macOS Process Mobileassetupdaterd Hogging CPU
A process named Mobileassetupdaterd owned by the user _accessoryupc, hogs 35% of CPU.
It's associated with a file named MobileAssetUpdater at:
/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/MobileAssetUpdater.framework/MobileAssetUpdater
Which is a 35 byte alias pointing to the executable at:
/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/MobileAccessoryUpdater.framework/Support/accessoryupdaterd
Which is consistently relaunches using this Plist:
/System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.accessoryupdaterd.plist
I tried unloading the process with this command others have suggested:
sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.accessoryupdaterd.plist
But I just get the error: Unload failed: 5: Input/output error
So I'm just not a Terminal master.
I've also tried exhaustive searches at Apple, here at StackOverflow, and online to find a solution, with no luck.
I watch processes periodically, and it wasn't there until I Updated OS from Ventura to Sonoma 14.5.
Anyone have thoughts?
Running macOS Sonoma 14.5 on 2021 M1 MacBook Pro.
Thanks!
It's associated with a file named MobileAssetUpdater at:
/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/MobileAssetUpdater.framework/MobileAssetUpdater
Which is a 35 byte alias pointing to the executable at:
/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/MobileAccessoryUpdater.framework/Support/accessoryupdaterd
Which is consistently relaunches using this Plist:
/System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.accessoryupdaterd.plist
I tried unloading the process with this command others have suggested:
sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.accessoryupdaterd.plist
But I just get the error: Unload failed: 5: Input/output error
So I'm just not a Terminal master.
I've also tried exhaustive searches at Apple, here at StackOverflow, and online to find a solution, with no luck.
I watch processes periodically, and it wasn't there until I Updated OS from Ventura to Sonoma 14.5.
Anyone have thoughts?
Running macOS Sonoma 14.5 on 2021 M1 MacBook Pro.
Thanks!
Comments
You won't be able to unload the system process without disabling system integrity protection but it's probably not a good idea to disable it.
This process is described as being used for software updates for peripherals like Bluetooth devices. Maybe a peripheral is having connection/update issues. Check the Console log in /Applications/Utilities/Console to see if there are errors being logged for the accessory update.
https://www.reddit.com/r/MacOS/comments/18bgp6n/constant_30_cpu_use_from_accessoryupdaterd/
Check Bluetooth menu > Bluetooth Preferences for devices listed. Try disabling Bluetooth to see if the process stops.
Check if there are any files in /Users/<user>/Library/LaunchAgents that might be launching some processes.
In the Console, start streaming the messages and put the process name in the search box, e.g accessoryupdaterd, MobileAssetUpdater and hit return.
You can also try searching in the Terminal app for files used by a process:
lsof -P | grep -i "accessoryupdaterd"
2024-05-24 13:01:39.142836 (system/com.apple.accessoryupdaterd [2869]) <Notice>: service state: exited
2024-05-24 13:01:39.142848 (system/com.apple.accessoryupdaterd [2869]) <Notice>: internal event: EXITED, code = 0
2024-05-24 13:01:39.142853 (system) <Notice>: service inactive: com.apple.accessoryupdaterd
2024-05-24 13:01:39.142938 (system/com.apple.accessoryupdaterd [2869]) <Notice>: service state: not running
2024-05-24 13:01:39.142975 (system/com.apple.accessoryupdaterd) <Notice>: internal event: WILL_SPAWN, code = 0
2024-05-24 13:01:39.142981 (system/com.apple.accessoryupdaterd) <Notice>: service state: spawn scheduled
2024-05-24 13:01:39.142986 (system/com.apple.accessoryupdaterd) <Notice>: service state: spawning
2024-05-24 13:01:39.143017 (system/com.apple.accessoryupdaterd) <Notice>: launching: ipc (mach)
2024-05-24 13:01:39.146487 (system/com.apple.accessoryupdaterd [2895]) <Notice>: xpcproxy spawned with pid 2895
2024-05-24 13:01:39.146522 (system/com.apple.accessoryupdaterd [2895]) <Notice>: internal event: SPAWNED, code = 0
2024-05-24 13:01:39.146528 (system/com.apple.accessoryupdaterd [2895]) <Notice>: service state: xpcproxy
2024-05-24 13:01:39.146592 (system/com.apple.accessoryupdaterd [2895]) <Notice>: internal event: SOURCE_ATTACH, code = 0
2024-05-24 13:01:39.162624 (system/com.apple.accessoryupdaterd [2895]) <Notice>: service state: running
2024-05-24 13:01:39.162640 (system/com.apple.accessoryupdaterd [2895]) <Notice>: internal event: INIT, code = 0
2024-05-24 13:01:39.162656 (system/com.apple.accessoryupdaterd [2895]) <Notice>: Successfully spawned accessoryupdaterd[2895] because ipc (mach)
2024-05-24 13:03:39.391905 (system/com.apple.accessoryupdaterd [2895]) <Notice>: exited due to exit(0), ran for 120240ms
2024-05-24 13:03:39.391944 (system/com.apple.accessoryupdaterd [2895]) <Notice>: service state: exited
2024-05-24 13:03:39.391962 (system/com.apple.accessoryupdaterd [2895]) <Notice>: internal event: EXITED, code = 0
2024-05-24 13:03:39.391970 (system) <Notice>: service inactive: com.apple.accessoryupdaterd
2024-05-24 13:03:39.392119 (system/com.apple.accessoryupdaterd [2895]) <Notice>: service state: not running
2024-05-24 13:03:39.392174 (system/com.apple.accessoryupdaterd) <Notice>: internal event: WILL_SPAWN, code = 0
2024-05-24 13:03:39.392181 (system/com.apple.accessoryupdaterd) <Notice>: service state: spawn scheduled
2024-05-24 13:03:39.392186 (system/com.apple.accessoryupdaterd) <Notice>: service state: spawning
2024-05-24 13:03:39.392228 (system/com.apple.accessoryupdaterd) <Notice>: launching: ipc (mach)
2024-05-24 13:03:39.396339 (system/com.apple.accessoryupdaterd [2916]) <Notice>: xpcproxy spawned with pid 2916
launchctl list | grep -v "apple"
The Console log says the accessoryupdaterd process is crashing repeatedly. It runs for around 120,000ms (2 minutes) then hits exit(0) and crashes. Then it respawns as a new process. It doesn't say what's crashing the process.
