Kernel_task running 100%+ which is throttling the MacBook Air

Question

Thanks in advance for any and all help. My MacBook Air has come to a crawl because the kernel_task is running at 100%+. I have researched this issue extensively and have decided on following the guide listed here (https://grafxflow.co.uk/blog/mac-os-x/delete-ioplatformpluginfamilykext-macos-big-sur) and accept the risks. The only issue is I can't get past step 3. In particular this step:

Next make it writable which will require you to enter your password - the /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD\ 1 could be different.

sudo mount -uw /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD\ 1

When I enter that command I get the following error. "unknown special file or file system"

FYI when Diskutil list shows this in case I picking the wrong disk in previous step

diskutil mount disk1s5

/dev/disk0 (internal, physical):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *500.3 GB   disk0
   1:                        EFI ⁨EFI⁩                     209.7 MB   disk0s1
   2:                 Apple_APFS ⁨Container disk1⁩         500.1 GB   disk0s2
/dev/disk1 (synthesized):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      APFS Container Scheme -                      +500.1 GB   disk1
                                 Physical Store disk0s2
   1:                APFS Volume ⁨HD - Data⁩               152.9 GB   disk1s1
   2:                APFS Volume ⁨Preboot⁩                 282.2 MB   disk1s2
   3:                APFS Volume ⁨Recovery⁩                622.1 MB   disk1s3
   4:                APFS Volume ⁨VM⁩                      1.1 GB     disk1s4
   5:                APFS Volume ⁨HD⁩                      15.3 GB    disk1s5
   6:              APFS Snapshot ⁨com.apple.os.update-...⁩ 15.3 GB    disk1s5s1

Tetsujin I tried all the other suggestions that I found out there but nothing seemed to fix the issue. Figured I would try this last attempt before I gave up and replaced my rather old MacBook Air from 2013. Thank you for letting me know my volume name is wrong could please tell me what it should be? I agree I am way over my head here. Thanks! — user418983, May 27 '21 at 21:48
I'd at least try these first - https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/363337/how-to-find-cause-of-high-kernel-task-cpu-usage and https://apple.stackexchange.com/q/209575/85275 — Tetsujin, May 28 '21 at 11:09
I really appreciate your concern about taking the aggressive approach I am taking. I read through both links and have tried all those tips with no luck. My CPU temp stays in a very normal range and given all I have read I believe my just the sensor has failed and that is why I have chosen the above route. If you could please let me know what I am doing wrong and what the right volume name should be. I would be very grateful. Thanks! — user418983, May 28 '21 at 17:06

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Oct 15 '21 at 16:46

I'm sure this is too late to answer your question, but...

The error message is confusing, what it's really saying is "I can't find the type of the volume you want because I can't find the volume at all". As mentioned above, the volume name in the example doesn't match the volume name you have, which is tricky to find because the example doesn't post the result of the diskutil list.

Your info:

 5:                APFS Volume ⁨HD⁩                      15.3 GB    disk1s5

The info that would have shown up in the example:

 5:                APFS Volume ⁨Macintosh HD⁩            15.3 GB    disk1s5

Basically the example volume is called "Macintosh HD" and yours is called "HD". I'm speculating on the rest of this, since I can't reproduce that setup, but:

when you do the diskutil mount in the first command, you will probably get a directory named "/Volumes/HD\ 1". The slash after HD is just because spaces don't work in command lines, and the "1" is because there was already a "/Volumes/HD" directory, so when you did the diskutil mount you got a "/Volumes/HD\ 1". That means your next command would probably be:

sudo mount -uw /Volumes/HD\ 1

and in all following commands you would want to use

"/Volumes/HD\ 1"

instead of

"/Volumes/Macintosh\ HD\ 1"

If this doesn't work exactly for you you can dig in and see what's in /Volumes, but hopefully this helps a bit.

Kernel_task running 100%+ which is throttling the MacBook Air

1 Answers1