OSX Consistently Crashing...

[NillBill]

Hey everyone,

I've been suffering from constant crashes for about a month and I can't figure out what's going on. There doesn't seem to be any specific trigger that causes it to happen, it has happened even when I'm not using my Mac. Finder seems to crash hard, it won't allow me to open any apps, quiting programs results in the entire system hanging and my internet connection drops out. I am force to turn off the system via the power button.

Here's the log from my latest crash...

Mac OS X Version 10.4.9 (Build 8P2137)
2007-06-19 15:47:36 -0400
terminate called after throwing an instance of 'vcfoundation::base::VCException'
2007-06-19 15:47:38.360 SystemUIServer[98] lang is:en
Jun 19 15:47:40 MacPro ntpdate[128]: can't find host time.apple.com\n
Jun 19 15:47:41 MacPro ntpdate[128]: no servers can be used, exiting


I've tried running disk utility and it has found nothing, I've also tried running a program to verify that my ram is ok, it found nothing as well. It seems to happen really consistently, about every 2 days. I've also tried removing various programs that I thought might cause it, but none seem to make a difference.

Any ideas?

 

[Killyp]

It looks like OS X calling the apple time server is causing the crash.

Open Date & Time in system prefs, and from the drop down list, choose Apple Europe (time.euro.apple.com).

If that doesn't work, try disabling automatic time updating alltogether...

 

[gr8tfly]

It looks like something to do with the network time server client. Try turning off "Set date & time automatically:" in System Preferences->Date & Time -> Date & Time.

I'm not sure if it's significant, but I noticed there's a new-line character appended to the time server name ("\n"). Of course, it "shouldn't" matter, but just something I noticed.

 

[flyfish29]

the above posters seem to have possibly solved your problem- but I wonder- do you know how to force quit a program or even the finder? That should be done before any hard restart.

Also, have you recently(around the time the issues started happening) installed a new program, used Terminal (software program) to edit/alter anything, or done any to tweak or mod your computer? That will usually be your culprit.

ARe you up to date on your software updates for the OS?

 

[NillBill]

the above posters seem to have possibly solved your problem- but I wonder- do you know how to force quit a program or even the finder? That should be done before any hard restart.

Also, have you recently(around the time the issues started happening) installed a new program, used Terminal (software program) to edit/alter anything, or done any to tweak or mod your computer? That will usually be your culprit.

ARe you up to date on your software updates for the OS?

Thanks for your replies guys, I did add some ram into my system around the time this started happening (i can't be sure, but i know it was close). Now I have since removed the ram and tested the system, the same problem did occur, but it seemed to take longer. I should probably test it again just to make sure, but the fact is I did get the same result.

About the "force quit" option, I am aware of that, but when I say the OS crashes I mean it's screwed. Even the force quitting won't happen.

I'm going to try changing time option like you guys have suggested, however I don't think that will solve it and here's why. I have an HP printer installed (or it was installed up until a few days ago) and I thought that might be causing the crashes based on this log...

Mac OS X Version 10.4.9 (Build 8P2137)
2007-06-17 16:04:36 -0400
2007-06-17 16:04:38.977 HPEventHandler[116]: DebugAssert: Third Party Client: (NULL != m_lock && 0 == errno) Can't create semaphore lock[/Volumes/Development/HP/Mac-Sirani/mac-software/components/HPEventHandler/Sources/Core/HPTMNotificationManager.cpp:62]
Jun 17 16:04:43 MacPro ntpdate[133]: can't find host time.apple.com\n
Jun 17 16:04:43 MacPro ntpdate[133]: no servers can be used, exiting

As you can see the HPeventhandler goes down before the time.apple.com stuff... I'm trying to figure out what -0400 means, it looks like an error code, but I haven't been able to find anything on apple.com about it.

Open to more suggestions...

 

[ibrychgo]

I'm having the identically same problem

I've been having the exact same symptoms, same console log for about the same amount of time as you. Mine also gets triggered when I try to Print. I have a theory but won't be able to test it until tomorrow.

I think it's got to be the HP software.

My crashes happen when I change networks and plug my HP printer in at the office. A forced restart with it plugged in causes a hang at start (grey screen). If I had printed, but not crashed, on the HP and then came to my home network, it would crash again after a while.

- b r y

 

[NillBill]

I've been having the exact same symptoms, same console log for about the same amount of time as you. Mine also gets triggered when I try to Print. I have a theory but won't be able to test it until tomorrow.

I think it's got to be the HP software.

