Window server taking up huge amounts of cpu

[Ipwnwindows]

my system was really laggy so I oppened up activity monitor to see what was up. Window server was hogging 90-99.8% of my cpu!!!!!!! what is this program and why is it hogging soo much all I had open was safari and activity monitor.

 

[vansmith]

Can you give us some of the specs for you Mac? There could be a few things causing this including but not limited to a lack of RAM or VRAM.

Did this happen before you used Magnifique (I assume that's what you used to change the theme)?

 

[Ipwnwindows]

2.4ghz 8800m gt and 2 gigs ram and yes it happened before I themed as well but im sick and tired of it doing this now

 

[chscag]

my system was really laggy so I oppened up activity monitor to see what was up. Window server was hogging 90-99.8% of my cpu!!!!!!! what is this program and why is it hogging soo much all I had open was safari and activity monitor.

Pretty good explanation of what WindowServer is and does here: Link

However, it shouldn't be using that much CPU resource. You must have something else going on that's causing the WindowServer to react that way. Open System Preferences, click on Accounts, click on the Login Items tab. Highlight your user name and see what's loading on startup. Let us know.

Regards.

 

[Ipwnwindows]

i have quicksilver, blitz, magical, bowtie, slimbatterymonitor, and ialertu as startup items is that too much?

 

[chscag]

Start by removing them one at a time, reboot, and see if that lightens the load from the WindowServer. When and if you find the offending application, permanently remove it from starting at login.

Regards.

 

[prtscr]

I've also got problem with WindowServer:

The computer is a 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 4 GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM. The graphics card is a GeForce 8600M GT with 256 MB VRAM.

 

[bobtomay]

And your troubleshooting should also follow the suggestion of chscag above.

 

[pbright]

Try quitting Entourage

I was experiencing the same problem and was progressively quitting out of applications. When I quit Entourage the WindowServer dropped to 1.1.

I noticed on one of the above screenshots the user is running Entourage.
Might be coincidence but perhaps try this first.

 

[kgbMI]

I have the same problems and don't even have Entourage installed.

 

[chscag]

@kgbMI

And anyone else with the same problem.....

Please follow the method described above. This is almost always caused by an application using too much CPU or too many applications running at startup. Be sure to read the description of how WindowsServer works as that will help you with trouble shooting the problem.

 

[Murfur]

windowserver high cpu - possible solution

I have found that this occurs when there is a popup window awaiting a response. For example, I have just recreated and cleared the problem as follows:

Using Firefox (3.6.13) I go to a URL that has htaccess security and a window pops up asking me to enter the username & password. At this point, windowserver redlines the CPU and remains so until I clear the password popup.

I enter the login details, the popup disappears, the site page appears and windowserver's cpu usage drops to a minimum.

 

[nqp]

I have found that this occurs when there is a popup window awaiting a response. For example, I have just recreated and cleared the problem as follows:

Using Firefox (3.6.13) I go to a URL that has htaccess security and a window pops up asking me to enter the username & password. At this point, windowserver redlines the CPU and remains so until I clear the password popup.

I enter the login details, the popup disappears, the site page appears and windowserver's cpu usage drops to a minimum.

This did the trick to me. Windowserver was using 100.1 of the CPU making it nearly impossible to use the UI. Safari was hit the words but FF was working somehow and I managed to get here for help.

I had "some other" program that had a pending "ok" dialog hidden behind other windows and clicking that the windowserver calmed down.

 

[richardun]

F.lux was causing the WindowServer spike for me

After reading this thread, it was clear what WindowServer's function is. I realized I had F.lux running, which works on changing the window colors. When I quit the app, Window Server returned to 15-20% range. Still a little high for me.

It spikes to 190% when I switch between spaces, but returns soon after... also understandable.