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2008 8-Core 2.8 MP Crashes Frequently

smirking

smirking

macrumors 601
Original poster
Aug 31, 2003
4,424
4,789
Silicon Valley
Anyone else with an early 2008 Mac Pro experiencing problems with regular system crashes? Ever since I got mine in early February, I've had to deal with the dreaded slow curtain of restart at least once every few days.

The crash is usually not triggered by anything I do. It just happens randomly. It usually happens while I'm just reading a web page or doing something passive. Sometimes I haven't even touched anything for a few minutes and it just crashes for no good reason.

The only thing I can seem to associate with the crashes is web surfing, but given that I'm a web developer, I'm ALWAYS web surfing. If I'm not reading something random online, I'm crusing my own sites to check my work.

Besides the machine specs, I have an 8800GT and 8Gb of RAM ordered from Other World Computing.
 
Return it for a new one. I had the wake from sleep issue real bad. Took it back and got a refund and then waited. Just bought an new one this weekend and its perfect. I bought the 8800GT as an upgrade kit and got 16gb of ram from OWC and so far working fine. Definately no wake from sleep issues so far.
 
This sounds more like a memory problem.
I would disconnect everything to the computer and pull out all memory except the original apple one and start from there.
 
Well, I haven't actually ripped out my extra memory sticks yet, but I did run the Apple Hardware Test that came as part of the install DVD. The memory test didn't find any RAM issues.

Anyone know how reliable the Apple Hardware Test is for RAM issues? I'm still getting random crashes every few days on average.
 
The first thing to do is look at any logs. Before
you do that, anything else is sheer speculation.
 
Well, I've got these kernel panic logs...

Code: 
Wed Jun  4 19:50:41 2008
panic(cpu 3 caller 0x0022335B): "rtunref: bad refcnt 0 for rt=0xcc7ec90\n"@/SourceCache/xnu/xnu-1228.5.18/bsd/net/route.c:460
Backtrace, Format - Frame : Return Address (4 potential args on stack) 
0x84163c68 : 0x12b0fa (0x459294 0x84163c9c 0x133243 0x0) 
0x84163cb8 : 0x22335b (0x471d68 0x0 0xcc7ec90 0x1a236f) 
0x84163cd8 : 0x22384f (0xcc7ec90 0x1 0x0 0x0) 
0x84163d08 : 0x224afb (0xcc7ec90 0x2 0x84163d38 0xc8beb08) 
0x84163d28 : 0x273d54 (0xcc7ec90 0xffff 0x1 0x3a9382) 
0x84163d58 : 0x24ae84 (0xc8beb08 0x0 0x1a2389 0x0) 
0x84163db8 : 0x24df75 (0xc8bebe8 0xcda4e58 0x84163df8 0x3ba6a8) 
0x84163dd8 : 0x24e04f (0xcb48d80 0x1 0x84163df8 0xcbf8ca8) 
0x84163df8 : 0x3a5af2 (0xcda4e58 0x9 0x0 0x24bbbd) 
0x84163e58 : 0x3a5b9a (0xcda4e58 0x1 0x84163e88 0xc598f6c) 
0x84163e78 : 0x367550 (0xcda4e58 0x84163ec8 0xcc16fc0 0x0) 
0x84163ee8 : 0x367941 (0xcc16df0 0xcc188c8 0xcbf8c50 0x3) 
0x84163f28 : 0x3679fd (0x0 0x10 0x84163f5c 0x1) 
0x84163f78 : 0x3dddda (0xcbf8c50 0xc598ee0 0xc598f24 0x0) 
0x84163fc8 : 0x19f2c3 (0xc59e9a0 0x0 0x1a20b5 0xc59e9a0) 
No mapping exists for frame pointer
Backtrace terminated-invalid frame pointer 0xbfffe748

BSD process name corresponding to current thread: launchd

Mac OS version:
9D34

Kernel version:
Darwin Kernel Version 9.3.0: Fri May 23 00:49:16 PDT 2008; root:xnu-1228.5.18~1/RELEASE_I386
System model name: MacPro3,1 (Mac-F42C88C8)


-----
Sat May 24 02:00:39 2008
panic(cpu 6 caller 0x001A8C8A): Kernel trap at 0x00656367, type 14=page fault, registers:
CR0: 0x8001003b, CR2: 0x0000003c, CR3: 0x014af000, CR4: 0x00000660
EAX: 0x00000000, EBX: 0x00000000, ECX: 0x00000000, EDX: 0x00000000
CR2: 0x0000003c, EBP: 0x838d7708, ESI: 0x00000025, EDI: 0x7f1f2976
EFL: 0x00010282, EIP: 0x00656367, CS:  0x00000008, DS:  0x0c090010
Error code: 0x00000000

