 2.6 gHz. My i7 MacBook Pro wasn't showing the same symptoms. And by the way, thank you, thank you, thank you. I was prepared to find a much more sinister problem.

I have a late 2011 MBP, and had noticed a recent spike in fan activity.
kernel_task sat at 25% usage almost constantly.
My googling led me to this thread - from it, I thought "huh, I wonder if my PC share folders could be related."
Just so happens a couple weeks back I added PC share folders on my desktop.
I deleted the shortcuts, and kernel_task instantly dropped to that 4-6% range and my fans are simmered down.

 

[atkhalas]

Really? WOW! LMAO If you are unfamiliar with what the "kernel_task" is/does, I suggest leaving system files alone.

I cannot find my Model Identifier in that folder.... Mine is Mascbook Air 5.2 and there is no such file!!! Is thgast even possible?

 

[minimacnerd]

Hi
Don't know if this will work for ye but I found this worked on my macbook pro the fan noise was v loud, computer got v slow and the kernel task was over 300%. I tried all the fixes listed on every forum online - nothing worked.
I went into system preferences and clicked on Time Machine - I backed up my computer to an external hard drive and no noise since and kernel task is running at under 5%.
Hope you get solved

 

[Raptor235]

For anyone else who might have had this issue... I had the same thing last summer and now that's it's getting warmer again today... basically every time I plugged my power charger in the CPU would go haywire... tried the fix here but didn't work...

What's happening is that the cpu is being throttled because of high temp... I ended up opening the MBP today and found a ton of dust in the fans... I've leaned it out with some high pressure air and back in business! Hope this helps someone

 

[Krafty]

For anyone else who might have had this issue... I had the same thing last summer and now that's it's getting warmer again today... basically every time I plugged my power charger in the CPU would go haywire... tried the fix here but didn't work...

What's happening is that the cpu is being throttled because of high temp... I ended up opening the MBP today and found a ton of dust in the fans... I've leaned it out with some high pressure air and back in business! Hope this helps someone

This might be my problem, cause I definitely have sharing off and kernal likes to spike almost everytime, even if I'm browsing. Doesn't help that during the day it feels like my room is next door to the damn sun.

 

[whsbuss]

Found my problem. I got a replacement battery for my 15" late 2011 MBP on eBay. $21.75 shipped - yeah that was too good to be true. I had all the kernel_task issues reported here. MBP was just about useless with 1-2% idle CPU. So I ran the Apple Hardware test and it gave me a strange error 4xxx/6/40000005:0 battery.

I put my original battery back (reason I replace it was a cell was going causing very intermittent shutdowns). Since then all is running very well. I contacted the ebay seller but I don't expect a reply. Seller is premiumbattery2014 in case others encounter the same problem. At this point I will most likely keep this MBP for another year and then just grab a new Macbook or pro.

Lesson: be sure you don't have a hardware problem before you do the System software stuff. RUN Apple Hardware Test

 

[hbeaulieu]

this prevented my mac from restarting period, and then i had to reinstall OSX. nice fix.

So, I understand you don't recommend this procedure? Because I'm not finding the proper Model Identifier file either...

 

[Dopeyman]

I have the same issue... Kernel_task is using high CPU and my "new" battery isn't charging.

Even if I disconnect my battery and just use the adapter, I still get that kernel_task high usage.

I tried the SMC and PVRAM resets. I've even did a fresh install of El Capitan and it still had the issue. I don't wan't to remove that kernel file from the system folder cause that's something "temporary". If that file wasn't necessary, it wouldn't be there in the first place. So that's a no.

My MacBook Pro is a 2012 15" 2.6/i7 with Samsung Evo 256GB SSD....

 

[cflurry]

Definition

A lot of you don't really know what kernel_task does. You guys are moving system files that can really mess up your computer in the long run.

To make it short, kernels get directions from the Mac OS X, like "Power on the Wi-Fi!" or "Can you search for more peers in Bluetooth?" Kernels also report to the OS, like "Hey, a new USB device just got plugged into the machine." So, it's like a bridge between the OS and the hardware.

Moving files - system files - will not be good. I suggest unplugging every device connected to your Mac and restarting it. (except the MagSafe adapter - if you have a battery that won't hold up) If that doesn't help, reset the PRAM and the SMC. If that doesn't work either, think about what hardware you have replaced in the computer. Do a reinstallation of the OS X. Or a clean install. There are a lot of things you could try that are definitely not harmful to your computer.

Hope I helped.

Hi,

First, yes I realize that these posts were like 2 years ago. I'm just having this issue though and found this forum. Hopefully I'll be able to find some help though.

Also, I recognize that I really have no idea what any of the technical aspects are or what they do. I only know what I've read on this forum so I get the gist of what kernel does, and that there are possible issues on just moving files around to fix the kernel_task problem using a lot of CPU power, or whatever. Before I started moving files around though I wanted to reply to your comment and ask how exactly you reset the PRAM and SMC if that is in fact something that would help? I just have no clue how to do that and wanted to try before messing with system files.

I'd appreciate any help, don't want to really mess up my computer. thanks!

 

[ronitag00]

I cannot find my Model Identifier in that folder.... Mine is Mascbook Air 5.2 and there is no such file!!! Is thgast even possible?

Hi.
I am having the same problem, cannot find Model Identifier - MacbookAir5,2..
Please let me know if you have figured it out.

Appreciate it.

 

[ciberyo]

My case, for anyone interested:

My issue happened to be caused by the fan of the computer (I have a hackintosh btw). The fan grill (sorry if you don't call it "grill", english is not my first language)... the fan grill was full of dust and the chip was being overheated, and the computer was trying to cool it down..

that was all. I clened it, and my computer works now smoothly... no kernel_task consuming 99% of the memory anymore.

