Starting up Sync Services in Entourage 2008 maxes out my CPU!

[Jeff Chapman]

I've been using Sync Services to sync my Entourage 2008 calendar
up with iCal. It's been working pretty well as of late.
However, I've noticed one distinct drawback.
When I enable "Synchronize events and tasks with iCal and
MobileMe" in the Sync Services option of Entourage Preferences,
within a minute or so the CPU performance totally peaks out,
and my MacBook's fan starts to blow like a hair dryer (seriously).

Conversely, when I uncheck the sync option, the CPU performance
almost immediately drops to normal, and the fan stops whirring.

I'm using iStat to monitor the CPU performance while I do all
this, and I tried a few things before I isolated Sync Services
as the problem. I'm on Snow Leopard 10.6.2., 4 GB RAM with a
2.2 GHz Core Duo.

Sync Services has been working all right for me (as long as
I just select a single sync option in Entourage), but this
fan noise issue has really bothered me, in particular when I'm
using the MacBook at night.

Has anyone else here noticed this issue?
Any possible workarounds or solutions, besides just turning
off Sync Services and refraining from syncing calendar items
in Entourage?

Jeff

 

[Diane Ross]

Any possible workarounds or solutions, besides just turning
off Sync Services and refraining from syncing calendar items
in Entourage?

It sounds like a corrupt event might be the culprit.

I would create a primary source and make sure it's clean and duplicate free.
In Entourage you can export your individual items as Entourage archive
(.rge) file and select to delete after exporting. (DO THIS ON A COPY) When
you import the file back into Entourage this can sometimes clear up
corruption issues.

Follow the steps listed here. You should select in the Mobile Me System
Preferences to "Replace Information on Mobile Me" or it will re-populate
your cleaned up file when it syncs.

<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/troubleshoot/syncservices.html#ss2>

When you start turning syncing back on, select to overwrite other data with
the Entourage items. Do one at a time to check.

Let me know if this helps.

 

[Jeff Chapman]

Hello Diane,

It sounds like a corrupt event might be the culprit.

I would create a primary source and make sure it's clean and duplicate free.
In Entourage you can export your individual items as Entourage archive
(.rge) file and select to delete after exporting. (DO THIS ON A COPY) When
you import the file back into Entourage this can sometimes clear up
corruption issues.

You mean, switch identities, create a new identity, import the
previous Entourage data back in and start again from that?
If that's what you mean, I did try that; but the problem is that
my folder data is not in the original location, and several other
customized settings have been discarded. I also understand
that exporting note data with images to a separate .rge archive
results in the image data getting removed. In short, I am
wondering if it's really a good idea to do this...
was there something that I was missing?

Jeff

 

[Kerry]

Hello Diane,

On 2009.12.13 9:54 AM, in article C7497B2B.1DE70%[email protected],
"Diane Ross" <[email protected]> wrote:

Hey Jeff, yeah I'd think Diane might be right about this as what
you're experiencing isn't normal. Its well know that sync services is
CPU intensive but with Entourage this is only a brief spike when an
item needs to sync and minor spikes as it checks for changes. My
Macbook Pro never engages the fans over this. I have a CPU monitor
running all the time and everything is normal. What you're describing
would be very hard on your battery if your in batttery mode and my
battery will go for over 3 hours of solid running. I've also not
noticed anyone else describing this as a problem either in this forum
or elsewhere. Certainly, though sycn services will use a pile of CPU
if something goes wrong. I tried Contactizer Pro as a possible option
to Entourage but when it failed on sync it would open syncserver in
Activity Monitor and after a couple of minutes of this the fans did
kick in. With that product, the only way to stop this was to uninstall
the product. So I quickly returned to Entourage. There were other
things about CP that didn't work as well as Entourage. I've used
Entourage forever and over the last two months making sure only one
module is turned on for sync I've not had one sync failure or mess.
Totally solid and my events and contacts from my iPhone sync through
mobileme and through to Entourage just fine. So it is probably just
something in your data file causing the problem of excessive CPU
usage. However, if its not that then follow the Apple.com/support
article TS1627 to reset sync services turning everything off in
Entourage before you start.

 

[Diane Ross]

You mean, switch identities, create a new identity, import the
previous Entourage data back in and start again from that?

No, first try exporting, delete after export selected, then import back into
the Identity. By working on a copy if there are problems you can easily
revert. If not, you have data that will help create a new Identity.

If that's what you mean, I did try that; but the problem is that
my folder data is not in the original location, and several other
customized settings have been discarded.

