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Millennium · Jan 18, 2003, 07:26 PM

Here's the problem. I tried clicking on an FTP link in Safari. Big mistake, since it passed the link to the Finder. As a side note, I don't mind at all that Safari has no "native" FTP support, but in that case it should at honor the user's preference for FTP apps.

Ahem. Anyway, the download failed. So I tried quitting the Finder. This worked, but it didn't relaunch. I tried this for the Dock; it wouldn't relaunch either. I couldn't shutdown by normal means, so I tried it via the Terminal. This didn't work, so I had to do a dirty restart.

Only problem is, now that I've rebooted, the Finder seems to be taking as much of the CPU as it possibly can (upwards of 90%). It yields time nicely enough, except to really CPU-intensive tasks. Now, I'm not normally one to complain about CPU usage, but I know the Finder shouldn't be taking this much; under normal circumstances it doesn't. It yields enough that I wouldn't have noticed any performance penalty if I hadn't fired up an emulator. But when an app that normally hovers arounf 6-10% of usage suddenly shoots up to 90% when it doesn't seem to be doing anything, something is wrong. Here's a quick dump of my top command...

Code:
Processes:  43 total, 3 running, 1 stuck, 39 sleeping... 103 threads   18:29:10
Load Avg:  1.90, 1.85, 1.70     CPU usage:  57.8% user, 42.2% sys, 0.0% idle
Networks:         0 ipkts/0K                 0 opkts /0K
Disks:            0 reads/0K                 0 writes/0K   
VM:               0 pageins                  0 pageouts

  PID COMMAND      %CPU   TIME   FAULTS PGINS/COWS MSENT/MRCVD  BSD/MACH    CSW
  692 Finder      94.3%  8:31.29      0     0/0        0/0    10534/59475 45342
  691 Safari       0.0%  0:47.24      0     0/0        0/0        0/0         0
  671 lookupd      0.0%  0:00.15      0     0/0        0/0        0/0         0
  527 top          1.9%  0:24.53     92     0/0      484/482     82/569       5
  518 bash         0.0%  0:00.07      0     0/0        0/0        0/0         0
  517 Terminal     2.9%  0:45.13      3     0/0       15/11       7/33       15
  438 iChatAgent   0.0%  0:00.26      0     0/0        0/0        0/0         0
  431 PowerMateD   0.0%  0:00.45      0     0/0        0/0        0/0         0
  428 Default Fo   0.0%  0:00.97      0     0/0        0/0        0/0         0
  425 cocoAspell   0.0%  0:00.49      0     0/0        0/0        0/0         0
  421 SystemUISe   0.0%  0:11.74      0     0/0        0/0        0/0         0
  418 Dock         0.0%  0:03.21      0     0/0        0/0        0/0         0
  415 pbs          0.0%  0:01.84      0     0/0        0/0        0/0         0
  394 DirectoryS   0.0%  0:01.04      0     0/0        0/0        0/2         1
  370 xinetd       0.0%  0:00.05      0     0/0        0/0        0/0         0
  369 cron         0.0%  0:00.01      0     0/0        0/0        0/0         0
  366 inetd        0.0%  0:00.00      0     0/0        0/0        0/0         0
  364 loginwindo   0.0%  0:05.37      0     0/0        0/0        0/0         0
  361 smbd         0.0%  0:00.01      0     0/0        0/0        0/0         0
  359 cupsd        0.0%  0:00.60      0     0/0        0/0        5/0         1
  356 automount    0.0%  0:00.06      0     0/0        0/0        0/0         0
  346 nfsiod       0.0%  0:00.00      0     0/0        0/0        0/0         0
  345 nfsiod       0.0%  0:00.00      0     0/0        0/0        0/0         0
  344 nfsiod       0.0%  0:00.00      0     0/0        0/0        0/0         0
  343 nfsiod       0.0%  0:00.00      0     0/0        0/0        0/0         0
  335 sshd         0.0%  0:01.30      0     0/0        0/0        0/0         0
  323 Impasse Da   0.0%  0:02.65      0     0/0        0/0        0/0         0
  319 coreservic   0.0%  0:02.04      0     0/0        0/0        0/0         0
  294 netinfod     0.0%  0:00.92      0     0/0        0/0        0/0         0
  292 crashrepor   0.0%  0:00.01      0     0/0        0/0        0/0         0
  271 mDNSRespon   0.0%  0:00.16      0     0/0        0/0        0/0         0
  263 syslogd      0.0%  0:00.08      0     0/0        0/0        0/0         0
  184 Window Man   0.9%  1:23.27      0     0/0       13/12       0/15        8
  183 autodiskmo   0.0%  0:00.30      0     0/0        0/0        0/0         0
  170 ATSServer    0.0%  0:17.82      0     0/0        0/0        0/0         0
  154 SecuritySe   0.0%  0:00.37      0     0/0        0/0        0/0         0
  110 configd      0.0%  0:12.42      2     0/0        8/7        0/10        2
   75 dynamic_pa   0.0%  0:00.00      0     0/0        0/0        0/0         0
   71 update       0.0%  0:00.27      0     0/0        0/0        0/0         0
   51 kextd        0.0%  0:02.46      0     0/0        0/0        0/0         0
    2 mach_init    0.0%  0:00.27      0     0/0        0/0        0/0         0
    1 init         0.0%  0:00.09      0     0/0        0/0        0/0         0
    0 kernel_tas   0.0%  0:28.26      0     0/0      519/514      0/0       157

