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i've tried to debug this for a couple days straight now and can't find out what's causing the kernel_task to go so unruly. i've removed nearly all my third party kexts, done so many etrepro's, and i've been trying to use the console to see repeating errors but it's difficult to follow. i've done all the usual PVRAM and SMC resets etc, booting in safe mode and on a new user. i'm on the latest catalina update. could this be helped by investigating kernel_task deeper, how can i navigate this/keep track of the code to debug what's going on here. thanks in advance for any help. i can upload my current etre pro report/ any else information if needed.

The answer here:

was to switch charging cable side, which i can't do on my computer. I'm more so asking for how I can investigate more intimately or identify what could causing the kernel task to react this way. Thanks

Hardware test gives out:

there may be an issue with the smc PFM006
there may be an issue with the power management system PPN001
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  • Hi there! if you had let us know about why the duplicate wasn't correct, we could have opened it back. apple.stackexchange.com/questions/392185/… Did you see other answers under there ?
    – anki
    May 26, 2020 at 15:11
  • sorry i wasn't sure how to contact you over this comment system, i'm guessing it's like this? yeah none of the answers on that post seemed helpful.
    – rfcj999
    May 26, 2020 at 15:19
  • One could ping one of those close voters with @<username> . since this is your post, I can skip @
    – anki
    May 26, 2020 at 15:31
  • The recommended course of action on questions which are put on hold is to address the reason(s) listed in the "on hold" message. In case of duplicates this means editing the question to show how all the answers to the original question don't help. Once edited the question will automatically be placed into a review queue for reopenings.
    – nohillside
    May 26, 2020 at 15:48

4 Answers 4

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Not sure if this will help, but I was getting the same thing on my Mac Mini. Turns out that the temperature sensor wasn't working, and so the fans were on all of the time.

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  • yes I just saw a post on another forum about this, they said they simply took the trackpad out and then put it back in, and things went back to normal, how did you solve it>?
    – rfcj999
    May 26, 2020 at 15:18
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This was all fixed by purchasing a new trackpad from eBay for £20

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Open the Activity Monitor to see what process is causing the CPU to max out. If you don't recognize the process try killing it and see what happens. Your CPU usage should drop and fans should slow down. If not, look at the Activity Monitor again to see if the process restarted.

If your fans still are acting erratically you should download an app like TG Pro. This app will show the temperatures of all the sensors and show you the speed of all the fans. You can also manually control fan speeds. It runs in the menu bar. I am in no way affiliated with TG Pro. Just a customer. TG Pro is $10 but has a free trial.

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Since you didn’t mention which version / type of hardware test, let’s assume you’re using the diagnostic boot.

When that has errors, the next step is to get it to an Authorized Service provider to get detailed information as the basic test rarely catches all issues, but the issues it catches are almost always real and easily fixable with a part swap.

Since the SMC and power management system control fans and readings, all sorts of things like incorrect CPU frequency, throttling and even fundamental things like sequencing startup are suspect.

  1. Get a great backup - all apps, files, settings
  2. Make an appointment to get it looked at by someone that has access to Apple internal diagnostics, tools and processes. https://locate.apple.com

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