My crashes happen when I change networks and plug my HP printer in at the office. A forced restart with it plugged in causes a hang at start (grey screen). If I had printed, but not crashed, on the HP and then came to my home network, it would crash again after a while.

- b r y

Interesting, let me know how it goes. I've tried uninstalling my HP software and still got the same symptoms, but I hope it works out better for you. I do have a reoccurring "Bad Header" on my HD. Not sure if this could be the problem or not, but it keeps coming back after Disk Utility fixes it.

 

[thatcoder]

I've had these same problems since last night.

The systems started happening shortly after my update to the operating system via Apple updates. i.e. 10.4.10.

I've had no less than 8 to 10 crashes over the last 2 days.

It is frustrating as i initially thought it was finder crashing, but i finally got around to checking logs and noted the same error the Original poster noted.

 

[sfisher]

Mac OS X Version 10.4.9 (Build 8P2137)
2007-06-17 16:04:36 -0400
2007-06-17 16:04:38.977 HPEventHandler[116]: DebugAssert: Third Party Client: (NULL != m_lock && 0 == errno) Can't create semaphore lock[/Volumes/Development/HP/Mac-Sirani/mac-software/components/HPEventHandler/Sources/Core/HPTMNotificationManager.cpp:62]
Jun 17 16:04:43 MacPro ntpdate[133]: can't find host time.apple.com\n
Jun 17 16:04:43 MacPro ntpdate[133]: no servers can be used, exiting

As you can see the HPeventhandler goes down before the time.apple.com stuff... I'm trying to figure out what -0400 means, it looks like an error code, but I haven't been able to find anything on apple.com about it.

Open to more suggestions...

The -0400 looks like a time zone offset from UTC ("GMT"). Neither of those errors sounds serious enough to crash anything

 

[NillBill]

The -0400 looks like a time zone offset from UTC ("GMT"). Neither of those errors sounds serious enough to crash anything

Good point man, I didn't make that relation. I'm absolutely lost as to what's going on. I talked to AppleCare Support and they told me to turn my system off every night or reinstall... not exactly the solutions I'm looking for. I might install the OS on a seperate drive and boot off it and see if the same problem occurs.

 

[ibrychgo]

Confirmed - HP software is the culprit of my crashing

I've tested this 6 ways 'til Sunday.

1) This started after the Software update in May (I don't recall the version)
2) As long as I haven't plugged in my HP USB printer, the problem never appears
3) If I plug in my printer, the problem will occur after sleep/wakeup or unplugging/re-plugging USB, or after changing networks and trying to print to a different printer (Network prtiner in my case.)
4) If I manually kill the HP Event Handler after reboot, everything works fine for days. I can still print, I can still scan, I just can't use the control panel mounted on the printer to start scans from there.

Unfortunately, this event handler isn't triggered via the Login Items list so I don't know how to keep it from loading on reboot. I just have to remember to kill it if I reboot.

Hope this helps someone!

 

[Sbrocket]

Just to clarify for confused people: none of these are crash logs. What you're posting is the console.log file and, while it may contain messages to help diagnose your problem, it is not a crash log. The "ntpdate" message initially commented on are normal log messages from that system daemon when you have some network problem and you computer can't connect to time.apple.com and update the time. It has nothing to do with your crash.

 

[NillBill]

Just to clarify for confused people: none of these are crash logs. What you're posting is the console.log file and, while it may contain messages to help diagnose your problem, it is not a crash log. The "ntpdate" message initially commented on are normal log messages from that system daemon when you have some network problem and you computer can't connect to time.apple.com and update the time. It has nothing to do with your crash.

Oh ok, any idea where I should look to get a little more information?

 

[Sbrocket]

Oh ok, any idea where I should look to get a little more information?

My recommendation would be to completely uninstall whatever HP software this is that you think is causing the problem, reboot, do a permissions repair, and reboot.

This message...

2007-06-17 16:04:38.977 HPEventHandler[116]: DebugAssert: Third Party Client: (NULL != m_lock && 0 == errno) Can't create semaphore lock[/Volumes/Development/HP/Mac-Sirani/mac-software/components/HPEventHandler/Sources/Core/HPTMNotificationManager.cpp:62]

...looks extremely suspect to me. I have a feeling that HP driver is going to cause you nothing but trouble. You can try reinstalling after you do the above if you want (make sure you get the latest driver straight from HP's site -- don't use an old file or driver disk), but if the crashes start again after reinstalling then you'll need to ditch the driver and complain directly to HP.