Any ideas, anyone?

OwlBoy · Jan 18, 2003, 07:31 PM

I had this exact same hting happen to me, and the helpful guys in #macnn helped me out.

fsck -y the disk.

-Owl

Millennium · Jan 19, 2003, 12:00 AM

Originally posted by OwlBoy:
I had this exact same hting happen to me, and the helpful guys in #macnn helped me out.

fsck -y the disk.

No good. I ran fsck -y in single-user mode (actually fsck -yf, because I have journaling enabled), but the Finder's still gone nuts. Although as I mentioned, I wouldn't even notice it if it weren't for emulators; it yields time very nicely except in the really intensive stuff. I'd almost think the Finder had subsumed the idle_thread into itself, but I don't think that's what is going on.

Millennium · Jan 19, 2003, 12:03 AM

After further analysis using QuickTime movies and emulators both (these being the most CPU-intensive things I've got), it seems as though the Finder will yield time until it has 50% of the processor, at which point it won't yield anymore. It almost makes me wonder if it's not trying to do something freaky with multiprocessing, like it thinks there should be two chips in this thing.

(mmmm..... dual-processor TiBook......)

Millennium · Jan 19, 2003, 04:42 PM

OK. I just finished a DiskWarrior run on the disk. This thing sorely needs a PlusOptimizer run as well, but that'll take over a day, so I thought I'd update first.

No use. The Finder's still taking up ungodly amounts of CPU time when idle. I'd almost think it wasn't using Carbon Events, but that was fixed in 10.1 and even the worse non-CE app isn't that bad anyway.

I'm beginning to wonder if I shouldn't just throw in the towel and reinstall. I really don't want to do that if I can help it, because I'm on a satellite connection and for some reason Apple's software updates seem to be incredibly difficult to download on such connections.

Millennium · Jan 20, 2003, 09:27 AM

In another update to the Saga of the Insane Finder, I just finished a DiskWarrior run. While disk performance is a lot snappier (as could be expected since the disk was very badly fragmented before I ran this), there was no effect on the Finder's current insistence on gobbling mad CPU time. However, PlusOptimizer did find something strange: what app makes files with creator EUC7 and type TEXT, and makes them invisible?

Also, I tried playing a DVD. It worked; the Finder yielded enough time to grant smooth playback, although it kept about 40% of the CPU for itself. That's still way higher than it ever got before even in the most extreme circumstances.

But it does make me wonder if the Finder might be renice'ing itself to some insanely high priority?

chris v · Jan 20, 2003, 10:19 AM

Maybe you need to delete the recent servers cache?

Does Mac Janitor do that?