 

[EnlaiC]

I too had the kernel_task issue but couldn't find the profile (I have a MacBookPro11,3) so read the other posts and sprayed some compressed air into the vents between the screen hinges. Voila! My kernel_task went down!! That's nuts! Awesome but nuts. Thanks for posting, everyone!

 

[rco7]

Does anybody here happen to use an encrypted filesystem on their mac? My kernel_task spikes when doing heavy i/o on the disk and I suspect it's the encryption/decryption process not being hardware-accelerated on my old-arse Macbook.

Just speculation, though.

 

[A Helper/Need help]

My MacBook Pro has been a bit of a problem the last couple of weeks. I started a thread called "MacBook Pro Randomly crashing.

The threads a mess.

Now it's a mid 2010 13inch MacBook Pro with a brand new battery, SSD hard drive. The problem pre-dates these two recent upgrades.

The Macbook was crashing but now this has stopped. Now the MacBook works VERY slowly. Activity Monitor is telling me that a process called "kernel_task" is using 87-93% CPU power.

What is this "kernel_task" and what does it do and how do I stop it? It seems to be throttling my machine.

Also. The battery is no longer recognised. There is an x where the percenatage should be. I bought a new battery but no change.

Help please.

FB

Hey dude This is what i did (Sorry i don't have images)
1:Go to activity monitor and search "Kernel task"
2:Then you will see lots of "md workers"
3:Clear them all.
4:now I have 1% of kernel task (10% before)

 

[Yod4]

Okay, I seem to have solved the kernel_task PCU drain using this method I stumbled across on the web.

1. Go to About this mac under the apple in the upper left and click on More info
2. Click on system report
3. make a note of what it says after Model Identifier
4. go to your master drive – System -Library – Extensions – IOPlatformPluginFamily.kext -Contents – Plugins – ACPI_SMC_PlatformPlugin.kext – Contents – Resources – find the name from step 3 and move it to a folder that you can find again if needed.
3. Restart and you’re done
I hope this helps.

Only problem now is the battery won't register, new or old and the fan is running 100% of the time.

Followed this advice, dragged "My_Model_Identifier.plist" to the desktop. When I tried to delete it later a popup appeared saying "“My_Model_Identifier.plist” can’t be modified or deleted because it’s required by OS X".

Had a separate issue with my fans which has now been resolved, so since the file is still in use by the system I figured I'd put it back. However, finder won't let me copy it back into place. I'm guessing something about being in a package within a system folder - when I drag the file to the original "Resources" folder cursor makes an "Ø" sign signifying so. Is there a way to put it back - using terminal ?

--EDIT--

Had to diasble SIP in order to copy back the file. Problem solved.
Leaving this here in case it helps someone.

 

[gwhiz-of-MDR]

Okay, I seem to have solved the kernel_task PCU drain using this method I stumbled across on the web.

1. Go to About this mac under the apple in the upper left and click on More info
2. Click on system report
3. make a note of what it says after Model Identifier
4. go to your master drive – System -Library – Extensions – IOPlatformPluginFamily.kext -Contents – Plugins – ACPI_SMC_PlatformPlugin.kext – Contents – Resources – find the name from step 3 and move it to a folder that you can find again if needed.

Hi, in this line, I have System->Library->Extensions->IOPlatformPluginFamily.kext. Are we saying that we need to move three different files? So a) System->Library->Extensions->IOPlatformPluginFamily.kext b) ??? c) ???

3. Restart and you’re done
I hope this helps.

Only problem now is the battery won't register, new or old and the fan is running 100% of the time.

 

[peterfconn]

Really? WOW! LMAO If you are unfamiliar with what the "kernel_task" is/does, I suggest leaving system files alone.

my machine is at a crawl so I have to try something. But down to the last step and Model Identifier MacBookPro11,3 is not on the list. List is
MacBookPro1_1.plist
MacBookPro1_2.plist
MacBookPro2_1.plist
MacBookPro2_2.plist
MacBookPro3_1.plist
MacBookPro4_1.plist
MacBookPro5_1.plist
MacBookPro5_2.plist
MacBookPro5_3.plist
MacBookPro5_4.plist
MacBookPro5_5.plist
MacBookPro6_1.plist
MacBookPro6_2.plist
MacBookPro7_1.plist
MacBookPro8_1.plist
MacBookPro8_2.plist
MacBookPro8_3.plist

do I delete one of these?

thanx

 

[negativeeffect]

Nope... that first command would have moved the file to ~ which is the base of your users folder, and from your screenshots it looks like it is not there, so you have nothing to copy back. You must have deleted the file at some point.

At this point you will need to command-r boot to recovery and just reinstall the OS to get the file back. Don't erase anything, just reinstall and all your data will still be there.

You should backup first though just to be safe.

Only just seen this after a very panic-y (haha - made me laugh, get it - panic?) friend called me asking for help and wondered how common these things are!

Just incase anyone else has done this and needs help recovering and stumbled here from Google, maybe you included a dash after Sudo, or were in a Root Shell, or set up not to copy over the environment on Sudo, because my guess will have been it copied into /var/root, which is ~ for the super user.

 

[Yod4]

I haven't had this problem for a while but since at some point my 5-year old macbook pro's fans were blasting at full speed due to warmer weather, I took the time to clean them. A lot of dust had gathered in 5 years. It's since running silent. This may or may not be connected to kernel_task using up CPU when running demanding tasks and heating up. Sorry if this doesn't help anyone. Just putting it out there.

 

[dyk95112]

Really? WOW! LMAO If you are unfamiliar with what the "kernel_task" is/does, I suggest leaving system files alone.

What kind of a troll reply is that? Why don't you enlighten us? The point being is that you can't tell which process is creating the large kernel_task demand.