Kernel_task slows down MacBook Air

Every now & then my MacBook Air slow WAY down.
Activity Monitor shows that a process called kernal_task is using 144.6% of my CPU!!!
The CPU Usage graph, below, is almost all RED!
Can someone tell me what is going on?
And how to STOP it?

Refer to these threads:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2073531&tstart=50
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1696844&tstart=200
Keep after Apple to fix the issue. You may need a new logic board.
Dave M.
Check out the new remodeled MacOSG website! 24-hour Apple-related news & support.
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Similar Messages

Yosemite slowing down macbook air performance

Ever since upgrading to yosemite, my 2011 macbook air 11' has been very noticeably sluggish compared to how it was with mavericks. At first i thought it might be from some conflicts from the previous OS, so I did a completely fresh install with yosemite, but it's still dragging and sluggish, especially with any kind of graphics intensive process. I know the air isn't supposed to be a marvel at graphics performance, but I never had these performance issues with mavericks.
Is yosemite just too resource heavy for my macbook air? I wonder if I'd just be better off going back to mavericks. However, if there's some kind of settings I need to adjust, I'd be happy to experiment. I've already tried the 'reduce transparency' trick, but it didn't do much (not that I noticed anyways).

Gatekeeper is described here: OS X: About Gatekeeper - Apple Support. It is only one defense to protect you from inadvertently installing malware, and an effective defense does not rely upon only one method.
... I can use software that isn't officially "identified" by apple, even though it is trusted.
Apple's philosophy is such that a Mac user with Admin privileges always has control over what he or she installs. As I wrote Gatekeeper will serve to protect you against inadvertently installing malware, including the adware that is affecting your Mac. Adware does not get installed on its own - it requires your explicit permission, which you provided by supplying your Admin name and password. When that dialog appears, it should be expected, not a surprise, and its implications should be clearly understood. By providing your credentials OS X concludes you know what you're doing and the reason you're doing it. Determining the "trusted" aspect of software thereby falls to you.
In your case, by choosing the "anywhere" option you effectively circumvented this basic OS X security feature.
The problem with adware is that it relies upon deception to convince you that it's legitimate software offered for some beneficial purpose, when in fact all it will do is interfere with your normal activity and possibly crash your Mac.
Is there anything I can do to possibly identify which apps may be slowing my system down?
Yes, although you installed quite a number of them. For troubleshooting, read below the line that follows the end of this post.
An EtreCheck report generated on a Mac as it ships from Apple will show no entries under Kernel Extensions, Launch Agents, User Launch Agents, Safari Extensions, 3rd Party Preference Panes, etc. Everything that appears under those headings is there because you installed them. As I wrote it's a user's responsibility to understand the specific benefits they are intended to convey, the effects they will have, and the means of uninstalling them should they result in unacceptable performance - which was your original complaint.
It's also possible that the slowdowns are not caused by software, but given the extent to which your system has been modified, hardware failure is less likely than incompatible or poorly implemented software.
... anything that isn't officially "identified" by apple is adware?
Although OS X incorporates specific prohibitions against installing common malware, they can hardly attempt to classify specific user-installed modifications as adware. The only certain way to do that would be to prevent user-installed system modifications altogether, in the same manner as they do with iOS (iPads and iPhones).
Adware's appearance changes approximately every day. Their pathetic developers are desperate to change its appearance in an effort to continue their deceptive tactics, and a simple change of a file name precludes a reliable automated means of intercepting it. That's the reason it's incumbent upon Mac users to educate themselves about its appearance so that they are not so easily gulled into installing some junk. Gatekeeper merely helps you understand that's what you'd be doing.
Back up your Mac if you have not already done so. To learn how to to that read Mac Basics: Time Machine backs up your Mac - Apple Support.
If your Mac is momentarily unresponsive, consider the following.
Launch the Console app - it is in your Utilities folder. You can find it by selecting Utilities from the Finder's Go menu.
If the log list column on the left is not already displayed, show the log list by selecting Show Log List from Console's View menu. Select Show Toolbar if it is not already shown.
Locate system.log in the list and select it. Many date and time-stamped entries will appear, hundreds of them, and you must find the entries relevant to your Mac's problem.
To do that click the Clear Display button in the Toolbar. All previously displayed log entries will be disappear.
Next: Perform whatever actions cause the Mac to exhibit the slow behavior. If the problem is caused by errors logged by the system, the Console window will show them being recorded in system.log.
One or more of them, along with their time stamps, may reveal the reason for the problem you describe.
Copy and paste those log entries in a reply. If hundreds of the same repetitive messages appear, please edit them before posting. There should be no need for more than a few log entries.
Most of the entries will be cryptic but will contain information you might consider personal such as your Mac's name. If you do not want that information to appear, delete or obscure it when posting your reply. Leave enough information so that the entries can be deciphered.