CV

Millennium · Jan 20, 2003, 02:17 PM

Originally posted by chris v:
Maybe you need to delete the recent servers cache?

Does Mac Janitor do that?

I don't know, but a run of MacJanitor had no effect. Neither did deleting LSApplications, LSClaimedTypes, and LSSchemes.

GoGoReggieXPowars · Jan 20, 2003, 02:53 PM

comedy "delete Finder prefs" option

I couldn't find any info on a EUC7 creator code. Hmm. Was there anything in the files that you found?

I was going to suggest a runaway daemon like the Indexer, but that would show up in top, IIRC, unless it's part of the Finder process.

Pretty weird, Mill.

Laurence · Jan 12, 2004, 01:11 PM

Did anyone ever find out what was causing this? The reason I'm asking is that last week I started noticing some stuttering when playing back DVDs and in a few games. I did a 'top' from the command line and noticed the same thing. the finder is using up all of the free CPU cycles and will give up some when other tasks are busy, but never falls below around 45%. I'm running 10.3.2 and this did not start with the 10.3.2 update, but a few weeks later.

Is there anyway to find out what the finder is doing? I have the developer tools installed, and think it has something to do with the 'sampler' application, but don't know exactly how to use it for this determination.

I disconnected all USB devices and rebooted and it made no difference, the finder is still using all CPU cycles no matter what I do.

I booted into safe boot mode and held shift down while logging in and that made no difference either, so it must be something malfunctioning at a system level.

Ideas?

sushiism · Jan 12, 2004, 01:37 PM

i have a directory that makes jags(prolly panther too) finder take up as much cpu as it can seems there is a file in it that it doesnt like, very strange. Doesnt stop doing it till you relaunch it

wreks · 06:51 PM

I noticed if you're playing a m3u or even a mp3 in panther's finder it really rides your cpu, even if the darn thing is paused my finder is taking 50%. Simply unselecting it will bring it down.

A good way to find why the finder (or any app) is eating cycles is with activity viewer. Double click the process, or go to the inspector and you can see what files it has open and is working on. One time when my finder was taking like 50-100% even after a reboot I found it was quicktime trying to draw an icon preview of a 400 meg graphic file on my desktop. Might want to look at your open files if you haven't already.

edit: woah didn't notice the original post date on this thread, but reply is still relevant to the guy who dug it up.

SMacTech · Jan 13, 2004, 06:55 PM

To see if the Finder is trying to perform some file system activity causing the high cpu% run sudo fs_usage in terminal.

Which I just did and found that damned Palm Desktop Backgrounder runnning again. It just keeps coming back.

Cadaver · Jan 13, 2004, 10:12 PM

Try making a new user and logging in as the new user... see if the Finder is still hogging the CPU.

If it works OK, use a utility like Panther Cache Cleaner to do a deep cleaning/cache deletion, and try again.

LeeG · Feb 16, 2004, 11:17 PM

Well just another follow-up for those who search and find this thread-

I had the same problem - massive amounts of CPU with the finder. I narrowed it down, and I also had this problem because of a picture with a preview icon on the desktop. If you start to see the finder taking massive amounts of CPU- be sure you don't have a high res picture file with icon on the desktop-

Lee

SSharon · Mar 15, 2004, 06:06 AM

I noticed that this happened to me the other day on my dual MDD (10.3.2) so I forcequit/restarted finder and everything went back to normal, but it was strange and only happened to one processor not both. maybe thats a clue maybe its not but I have no pictures on my desktop.

Appleman · Mar 15, 2004, 06:50 AM

What about selecting your harddisk or any partition, do a command-i and see if it is indexing the harddisk in the background.

I actually are doing that now, and it does take a huge CPU usage.

digital_dreamer · Mar 15, 2004, 04:41 PM

If the Finder is hogging the CPU and you are able to return to normal after relaunching the Finder, then it's not related to a picture file on the desktop.

However, if the Finder continues to hog the CPU after relaunch, it VERY likely it's do to a jpeg or TIFF file on the desktop (or in desktop folder).

Launch the Activity Monitor app, double-click on Finder process and select "Open Files" tab. The picture file and path will be listed there.