Exporting as .rge does keep folder structure, but you have to drag the
folder from under the main.rge folder to the folders "On My Computer".

 

[Jeff Chapman]

Hello Diane,

No, first try exporting, delete after export selected, then import back into
the Identity. By working on a copy if there are problems you can easily
revert. If not, you have data that will help create a new Identity.

I understood the part about exporting as .rge,
but by "delete after export selected", what do you mean?

Step by step, this is what I understood from your directions:

1. Stop Sync Services by means of the following information:
http://www.entourage.mvps.org/troubleshoot/syncservices.html#ss2
2. From File - Export, export all items to an Entourage archive,
putting checks in all of the checkboxes for items to export.
3. On the question "Delete Archived Items?", select "Yes,
delete items from Entourage after they are archived".
4. Save the archive file with any filename.
5. Using File - Import, reimport the file saved in step 3 above.
6. Manually move the new set of folders into the Inbox folder
(they will initially be reimported into a separate folder
labeled with the filename).
7. Restart Sync Services by adding a checkmark into the
respective boxes in Entourage Preferences - Sync Services
(I'm only syncing calendar and task items, not contacts).

Is this correct?

Jeff

 

[Jeff Chapman]

Hello Kerry,

Hey Jeff, yeah I'd think Diane might be right about this as what
you're experiencing isn't normal. Its well know that sync services is
CPU intensive but with Entourage this is only a brief spike when an
item needs to sync and minor spikes as it checks for changes. My
Macbook Pro never engages the fans over this. I have a CPU monitor
running all the time and everything is normal. What you're describing
would be very hard on your battery if your in batttery mode and my
battery will go for over 3 hours of solid running. I've also not
noticed anyone else describing this as a problem either in this forum
or elsewhere.

Mmm, this is the first time I've encountered this problem as well.
The problem occurs very reliably. When I put a checkmark in the
"Synchronize events and tasks with iCal and MobileMe" box and click OK,
within a minute the fan starts roaring, and the CPU usage spikes out.
Deselecting the checkbox causes everything to quiet down again
within a minute.

The thing is, I can't figure out just what it was that caused the
"corrupt" data issue. I do have two separate conduits that I use to
sync calendar and task data with. I sync Entourage to iCal,
but I also sync iCal to my Google Calendar via Spanning Sync.
Further, I sync my iCal calendar items to iPod Touch via iTunes
(USB), and on two different Macs at that.
So there are at several possibilities for data corruption,
(1) iTunes, (2) Sync Services (Entourage/iCal), (3) Spanning Sync/
Google Calendar.

I originally started out with just syncing my iPod Touch calendar
to iCal on my MacBook. That worked fine. When I added Entourage into
the mix via Sync Services, I had to make a few adjustments with
the calendar structure (since Entourage only supports one calendar),
but it seemed to be working all right. It may have been the Spanning
Sync/Google Calendar connection that started to throw things off,
but I had that working as well.

Bottom line is that I don't know, but all I know is that this
fan noise and CPU problem has to go, whatever the cost

I suppose that I could go back to just syncing iCal events
with my iPod Touch via iTunes and leave Entourage out of it,
but I was looking forward to setting up some projects in Entourage
and getting back to using Entourage's link items functionality,
to see if it would help me organize my professional and educational
projects. I had finally brought most of my tasks in from Things to
Entourage, set up a few projects, and now... this.

Ah, technology. (Not sure why I do this to myself...
I guess it's the tendency to try and fix things that ain't
particularly broken that ruins me... )

Jeff

 

[Diane Ross]

I understood the part about exporting as .rge,
but by "delete after export selected", what do you mean?

In the export process, there is an option to delete after exporting. Select
this option. Normally, you do not delete when you are exporting .rge files.

Step by step, this is what I understood from your directions:

1. Stop Sync Services by means of the following information:
http://www.entourage.mvps.org/troubleshoot/syncservices.html#ss2
2. From File - Export, export all items to an Entourage archive,
putting checks in all of the checkboxes for items to export.

No, only export the items that are giving you problems with syncing.

3. On the question "Delete Archived Items?", select "Yes,
delete items from Entourage after they are archived".

Again only the items that are giving you problems and do this on a copy of
your Identity.

4. Save the archive file with any filename.
5. Using File - Import, reimport the file saved in step 3 above.
6. Manually move the new set of folders into the Inbox folder
(they will initially be reimported into a separate folder
labeled with the filename).

Are you having problems with messages? They are the only item exported in
folders.

7. Restart Sync Services by adding a checkmark into the
respective boxes in Entourage Preferences - Sync Services
(I'm only syncing calendar and task items, not contacts).

