Should I Fear the Worst!

[Spario]

As of late my computer has been acting very, very strange. Many times Apps lock up and this would end with my system locking up as well. my CPU usage gets to 100% and stays there until I restart. i Found it may be caused by a kernel_task the one with no PID in the activity monitor, that uses about 85% when this happens. Though, it happens at times a random- it all ways seems to happen when i unplug a USB device? All of this began happening, it seems, over night about 3 weeks ago. One more thing... without me making any changes to my logon pref, an extra account now appears when i logon, for example, I logon and first is my brothers limited account and below it is mine and under mine theres one that reads "Other..." i didn't put it there, and it showed up when all of this started to happen. Should Fear the Worst. Help Everyone! thanks ~Spario

 

[Lacero]

Would be nice to know your system specs and what OS you are running. I've had 100% CPU usage several months back, but I don't know what happened. Could be installed haxies, bad RAM or errant apps.

Here's to the Crazy Ones ​

 

[Spario]

Right, sorry about that. I'm running 10.4.3 on a 15" PB 1.5GHz. Mem is 1.25GB. I connect online via secure network- airport express. I have noticed that my comp picks up five other networks in my area and at times it will which to them rather then my WEP network. please let me know if you need anything else!

 

[mad jew]

Hmm... Do these problems occur in all your accounts or does yours seem to be the worst? The new account has me worried. I honestly think it's times like these an archive and install may be the easiest solution rather than trying to troubleshoot much more. Of course, we don't want this happening again though. Are there any apps that you've installed that we should know about? Anything quirky on there as Lacero asks? Do you unplug USB devices properly (un-mount them)?

 

[Spario]

from what i've noticed, only on my account. The last thing I installed on my Comp before this began happening was Opera.

 

[mad jew]

Maybe just transfer everything to a new/different account and work from there. It might be easier than trying to fix what is affecting many different parts of your system (or account).

 

[Will Cheyney]

I prefer your idea of archive and install. Computers often need routine wipes.

 

[mikeyredk]

The other account could be Root, did you activate root access?

 

[allegrocm]

"Other..." on the login screen is just a place to enter a username that's not listed. It shows up on my Mac, as well as the ones at work. I don't know what would cause it to hide and show though.

Ken

 

[mad jew]

I prefer your idea of archive and install. Computers often need routine wipes.

Yes and no. I think you're right, a reinstall will almost certainly fix the problem (still not a guaranty) but Macs shouldn't need clean installs routinely. I really only ever do it for major OS upgrades (Panther to Tiger).