CPU running 100% constantly

M

matt21

Registered
First off, Hi! You guys were recommended as a place where I can get helped out of this crazy predicament I'm in.

My System: Rev A G5 20" iMac 1.8GHz, 2GB RAM from OWC (Apple's 256K stick in now though). OSX 3.9. No Bluetooth, sharing, FAX, printer connected or enabled.

My problem: CPU began racing a constant 99-100% after installing a 3rd party iTunes visualizer. Uninstalling it and iTunes made no difference. Have run Disk Warrior, TechTool Deluxe, repaired permissions, zapped the PRAM, run Applejack, all without luck. Activity Monitor shows 100% CPUsage in lower left with no launched apps but the vertical column doesn't come close to that, only about 15% CPUsage.
Fans racing; CPU temperature a steady 165-170ºF. Lots of beachballs.

Apple's Hardware Test gave this result:
Quick test Error Code: 2MLB/10/4: $0005. 22f2
Exended test Error Code: 2MEM/1/4: DIMM0/J4000

Bad memory stick(s)? Had two 1G OWC sticks inside at the time.
Have tested each 1GB stick separately in both of the iMac slots as well as the original 256K from Apple. The problem persists in all cases.
Created a test account. Tried different energy settings. No change.

Here is a piece of System log:
===== Display starts at offset 15438297 within file of length 15569369. ====
===== Use File->Reload (Cmd-R) to display more. ====
cupsd -f": exited as a result of signal 10 [pid 27511]
Jan 1 09:46:14 localhost crashdump: Unable to determine CPSProcessSerNum pid: 27511 name: cupsd
Jan 1 09:46:14 localhost crashdump: Started writing crash report to: /Library/Logs/CrashReporter/cupsd.crash.log
Jan 1 09:46:14 localhost crashdump: Finished writing crash report to: /Library/Logs/CrashReporter/cupsd.crash.log
Jan 1 09:46:15 localhost mach_init[2]: Server 7253 in bootstrap d03 uid 0: "/usr/sbin/cupsd -f": exited as a result of signal 10 [pid 27526]
Jan 1 09:46:15 localhost crashdump: Unable to determine CPSProcessSerNum pid: 27526 name: cupsd
Jan 1 09:46:15 localhost crashdump: Started writing crash report to: /Library/Logs/CrashReporter/cupsd.crash.log
Jan 1 09:46:15 localhost crashdump: Finished writing crash report to: /Library/Logs/CrashReporter/cupsd.crash.log
Jan 1 09:46:16 localhost mach_init[2]: Server b2d7 in bootstrap d03 uid 0: "/usr/sbin/cupsd -f": exited as a result of signal 10 [pid 27541]
Jan 1 09:46:16 localhost crashdump: Unable to determine CPSProcessSerNum pid: 27541 name: cupsd
Jan 1 09:46:16 localhost crashdump: Started writing crash report to: /Library/Logs/CrashReporter/cupsd.crash.log
Jan 1 09:46:16 localhost crashdump: Finished writing crash report to: /Library/Logs/CrashReporter/cupsd.crash.log
Jan 1 09:46:17 localhost mach_init[2]: Server ac1b in bootstrap d03 uid 0: "/usr/sbin/cupsd -f": exited as a result of signal 10 [pid 27556]
Jan 1 09:46:17 localhost crashdump: Unable to determine CPSProcessSerNum pid: 27556 name: cupsd
Jan 1 09:46:17 localhost crashdump: Started writing crash report to: /Library/Logs/CrashReporter/cupsd.crash.log
Jan 1 09:46:17 localhost crashdump: Finished writing crash report to: /Library/Logs/CrashReporter/cupsd.crash.log
Jan 1 09:46:18 localhost mach_init[2]: Server 0 in bootstrap d03 uid 0: "/usr/sbin/cupsd -f": exited as a result of signal 10 [pid 27571]
Jan 1 09:46:19 localhost crashdump: Unable to determine CPSProcessSerNum pid: 27571 name: cupsd
Jan 1 09:46:19 localhost crashdump: Started writing crash report to: /Library/Logs/CrashReporter/cupsd.crash.log
Jan 1 09:46:19 localhost crashdump: Finished writing crash report to: /Library/Logs/CrashReporter/cupsd.crash.log
Jan 1 09:46:19 localhost mach_init[2]: Server 72e7 in bootstrap d03 uid 0: "/usr/sbin/cupsd -f": exited as a result of signal 10 [pid 27586]
Jan 1 09:46:19 localhost crashdump: Unable to determine CPSProcessSerNum pid: 27586 name: cupsd
Jan 1 09:46:19 localhost crashdump: Started writing crash report to: /Library/Logs/CrashReporter/cupsd.crash.log
Jan 1 09:46:19 localhost crashdump: Finished writing crash report to: /Library/Logs/CrashReporter/cupsd.crash.log
Jan 1 09:46:20 localhost mach_init[2]: Server acab in bootstrap d03 uid 0: "/usr/sbin/cupsd -f": exited as a result of signal 10 [pid 27601]
Jan 1 09:46:20 localhost crashdump: Unable to determine CPSProcessSerNum pid: 27601 name: cupsd
Jan 1 09:46:20 localhost crashdump: Started writing crash report to: /Library/Logs/CrashReporter/cupsd.crash.log
Jan 1 09:46:20 localhost crashdump: Finished writing crash report to: /Library/Logs/CrashReporter/cupsd.crash.log
Jan 1 09:46:21 localhost mach_init[2]: Server b21b in bootstrap d03 uid 0: "/usr/sbin/cupsd -f": exited as a result of signal 10 [pid 27616]
Jan 1 09:46:21 localhost crashdump: Unable to determine CPSProcessSerNum pid: 27616 name: cupsd
Jan 1 09:46:21 localhost crashdump: Started writing crash report to: /Library/Logs/CrashReporter/cupsd.crash.log
=======