Yes.

 

[Kerry]

Jeff I can relate to the ah technology statemement. I've done
something to try to be say fancy and then I go why did I do that. But
hey, that's how we learn. My mistake is might try to make something
work that just won't - like engage all Entourage modules for sync. It
will always mess up but hey its supposed to work LOL!

Jeff, all I know is your system shouldn't be engaging the fans because
of sync in Entourage. If you open activity monitor, check CPU usage
column and there will probably be something using a pile of CPU.

It looks like Diane has explained how to create a new identity and all
and try to isolate whether there is anything in the database that is
corrupt. I'm guessing you've run the Entourage utility and verified
the DB is running correctly and I'm guessing it comes back as alright.

What I'd suggest now is a reset of sync services. This usually will at
least resolve any problems that might reside in sync services and that
could be the problem. Go to Apple.com/support and search for the
article TS1627 and follow the instructions for Leopard or Snow Leopard
depending on what you have. Before you follow the steps, turn off all
sync in Entourage and back everything up including opening iCal and
Addressbook and back those up to the desktop. Now follow the artcle
and do run the terminal command to reset the syncservices folder.
After this has all been done restart your computer.

OK, turn on one module for sync in Entourage, say calendar and lets
say for the first sync choose Entourage overwrites iCal. The turn off
sync and now turn it back on this time choosing combine. Wait a few
seconds while Entourage syncs everything.

I don't know if you have a montior but you could down menumeters or
atmonitor (atmonitor is good) and now create an entry in entourage's
calendar. Is it now sync'g with a short CPU spike and then idles back.
It should.

Let me know if this doesn't work we can try a couple of more things
around sync services which is a bit more brute force on the reset.

 

[Kerry]

Jeff, I just thought I want to make sure you have done everything
around your data file to make sure there isn't a problem in it or
you've fixed it as per Diane's instructions. Its important that the
data file isn't corrupt as we isolate this. After all the resets I've
suggested and before we go to the brute force reset, you can always
try creating a new identity and turn sync on with a brand new identity
and after say calendar syncs just for a test create an entry and
verify that the CPU only has a spike and then settles right back down.

OK do let me know what happens. The other thing, your feedback will
help others if this happens to them as it will help determine where to
look and what to do to get your system purring again.

 

[Kerry]

Jeff, I just thought I want to make sure you have done everything
around your data file to make sure there isn't a problem in it or
you've fixed it as per Diane's instructions. Its important that the
data file isn't corrupt as we isolate this. After all the resets I've
suggested and before we go to the brute force reset, you can always
try creating a new identity and turn sync on with a brand new identity
and after say calendar syncs just for a test create an entry and
verify that the CPU only has a spike and then settles right back down.

OK do let me know what happens. The other thing, your feedback will
help others if this happens to them as it will help determine where to
look and what to do to get your system purring again.

 

[Jeff Chapman]

Hello Kerry,

Jeff, I just thought I want to make sure you have done everything
around your data file to make sure there isn't a problem in it or
you've fixed it as per Diane's instructions. Its important that the
data file isn't corrupt as we isolate this. After all the resets I've
suggested and before we go to the brute force reset, you can always
try creating a new identity and turn sync on with a brand new identity
and after say calendar syncs just for a test create an entry and
verify that the CPU only has a spike and then settles right back down.

OK do let me know what happens. The other thing, your feedback will
help others if this happens to them as it will help determine where to
look and what to do to get your system purring again.

Thanks for your kind assistance. I had one other system issue
with my MacBook last night (quite likely of my own design),
which led me down an even more perilous path from which I'm
now recovering (!), and it's taking me longer than expected to
get back to solving this Entourage issue.

As I wrote before, after I had become
disillusioned with Entourage's weak abilities in the
area of data export and sharing calendar and task data
with other applications, not to mention the sync limitations
that were present last year before the product updates,
I switched to using Things for task entry, and iCal for
managing my calendar and syncing with my iPod Touch.

This was working well enough, but this system lacked
the ability to access linked files in project form like
Entourage did. I missed that. I could have tagged my Things
data to categorize it, and sorted the to-dos by project,
but I could never come close to getting that convenient
calendar+files+tasks+contacts project view that Entourage
conveniently provides. Things also provides most information
in textual format, so there is naturally a disjoint
between to-dos and time on a calendar.

So this brings me back to Entourage.