Yosemite slow on Macbook Air

Help! Seriously....
I updated to Yosemite the other day and since then my Macbook is extremely slow...
It is really annoying, especially because I have no clue what the reason could be.
I would really appreciate if anyone has an idea how to fix this.
Apple doesn´t seem to know the answer! (What a let down...)
Thank you very much for taking your time!
Some of the problems:
+ The fan is running much more often now
+ MacBook gets very warm
+ Battery drain is extremely high
+ Animations and scrolling inside OS not fluent anymore
I have already tried the following:
+ new install
+ verify disk permissions
+ SMC-Reset
+ PRAM Reset (Cmd+P+R)
Here comes my report, I really hope anyone can help me with that.
I am really disappointed of Apple... What a let down!
Problem description:
yosemite slows down macbook air
EtreCheck version: 2.0.6 (91)
Report generated 20. Oktober 2014 16:22:47 MESZ
Hardware Information: ℹ️
MacBook Air (Verified)
MacBook Air - model: MacBookAir6,2
1 1.7 GHz Intel Core i7 CPU: 2-core
8 GB RAM Not upgradeable
BANK 0/DIMM0
4 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok
BANK 1/DIMM0
4 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok
Bluetooth: Good - Handoff/Airdrop2 supported
Wireless: en0: 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac
Video Information: ℹ️
Intel HD Graphics 5000 -
Color LCD 1440 x 900
System Software: ℹ️
OS X 10.10 (14A389) - Uptime: 6:6:5
Disk Information: ℹ️
APPLE SSD SM0512F disk0 : (500,28 GB)
S.M.A.R.T. Status: Verified
EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB
Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted> [Recovery]: 650 MB
Macintosh HD (disk1) / [Startup]: 499.05 GB (172.22 GB free)
Core Storage: disk0s2 499.42 GB Online
USB Information: ℹ️
Apple Internal Memory Card Reader
Apple Inc. BRCM20702 Hub
Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller
Thunderbolt Information: ℹ️
Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus
Configuration files: ℹ️
/etc/sysctl.conf - Exists
Gatekeeper: ℹ️
Mac App Store and identified developers
Kernel Extensions: ℹ️
/Library/Extensions
[not loaded] foo.tap (1.0) Support
[not loaded] foo.tun (1.0) Support
/System/Library/Extensions
[loaded] com.Cycling74.driver.Soundflower (1.6.6 - SDK 10.6) Support
Startup Items: ℹ️
tap: Path: /Library/StartupItems/tap
tun: Path: /Library/StartupItems/tun
Startup items are obsolete and will not work in future versions of OS X
Launch Agents: ℹ️
[not loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist Support
[loaded] com.adobe.AdobeCreativeCloud.plist Support
[loaded] com.oracle.java.Java-Updater.plist Support
Launch Daemons: ℹ️
[loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist Support
[running] com.edb.launchd.postgresql-8.4.plist Support
[loaded] com.oracle.java.Helper-Tool.plist Support
[running] com.oracle.java.JavaUpdateHelper.plist Support
User Launch Agents: ℹ️
[loaded] com.adobe.ARM.[...].plist Support
[loaded] com.redgiantsoftware.updater.plist Support
[running] com.spotify.webhelper.plist Support
User Login Items: ℹ️
iTunesHelper ApplicationHidden (/Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunesHelper.app)
Dropbox ApplicationHidden (/Applications/Dropbox.app)
Porthole UNKNOWNHidden (missing value)
Internet Plug-ins: ℹ️
AdobeAAMDetect: Version: AdobeAAMDetect 2.0.0.0 - SDK 10.7 Support
FlashPlayer-10.6: Version: 15.0.0.189 - SDK 10.6 Support
Default Browser: Version: 600 - SDK 10.10
AdobePDFViewerNPAPI: Version: 11.0.09 - SDK 10.6 Support
AdobePDFViewer: Version: 11.0.09 - SDK 10.6 Support
Flash Player: Version: 15.0.0.189 - SDK 10.6 Support
QuickTime Plugin: Version: 7.7.3
JavaAppletPlugin: Version: Java 7 Update 71 Check version
Safari Extensions: ℹ️
AdBlock
3rd Party Preference Panes: ℹ️
Flash Player Support
Growl Support
Java Support
Perian Support
Time Machine: ℹ️
Time Machine not configured!
Top Processes by CPU: ℹ️
     13% Folder Actions Dispatcher
      6% launchd
      5% launchservicesd
      5% coreservicesd
      4% WindowServer
Top Processes by Memory: ℹ️
1.33 GB Folder Actions Dispatcher
352 MB Safari
198 MB launchd
189 MB CalendarAgent
120 MB com.apple.WebKit.WebContent
Virtual Memory Information: ℹ️
127 MB Free RAM
3.36 GB Active RAM
3.19 GB Inactive RAM
997 MB Wired RAM
2.81 GB Page-ins
36 MB Page-outs