Here is the initial repair permissions result. Notice the iTunes comment on top (iTunes has been trashed since):

Repairing permissions on disk /

: object: ./Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunes malformed object (inconsistant sizeofcmds field in mach header)

Started verify/repair permissions on disk disk0s3 Macintosh HD
Determining correct file permissions.
We are using special permissions for the file or directory ./Library/ColorSync/Profiles/Displays. New permissions are 16893
We are using special permissions for the file or directory ./Library/ColorSync/Profiles. New permissions are 16893
We are using special permissions for the file or directory ./System/Library/Filesystems/cd9660.fs/cd9660.util. New permissions are 33261
We are using a special uid for the file or directory ./private/var/at/jobs. New uid is 1
We are using a special uid for the file or directory ./private/var/at/spool. New uid is 1
Permissions differ on ./private/var/log/wtmp, should be -rw-r--r-- , they are -rw-r-----
Owner and group corrected on ./private/var/log/wtmp
Permissions corrected on ./private/var/log/wtmp
The privileges have been verified or repaired on the selected volume
Verify/repair finished permissions on disk disk0s3 Macintosh HD
====

Lastly here is what terminal looks like. I'm a Unix dummy and screwed something up:
=========
Last login: Tue Jan 3 12:46:50 on ttyp1
Welcome to Darwin!
Bob-Matthews-Computer:~ bobmatthews$ Last login: Tue Jan 3 12:46:09 on ttyp1
Welcome to Darwin!
Bob-Matthews-Computer:~ bobmatthews$ sudo vi /etc/hostconfig
Password:


E325: ATTENTION
Found a swap file by the name "/etc/.hostconfig.swp"
owned by: root dated: Mon Jan 2 09:31:23 2006
file name: /private/etc/hostconfig
modified: YES
bobmatth ttyp1 Tue Jan 3 12:49 still logged in
bobmatth ttyp1 Tue Jan 3 12:49 - 12:49 (00:00)
bobmatth ttyp1 Tue Jan 3 12:46 - 12:49 (00:02)
bobmatth ttyp1 Tue Jan 3 12:46 - 12:46 (00:00)
bobmatth ttyp1 Tue Jan 3 12:46 - 12:46 (00:00)
bobmatth ttyp1 Tue Jan 3 12:46 - 12:46 (00:00)
bobmatth ttyp1 Mon Jan 2 14:22 - shutdown (00:39)
bobmatth ttyp1 Mon Jan 2 14:22 - 14:22 (00:00)
bobmatth ttyp1 Mon Jan 2 14:20 - 14:22 (00:01)
bobmatth ttyp1 Mon Jan 2 14:20 - 14:20 (00:00)
bobmatth ttyp1 Mon Jan 2 14:19 - 14:20 (00:01)
bobmatth ttyp1 Mon Jan 2 14:19 - 14:19 (00:00)
bobmatth ttyp1 Mon Jan 2 11:18 - shutdown (00:08)
bobmatth ttyp1 Mon Jan 2 11:18 - 11:18 (00:00)
bobmatth ttyp1 Mon Jan 2 09:49 - 11:18 (01:28)
bobmatth ttyp1 user name: root host name: Bob-Matthews-C Mon Jan 2 09:49 - 09:49 (00:00)
bobmatth ttyp1 Mon Jan 2 09:47 - 09:49 (00:02)
bobmatth ttyp1 Mon Jan 2 09:47 - 09:47 (00:00)
bobmatth ttyp1 Mon Jan 2 09:39 - shutdown (00:04)
bobmatth ttyp1 Mon Jan 2 09:39 - 09:39 (00:00)
omputer.local
process ID: 11427
While openbobmatth ttyp1 Mon Jan 2 09:38 - 09:39 (00:01)
bobmatth ttyp1 Mon Jan 2 09:38 - 09:38 (00:00)
bobmatth ttyp1 Mon Jan 2 09:37 - 09:38 (00:00)
bobmatth ttyp1 Mon Jan 2 09:37 - 09:37 (00:00)
bobmatth ttyp1 Mon Jan 2 09:31 - shutdown (00:01)
bobmatth ttyp1 Mon Jan 2 09:31 - 09:31 (00:00)
bobmatth ttyp1 Mon Jan 2 09:28 - 09:31 (00:02)
bobmatth ttyp1 Mon Jan 2 09:28 - 09:28 (00:00)
ing file "/etc/hostconfig"
dated: Sunbobmatth ttyp1 Mon Jan 2 09:28 - 09:28 (00:00)
bobmatth ttyp1 Mon Jan 2 09:28 - 09:28 (00:00)
bobmatth ttyp1 Sun Jan 1 22:13 - shutdown (05:50)
bobmatth ttyp1 Sun Jan 1 22:13 - 22:13 (00:00)
bobmatth ttyp1 Sun Jan 1 22:10 - 22:13 (00:02)
bobmatth ttyp1 Sun Jan 1 22:10 - 22:10 (00:00)
bobmatth ttyp1 Sun Jan 1 22:10 - 22:10 (00:00)
bobmatth ttyp1 Sun Jan 1 22:10 - 22:10 (00:00)
bobmatth ttyp1 Sun Jan 1 22:09 - 22:10 (00:00)
Feb 13 19:46:58 2005

(1) Another program may be bobmatth ttyp1 Sun Jan 1 22:09 - 22:09 (00:00)
bobmatth ttyp1 Sun Jan 1 22:09 - 22:09 (00:00)
bobmatth ttyp1 Sun Jan 1 22:09 - 22:09 (00:00)
bobmatth ttyp1 Sun Jan 1 22:08 - 22:09 (00:00)
bobmatth ttyp1 Sun Jan 1 22:08 - 22:08 (00:00)
bobmatth ttyp1 Sun Jan 1 22:07 - 22:08 (00:01)
bobmatth ttyp1 Sun Jan 1 22:07 - 22:07 (00:00)
bobmatth ttyp1 Sun Jan 1 22:06 - 22:07 (00:00)
editing the same file.
If this is the case, bebobmatth ttyp1 Sun Jan 1 22:06 - 22:06 (00:00)
bobmatth ttyp1 Sun Jan 1 21:53 - 22:06 (00:13)
bobmatth ttyp1 Sun Jan 1 21:53 - 21:53 (00:00)
bobmatth ttyp1 Sun Jan 1 21:49 - 21:53 (00:03)
careful not to end up with two
different instbobmatth ttyp1 Sun Jan 1 21:49 - 21:49 (00:00)
bobmatth ttyp1 Sun Jan 1 21:45 - 21:49 (00:03)
bobmatth ttyp1 Sun Jan 1 21:45 - 21:45 (00:00)
bobmatth ttyp1 Sun Jan 1 21:45 - 21:45 (00:00)
bobmatth ttyp1 Sun Jan 1 21:45 - 21:45 (00:00)
bobmatth ttyp1 Sun Jan 1 21:40 - 21:45 (00:04)
bobmatth ttyp1 Sun Jan 1 21:40 - 21:40 (00:00)
bobmatth ttyp1 Sun Jan 1 21:39 - 21:40 (00:01)
bobmatth ttyp1 Sun Jan 1 21:39 - 21:39 (00:00)
ances of the same file when making changes.
Qubobmatth ttyp1 Sat Dec 31 18:14 - shutdown (00:21)
bobmatth ttyp1 Sat Dec 31 18:14 - 18:14 (00:00)
bobmatth ttyp1 Sat Dec 31 18:11 - 18:14 (00:02)
bobmatth ttyp1 Sat Dec 31 18:11 - 18:11 (00:00)

wtmp begins Thu Dec 29 15:48
it, or continue with caution.