Undoubtedly, I'm spending far too much time working this over...
but if I can get the sync between Entourage/iCal back up and
working with your advice and Diane's recommendations,
then I should be able to get back to doing what I intended
to do, namely:

(1) have my calendar available on both my MacBook and
on my iPod Touch,
(2) be able to link calendar items to to-dos, contacts,
and files, and
(3) use the Project functionality to see both my
professional and educational goals, work to be done and
related information at a glance.

I almost despise myself for spending so much time
on getting the technology up and running, when I could have
spent that time in more creative endeavors. Too many
bleary-eyed nights with nothing to show.
Perhaps that's the price we pay with technology:
we spend more time, so that we can eventually spend _less_
time and get better results and a shorter period of time.
(At least that's the theory, isn't it.)

Jeff

 

[Jeff Chapman]

Hello Diane (and Kerry),

Regarding the steps below that you recommended,
I went even further. I did a Time Machine
backup, reformatted my MacBook's hard drive (also removing
Windows Boot Camp installations and a custom FAT partition
I added in the process) and erased it with zeros via the OS X
Snow Leopard disk utility, restored the Time Machine backup,
and then followed your steps.

I also made sure that Spanning Sync (which I used to
sync my business-related iCal calendars with the calendars
of my work laptop) was turned off.

So far, the sync seems to be holding (I've only got
the tasks and calendars syncing now, as Kerry informed
me that turning on sync for more than one component
will botch things up). Also, the CPU problem seems to
have disappeared. As Kerry mentions, I notice moderate
spikes in CPU usage for brief periods during the sync,
but then the activity dies down to normal.
The fan noise problem also seems to be gone.

HOWEVER, there was one issue in regard to re-importing
tasks and calendar items via .rge archive.
Namely, the categories for each item were all completely
erased. = Sigh. = Either Entourage did not correctly
export the categories, or it dropped them on import.
I'm not sure which.
Links seem to have been dropped like a hot potato as
well - ouch.
At any rate, the categories and links were important,
but I can live without them, just so long
as I can start using them from now on and this system
remains stable.

Thanks very much for your help and your time!

Jeff

 

[Kerry]

Hey Jeff, well it seems like sync is working properly without
excessively using CPU. You went way farther than I would have to get
this going again - reformatting your drive etc. Very brave.

Yes, when you create a new identity from an rge file the rich stuff
like links and categories are lost. For some reason though when I've
imported contact rge files the categories remain. I've never
understood that but its not important only handy as my contacts, if
I've had to go this far, have to be categorized and that would take
time if they didn't come back in categorized.

Your system should be fine now and yes when I've had to do this I just
work on a going forward basis. I generally go back and categorize
everything from the current month but that's it due to the time it
takes.

In terms of Entourage not sharing with other apps I've always said if
you don't need the functionality in Entourage just use the Apple apps
as sync is basically a non-issue, backups are a non-issue (Entourage's
monolithic database requires you implement a backup strategy that
takes its size and monolithic style into consideration whereas iCal is
completely different).

However, I have other products that use the Calendar no problem its
just they're using iCal's calendar. Since Entourage is sync'g to iCal
all the calendar info is there and can used as you want and in fact
this is a backup and can always be sync'd as an overwrite to
Entourage (of course with the loss of rich info) to restore your data
from iCal or Addressbook back to Entourage. However, as an example of
a product I use that uses iCal info it iClock Pro. In its dropdown
calendar it will list your tasks or upcoming events in list form.
Since its available from any space I frequently just open its calendar
and sometimes create a todo or calendar entry from it. This will then
sync to Entourage. When I go to Entourage, I just apply the categories
and links as appropriate. I have to do this though with anything
generated outside of Entourage - e.g. iPhone.

 

[Kerry]

I forgot to add in my last post that using Entourage adds a bit of
extra work as you can see as iCal calendars don't sync over as
categories. If I were using iCal only I'd save time in terms of having
to do this extra work in Entourage. However, for me and I suspect for
you, it is the advanced functionality of Entourage that makes this all
worth it. With Entourage's advanced functionality of categories/
multiple categories, links, Projects and advanced search capabilities
(almost SQL like) finding info and relevant info is much easier in
Entourage than it could ever be using the Apple apps. Thus, I find
that I can write a document extremely fast when I properly use
Entourage and my product in the end is some kind of document.

So, like I've said if you don't need the advanced functionlity of
Entourage you're much better off using Mail, iCal and Addressbook as
they are less prone to problems from a sync, backup and use point of
view (they are fairly simple and thus easy to use). However, I've
found nothing that matches Entourage's advanced functionality. So the
effort I put into it is worth it.

