Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Infinite loop issue with Snow Leopard

J

Jalaska13

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 21, 2009
24
0
Hi there, it's Josh.
I've had snow leopard for a few weeks now, and it's been unexpectedly slow for that duration of time, especially considering how much faster it's supposed to be. I finally found the problem, however. In my system log, this series of messages repeats itself every 15 seconds or so:

Oct 11 11:51:34 Joshuas-Macbook com.apple.launchd[1] (jp.co.nikon.NikonPtpEnum[242]): posix_spawn("/Applications/Nikon Software/Wireless Camera Setup Utility/NikonPtpEnum", ...): No such file or directory
Oct 11 11:51:34 Joshuas-Macbook com.apple.launchd[1] (jp.co.nikon.NikonPtpEnum[242]): Exited with exit code: 1
Oct 11 11:51:34 Joshuas-Macbook com.apple.launchd[1] (jp.co.nikon.NikonPtpEnum): Throttling respawn: Will start in 10 seconds

Just for the record, I deleted all the Nikon software off my computer a few months ago. So I found jp.co.nikon.NikonPtpEnum, and deleted it. That didn't help. I then deleted any files I could find in my ~/library/preferences folder. That didn't help. I reinstalled some of the nikon software from the original instillation CD, and then used the uninstall software that comes with it to wipe my system. I even looked through all copies of any file entitled "com.apple.launchd" I could find, and looked for a reference to jp.co.nikon.NikonPtpEnum. Nothing. Any ideas? It's really slowing my system down, so I'd love to get rid of it.
 
nope, nothing there, thanks tho
The only files that I don't know for sure are supposed to be there are:

Backup Engine 3 (I'm assuming this one is time machine-related)

Login Items Engine (A blank document that can be opened with text edit, and has nothing in it; it takes up 0 kb of space)

although, maybe there's some way to see the full startup list? As in the things that you're not supposed to be able to edit? I'm sure a list like that exists somewhere that the accounts preference pane simply doesn't display
 
Open up "/Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app" and type
Code: 
sudo launchctl list

When it asks for your password, enter the password for your current account (assuming you are an admin user) and post this output here. This will list all items registered with launchd.

You can also check for any items in /System/Library/StartupItems, /Library/StartupItems or ~/Library/StartupItems.
 
It depends on what and where the item is. launchctl list shows everything that is started that is either in the various LaunchDaemons, LaunchAgents and StartupItems folders.
 
well, the item is specifically listed as:
"- 1 jp.co.nikon.NikonPtpEnum"
Is there a way for me to find where that is in my filesystem? or how about a way to delete it directly from terminal? I just want a series of steps that has the end result of allowing me to get rid of the damn thing, or at least disable it
 
same problem

Hi there - did you ever figure out a solution to stopping this? I have the exact same problem on my machine right now...

thanks
James
 
You need to check these folders, ordered from the most likely to least likely:

This is where it more than likely is:
/Library/LaunchDaemons

There is no real good way to order these, but they are listed in the event the 3rd party isn't putting it in right place:
/Library/StartupItems
/System/Library/StartupItems
/System/Library/LaunchDaemons

It shouldn't be here at all, assuming the log was posted in full:
~/Library/LaunchAgents
/Library/LaunchAgents
/System/Library/LaunchAgents



This is assuming your log is the same as the above and that the log above is complete. It looks like it was the system launchd and not the peruser launchd process, I am confident that it is in /Library/LaunchDaemons.

StartupItems are currently being phased out by Apple which is why they are at the bottom. I don't know this software is "legacy" so I put them at the end.
 
oh, wow. Hmmm. Yeah, but I have a new computer now. As best I can recall, I had to go searching through folders with daemons. Here's all I can tell you: I do remember very distinctly that the folder it was in was a system folder (not in your user folder), and had only a few files in it- no more than 5-7 files. You should try /Library/LaunchAgents or /Library/LaunchDaemons. But just remember- more than 10 files and it's probably not the right folder. Also look for folders with the name "daemon" in them. It definitely had the word "daemon" in it.
 
Jalaska13 said:
oh, wow. Hmmm. Yeah, but I have a new computer now. As best I can recall, I had to go searching through folders with daemons. Here's all I can tell you: I do remember very distinctly that the folder it was in was a system folder (not in your user folder), and had only a few files in it- no more than 5-7 files. You should try /Library/LaunchAgents or /Library/LaunchDaemons. But just remember- more than 10 files and it's probably not the right folder. Also look for folders with the name "daemon" in them. It definitely had the word "daemon" in it.
Click to expand...

This isn't really good advice. The number of items will be dependent upon a particular users setup.

It is likely in /Library/LaunchDaemons as per the post I made above. This can be deduced given that the system launchd is trying to launch it and because /System/Library/LaunchDaemons should not contain 3rd party launch daemons.
 
The only reason I say few files is that there aren't that many programs that install launcher daemons in those sorts of folders, so even if you had a bunch of extra programs installed (as I do now, and I don't have many files in /Library/LaunchDaemons), most people shouldn't have that many files there.
 
Jalaska13 said:
The only reason I say few files is that there aren't that many programs that install launcher daemons in those sorts of folders, so even if you had a bunch of extra programs installed (as I do now, and I don't have many files in /Library/LaunchDaemons), most people shouldn't have that many files there.
Click to expand...

While this may be true, it is not a good troubleshooting technique. It isn't simply "programs" but also hardware and anything that should be available at the login screen.

In addition, based on your advice the user should back out of any folder that has more than 10 items. There is enough evidence available to determine where the offending daemon is.
 
I had the same problem with PDAnet. After deleting the program I noticed through Comsole that the program was still trying to launch every 10 seconds. Using Terminal and the command, sudo launchctl list, I found the fileame and then located it in System/Library/LaunchDaemons. After deleting the file cited in the Console messages and restarting my computer the problem was fixed.
 
You should probably be able to just stop the launchctrl job by typing "launchctrl stop jp.co.nikon.NikonPtpEnum" assuming that is the name of the job running.
Then do a "launchctrl list|grep nikon" to see if the job is still running.
Then run "launchctrl unload jp.co.nikon.NikonPtpEnum" to remove it from the launchctrl startup list.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back