Had the same problem, finally realized that the FileVault Encryption was struck at 19%. Speed back up to normal after I disabled FileVault using terminal command - sudo fdesetup diable
To check whether the FileVault is the culprit, go to System Preferences --> Security & Privacy --> FileVault to see if encryption is in progress.. For me the blue bar was less than a quarter with status 'estimating time remaining'..
Then open Terminal and type in: sudo fdesetup disable
It will then ask for the admin password (to be it asked twice), then it was disabled... Back to normal life again..
Here is my terminal log for reference:
Last login: Tue Oct 21 23:05:13 on console
Gowthams-MBP:~ asgowtham$ fdesetup status
FileVault is On.
Encryption in progress: Percent completed = 18.80
Gowthams-MBP:~ asgowtham$ fdesetup status
FileVault is On.
Encryption in progress: Percent completed = 18.80
Gowthams-MBP:~ asgowtham$ fdesetup status
FileVault is On.
Encryption in progress: Percent completed = 18.80
Gowthams-MBP:~ asgowtham$ sudo fdesetup disable
Password:
Enter a password for '/':
..fdes.
FileVault has been disabled.
Gowthams-MBP:~ asgowtham$ fdesetup status
FileVault is Off.

Macbook pro 2012 is slower than macbook air 2012

I have found that my macbook pro 2012 13" (non retina) is slower than macbook air 13" my co-workers own. all macbooks have same softwares and versions.
Macbook pro has better processor but Macbook Air is faster. I guess it is because of Hard drive in pro vs SSD in Air. so my questions are:
Does anyone have a same exprience?
and if I change my HDD to SSD can i beat macbook pro in speed?
waiting for your quick answers because I am feeling bad these days.
Thanks in advance

Take a look at my one and only user tip - Upgrading Your MacBook Pro with a Solid State Drive.
If you have any questions after reading it, just call back. The tip really needs to be updated but I just haven't gotten around to doing so... so many different drives available now!
Clinton

OS X Yosemite is very slow on Macbook Air 2011

After upgrading to 10.10 my 2011 11-inch Macbook Air became very slow. Sometimes it even freezes for about 5 seconds. I've tried to reinstall system 2 times but it didn't help. So the problem i think is in 10.10 itself. Right now I installed 10.9 because 10.10 is unusable. Does anybody experiencing such problems with Yosemite on 2011 Macbook Air.

