Launching new processes spikes CPU to 100, running programs function as normal

Apologies in advance if this is a previously-answered question, I am having trouble thinking of the proper terminology to do a thorough search of past threads.

For the past couple of weeks, my MBP reaches a point where an attempt to open new processes fails and causes Activity Monitor to show a spike to 100% CPU. Near as I can tell, the CPU is not actually 100% utilized, since my already-running programs show no ill effects, and opening multiple programs shows all of the deadlocked programs to be running at the exact same percentage of CPU load, which often sums to well over 100%. (See attached screenshot)

In order to escape this state, I have to safely close all running files and hard restart by holding the power button. I've never been able to safely shut down once this starts happening. This can occur in as little as an hour of uptime.

I have repaired disk permissions for my system disk, and verified the disk.

I have a Windows install on the same machine that has been able to run for several days of uptime with no problems.

Please let me know if any other information will aid in a potential diagnosis. Sorry for the crappy phone picture!

When you have two cores, CPU% can go up to 200%. Maybe there was no problem?

Now, you should use disk utility to repair the hard drive.
http://support.apple.com/kb/ts1417
You may need to startup using the recovery partition:
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4718

Press Command+Shift+3 to take a screen shot instead of the Phone Pictures.

Now i would use either MainMenu 1.7.4 (DONT UPDATE IT) and once its in your Applications folder open it and you will get a Icon with a + in it. Click on that and down to Batch Tasks and Configure. Check EVERYTHING except Spotlight Re-indexing & Remove .DS_Stores Files then Run Batch Tasks. Log out then back in.
Or use Oynx and run the Full set of Maintenance Tools (be sure to download the 1 opropreate to your OS or you will be in all sorts of trouble).

I prefer MM over Oynx, bc ways back when i first got my Mac, i found MM a more user friendly App and they both do the same thing anyways. The thing with these tools is they go deeper into the System and do a lot more cleaning and fixing than Disk Utility does, and you will find, around here in the forum, many/most users use either one over Disk Utility because of this.

Once done get back to us, and depending on the outcome we will narrow it down and find whats going on.

As well have a read over this Sticky Thread as it has a wealth of info that you can do yourself before you get back to us

OS 10.0 - Basic OS X/Mac Troubleshooting

Hi all, checking back in with this persistent problem.

I've now done two disk verify/restores with both Disk Utility and OnyX. It makes performance marginally better for maybe a day or two, but inevitably the same symptoms come back after long. I can now tell when I've passed the point of deadlock because the fans will start to cycle up and the CPU temperature will rise and stay there. At that point, any attempt to launch a process will lollipop and show a CPU spike in Activity Monitor. (see screenshots attached, first screenshot is after temperature and fan speed rise, second is after opening new processes once I think the machine is in deadlock state)

I could note that I have a Windows partition on the same drive, and it doesn't seem to come back until I boot into Windows and then back into OSX. Once it happens one time though, Verifying the disk will prompt me that the disk needs to be restored.

It feels to me like this implies a hard drive with some dead sectors that's on its way to failure. I have been backing up accordingly and am looking into a replacement. Am I way off on assuming this?

Could it be bad RAM instead (I replaced the stock RAM long ago)? Something that requires full logic board transplant?

Mid-2011 MBP
2.53 GHz C2Duo
8 GB 1067 MHz DDR3
OSX 10.6.8

If after repairing the drive auccessfully, you've gone back in and the Verify indicates it needs to be repaired again - you're on the right track. A bad drive definitely can cause the symptoms you're experiencing.

PongSentry said:

Am I way off on assuming this?

Could it be bad RAM instead (I replaced the stock RAM long ago)? Something that requires full logic board transplant?

Click to expand...

Problem is, we haven't quite eliminated RAM or motherboard as possibilities.
You should also try Apple Hardware Test:
Intel-based Macs: Using Apple Hardware Test

OP here with an update. I've been living with this problem for about a month now, and still can't pin down the cause.

I've replaced the MBP's hard drive. When this didn't work, I reinstalled 10.6 and patched back up to 10.6.8, still no good.

I've tried for about two hours to find a way to run Apple Hardware Test as the above post suggests, but I'm on a mid-2009 MBP that shipped on 10.5 so I don't have the ROM partition with the diagnostic tools, nor does Apple Hardware Test appear to be on my Snow Leopard disc.

I'm going to take her in to an Apple Store today for them to run a diagnostic.