Mac – Spotlight/Search Not Indexing, MBP Running Too Hot

Short version:

Since installing Yosemite on my (mid'12) MacBook Pro, I have seen issues with battery life cut in half and the computer running excessively hot.

Symptoms:

• In the Activity Monitor, the mcs process is running at over 100% CPU on a regular basis. If I'm not mistaken, this is for the Spotlight/Search Indexing. Spotlight takes FOREVER to find anything.

• Time Machine won't back up at all. It just hangs in the "Preparing Backup" stage. I figured out that if I temporarily kill the indexing process in Terminal, I can get a complete backup.

Things I have tried:

• I even brought it to the closest Genius on Apple's recommendation. They didn't find anything wrong with the hardware, but they did want to put a new motherboard in it for over $500. I don't believe it's hardware.

• I found that force quitting out of the mcs task in Activity Monitor, the temps drop about 10-12° back to normal operating temperatures.

• I rebuilt the indices in Terminal, tried removing them, dropped the hard drive in and out of Spotlight pref panel, and everything else to get the index to rebuild itself properly.

• I wiped the hard drive clean, re-formatted it and reinstalled Yosemite and everything else to see if I could get it to work.

I can't install a Time Machine back to the time before Yosemite, way too much to lose. Anyone have any ideas?

Long version:

Since installing Yosemite on my (mid'12) MacBook Pro, I have seen issues with battery life cut in half and the computer running excessively hot. I have installed Macs Fan Control to keep track of the temps. It was running at about 88-90°C with no programs running at all, and in the mid 90s just turning on a browser. Previously, it never cracked 80°C unless I was pushing it hard in Photoshop or iMovie.

I did all of the resets, reboots and restarts to chase down the issue, and a call with Apple tech support didn't find anything. I even brought it to the closest Genius on Apple's recommendation to run diagnostics on it. They didn't find anything wrong with the hardware, but they did want to put a new motherboard in it for over $500. I don't believe it's hardware.

In the Activity Monitor, we discovered the mcs process running at over 100% CPU on a regular basis. If I'm not mistaken, this is for the Spotlight/Search Indexing, which when asked to search for something, takes FOREVER to find anything. With Yosemite, tracking the indexing process is invisible to me, so I don't know what it's doing, but it seems like it is always indexing (through the Spotlight search for "index").

Also, to add fuel to this fire, Time Machine won't back up at all. It just hangs in the "Preparing Backup" stage. I figured out that if I temporarily kill the indexing process in Terminal, I can get a complete backup, so I have been doing that manually for the last few weeks, at least. Every once in a while, it will back-up if I don't kill the indexing process, so that's always fun to not have anything consistent causing issues.

So back to the heat. I can push the fans a bit in MFC to keep the temps down, but that seems like a Band-Aid. I found that force quitting out of the mcs task in Activity Monitor, the temps drop about 10-12° back to normal operating temperatures. So my belief is that there is an issue indexing and it's overworking the system. Pretty easy conclusion to come to.

I rebuilt the indexes in Terminal, tried removing them, dropped the hard drive in and out of Spotlight pref panel, and everything else to get the index to rebuild itself properly. Nothing has allowed the indexing to calm down at all. Just using the Search feature for finding simple text files on the drive is a painful process. No, there is no AntiVirus software running, either.

I have even gone full scorched Earth on the laptop. I wiped the hard drive clean, re-formatted it and reinstalled Yosemite and everything else to see if I could get it to work. I did this mostly in the name of Time Machine, but it's still pushing my buttons. The same issues are still happening with the index, heat and battery life.

I'm out of intelligence and out of patience. I'm disappointed that I installed Yosemite, though it could be a coincidence (I doubt it). I'm open to all ideas at this point. I would just like to roll back my life to the day right before I decided to install Yosemite—everything worked, and I didn't spend my free time trying to solve Mac problems. And no, I can't install a Time Machine back to the time before Yosemite, way too much to lose.

Anyone have any ideas?

Doug