When you have the problem, note the exact time: hour, minute, second.
These instructions must be carried out as an administrator. If you have only one user account, you are the administrator.
Launch the Console application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad and start typing the name.
The title of the Console window should be All Messages. If it isn't, select
          SYSTEM LOG QUERIES ▹ All Messages
from the log list on the left. If you don't see that list, select
          View ▹ Show Log List
from the menu bar at the top of the screen.
Each message in the log begins with the date and time when it was entered. Scroll back to the time you noted above.
Select the messages entered from then until the end of the episode, or until they start to repeat, whichever comes first.
Copy the messages to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. Paste into a reply to this message by pressing command-V.
The log contains a vast amount of information, almost all of it useless for solving any particular problem. When posting a log extract, be selective. A few dozen lines are almost always more than enough.
Please don't indiscriminately dump thousands of lines from the log into this discussion.
Please don't post screenshots of log messages—post the text.
Some private information, such as your name, may appear in the log. Anonymize before posting.

My macbook air became too slow, my macbook air became too slow

Hi dear Mac users
My macbook air became very slow.... is it because I have too many pics? or can I do some type of organization that I never did before?

Saying it is running slow is a bit vague, can you be more specific about when/how it is running slow (i.e. what tasks/programs/actions are you undertaking when it runs slow?)
It is doubtful that you have so many pics on your Air that it is running slow because of that, you'd have to have 10s of thousands of pictures to even come close to filling up the storage capacity of a 128 SSD (which I'm just guessing you have.)
By "organization" I'm assuming you're referring either to doing a disk defrag (not necessary on Mac's, especially an SSD driven Air due to the nature of SSD read/write capabilites,) or you're referring to how you have your pictures arranged in files on your storage drive, which isn't likely to be the culprit, either.
Given the lack of knowledge I'm going to guess that if you're noticing the slowness during normal operations it is probably going to be due to having too many CPU-intensive apps running at the same time (running flash based webpages is a major CPU hog as well as some high-res video or 3D apps/games.)
Let us know more and I'm sure someone here can help you figure it out, though.
Cheers!

Why does safari is very slow on MacBook Air?, why does safari is very slow on MacBook Air?, why does safari is very slow on MacBook Air?, why does safari is very slow on MacBook Air?, why does safari is very slow on MacBook Air?

Hello. I am using MacBook Air. Safari is very slow and it doesn't open many websites. for instance: dizi-mag.com . please help me

Please answer as many of the following questions as you can. You may already have answered some of them.
1. Have you restarted your router and broadband modem since you first noticed the problem? If the answer is no, do that now and see whether there's any change.
2. Are any other web browsers installed, and are they also slow?
3. What about other Internet applications, such as iTunes and the App Store?
4. Are there any other devices on the same network that can browse the Web, and are they also slow?
5. If you can test Safari on another network, is it slow there too?
6. If you connect to your router with Wi-Fi and you can also connect with Ethernet, do that and turn off Wi-Fi. Any difference?

Wifi slow on macbook air

Hi all,
I bought a new macbook air less than 3 months ago and theres something wrong with the wifi.
I brought it to the mac store and they ran a diagnostics they found nothing wrong with the wifi but one of the tech guys found a problem with safari and said he resolved the problem.
I am using it now and its like using a dial-up connection.... so slow!!!!!!! I've used chrome and other apps to see if there any quicker and there not so it seems to be a problem with the macbook.
Just wanted to put this up in case anybody has had the same problem and resolved it because the guys in the store didnt fix it and its an hour from my house to the nearest store.
Thanks,
Ross

Hi all,
I bought a new macbook air less than 3 months ago and theres something wrong with the wifi.
I brought it to the mac store and they ran a diagnostics they found nothing wrong with the wifi but one of the tech guys found a problem with safari and said he resolved the problem.
I am using it now and its like using a dial-up connection.... so slow!!!!!!! I've used chrome and other apps to see if there any quicker and there not so it seems to be a problem with the macbook.
Just wanted to put this up in case anybody has had the same problem and resolved it because the guys in the store didnt fix it and its an hour from my house to the nearest store.
Thanks,
Ross

Shutting down Macbook air

HI my new macbook air is shutting down randomly and without notice. is this something from within the computer? or do i have a virus? i just dont know what could be causing this and its new so im kinda freaking out.