Simply drag the file to the trash and relaunch the Finder. That should break the Finder to file link.

regards,
MAJ

LeeG · Mar 15, 2004, 04:53 PM

I just replicated this problem. I exported some photos from iphoto to the desktop, and there goes the finder - 70-90% of CPU.

I trashed the pics, and then tried to empty the trash - couldn't - pics in use.

A simple logout/login and then I could empty the trash.

Does apple know about this bug??

Lee

Keda · Apr 27, 2004, 09:21 AM

WOW!

I was going crazy and then tried MacNN's search.

digital_dreamer, thank you! Thats is a life saver. What a strange bug.

BTW, the graphics file that mine was using was located in my 'Documents' directory.

Apfhex · Aug 7, 2004, 04:59 PM

Sorry to drag this thread up, but, I just had the same thing happen to me. I managed to accidentally figure it out before looking here, but I thought I should mention it. I had a JPEG on my desktop (some pic I drag-n-dropped from Safari last night), and when I sat down at my idle PowerBook I found that the Finder was suddenly making it melt down (all fans on max) by taking up almost 100% CPU. Restarted to no avail. On a hunch I tossed the JPEG, the only file on my desktop, in the trash, but it wouldn't delete... used Onyx to force-empty the trash, Finder relaunched itself and CPU usage dropped down to normal.

For the desktop, I do NOT have "show icon preview" turned on since it caused crashes with the Finder before. This is a very strange bug indeed, and apparently still present in 10.3.4.

LeeG · Sep 27, 2004, 09:49 PM

It IS still present, both on my 12" powerbook, and my AGP/G4.

10.3.5

I have reported it more than once to apple, if you are experiencing it, please SUBMIT a bug report!

Thanks,

Le

Fellow2000 · Oct 4, 2004, 01:39 AM

I am also experiencing this....

Off to the .mac forums where I will report it.

Love Calm Quiet · Oct 4, 2004, 05:28 AM

LeeG and Fellow2000...

Were you able to use activity monitor to track down the files being obsessively used? Could you trash them and solve the problem as Apfhex suggested by a forced trash empty with Onyx?

Fellow2000 · Oct 4, 2004, 11:05 AM

Originally posted by Love Calm Quiet:
LeeG and Fellow2000...

Were you able to use activity monitor to track down the files being obsessively used? Could you trash them and solve the problem as Apfhex suggested by a forced trash empty with Onyx?

Nope, I wasn't.

However, I did go into finder prefs and turn some off, namely the "show item info." Icon previews was already turned off. I then restarted, same thing. I then restarted again... success. My finder is back down to 0.00 percent CPU. I am not sure what it was, but what a strange bug. I just hope it didn't do any damage to my powerbook after CPU being 100 percent for a couple days straight.

LeeG · Oct 4, 2004, 01:14 PM

I have not tried onyx, but an EASY (yet annoying) fix is to drag the file to the trash, log out, log back in, and then empty the trash.

Opening activity monitor DOES show you the offending file, its always been a desktop photo I exported.

I have previews off also, it has something to do with saving to the desktop. When I export to the pictures folder I don't get this problem.

Shouldn't be any permanent damage - people run at 100% a lot - distributed computing, etc.

Lee

Busemann · Oct 4, 2004, 02:15 PM

Originally posted by Millennium:
No good. I ran fsck -y in single-user mode (actually fsck -yf, because I have journaling enabled)

fsck -fn is actually what you'd want to use. That way you'd be sure it doesn't screw the filesystem if it detects unusual errors

Keda · Oct 4, 2004, 06:10 PM

I am still seeing this bug as well. I dont log-out, just relaunch finder.

macgyvr64 · Oct 21, 2004, 02:32 AM

I just had this Finder bug as well, but I *didn't* have Show Icon Preview on, and it was still cranking away at 90% on my PowerBook, with one open file to a large image on my Desktop. However, I did have Show item Info on, which may also open images to get their dimensions. I moved all the items on my desktop to a "stop the madness" titled folder (hah), relaunched the Finder, and all was good again.

Weird. Thanks all :-P