Atheros Wifi-Driver crashing my Macbook

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Level 1

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Atheros Wifi-Driver crashing my Macbook

I posted it some time ago in my blog ( http://marc-seeger.de/2007/11/02/leopard-crashing-on-too-much-concurrent-connect ions/) and I can still reproduce it after updating to 10.5.1

To reproduce:
Simply run OFF ( https://sourceforge.net/projects/offsystem/) for approx 5 minutes using wifi, leopard crashes for me every time (tiger didn't).
Can someone confirm this?
I hope this gets sorted out before I start writing my bachelor thesis about anonymous filesharing 🙂

Here's the log:

Fri Nov 2 12:39:53 2007
panic(cpu 1 caller 0×0039CDE0): “m_free: freeing an already freed mbuf”@/SourceCache/xnu/xnu-1228/bsd/kern/uipc_mbuf.c:2742panic(cpu 1 caller 0×0039CDE0): “m_free: freeing an already freed mbuf”@/SourceCache/xnu/xnu-1228/bsd/kern/uipc_mbuf.c:2742
Backtrace, Format - Frame : Return Address (4 potential args on stack) Backtrace, Format - Frame : Return Address (4 potential args on stack)
0×2a9a3978 : 0×12b0e1 (0×4555b4 0×2a9a39ac 0×133238 0×0) 0×2a9a3978 : 0×12b0e1 (0×4555b4 0×2a9a39ac 0×133238 0×0)
0×2a9a39c8 : 0×39cde0 (0×48cc84 0×1 0×2a98901c 0xc28) 0×2a9a39c8 : 0×39cde0 (0×48cc84 0×1 0×2a98901c 0xc28)
0×2a9a3a08 : 0×39d0dc (0×27353f00 0×8 0×2a9a3a58 0×1) 0×2a9a3a08 : 0×39d0dc (0×27353f00 0×8 0×2a9a3a58 0×1)
0×2a9a3a28 : 0×9e3b87 (0×27353f00 0×0 0×20 0×2) 0×2a9a3a28 : 0×9e3b87 (0×27353f00 0×0 0×20 0×2)
0×2a9a3b98 : 0×9e3ec5 (0×1b2f42c8 0×1b2f6150 0×7e187e 0×0) 0×2a9a3b98 : 0×9e3ec5 (0×1b2f42c8 0×1b2f6150 0×7e187e 0×0)
0×2a9a3ce8 : 0×9ef20b (0×1b34e004 0×0 0xb 0×21b241) 0×2a9a3ce8 : 0×9ef20b (0×1b34e004 0×0 0xb 0×21b241)
0×2a9a3e68 : 0×9bf84a (0×1b2f44c0 0xb 0×12 0×23562080) 0×2a9a3e68 : 0×9bf84a (0×1b2f44c0 0xb 0×12 0×23562080)
0×2a9a3eb8 : 0×9c0f3f (0xa47c80 0xa47c84 0×7fc 0×136691) 0×2a9a3eb8 : 0×9c0f3f (0xa47c80 0xa47c84 0×7fc 0×136691)
0×2a9a3f48 : 0×9bf4b7 (0×3a99004 0×0 0×1361b0 0×19ccc1) 0×2a9a3f48 : 0×9bf4b7 (0×3a99004 0×0 0×1361b0 0×19ccc1)
0×2a9a3f78 : 0×13e987 (0×3a99494 0×3a99004 0×1a136f 0×46c43c8) 0×2a9a3f78 : 0×13e987 (0×3a99494 0×3a99004 0×1a136f 0×46c43c8)
0×2a9a3fc8 : 0×19e2ec (0×0 0×0 0×1a10b5 0×3fe4ba0) 0×2a9a3fc8 : 0×19e2ec (0×0 0×0 0×1a10b5 0×3fe4ba0)
Backtrace terminated-invalid frame pointer 0Backtrace terminated-invalid frame pointer 0
Kernel loadable modules in backtrace (with dependencies): Kernel loadable modules in backtrace (with dependencies):
com.apple.driver.AirPort.Atheros(300.22)@0×9be000->0xa48fff com.apple.driver.AirPort.Atheros(300.22)@0×9be000->0xa48fff
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IO80211Family(200.7)@0×9a0000 dependency: com.apple.iokit.IO80211Family(200.7)@0×9a0000
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily(2.4)@0×63b000 dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily(2.4)@0×63b000
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IONetworkingFamily(1.6.0)@0×64b000 dependency: com.apple.iokit.IONetworkingFamily(1.6.0)@0×64b000

BSD process name corresponding to current thread: kernel_taskBSD process name corresponding to current thread: kernel_task

Mac OS version:Mac OS version:
9A5819A581

Kernel version:Kernel version:
Darwin Kernel Version 9.0.0: Tue Oct 9 21:35:55 PDT 2007; root:xnu-1228~1/RELEASE_I386Darwin Kernel Version 9.0.0: Tue Oct 9 21:35:55 PDT 2007; root:xnu-1228~1/RELEASE_I386
System model name: MacBook1,1 (Mac-F4208CC8)System model name: MacBook1,1 (Mac-F4208CC8)

Macbook / Mac Mini, Mac OS X (10.5.1), Core Duo

Posted on Nov 22, 2007 9:39 AM

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Answer 1

-=ZK=-

Level 1

4 points

Dec 2, 2007 5:49 PM in response to rb2k

Check it out here http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1194095

Reply

Answer 2

mssm72

Level 1

0 points

Jan 21, 2008 5:47 AM in response to rb2k

Yes, I confirm this. The same thing happened to me. Check my post here.

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1353165&tstart=0

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Answer 3

Exolon

Level 1

10 points

Feb 2, 2008 10:14 AM in response to rb2k

A lot of people are making a fundamental error in attribution here.

If any user process can crash the kernel, then that is a kernel bug. There's no question about that. We even have the number of the line and the source file which causes the panic: @/SourceCache/xnu/xnu-1228.0.2/bsd/kern/uipc_mbuf.c:2742.

This sounds like message-passing structures for inter-process communication, but that's just a guess from the filename.
Even if Azureus causes the problem to occur, it's only as a catalyst. It might be a race condition in the Atheros driver, which would be more likely to occur at very high connection loads.

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Answer 4

sbowline

Level 1

0 points

Feb 5, 2008 12:16 PM in response to rb2k

I can confirm this kernel crash is affecting the MacMini as well. Many users are having problems with uTorrent or Azureus as they are quite popular, but it will affect any platform using the Atheros chip set. I use the Transmission bit torrent client and will kernel crash my MacMini after short while if I try to download either a lot of torrents, or one torrent with many peers all streaming in data.

My G4 PowerBook running 10.4 is not affected.

This bug should not be attributed to any application as no matter what, no program, regardless of how it is written or abused, or what kind of load it puts on the system, should be able to crash the kernel.

Based on the kind of bug this is, I expect that it will be fixed, but Apple needs to be aware of its severity in order for them to prioritize it. Be sure and always click the "Send to Apple" button when you crash. That might the best bet to turn their heads...

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