Shutting down or just the screen going black? Big difference.
Either logic fault, monitor feed issue if the later. More info needed.
You need to make an appt. for free diagnostic evaluation from your local Apple store.

Kernel_task slowing down my iMac!

I have noticed that more often my iMac is slowing down with me seeing the spinning beach ball every time. Pulling up Activity Monitor I see that every time a process called kernel_task is using up between 50% to 80% of my CPU. Then it will drop off suddenly...and go back down to 1.4 % or lower. I deliberatly kept Activity Monitor open so I could observe this. I unplugged all of my peripherals and externals and restarted my iMac. The problem persisted. It doesn't seem to be linked to any specific third-party application, I saw that iStat Menus and PopCharX were showing up in Console a LOT so I uninstalled them - but the problem persists. It is getting very annoying! More often than not I notice it when I try to use Quick Look, but it also can occur when trying to select the Application list in the Finder, when trying to load a web page in Safari, and at other random times. I know that kernel_task is a kind of "catch-all" for some system processes, but Apple engineers REALLY need to address this issue. After reading the threads on the site here I see this has been a problem going as far back as 2005! It has been blamed on everything from temperature to graphics issues. Everyone has a solution, not all of them work.
Pretty frustrating! If anyone has had a problem with this, and has a viable solution, please let me know. If anyone knows of an application or terminal command that would allow me to at least look inside the kernel_task process to see a log that would be awesome (it would at least allow me to narrow down the cause of the slowdown).

Please read this whole message before doing anything.
This procedure is a diagnostic test. It’s unlikely to solve your problem. Don’t be disappointed when you find that nothing has changed after you complete it.
The purpose of this exercise is to determine whether the problem is caused by third-party system modifications that load automatically at startup or login. Disconnect all wired peripherals except those needed for the test, and remove all aftermarket expansion cards. Boot in safe mode and log in to the account with the problem. The instructions provided by Apple are as follows:
Be sure your Mac is shut down.
Press the power button.
Immediately after you hear the startup tone, hold the Shift key. The Shift key should be held as soon as possible after the startup tone, but not before the tone.
Release the Shift key when you see the gray Apple icon and the progress indicator (looks like a spinning gear).
Safe mode is much slower to boot and run than normal, and some things won’t work at all, including wireless networking on some Macs.
The login screen appears even if you usually log in automatically. You must know your login password in order to log in. If you’ve forgotten the password, you will need to reset it before you begin.
Test while in safe mode. Same problem(s)?
After testing, reboot as usual (i.e., not in safe mode.)

USB 3.0 external drive extremely slow on Macbook Air 2014

Dear Apple Support Team & Folks in Apple Community,
Seriously, I have a problem with my new Macbook Air 2014 which has equipped with USB 3.0 port. I read through the forum and hardly find a solution for this.
Recently, I plugged in my USB 3.0 external drive and expect that it would reach the same file transfer speed as that on my PC. Instead of 625 MB/s (5 Gbit/s), it was hardly reaching 60 MB/s (480 Mbit/s) to my surprise! Sounds like Macbook Air doesn't recognize USB 3.0 device properly. I have tried Western Digital and Seagate devices but failed to get reasonable transfer speed on my Macbook Air.
I tried it again with my USB 2.0 external drive on Macbook Air and only got the transfer speed around 15 - 20 MB/s which is disappointing.
Any patches or Firmware updates would be appreciate!
I have OS X 10.9.3 already with EFI and SMC update patched by App Store.