Backtrace, Format - Frame : Return Address (4 potential args on stack) 
0x838d74f8 : 0x12b0f7 (0x4581f4 0x838d752c 0x133230 0x0) 
0x838d7548 : 0x1a8c8a (0x461720 0x656367 0xe 0x460ed0) 
0x838d7628 : 0x19ece5 (0x838d7640 0x838d768c 0x838d7708 0x656367) 
0x838d7638 : 0x656367 (0xe 0x7d0048 0xc090010 0x190010) 
0x838d7708 : 0x650a4c (0x0 0x838d798c 0x0 0x0) 
0x838d79b8 : 0x65117f (0x838d7aa4 0x3e9 0x1 0x3a362f) 
0x838d79f8 : 0x3b98d2 (0x1c1f17e0 0x1bda6000 0x0 0x838d7aa4) 
0x838d7a48 : 0x3a93a4 (0x1bda6000 0x0 0x838d7aa4 0x0) 
0x838d7a98 : 0x245f4f (0x1bda6044 0x7f1f2900 0x1 0xc601000a) 
0x838d7c78 : 0x23baa0 (0x7f1f2900 0x14 0x14 0x6) 
0x838d7cb8 : 0x23d822 (0x7f1f2900 0x14 0x6 0x0) 
0x838d7dd8 : 0x23d85e (0x7f1f2900 0x0 0x838d7e48 0x13679a) 
0x838d7df8 : 0x2297b6 (0x2 0x7f1f2900 0xbebab54 0x0) 
0x838d7e38 : 0x2187c5 (0x2 0x7f1f2900 0x838d7e88 0x1369ad) 
0x838d7ec8 : 0x214f04 (0xc748204 0x2 0x7f1f2900 0x3e859c) 
0x838d7ef8 : 0x21565d (0x5258e4 0xc748204 0x2 0x838d7f74) 
	Backtrace continues...
      Kernel loadable modules in backtrace (with dependencies):
         com.symantec.kext.ips(1.2f28)@0x64d000->0x66bfff
            dependency: com.symantec.kext.internetSecurity(1.1f10)@0x644000

BSD process name corresponding to current thread: kernel_task

Mac OS version:
9C7010

Kernel version:
Darwin Kernel Version 9.2.2: Tue Mar  4 21:17:34 PST 2008; root:xnu-1228.4.31~1/RELEASE_I386
System model name: MacPro3,1 (Mac-F42C88C8)
----
I've seen the type 14 error and the "No mapping exists for frame pointer" a number of times.

D4F, it's not in a well ventilated area, but it's not exactly confined either. The fans haven't ever freaked out so I don't think heat is the issue.
 
Based on you kernel panic:

" Kernel loadable modules in backtrace (with dependencies):
com.symantec.kext.ips(1.2f28)@0x64d000->0x66bfff
dependency: com.symantec.kext.internetSecurity(1.1f10)@0x6440"

I'm assuming you have Symantec's AV/Internet Security product installed. I would try one or both of the following if you haven't already:

1. Make sure you're up to date with any patches
2. Uninstall and see if they continue

Just guessing, but seeing as how the initial crash appeared to be in your network stack.

Hope this helps.

-Shrapnel
 
"symantec"

"There's your problem"

Nick is right. Symantec killed my PC too! I got rid of all Norton apps and Symantec programs, put AVG on the systems and never a problem again. Symantec's programming has become too bloated!


Jeremy
 
Norton's?

Greetings-

The best thing I ever did years back in my PC only days was re-format my HD and NOT re-install the Norton's applications (utilities & virus protection).

My 2008 Mac Pro has run like a top since plugging it in, in March. No issues going 10.51 to 10.52 to 10.53. No issues installing 8 more gigs from OWC (and another 1 TB Hd for Time Machine). No problems coming out of sleep ever while down loading or what ever else (although I did turn this & screen saver off (guess it's a throw back as a Windows user)).

Best,

John
 
Ok, I'm seeing tons of Symantec gripes on this site and elsewhere now. I saw the Symantec reference in the panic log, but in only one of a few randomly checked panic logs. It turns out that if I checked all of my panic logs, Symantec was implicated in almost every single other instance of the kernel panics.

I haven't had problems with Symantec before in the past though, but I didn't have the vulnerability protection turned on. That's the bit that prevents suspicious attempts to connect to your computer. I was previously using Little Snitch for that, but went with Symantec when I upgraded to AntiVirus 11.

I'm disabling the vulnerability protection as a first step to see if that helps. If it's still hosed, I'm joining the ranks of Clam AV users.
 
Why would you want any kind of Anti Virus software on a Mac anyway?

Leopard has a built in Firewall as well which is perfectly sufficient, and your router likely will as well.
 
nick9191 said:
Why would you want any kind of Anti Virus software on a Mac anyway?

Leopard has a built in Firewall as well which is perfectly sufficient, and your router likely will as well.
Click to expand...

Some people are in a Windows environment and need to scan files before sending them to Windows users. In this case it is not a want, but a requirement.
 
Wow, I didn't realize that.

I switched to Mac last July (after 20 years of PC's). I haven't installed any virus protection or spy/mal/crapware protection on any of my 3 Macs. Two of them run Windows on either a partition (MBP) or it's own drive (MP) through BootCamp. I also have two other PCs out of necessity in the office. All 4 Windows computers are using AVG free (I think it is 7.5 or 8.0). Been using AVG for two years, since I heard about it on Kim Komando's show one afternoon. I've never looked back, had a virus, or any other issues of slow down.

If you must use virus protection in a corporate or business (secure) structure, I would look at other Virus Protection companies like Novell and similar.

Symantec and it's many Norton iterations is and are worse than the viurses and termites they are suppose to protect us from, IMHO.

...and it use to be good, that's the sorry thing.

Jeremy
 
Well, it's been over a week since I've disabled the Symantec vulnerability protection on my MP Early 2008 and I haven't had any kernel panics since then. BTW, I only disabled the vulnerability protection. I didn't disable the Anti-Virus. The Anti-Virus appears to be harmless and to everyone who's asking me why I'd even bother? I'd rather be safe than sorry. I'm a freelance Web developer and my clients trust me to be safe with their sites and safe with their data. One "oh crap" incident regardless of how rare or remote will be enough to wreck my business.

Thanks to everyone who helped me diagnose the problem.

As another side benefit, my web browsers seem to be running faster on startup now. The vulnerability protection must have been doing something to bog down Safari. It took around 30 seconds after Safari launched to become responsive to input.
 
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