kernel_task using more than 400% of my cpu; making the macbook unusable

[suicidejesus666]

Hello there everyone I've been having this issue for a long time now (few months) and it's with my MacBookPro late 2013 15-inch, specs:

Processor: 2.3 GHz Intel Core i7

Memory: 16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3

Graphics: Intel Iris Pro 1536 MB + NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M

Storage: 500 GB SSD

OS: El Capitan Version 10.11.2



Few months ago my old charger cable started tearing and the wires inside were being exposed day by day but the charger continued to work normally, but one day it suddenly stopped charging when I plugged it in, so what I did next was try to adjust the position of the cable to get to that "sweet spot" where it would actually start charging. And it worked for a while! after like a week or so of me doing this with my charger to get it to charge my Macbook it just stopped charging all together, now at the time I couldn't afford a new charger so I had to set my MacbookPro aside for a month or two. Few months later I bought a new charger and plugged it in and turned on the Macbook and it seemed to be working just fine so I set it aside to charge to 100% and came back later when it was fully charged, unplugged it and started using it, I browsed some websites and watched some youtube and everything seemed to be alright until the battery started running low...now here's the real problem, when I plugged in my macbook to the charger while using it the whole thing started heating up and everything started being glitchy and slow as **** and it became almost unusable, so I opened up the activity monitor app to take a look at what the problem might be; turns out that there's a process called "kernel_task" and it's taking up to 400-500% of my CPU resources..so I set it aside once more and left it alone to recharge to full battery and repeated the same process and I got the same result again, the thing was completely unusable

So I started looking up online on what I should do and I found some solutions but none of them seemed to fix my issue or make it any better, so I decided to forget about the macbook for a while since I was on a vacation and they don't have an applestore where I am right now that I could take my macbook to so they would have it looked at.
Now few days ago I got back from my vacation and decided to try and do a clean install of OSX El Capitan and see if that will make things any better (the issues I was having were on Yosemite) so I backed everything up and made a bootable USB of ElCap and wiped my SSD and installed ElCapitan.
AND IT WORKED! for a while at least...I booted up my macbook for the first time after the clean installation and it was working perfectly! everything was super smooth whether the macbook was plugged in to the charger or not plugged in I was so happy..until I found out that the problem is still there..here's what the problem evolved into: my Macbook works perfectly fine at all times UNTIL I run anything even remotely resource demanding..I tried playing the Chess game that comes with OSX and things instantly went glitchy and laggy again, opened up activity monitor and CPU usable on kernel_task was 460%...this time the issue wasn't only occurring when the laptop is plugged in, it's happening all the time when I run any sort of medium-high usage app/task and this is especially weird because I used to play League of Legends with 90 fps on average before this problem came about, I used to play a lot of intense games and never experienced any sort of lagging or hiccups like the ones that I'm having right now...so please what should I do? I need this thing fixed asap I miss gaming on my Macbook but right now I can't even play browser games normally anymore...thank you in advance.

 

[CoastalOR]

Maybe this? It would be worthwhile to have Apple run diagnostics on your video card, if not that they might find something else you can either accept or decline repair.

 

[Count Blah]

reset PRAM and SMC a number of times. The 1st time or 2, do not always work. At least in my experience. I brought back a macbook C2D, back from the CPU pegging dead, after numerous reset attempts.

 

[suicidejesus666]

Maybe this? It would be worthwhile to have Apple run diagnostics on your video card, if not that they might find something else you can either accept or decline repair.

So I ran apple diagnostics and this is what it came up with:
PPT004
The battery requires service. The battery is not functioning normally, though you may not notice a change in its behavior or the amount of charge it holds. You can continue to use your battery before it’s checked without harming your computer.

but this is kinda weird because I ran the diagnostic before when I first started having this problem and the result came back with no errors or issues whatsoever, why would I get this error about my battery right now? perhaps I should get the Macbook checked at the applestore.

BUT is there a temporary solution for my problem? at least to make this macbook somewhat usable until I am able to take it to the apple store?

Also, if it's a battery problem then why does it ONLY occur when I'm playing games or doing intensive tasks? I mean it used to happen only when I plug in the charger but as I mentioned before, now it only occurs when I'm playing a video game...It doesn't seem to me like the battery would get affected by me playing a game or doing whatever else I would do on the macbook, right?
[doublepost=1452650912][/doublepost]

reset PRAM and SMC a number of times. The 1st time or 2, do not always work. At least in my experience. I brought back a macbook C2D, back from the CPU pegging dead, after numerous reset attempts.

Thanks for the reply, I'll try resetting the PRAM and SMC 3 times and report back with the result.

 

[CoastalOR]

I know of no temporary solution for a potential hardware problem that will allow you to do intensive activities without problems. All I can offer is to have a technician test it as previously posted.

 

[Count Blah]

Thanks for the reply, I'll try resetting the PRAM and SMC 3 times and report back with the result.

How did this saga end up?

 

[suicidejesus666]

Hello there everyone! I didn't have internet access for a few days now so I'm sorry for the late reply.
HOWEVER! I managed to finally solve this issue I took my MacBook to an apple store and all they had to do was clean the inside of the MacBook (fans and vents etc) and that solved my problem! turns out that the heat was causing the kernel_task process to somehow consume more CPU which doesn't make much sense..but whatever!
The point is, for anyone reading this in the future and you're having a kernel_task problem..either take your macbook to the apple store or grab a pentalobe screwdriver and open up your macbook yourself if you know what you're doing and clean it up!

 

[treekram]

Are you still getting the PPT004 result code when you run diagnostics?