I would be interested to know which consumer grade non-raid external harddisk that could reach 6xx mb/sec.
The speed you mentioned should be normal, since most of these are 5400rpm drives (asumming it is 2.5 inch).

Text/Code when start and shut down MacBook Air 11.6

I just got a MacBook Air 11.6'' from the Apple store and whenever I start or shutdown, I get code/text appear on the screen for a while. I tried formatting and reinstalling OSx, but it's still there... it reads
http://lukeshepherd.com/luke/photo-3.JPG
http://lukeshepherd.com/luke/photo-5.JPG
Any ideas? I don't want to have to travel 40 miles to swap it at the Apple store.

Looks like its booting in verbose mode.
See: http://osxdaily.com/2007/03/25/always-boot-mac-os-x-in-verbose-mode/

Locking down Macbook Air

Just wondering how other owners of the Macbook Air are stopping people from walking off with their laptop?
since the thing has not got a way to use a laptop lock what creative ways have people come up with?
The people in my local applestore were rather useless when I asked them for a suggestion to stop the $3000 laptop being stolen..
Wondering how long it will be before Apple release a new lower case with the ability to at least lock it to a desk to stop it walking off - in the mean time I am going to have to continue to use my PC when I am on the road.

Extract from my MBA review here: http://www.notebooks.com/2008/05/29/macbook-air-user-review/
"The MacBook Air lacks one security feature, which many notebooks and also other Apple notebooks have: a slot for a Kensington lock to tether the notebook to another object such as a table. Therefore the Macbook Air should be with you, if you fear the possibility of someone walking away with it, while it is unattended."
Since it is small and thin, I put the MBA into a lockable drawer in my desk at work.
"I’ve made it difficult for people to access my data by enabling a strong password to protect access to my user account, encrypting my user data with FileVault, choosing a secure screensaver and by installing Apple’s Open Firmware, which will require the user to enter a password in order to install Mac OS on the hard drive. I also use third party software from Orbicule to increase my chances of recovering my laptop, or at least to make the MacBook Air hard to use for a thief."

Spinning beachball keeps appearing and slowing down macbook

Hello,
Over the last week or so it has got worse.
My macbook runs fine and feels normal, but now has changed.
As soon as i start it up, and click on something, itll either freeze or ill get the spinning wheel for about 30 seconds.
I then have youtube open, and it wont play the video perfectly, then it will give the spinning wheel again.
Even whilst writing this thread it has frozen 3 times when scrolling down...
Any help?

So did you get an answer and if so, did it fix the problem and what was it? Nothing mentioned here. And ecalderwood, what are all the "thank you" for? I didn't read anything in the post that answered the problem????

Slow running Macbook Air using OSX 10.5.8

I have a Mac Air running OSX 10.5.8 and its running very slow with the spinning baseball appearing between mouse clicks! What can I do? I have 50% free HDD space and 2GB RAM. Do I need to upgrade to a newer version of OSX? Thank you.

Hello.
Hopefully this support article is what you need:
http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Firefox+crashes+when+you+open+it
In any case, it's possible that you are having a problem with some Firefox add-on that is hindering your Firefox's normal behavior. Have you tried disabling all add-ons (just to check), to see if Firefox goes back to normal?
Whenever you have a problem with Firefox, whatever it is, you should make sure it's not caused by one (or more than one) of your installed add-ons, be it an extension, a theme or a plugin. To do that easily and cleanly, run Firefox in [http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Safe+Mode safe mode] (don't forget to select ''Disable all add-ons'' when you start safe mode). If the problem disappears, you know it's from an add-on. Disable them all in normal mode, and enable them one at a time until you find the source of the problem. See [http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Troubleshooting+extensions+and+themes this article] for information about troubleshooting extensions and themes and [https://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Troubleshooting+plugins this one] for plugins.
If you need support for one of your add-ons, you'll have to contact its author.
If the problem does not disappear when all add-ons are disabled, please tell me, so we can work from there. Please have no fear of following my instructions to the line, as all can be easily undone.

Kernel_task slows down MacBook Air

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