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TICKET ARCHIVE -> Insane use of system CPU processing

emilswift - Feb 21, 2008 - 1:23 am

I can't track any change in sys prefs, new apps or even sys updates that could explain this behavior, but my iMac G5 system has been periodically hijacking the processor. Everything freezes or goes FANTASTICALLY slow, and the Activity Monitor shows the system is using from 95% to 98% of the CPU processing power -- and NO HINT as to what is causing it. I thought Firefox (2.0) could be the problem, and when I could manage to get it to "force close" the sys processing would drop from 90+% to a normal 8% or so... But then when I leave Firefox off, the system STILL goes nuts and grabs the processor. I can't even FORCE QUIT anything when it's got ahold of the CPU -- I either wait for 1 to 5 minutes for it to "let go", or I have to hit the external power button and reboot. Anybody find this familiar?

DeltaMac - Feb 21, 2008 - 7:45 am

If you have Activity Monitor open, click on the Processes drop-down at the top of that window.
Change to 'All Processes'.
Then click the "%CPU" at the top of that column to sort by %CPU. Click a second time to reverse the order of that sort if you need to. You will quickly see which process is causing this. You can probably ignore the listing for kernel_task...

- Dale

emilswift - Feb 21, 2008 - 1:07 pm

THanks, Dale -- I've done that and will start keeping an eye one Activity Monitor and see what I can see... hanks for the tip about the "All Processes" mode... Emil

emilswift - Feb 22, 2008 - 6:21 pm

O.K> -- I got it -- it's WindowServer -- kriminey! Sometimes WindowServer shoots up the CPU% to 150% (YES, 150%!!! Like, an impossible number.) And when it's up there (98% or MORE), I can't close anything, force close anything, change windows -- and sometimes WindowServer holds the CPU captive for several minutes (obviously not REALLY doing anything.) This has just started recently and I don't know of any changes I've made (new prefs, sys updates, or whatever.) Any idea what has made WindowServer go berserk? Emil

emilswift - Feb 23, 2008 - 6:33 pm

I gotten no response yet. Is anyone still looking at this ticket? Emil

DeltaMac - Feb 23, 2008 - 7:08 pm

Hi Emil!
I think there's no definite way to get your system working better, but here's some things to try.
Download and run one of the system maintenance utilities, such as OnyX, or YASU. There's a bunch of those, but those are two that I use, and like. YASU is by far the simplest to use. http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/21674

Download and install the OS X combined updater. Here's a link to the OS X 10.4.11 combo - http://www.apple.com/support/downloa...updateppc.html
I'm guessing that you have the G5 listed with your info. If you have an Intel Mac instead, then you have to download the Intel version !
Be sure to repair your disk permissions after installing that combo updater.
I would suggest that you do the combo updater before the YASU, or other system utility, you can do the disk permissions from that utility, and that will be OK. You don't need to run the repair disk permissions task twice in succession!
Let me know if your system is still not behaving itself after doing those two tasks. There's a variety of other system tuning that you can do.
- Dale

emilswift - Feb 24, 2008 - 5:37 pm

Good ideas -- I got the update and ran it, then tried OnyX -- get this! When I run OnyX, it tells me it can't run it because it needs OS X "10.5.x"... I'm running 10.4.11!!! (Weird.) Anyway I downloaded YASU and will try it next. Let you know how it goes -- thanx so much!

Emil

DeltaMac - Feb 24, 2008 - 6:17 pm

The current OnyX is 10.5 or higher only. You have to download for specific OS X versions. Go to this link - http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/20070
and scroll down the page to the Download Links for a variety of OS X versions.

The current version of YASU should be OK for 10.4 also....
- Dale

emilswift - Feb 25, 2008 - 10:18 pm

Thanks -- so far the windowserver hasn't taken control of my CPU since making the modifications you suggested! Wonderful! Emil