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bug in latest update
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bugs
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May 19, 2012, 05:19 AM
 
After applying the Software Updates for OS 10.6.8 (Snow Leopard) to my iMac, the Finder is consuming 77% of my CPU cycles for the last 20 hours.

I think I updated Safari, iTunes, and a security patch that weighed in around 300MB. That's a large patch- did they replace the entire OS? Anyway I suspect a bug in the patch since I haven't used either Safari or iTunes.

Anyone else notice this? Is there a fix?
iMac 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo 6GB, OS 10.6.8
Macbook Pro 2.2GHz Core i7 8GB. OS 10.6.8
iPhone 3GS 32GB, OS 5 / TiBook / Newton (2)
     
angelmb
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May 19, 2012, 05:47 AM
 
Does this happen starting up into Safe Mode.?

Are you running Dropbox or Parallels.?

Have you force quit/restarted the Finder.?

Have you tried to reinstall 10.6.8 with the Combo Update.?
     
Spheric Harlot
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May 19, 2012, 05:57 AM
 
Also, do you have any QuickLook plug-ins installed?
     
bugs  (op)
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May 19, 2012, 06:53 AM
 
Originally Posted by angelmb View Post
Does this happen starting up into Safe Mode.?

Are you running Dropbox or Parallels.?

Have you force quit/restarted the Finder.?

Have you tried to reinstall 10.6.8 with the Combo Update.?

Also, do you have any QuickLook plug-ins installed?
  • using Dropbox
  • restarted Finder, no change in CPU use
  • reinstall? I have enough annoyance now without changing gigabytes of stuff.
  • what's QuickLook?

I'll try Safe Mode and other experiments in the morning (well, by golly, it is morning; 4AM! So maybe in the afternoon.). If Activity Monitor works in safe mode I may have a clue. BTW, nothing has changed in these 24 hours but the update; same OS, same Dropbox... Thanks folks.
iMac 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo 6GB, OS 10.6.8
Macbook Pro 2.2GHz Core i7 8GB. OS 10.6.8
iPhone 3GS 32GB, OS 5 / TiBook / Newton (2)
     
Spheric Harlot
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May 19, 2012, 07:42 AM
 
Dropbox running the latest version?

Quicklook is the framework in charge of creating icon previews in the Finder, as well as the preview when you select something and hit the space bar.

That can get bogged down. When it locks up, the quicklookdaemon will show in re in the activity viewer, and the Finder will go crazy.
     
angelmb
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May 19, 2012, 08:21 AM
 
Could you quit Dropbox to check out if CPU usage is actually related to it.?
     
bugs  (op)
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May 19, 2012, 03:39 PM
 
Originally Posted by bugs View Post
I'll try Safe Mode and other experiments in the morning
OK, Safe Mode had no problems. So I booted normally and Finder behaved well. It's a mystery why it was so selfish before, hogging the CPU relentlessly.

Interesting that for 20 minutes after booting there was frantic disk activity. Without doing anything or running any programs the drive was reading/writing up to 60MB/sec. When I started opening programs that dropped to ~8MB/sec, and now it is less than 1MB/sec.

I assume that is Spotlight scanning the drive. It does that during idle time, I think. But so much data- especially writing! Nothing much has changed since last it was running. My main drive has about 600GB of files and my second drive has about 1.5TB of rarely used backup files. I've crashed many drives and all that activity makes me nervous...

Thanks guys. I'm sorry I can't offer an explanation for the original problem that I can't reproduce. Suggestions are welcome.
iMac 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo 6GB, OS 10.6.8
Macbook Pro 2.2GHz Core i7 8GB. OS 10.6.8
iPhone 3GS 32GB, OS 5 / TiBook / Newton (2)
     
bugs  (op)
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May 19, 2012, 06:37 PM
 
Originally Posted by Spheric Harlot View Post
Dropbox running the latest version?

Quicklook is the framework in charge of creating icon previews in the Finder, as well as the preview when you select something and hit the space bar.

That can get bogged down. When it locks up, the quicklookdaemon will show in re in the activity viewer, and the Finder will go crazy.
Good to know S.H.
Those icon previews don't interest me and I've seen them slow down the system.

I don't see the quicklookdaemon in Activity Monitor. Perhaps it only shows when active ... no, it doesn't seem to. Might be nice to disable it.
iMac 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo 6GB, OS 10.6.8
Macbook Pro 2.2GHz Core i7 8GB. OS 10.6.8
iPhone 3GS 32GB, OS 5 / TiBook / Newton (2)
     
bugs  (op)
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May 19, 2012, 06:46 PM
 
Originally Posted by angelmb View Post
Could you quit Dropbox to check out if CPU usage is actually related to it.?
It seems OK today. Been using Dropbox for a while, haven't noticed any system related problems with it. It does take a long time to synch files sometimes but I assume that has to do with network priorities. I recently set up Google Cloud but haven't done anything with it yet. And Apple's cloud seems useless but I installed it anyway. Maybe I have too much junk in my system. Thanks for the tip.
iMac 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo 6GB, OS 10.6.8
Macbook Pro 2.2GHz Core i7 8GB. OS 10.6.8
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Spheric Harlot
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May 19, 2012, 09:04 PM
 
Originally Posted by bugs View Post
Good to know S.H.
Those icon previews don't interest me and I've seen them slow down the system.

I don't see the quicklookdaemon in Activity Monitor. Perhaps it only shows when active ... no, it doesn't seem to. Might be nice to disable it.
There's several Quick Look processes.
     
angelmb
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May 20, 2012, 03:25 AM
 
Originally Posted by bugs View Post
OK, Safe Mode had no problems. So I booted normally and Finder behaved well. It's a mystery why it was so selfish before, hogging the CPU relentlessly.
It is clear then that this behavior might be related to any process not being loaded in safe mode, like Dropbox itself. Do you happen to have it set to start on system startup.?
If so, deactivate it from Dropbox preferences (you can activate it again later) then log out and log in again to see if this makes a difference on CPU usage.
     
bugs  (op)
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May 20, 2012, 05:18 AM
 
Originally Posted by angelmb View Post
It is clear then that this behavior might be related to any process not being loaded in safe mode, like Dropbox itself. Do you happen to have it set to start on system startup.?
If so, deactivate it from Dropbox preferences (you can activate it again later) then log out and log in again to see if this makes a difference on CPU usage.
Finder is OK at the moment. The computer is very busy now and Finder is bouncing between zero and 20something% of CPU. Two days ago it was stuck at around 77% of CPU. Will try the Dropbox trick when I have an opportunity to reboot.

Why would Dropbox cause problems? Aren't there millions of happy users? Thanks Angel
iMac 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo 6GB, OS 10.6.8
Macbook Pro 2.2GHz Core i7 8GB. OS 10.6.8
iPhone 3GS 32GB, OS 5 / TiBook / Newton (2)
     
angelmb
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May 20, 2012, 06:01 AM
 
I have read about Dropbox eating too much CPU time at the Dropbox boards. It might be old news, though.
     
bugs  (op)
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May 21, 2012, 12:01 PM
 
Originally Posted by angelmb View Post
I have read about Dropbox eating too much CPU time at the Dropbox boards. It might be old news, though.
Wow, that's strange. I watched Activity Monitor while opening & closing folders in Dropbox. Finder went from zero to ~10% momentarily and recovered quickly. It seems to be a rare problem relative to the millions using Dropbox.
iMac 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo 6GB, OS 10.6.8
Macbook Pro 2.2GHz Core i7 8GB. OS 10.6.8
iPhone 3GS 32GB, OS 5 / TiBook / Newton (2)
     
   
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