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UserEventAgent went mental, proof El Capitan need repair permissions

SoyCapitanSoyCapitan

SoyCapitanSoyCapitan

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Original poster
Jul 4, 2015
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Update - The title of this discussion has been changed in light of the solution found in the comments below. Thanks to Weaselboy for helping me discover that El Capitan didn't do any automatic repair fix following the 10.11.1 update. This resulting in the problem below:

I've tried reboots and removing log in items. Nothing helps. After yesterday's update UserEventAgent hogs the CPU, staying at 99% the whole time, and sends CPU temperatures 10 degrees centigrade higher than normal.
 

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Sounds like a bad install. I have USB peripherals plugged in my MBP and no increase in that process.
 
SoyCapitanSoyCapitan said:
I'm not unplugging anything just because Apple can't test their **** properly so I have to boot my Yosemite drive until they fix this.
Click to expand...

Wow - So Apple must make their OS work with every peripheral and software tittle available. Sort of like the Tail wagging the Dog. Third party developers need to make their software and devices work with the Apple OS, IMHO.

Lou
 
flowrider said:
Wow - So Apple must make their OS work with every peripheral and software tittle available. Sort of like the Tail wagging the Dog. Third party developers need to make their software and devices work with the Apple OS, IMHO.

Lou
Click to expand...

I don't have have anything exotic attached. A three year old Logitech mouse, a USB card the same that is in the nMP, a GeForce GTX980 that isn't related to any UserEventPlugin. Everything works fine in 10.11 and 10.10.5, proving that the update is at fault.

This bug is reported often even without third party devices attached. It's usually Apple's fault because one of the plugins in System/Library/UserEventPlugins goes wild for random reasons. When it comes to third party devices, if they are using universal plug and play drivers they have done their job. It's the operating system manufacturer's fault if native processes in the OS go haywire.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
SoyCapitanSoyCapitan said:
I've tried reboots and removing log in items. Nothing helps. After yesterday's update UserEventAgent hogs the CPU, staying at 99% the whole time, and sends CPU temperatures 10 degrees centigrade higher than normal.
Click to expand...
Does it settle down if you hold the shift key at boot to start in safe mode? Safe mode bypasses any startup or launch items, so if safe mode fixes it, that tells you it is a launch item of some sort causing the problem. It may be a a third party mouse driver or something that is conflicting with El Capitan and safe mode will prevent the driver from loading just to troubleshoot.

If safe mode fixes it, run the app Etecheck to get a list of all launch/startup items that are running. Then you can start removing them until you find the culprit.
 
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Weaselboy said:
Does it settle down if you hold the shift key at boot to start in safe mode? Safe mode bypasses any startup or launch items, so if safe mode fixes it, that tells you it is a launch item of some sort causing the problem. It may be a a third party mouse driver or something that is conflicting with El Capitan and safe mode will prevent the driver from loading just to troubleshoot.

If safe mode fixes it, run the app Etecheck to get a list of all launch/startup items that are running. Then you can start removing them until you find the culprit.
Click to expand...

Good info, thx
 
Ok so first I detached all USB and HID devices, removed USB card, removed start up items including Dropbox and Creative Cloud, disabled new graphics drivers and reinstalled the Apple graphics card. I ended up with a stock Apple Mac Pro with just the keyboard. This didn't solve the problem. So no third party devices are making the problem occur.

Booting in to safe mode does make UserEventAgent behave normally again. Now I'll use Etecheck.
 
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SoyCapitanSoyCapitan said:
Booting in to safe mode does make UserEventAgent behave normally again. Now I'll use Etecheck.
Click to expand...

Okay good.... so that proves it is a launch item. There are bunch of places for launch items other than just that startup section. I listed them below for you, but Etrecheck will also show them to you.

Code: 
~/Library/LaunchAgents
/Library/LaunchAgents
/Library/LaunchDaemons
/Library/StartupItems
 
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Weaselboy said:
Okay good.... so that proves it is a launch item. There are bunch of places for launch items other than just that startup section. I listed them below for you, but Etrecheck will also show them to you.

Code: 
~/Library/LaunchAgents
/Library/LaunchAgents
/Library/LaunchDaemons
/Library/StartupItems
Click to expand...

Shall I remove items one at a time with a reboot in between each?
 
SoyCapitanSoyCapitan said:
Shall I remove items one at a time with a reboot in between each?
Click to expand...
What I usually do is print out the Etrecheck report and mark them off as I go, then start by removing half at a time with a reboot each time. That will narrow it down pretty quickly for you.

Just drag the items off to a folder on the Desktop so you can easily put them back if you need to.
 
Weaselboy said:
What I usually do is print out the Etrecheck report and mark them off as I go, then start by removing half at a time with a reboot each time. That will narrow it down pretty quickly for you.

Just drag the items off to a folder on the Desktop so you can easily put them back if you need to.
Click to expand...

Ok after removing plists in groups by company name I finally narrowed it down to Wacom's driver. But the strange thing is after discovering it was the Wacom driver and restoring and re-authenticating the Wacom plists to the LaunchAgent and LaunchDaemon folders, the issue has gone away. Maybe permissions do need to be repaired after all??

Thanks so much Weaselboy.
 
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I have changed the discussion title in light of the discovery that reapplying permissions to the plist files fixed the problem. It appears Apple's claim that they automatically repair permissions is not always true or is buggy.
 
Hi!
Just bought a wacom tablet yesterday and same ****...
How did you repair permissions? I mean, the new Disk Utility for Kids doesn't let anymore...
By console rebooting from the boot installer?

Thanks in advance!!!

PS. My fans gonna burn!!!
 