What has never been worth it with Entourage though is the sync issue
that's never been resolved and I and others have spent way too much
time recovering from sync problems. However, using the workaround
syncs are 100% and so as long as I properly do this I never have a
sync failure/mess. I think I've been going at least two months
straight now using the workaround and I've not had to recover once
from an Entourage sync mess. If I were to accidentally leave two
modules on when I switch to sync another module though I can assure
you in no short order Entourage would end up with a sync mess most
likel dup'd entries.

With all this in mind, it is critical to have a very sound backup
strategy. Entourage, which itself, is not really that well designed
for backup requires more than anything on my computer a sound backup
strategy because its DB can corrupt and sometimes rebuild won't work.
The odd time a corrupt DB won't even ope

 

[Diane Ross]

HOWEVER, there was one issue in regard to re-importing
tasks and calendar items via .rge archive.
Namely, the categories for each item were all completely
erased. = Sigh. = Either Entourage did not correctly
export the categories, or it dropped them on import.
I'm not sure which.

Contacts export with the category, but tasks do not. You can sort tasks
manually and drag each category to the desktop as individual files. When you
drag back into Entourage, add the category for each group.

There are scripts that will do this for you, but not all work with Snow
Leopard and the script that enters the key for all scripts does not even
work in Leopard. You have to enter it for each script you use. It's Paul
Berkowitz's shareware scripts, Export-Import. I use them for my clients when
I'm working on recovery.

--
Diane Ross, Microsoft Mac MVP
Entourage Help Page <http://www.entourage.mvps.org/>
Entourage Help Blog <http://blog.entourage.mvps.org/>
YouTalk <http://tinyurl.com/bzcrjy> <-- Entourage mailing list
Twitter: follow <http://twitter.com/entouragehelp>

 

[Jeff Chapman]

Hello again, Kerry,

With Entourage's advanced functionality of categories/
multiple categories, links, Projects and advanced search capabilities
(almost SQL like) finding info and relevant info is much easier in
Entourage than it could ever be using the Apple apps. Thus, I find
that I can write a document extremely fast when I properly use
Entourage and my product in the end is some kind of document.

Thanks for the insightful reply. You certainly do have
it down when it comes to this software and to working
with Apple's productivity software in general - kudos to
you. I appreciate having you around here and being able
to bounce ideas off of you and other knowledgeable people.

You mentioned that using Entourage helps you to write a
document faster - that's good to hear. Probably the ability
to search, filter, and link information is helpful, I imagine.
For me, it's useful to be able to see my graphic design
coursework in the Entourage project view.
I can see my recent working files pertaining to the course,
feedback I've received from the instructors, see my calendar
in relation to the completion date, and see only the notes
I've written that pertain to the coursework.
Without Entourage, I'd be doing all of this in separate
applications. So there definitely is some value there.
I've even reassigned the keyboard shortcut Command+L
to show me the links for the selected item, which makes it
easier to connect notes to particular files.

Also, your comments on a backup strategy were spot-on...
looks like I'm going to have to keep a copy of my Main Identity
file every so often, so that I can go back to it. Time Machine
seems to work for this, but if Time Machine makes a backup of
the identity file while Entourage is open, there may be some
discrepancies, I understand. So maybe it's better to create a
copy while Entourage is not running, I imagine.

Jeff

 

[Diane Ross]

Also, your comments on a backup strategy were spot-on...
looks like I'm going to have to keep a copy of my Main Identity
file every so often, so that I can go back to it. Time Machine
seems to work for this, but if Time Machine makes a backup of
the identity file while Entourage is open, there may be some
discrepancies, I understand. So maybe it's better to create a
copy while Entourage is not running, I imagine.

We have a series of articles that gives you several options to backup
Entourage.

<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/articles/backup_articles.html>

Personally, I backup Entourage using 1) an Automator workflow once a day and
the copy is saved in a dated folder using FolderOrgX. 2) I also do a smart
backup to my clone using SuperDuper daily. 3) Once a week, I create a copy
for Time Machine to backup.

I prune the daily copies and keep a once a month for oldest, weekly for more
recent and daily for the past 3 weeks.

I occasionally, make MBOX files of all folder. I keep my sent mail sorted by
year so I always have an MBOX file for those older emails. I export as .rge
file to verify my database and keep those around for a bit too.

--
Diane Ross, Microsoft Mac MVP
Entourage Help Page <http://www.entourage.mvps.org/>
Entourage Help Blog <http://blog.entourage.mvps.org/>
YouTalk <http://tinyurl.com/bzcrjy> <-- Entourage mailing list
Twitter: follow <http://twitter.com/entouragehelp>