EXC_BAD_ACCESS (SIGBUS) iTunes crash

Did you copy preferences over from a new user? If everything works perfectly on a freshly created user, then 9 times out of 10 I've seen that fix the problem.

This appears to have a lot of potential causes and therefore a lot of potential solutions. I was just facing this same problem on my Macbook Pro (EXEC BADACCESS along with apps crashing with NSInternalConsistencyExceptions). I think I have my problem fixed, so here's what I did:

1. Installed the Mac OS X Leopard Java Update (the most recent one - downloaded, not through Software Update). Whether this had anything to do with it, I'm not sure. But since I first noticed problems with Java apps, I figured it couldn't hurt.

2. Rebooted using the Leopard install DVD into the installer. Ran Disk Utility.

3. Ran Verify Disk to be sure it wasn't a filesystem-level corruption problem.

4. Ran Repair Permissions. It took a long time and had a lot of permissions that needed fixing.

5. Closed Disk Utility. Opened Terminal.

6. Cleared the contents of ~/Library/Caches, /Library/Caches, and /System/Library/Caches.

7. Rebooted

Hi, this doesn't happen every time I open an application, and when it does, I usually just send an error report to Apple.

The reason I posted here is my less than a year old Mac will crash and send me to the login screen.

(My original post, which helped a little, but didn't fix the problem can be found here: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2007684&tstart=0 )

Trying everything, I just recently looked at the crash report -- I should have started there, but I was unfamiliar with OS X at the time, so I didn't know it existed. The crash report said EXC BADACCESS(SIGBUS) and googling it, I found myself here.

I'm not sure what more to do... it's quite annoying to be logged out without warning constantly, and any help would be greatly appreciated.

I'm getting the same problem with launching Garageband. It crashes at launch every time, dumping the pref file is no help. It creates a new one then crashes.

Have not yet run disk repair. Really annoying problem.

I have been having the same problem with Garageband, crashing at launch and producing the same error code. After reading this thread it seems to be a serious issue with a number of applications, and I would wonder that someone deep in the Apple bunker could come on board and help troubleshoot? I haven't seen any solutions yet. What I find odd is that in my case this is happening with two Apple programs (GB and OS10.5.8), which I thought would run together pretty harmoniously.

The attempt to fix by creating a new user account did not work. I launched GB in the new account and it crashed the same way.

Can this be elevated to Apple so we can have some good news?!

Having exactly the same problem with Garage Band.

Recently I installed Pro Tools 7.2 and uninstalled Logic Pro 8 using CleanApp... I'm not sure which one of those two actions may have caused the problem but I haven't been able to make it work in any way.

Please, someone help !!!

I am having this problem 9 times out of ten when linking my Nokia and saving my sms's thru a program called Fonelink.
Anyone else using this program..??

Man, you guys are geniuses! I had a major issue with this in Snow Leopard! Dropbox and iTunes failed to launch, and other apps would randonly crap out.

I used Cocktail to clear all caches on the box and rebooted. Dropbox fired right up and synced my files, and iTunes loaded my Library and started pulling down podcasts.

Thanks for the help!!!

Hallo amp68,

did it really help to delete all of the temp stuff (caches)? Is your iTunes startup error gone?

I'm interested in the solution of this problem, because my daughter faced this problem at her brand-new MacBook 😟 (Error sequence: she dragged mp3 files from USB stick and dropped them over the iTunes icon in the dock).

Best regards and a happy new 2010,
iRalf

In my case the JAVA applications stopped working.

I did exactly what <sarahbeagle> suggested and it worked. Million thanks to sarahbeagle !!!

Few details: when you add a new account there are no java prefs at all. Therefore instead of making a new account, the only thing you have to do is in fact to delete the file with the word java in its name (something like ...java..plst) from /yourhomedir/Library/Preferences/ByHost

you don't have to reboot - just logout and login back

good luck

jediknight36 wrote:
I had this happen on Final Cut Pro when I accessed the help menu. SO I trashed all my prefs and the cashes and started over. It also happened with Finder and SyncMate. It seemed to fix my FCP and Finder, but SyncMate is still doing it.

Had this problem with Final Cut Express HD 3.0

Exception Type: EXC BADACCESS (SIGBUS)
Exception Codes: KERN PROTECTIONFAILURE at 0x0000000000000000
Thread 0 Crashed:
0 ??? 0x0785f958 0 + 126220632
1 Apple.CoreServices.CarbonCore 0x92fa7654 CallComponent + 288
2 com.apple.QuickTime 0x94538b40 ImageCodecGetCodecInfo + 32
3 com.apple.QuickTime 0x94308660 GetCodecNameList + 992

My issue had to do with codecs. The last few procedures before the crash mentioned them, so I tried emptying my Library/Quicktime folder of codecs and voila - Final Cut loads. After much elimination, I found it to be a very very old codec. On2_VP3 which was reinvented as Theora circa 2002. If someone else is having this identical problem but it is not the On2_VP3 codec, here is a list of codecs that it is not:

_Codecs that it is NOT_:

LiveType 1.2.1
QuickTime MPEG2 6.3
Apple Intermediate Codec 1.0.1
Apple HDV Codec 1.2
Apple MPEG2 Codec 1.0.1
Toast Video CD (Export 1.5/Support 1.0)
3ivx (Delta 3.5/4 PR1/4 PR2/4.5/4.5.1, Media Exporter or Video Codec)
A52 (1.7.2 from Perian)
AC3
OggImport 0.1.6
OggVorbis 1.0d6
lame 3.92
LAMEEncoder 1.2
Sorenson MPEG4 (1.00.209/1.00.216 Decoder/Encoder/Packetizer/Pro/Reassemble)
DivX (6.0.5/6.6.0)
Flip4Mac 2.3.1.2
Xvid (Codec 1.0 alpha/Delegate 1.3)
ffmpeg DivX 2.1
ffmpeg 1.1.9
Indeo Video (3.22/4.4.0/5.0)
x264 1.1
H.261 1.0.5f1
H.263 1.0.5f3
MPEG Layer-3 Audio 1.1b4 (Microsoft NetShow 2.0)
MPG4 3.0b3
MPG4-DIVX 3.0b3
MPG4* 1.2b2 (Microsoft NetShow 2.0)
OpenDivX
DVCPROHD (1.2/1.3 Codec/Muxer/Video Digitizer/Video Output)
ZyGo (Audio 1.1/Video 4.0.4)
Windows Compressors (AVI-to-QT Kit 1.1)
Save as AVI 1.2
Macam 0.9.2
Indeor Video (3/4/5)
Blackmagic Software Codec 5.4
AXELplayer 1.5.109
FLV
Avid (AV1x/AVDJ/AVdv/AVUI)
AvilImporter 1.0 (Intel or PPC)
EyeTV MPEG 1.0.2
Theora 0.1.1

I noticed this error message happened on Final Cut when I swapped the 2 RAM banks on my Mac Pro accidentally. When I swapped them back, the messages went away. It makes me think that this is hardware related. The CPU must remember the RAM bank order or they may have to be slotted in in a particular order.

Message was edited by: scubapete

I have that extremely frequently with MS Word.

I guess that this is associated with frequent, lengthy and painful spinning color wheel.

No explanation , but a guess ; this is linked to disk fragmentation ( diskwarrior says I have 60% of NOK files...)

Comes to the key question; what creates fragmentation on my disk ? I do de-fragment it, or reformat it (and rewrite it with Time Machine) every 4-6 weeks, and the whole problem comes back.

I noticed I was having this problem with my Yamaha UX-16 and its Yamaha USB MIDI driver. I would get this dialog box error that says " Alert Cannot access to a driver." And then System Preferences would crash and of course we have this:

Exception Type: EXC BADACCESS (SIGSEGV)
Exception Codes: KERN INVALIDADDRESS at 0x0000000000000026

So I read where someone said that creating a new user fixes it. So I created a new user and of course that fixed it. But I also noticed where the guy said that he copied the Preferences folder from the new user to the old user and that fixed it for the old user. But why should it? I had a sneaking suspicion that permissions were involved. I was right. (Can I please say: I FRAKKING HATE PERMISSIONS!!)

As it turns out here is the cause of all our woes. Are you ready for this?

drumroll plz

The group of the folders in your Users/YourUser/ directory need to all be "staff" ....... that's it. Especially Users/YourUser/Library/Preferences ... once I set its group to "staff" then it worked.

PS -- to set it to staff, go to terminal and type su and then enter. Then type your password. Next type *chown YourUser:staff /Users/YourUser/Library/Preferences* ... you can also type *ls -l* to see what all folders in /Users/YourUser directory are set to groups other than staff. In my case, a lot of them were set to wheel instead... I have no idea why. I also don't know why farking Disk Utility is not smart enough to fix this! Give me a break Apple!

I strongly feel that the "permissions" system is the WORST feature of OS X, and it needs to be fixed or just plain done away with. I know that it supposedly makes the system more secure. But there weren't permissions in OS 9 and it was arguably even more secure than OS X. What's the point of permissions anyway if someone can just take an OS X install DVD and reset your password? LOL!

If you're going to keep permissions, Apple, then you need to make them easier to understand. Don't have group names like "wheel" and "staff" that are super-confusing and make no sense at all. I mean, seriously, nothing in the computer should be called "wheel," it's the most counter-intuitive and hard-to-understand thing I've ever heard of in my entire life, except for Jolly Ranchers brand Jello. If you're going to have a permissions repair feature in Disk Utility, which gives the user the impression that their permissions have been fixed, then you need to make sure *that it actually works*! Please!

=mac=daddie=

Actually the previous post is not true.

Actually what happened is that once I had logged in as the new user and accessed the preference pane, then it started working on my old user. I thought it was because I changed groups on the folders, but no, that wasn't it.

Something in the older user is stopping it from being able to access the drivers. But on the new user it's fine. I still think it has something to do with permissions... but I don't know what... any ideas??

PS -- The old user is one that I migrated over.