Pencacatalogue said:
Hi!
Just bought a wacom tablet yesterday and same ****...
How did you repair permissions? I mean, the new Disk Utility for Kids doesn't let anymore...
By console rebooting from the boot installer?

Thanks in advance!!!

PS. My fans gonna burn!!!
Click to expand...

Move the plists from the folders Weaselboy listed (keep note where you moved them from). Then reboot. If the problem has gone away then you know it was the plists. Now move the plists back to their locations. Finder will ask you to authenticate them. Put your password and then reboot. Hopefully the issue won't come back.
 
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SoyCapitanSoyCapitan said:
Move the plists from the folders Weaselboy listed (keep note where you moved them from). Then reboot. If the problem has gone away then you know it was the plists. Now move the plists back to their locations. Finder will ask you to authenticate them. Put your password and then reboot. Hopefully the issue won't come back.
Click to expand...
Thanks friend!

I did it, but same behaviour. I found out if i keep out one of them "wacomdisplay...bla..bla...plist in the /Library/LaunchDaemons folder, It works.

The funny thing is that plist was disabled by default through cleanmymac at launchdaemons...

I think that plist exists for a reason, but for now my wacom works well without it.

Thanks again!
 
Pencacatalogue said:
Thanks friend!

I did it, but same behaviour. I found out if i keep out one of them "wacomdisplay...bla..bla...plist in the /Library/LaunchDaemons folder, It works.

The funny thing is that plist was disabled by default through cleanmymac at launchdaemons...

I think that plist exists for a reason, but for now my wacom works well without it.

Thanks again!
Click to expand...

Don't EVER use CleanMyMac, it's rubbish, might be even the reason you have this problem.

You can repair permissions but it's a bit complicated, the easiest way is to get the Patched Disk Utility App from OS X 10.10, that will work.
 
Pencacatalogue said:
Thanks friend!

I did it, but same behaviour. I found out if i keep out one of them "wacomdisplay...bla..bla...plist in the /Library/LaunchDaemons folder, It works.

The funny thing is that plist was disabled by default through cleanmymac at launchdaemons...

I think that plist exists for a reason, but for now my wacom works well without it.

Thanks again!
Click to expand...

Should never use cleanmymac or any software from any company that has used pop up ads on any sites.

Onyx is the only decent system utility that doesn't get in your face but it doesn't do anything for this plist problem. It's OSX and its driver model that makes it happen.
 
justperry said:
Don't EVER use CleanMyMac, it's rubbish, might be even the reason you have this problem.

You can repair permissions but it's a bit complicated, the easiest way is to get the Patched Disk Utility App from OS X 10.10, that will work.
Click to expand...
********
Hello justperry
May I know where or how to obtain the mentioned "Patched Disk Utility App from OS X 10.10" ?
Thank you very much in advance :)
Ed
 
Riwam said:
********
Hello justperry
May I know where or how to obtain the mentioned "Patched Disk Utility App from OS X 10.10" ?
Thank you very much in advance :)
Ed
Click to expand...

I google search what you have in " ".. ( Patched Disk Utility App from OS X 10.10 ).

I clicked the second result, and everything you need is there.
 
Pencacatalogue said:
I use Onyx as well, but Cleanmymac helps me with hidden rubbish , itunes stuff and a fast way to login and start daemons.
Why do you guys think it could screw the OS?
Click to expand...

Just do a quick web search and you will know why. Developers of programs like CleanMyMac are a bit pretentious and often claim that they can give you back some space or make your Mac run faster. However, what they mostly do is remove small preference files that hardly consume any space and don’t affect your system, remove substantial amounts of caches and logs that will be rebuilt in no-time and remove parts of applications that they don’t control and can lead to actual problems.

As you’ve seen for yourself, CleanMyMac suggests disabling LaunchAgents or LaunchDaemons which can lead to problems in other applications. When a developer puts them there it is likely for a good reason, namely that a part of a program you installed needs to be started upon login. Programs like CleanMyMac encourage irresponsible behaviour and discourage people from getting to know their system and maintaining it properly. You hand out root access to your entire system and don’t know whether what the app tells you is good or bad. There is absolutely no need for this software when you observe a few ground rules.

The same is true for Onyx. It is certainly a powerful tool that you can use for particular tasks, but it also encourages you to do scheduled maintenance for which there is no need. What really gets me in the wrong way about Onyx is that they use a non-standard prompt to obtain root access. I don’t touch that program for that reason alone.

If you indeed feel that your system is getting heavy on disk usage or becoming a big slow or sluggish, you can always ask here for some guidance. Ultimately, Macs are super easy to maintain, you don’t need to know much.

Pencacatalogue said:
By the way, better to waste an 8GB usb just for repair permissions is to do it by console, correct me if I'm wrong...

http://osxdaily.com/2015/11/04/verify-repair-permissions-mac-os-x/
Click to expand...

I agree, it’s likely better than using a hacked version of Disk Utility. But you should use it for specific troubleshooting, not as a regular maintenance tool. Having ‘wrong’ file permissions is normal, it is not a reason for concern. It just means that the permissions have been altered at some point and deviate from the installer package. That doesn’t mean that the files can’t be accessed, modified or executed by the process that needs to do that.
 
Last edited:
SoyCapitanSoyCapitan said:
Update - The title of this discussion has been changed in light of the solution found in the comments below. Thanks to Weaselboy for helping me discover that El Capitan didn't do any automatic repair fix following the 10.11.1 update. This resulting in the problem below:

I've tried reboots and removing log in items. Nothing helps. After yesterday's update UserEventAgent hogs the CPU, staying at 99% the whole time, and sends CPU temperatures 10 degrees centigrade higher than normal.
Click to expand...
Have you been sending feedback to apple? I hope people would send feedback.
 
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