Mojave kernel_task high increase over time

tommiy · 10-25-2018, 08:18 PM

Seems I'm not the only one to notice the relationship between the Kernel Task CPU utilisation increasing and display link.

Seems the only way to get kernel task use back down is to uninstall display link drivers and then reinstall them. I'm then ok for a day or so and then kernel task starts getting back to the 30% cpu utilisation again....follow same process of uninstall and reinstall to get it back to 1% and start again.

I'm not sure what DisplayLink drivers are doing in the back ground but obviously not good.

https://www.bytechaser.com/blog/2017/09/11/kernel-task/

tommiy · 11-25-2018, 09:00 AM

So its been 4 weeks since I posted originally. Over this time I've actually used displaylink drivers 3 days a week and during this time on Mojave 14.1 the kernel task cpu utilisation has increased from 2% to 20% on average. Today I tried reseting the SMC and PRAM but this made no difference. If I uninstall Displaylink kernel task utilisation returns to 1 or 2%. Reinstall Displaylink and it raised to 6-8%. So I guess this is the sequence every 4 weeks....uninstall and reinstall to reduce the load on the MAC. I know when its had it as the fan comes on a lot more than it should.

tommiy · 12-22-2018, 10:22 PM

Seems this is a regular monthly task with DL drivers. Responses are consistent 100% of the time. There is not much else installed on the MAC other than Office and Omnigraffle so I doubt its a problem there. If you have lag or slow down issues then you may want to check how much CPU kernel task is taking and if over about 10% on average go through uninstalling and reinstalling DL.

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10-25-2018, 08:18 PM	#1
tommiy Member Join Date: Mar 2018 Posts: 92	Seems I'm not the only one to notice the relationship between the Kernel Task CPU utilisation increasing and display link. Seems the only way to get kernel task use back down is to uninstall display link drivers and then reinstall them. I'm then ok for a day or so and then kernel task starts getting back to the 30% cpu utilisation again....follow same process of uninstall and reinstall to get it back to 1% and start again. I'm not sure what DisplayLink drivers are doing in the back ground but obviously not good. https://www.bytechaser.com/blog/2017/09/11/kernel-task/

11-25-2018, 09:00 AM	#2
tommiy Member Join Date: Mar 2018 Posts: 92	So its been 4 weeks since I posted originally. Over this time I've actually used displaylink drivers 3 days a week and during this time on Mojave 14.1 the kernel task cpu utilisation has increased from 2% to 20% on average. Today I tried reseting the SMC and PRAM but this made no difference. If I uninstall Displaylink kernel task utilisation returns to 1 or 2%. Reinstall Displaylink and it raised to 6-8%. So I guess this is the sequence every 4 weeks....uninstall and reinstall to reduce the load on the MAC. I know when its had it as the fan comes on a lot more than it should.

12-22-2018, 10:22 PM	#3
tommiy Member Join Date: Mar 2018 Posts: 92	Seems this is a regular monthly task with DL drivers. Responses are consistent 100% of the time. There is not much else installed on the MAC other than Office and Omnigraffle so I doubt its a problem there. If you have lag or slow down issues then you may want to check how much CPU kernel task is taking and if over about 10% on average go through uninstalling and reinstalling DL.