kernel continually generating SIGSEGV messages

Here is a solution to automatically kill FNPLicensingService.

Create this script - I've called it killFNP
------------------------
#!/bin/sh
list=$(/bin/ps ax | grep '/Library/Application Support/FLEXnet Publisher/Service/.*/FNPLicensingService' | grep -v grep)
if [ "$list" != "" ]
then
sudo killall FNPLicensingService
fi
------------------------
The second line - starting 'list' should be on one line.

Save it somewhere - I have a bin directory for my scripts. Make it executable by:
chmod +x killFNP

Then you can run it by hand from the command line, or you can add it to your crontab to run every 5 minutes by adding:
*/5 * * * * /Users/MYLOGIN/bin/killFNP
MYLOGIN is the name of my home directory.

Using crontab may mean that it will be run when some CS4 app is starting, which might be inconvenient - but I am living with that.

I have reported this problem to Adobe - but no response as yet.

Were you experiencing the fade to blue and back again symptom as well? Or, has anyone else in this thread experienced this for that matter?

No I cannot say I've seen that.

No I have not seen that happening.

I've reported this problem to Adobe - who can reproduce it - and have forwarded it onto their tech support team for Licensing.

Good stuff Peter because it was happening with me everytime a CS4 app is opened.
Let's hope Adobe get on the case.

Thanks for following through with Adobe. I had submitted the problem to them in late October, but hadn't heard back.

I had not seen any screen changes as mentioned above, just the gradual full lock-up of my system, usually with the screen saver frozen and the machine non-responsive in the morning, after leaving things running overnight - (my machine needs to stay on 24/7).

I have been killing the service manually each time for awhile now, and the applications have thus been behaving themselves. That script looks like it would be useful, but sadly for me I am not script-savvy.

I'm seeing the same issue on a brand new MacPro. Fresh install of everything, including Final Cut Studio, CS4 and Intellij 8.

It completely freezes my machine. Kind of disappointing.

I've spoken at length on the phone with Adobe technical support this morning on this very issue. The individual on the phone had no idea about the problem, but we spent an hour working on it, and in the process I've come up with an approach that solved the issue for me.

The problems were fixed by performing both solution 1 and then solution 6 from this document:
http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=kb405970

After this, the dreaded FNPLicensingService is no longer arbitrarily launched and left open upon launching other Adobe applications, and no SIGSEGV messages are generated.

Please post here if the fix works for you or not.

Was excited about the potential fix and followed the steps to the letter. Post-solution 1 and 6, I've experienced no change whatsoever, for better or for worse. At least it did no harm, but it didn't solve anything, either. Bummer. But thanks for trying. We should all try phoning Adobe about this; perhaps something will come of it.

Many thanks for trying - but I too have to report that it doesn't solve the problem. I took the precaution of rebooting and trying again and still no success.

I find Solution 6 somewhat perplexing:
Move a file out of the way
Start up
Rename the folder
Start up
However.

FYI - my Adobe report in their system is Case #0180574524.

To be as clear as I can, I should state that I have been experiencing the launch of FNPLicensingService, the SIGSEGV messages, and the eventual freezing it causes, all related to an installation of Adobe CS4 Web Premium.

However it soon became worse than that. After an innocuous update of some Adobe components performed by running Adobe Updater, all my Adobe applications refused to launch. The application would launch, immediately open Adobe's crash daemon and FNPLicensingService, about 50 SIGSEGV messages would pour in, and the daemon binary and the application would quit. This happening in the span of a second or two. It appeared my entire CS4 install was hosed, but it came back to life after performing the steps outlined below, which also had the fantastic side benefit of addressing the central issue of this thread.

Following solution 1 and 6 did fix the issue for me, but there was just a wee bit of variance in the way I performed the steps which may or may not make a difference for you. I'll try to be as specific as possible in describing this voodoo, without running through the steps again (I'm not gulp that eager to perform this operation again now that my install is stable). So, my fix:

1) Restart your machine to start in a relatively pristine state (I didn't go so far as to boot up in safe mode).

2) Follow steps 1 - 3 of Solution 1 from http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=kb405970 .

3) On reaching step 4 of Solution 1, follow it through to the point where the Terminal session reports that it actually installed stuff in the FlexNet folder. At this point, don't click the "Yes" answer to the inquiry it asks about wrapping up the process for you (I think it just quits at this point, but I don't know for sure!). Leave Terminal running.

4) Complete Solution 6 from from http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=kb405970 (just follow the steps for "Max" OS X, they seem to work just fine for Mac OS X as well).

5) In case it makes any difference, I will mention that I rename my Adobe applications and the folders they are installed into. I dislike alphabetically sorting applications by corporation as well as marketing tags. This results in the application barking at you the first time you run it, but then it wises up. Example: My Photoshop application is located at /Applications/Photoshop 11/Photoshop 11.app.

6) Open up Activity Monitor and Console to see if the dreaded FNPLicensingServ launches or SIGSEGV message start pouring in.

7) Launch one of the problematic CS4 applications and cross your fingers.

8) Oh yeah, go back to the Terminal session from step 3 above and control-C terminate the binary, exit and close Terminal.


If this still doesn't work for you, as a variant you may want to try temporarily and manually moving both FlexNet Publisher folders out of their spots (/Library/Preferences/ and /Library/Application Support) and perform the steps above. Reinstalling the licensing engine should re-install all the FlexNet stuff for you, but I wouldn't try that necessarily if you still need to run older pre-CS4 Adobe applications.

Good luck, and definitely let Adobe Technical Support know about your ongoing travails if symptoms persist.

I don't think my problems are as bad as yours - yet... I think I've done all the steps correctly - I can see the new version in
/Library/Application Support/FLEXnet Publisher/Service/11.5.0/FNPLicensingService
and it recreated the FLEXnet folder OK.

I do note that I get an error from the system - in
/Library/Preferences/FLEXnet Publisher/FLEXnet/adobe 00080000event.log

I see:

06:38:16 16-12-2008 [P:21169],[T:2955608064] Exception: 54, Module: e0000, Location: 24, Message: Code or code item contain an invalid character for its type (e.g. non-decimal)
06:38:19 16-12-2008 [P:21169],[T:2955608064] Exception: 54, Module: e0000, Location: 24, Message: Code or code item contain an invalid character for its type (e.g. non-decimal)

which is perhaps the cause of all this??

When the issue occurs, you will get an error log as you described. I was getting an error log with entries different from yours. When I successfully applied the fix and a new FlexNet folder was created, no error log file appeared.

The entire FlexNet thing is bogus and should be abolished.

I've now had a response from Adobe about my bug report:

+I understand that when you start Dreamweaver CS4, you receive a+
+persistent error in your system log files.+

+Thank you for your patience as we investigate this matter. This is a+
+reproducible error that we are currently looking into.+

So hopefully this will be fixed.