Check if those logs still appear when Bluetooth is turned off.
Also look in System Prefs > Software Update > More Info to see if there are any updates needing installed like firmware updates.
Thank you SO much for the kind replies and suggestions!
launchctl list | grep -v "apple"
PID Status Label
764 0 application.com.rockysandstudio.Battery-Diag.141576981.141577051
- 0 com.rockysandstudio.Battery-Diag.LaunchHelper
- 0 com.rockysandstudio.Memory-Diag.LaunchHelper
762 0 application.com.sascha-simon.gists.56411183.56411189
767 0 application.com.rockysandstudio.Memory-Diag.1044883.1044962
- 2 com.adobe.AdobeCreativeCloud
- 0 com.openssh.ssh-agent
- 0 com.microsoft.update.agent
893 0 application.com.adobe.accmac.125511103.125511109
766 0 application.com.bitdefender.vpn.141650567.141650574
553 0 application.org.mozilla.firefox.611382.134422294
778 0 application.com.adobe.CCXProcess.132816590.132816596
742 0 com.logitech.manager.daemon
- 78 com.microsoft.OneDriveStandaloneUpdater
791 0 application.com.adobe.AdobeCRDaemon.132818674.132818679
736 0 com.bitdefender.antivirusformac
- 0 com.adobe.ccxprocess
- 1 com.ccStudio.tray
Don't know if any of these might be calling the accessoryupdaterd Plist or how to tell. Wish I could find the calling culprit, because it might be unprotected and I could possibly stop it.
I uninstalled everything Logitech and rebooted, reinstalled everything Logitech, rebooted, forgot ALL Bluetooth accessories of ALL kinds and turned them all off, rebooted, added back Bluetooth accessories one by one, rebooting, and tried about a dozen other efforts, reboots, and shots in the dark. I checked all possible app update notifications.
With Bluetooth off the process still appears in Activity Monitor and restarts two seconds after manual kill.
I had a version of Bitdefender sub from an attack problem I had on a previous MacBook, but it was not currently installed. I reinstalled it to run a full system check just in case there was something lurking. It was clean. According to Activity Monitor, the accessoryupdaterd process is not writing to disk or communicating via network.
This did not show up until I upgraded from Ventura to Sonoma.
I suspect it's an Apple OS issue. But maybe not. It definitely is System Integrity protected. It's a scarce one, so not much info.
Interesting that it doesn't show up in the second user I added, but then there's almost nothing in Activity Monitor there anyway. It's not interacted with any serious apps.
I don't know too much about all this.
I AM loathe to attempt to rebuild the entire system. Took months to get all apps up to par on current MacBook Pro, and probably a year to fine tune Photoshop, Davinci Resolve, and Microsoft Spreadsheets. They ALL are difficult to setup again from scratch for a new user, with preference and hidden databases all over the place. I'm also not sure that after porting everything over to a second user or even a clean install, the problem might not just show up again.
Last check since reboot a few hours ago: threads 2, ports 34, CPU 34.44%, Context Switches 565300, faults 4555, Assertions 0, Page Ins, 11, Mach Messages In/Out null, Mach System Calls 269, Unix System Calls 6491.
I did a process sample dump. A bit much for me to interpret though.
Sigh. So much for spending $3500 for a fault free Apple system just to get away from nearly forgotten Windows Registry nightmares. At the least though, with help like yours, I'm learning more about the system I depend on.
Copying everything at once is likely to copy the problem files over but if the copy is done in stages, it will narrow down where the issue comes from.
If you copy over /Users/<user>/Library/Preferences and /Users/<user>/Library/Application Support to the second user, log out and log into the second user, apps should be setup with the same settings. Check if the Activity Monitor is still ok after this. Then all you need are the user files like Documents, Music, Mail etc.
The bookmarks for Safari are in /Users/<user>/Library/Safari/Bookmarks.plist, that file can be copied over. The whole folder can probably be copied over.
Da Vinci content will be in /Users/<user>/Library/Application Support/Blackmagic Design/, this folder should copy over.
If it's a single-user computer, the /Users/Shared folder can be used to store some files and it makes it easier to switch to a new user, they wouldn't all have to be copied/moved back into another user folder.