(2) An edit session for this file crashed.
If this is the case, uBob-Matthews-Computer:~ bobmatthews$ Welcome to Darwin!
Bob-Matthews-Computer:~ bobmatthews$ sudo vi /etc/hostconfig
Password:


E325: ATTENTION
Found a swap file by the name "/etc/.hostconfig.swp"
owned by: root dated: Mon Jan 2 09:31:23 2006
file name: /private/etc/hostconfig
modified: YES
user name: root host name: Bob-Matthews-Computer.local
process ID: 11427
While opening file "/etc/hostconfig"
dated: Sun Feb 13 19:46:58 2005

(1) Another program may be editing the same file.
If this is the case, be careful not to end up with two
different instances of the same file when making changes.
Quit, or continue with caution.

(2) An edit session for this file crashed.
If this is the case, use ":recover" or "vim -r /etc/hostconfig"
to recover the changes (see ":help recovery").
If -bash: Welcome: command not found
Bob-Matthews-Computer:~ bobmatthews$ Bob-Matthews-Computer:~ bobmatthews$ sudo vi /etc/hostconfig
-bash: Bob-Matthews-Computer:~: command not found
Bob-Matthews-Computer:~ bobmatthews$ Password:
-bash: Password:: command not found
Bob-Matthews-Computer:~ bobmatthews$
Bob-Matthews-Computer:~ bobmatthews$
Bob-Matthews-Computer:~ bobmatthews$
Bob-Matthews-Computer:~ bobmatthews$
Bob-Matthews-Computer:~ bobmatthews$
Bob-Matthews-Computer:~ bobmatthews$
Bob-Matthews-Computer:~ bobmatthews$
Bob-Matthews-Computer:~ bobmatthews$
Bob-Matthews-Computer:~ bobmatthews$
Bob-Matthews-Computer:~ bobmatthews$
Bob-Matthews-Computer:~ bobmatthews$
Bob-Matthews-Computer:~ bobmatthews$
Bob-Matthews-Computer:~ bobmatthews$
Bob-Matthews-Computer:~ bobmatthews$
Bob-Matthews-Computer:~ bobmatthews$
Bob-Matthews-Computer:~ bobmatthews$
Bob-Matthews-Computer:~ bobmatthews$
Bob-Matthews-Computer:~ bobmatthews$
Bob-Matthews-Computer:~ bobmatthews$
Bob-Matthews-Computer:~ bobmatthews$
Bob-Matthews-Computer:~ bobmatthews$
Bob-Matthews-Computer:~ bobmatthews$ E325: ATTENTION
-bash: E325:: command not found
Bob-Matthews-Computer:~ bobmatthews$ Found a swap file by the name "/etc/.hostconfig.swp"
-bash: Found: command not found
Bob-Matthews-Computer:~ bobmatthews$ owned by: root dated: Mon Jan 2 09:31:23 2006
-bash: owned: command not found
Bob-Matthews-Computer:~ bobmatthews$ file name: /private/etc/hostconfigname:: Can't stat `name:' (No such file or directory)
/private/etc/hostconfig: ASCII English text
Bob-Matthews-Computer:~ bobmatthews$ modified: YES
-bash: modified:: command not found
Bob-Matthews-Computer:~ bobmatthews$ user name: root host name: Bob-Matthews-Computer.local
-bash: user: command not found
Bob-Matthews-Computer:~ bobmatthews$ process ID: 11427
-bash: process: command not found
Bob-Matthews-Computer:~ bobmatthews$ While opening file "/etc/hostconfig"
-bash: While: command not found
Bob-Matthews-Computer:~ bobmatthews$ dated: Sun Feb 13 19:46:58 2005
-bash: dated:: command not found
Bob-Matthews-Computer:~ bobmatthews$
Bob-Matthews-Computer:~ bobmatthews$ (1) Another program may be editing the same file.
-bash: syntax error near unexpected token `Another'
Bob-Matthews-Computer:~ bobmatthews$ If this is the case, be careful not to end up with two
-bash: If: command not found
Bob-Matthews-Computer:~ bobmatthews$ different instances of the same file when making changes.
-bash: different: command not found
Bob-Matthews-Computer:~ bobmatthews$ Quit, or continue with caution.
-bash: Quit,: command not found
Bob-Matthews-Computer:~ bobmatthews$
Bob-Matthews-Computer:~ bobmatthews$ (2) An edit session for this file crashed.
-bash: syntax error near unexpected token `An'
Bob-Matthews-Computer:~ bobmatthews$ If this is the case, use ":recover" or "vim -r /etc/hostconfig"
-bash: If: command not found
Bob-Matthews-Computer:~ bobmatthews$ to recover the changes (see ":help recovery").
-bash: syntax error near unexpected token `('
Bob-Matthews-Computer:~ bobmatthews$ If you did this already, delete the swap file "/etc/.hostconfig.swp"
-bash: If: command not found
Bob-Matthews-Computer:~ bobmatthews$ to avoid this message.
-bash: to: command not found
Bob-Matthews-Computer:~ bobmatthews$
Bob-Matthews-Computer:~ bobmatthews$ Swap file "/etc/.hostconfig.swp" already exists!
-bash: Swap: command not found
Bob-Matthews-Computer:~ bobmatthews$ [O]pen Read-Only, (E)dit anyway, (R)ecover, (Q)uit, (D)elete it:

=========

Please help me recover my beloved Mac!
 
You could try to clean install the system onto a secondary drive, maybe a FireWire drive to see whether the problem's really hardware related. Or just boot from the installation DVD to see how that behaves...?
 
Booted from the installation DVD but that leaves me without Activity Monitor or another CPU readout app so how do I know how much CPU is being used? A clean install would mean laying out several hundred dollars for a new firewire external HD first (internal is 250GB). I'm hoping a Unix expert will guide me what to type in Terminal to stop the apparent "cupsd loop". At least that's what one person said is the problem. Thanks for replying.
 
It looks as though you renames the hostconfig file in /private/etc to "hostconfig.swp" and now OS X thinks that is the swapfile. If you do start in single user mode again, type "mount -uw /", hit Return, and then navigate into /etc/private by typing "cd /etc/private" and do an "ls hostconfig*" to list all files with that name.

If you have both a hostconfig and a hostconfig.swp file, delete the hostconfig.swp file by typing "rm -i /private/etc/hostconfig.swp". If all that is there is the hostconfig.swp file, then you need to rename it back to hostconfig by typing "mv /private/etc/hostconfig.swp /private/etc/hostconfig" and then hit Return.

BTW, make sure that you hit Return after each quoted command I list above. I didn't mention it often in the above instructions, but after each command you need to hit the Return key to execute it.

Once you've done the above, check the hostconfig file by typing "cat /private/etc/hostconfig" and hitting Return. This will show you the contents of the file. It basically should have settings like the following:

AFPSERVER=-YES-
AUTHSERVER=-NO-
AUTOMOUNT=-YES-
CUPS=-AUTOMATIC-
NFSLOCKS=-AUTOMATIC-
NISDOMAIN=-NO-
TIMESYNC=-YES-
QTSSERVER=-NO-
WEBSERVER=-NO-
SMBSERVER=-NO-
SNMPSERVER=-NO-
SPOTLIGHT=-YES-
ARDAGENT=-NO-

If that's what you have, then you should be ok. Type "reboot" and hit return. It should boot back into OS X without too many issues. Please let us know if this also fixed the issue with the CPU running at 100% as well.
 
This wonderful app did the trick:

http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/14641&vid=197765

It was so easy! Launched the demo, clicked CUPS Tools, clicked "Delete temporary spool files from the /private/var/spool/CUPS directory" - and my poor, overheated iMac gave an audible sigh of relief (I'd swear) as, after nine days, the fans slowed and the CPU eased back to NORMAL.

For anyone who finds this thread due to a problem like mine let me assure you, this app is GOLD.

Thanks, Bryan. Thanks, NixGeek.
 
I would have never thought of that. Oh well. :p Thanks for spreading the love with the link, matt21. I'll definitely make use of this myself. :D
 
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