All video content players are crashing regularly - any ideas please?

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Level 2

157 points

All video content players are crashing regularly - any ideas please?

Every application that plays any kind of video is crashing on a regular basis.

Quicktime and VLC cannot get through about 20 minutes of video without suddenly freezing and after about 15 seconds of beach ball quit.

Safari and Firefox do the same thing with any YouTube, Google Video or other Flash based video.

I have checked that I have the latest version of all the relevant software, i.e. OS X 10.5.4, Quicktime 7.5, VLC 0.8.6h, Safari 3.1.2, Firefox 3.0 and Flash Player 10.

It started happening a month or so ago - before all the mentioned software was updated - evidently none of the updates made any difference.

The same thing happens whether the application is the only one running or not and whether the video file is on my main hard drive or one of the other internal drives - I tried using SleeplessHD in case it was because of a drive going to sleep.

I'd appreciate any advice.

Thanks

G4 dual 1.416, Mac OS X (10.5.4)

Posted on Jul 3, 2008 4:26 PM

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Answer 1

Pondini

Level 8

38,863 points

Jul 3, 2008 6:14 PM in response to Alf Megson

I'd start with the crash logs. Start up Console (in the Utilities sub-folder of your Applications folder).

On the left will be a whole passel (technical term) of logs -- there are probably another passel under "CrashReporter" in the Log Files/~Library/Logs folder. There may also be some messages in the Console or System log.

Now, don't panic when you see all the gibberish (another technical term). But somewhere (usually in the first dozen lines or so) there should be a clue or two, with perhaps the name of a plug-in, or something else that's at least partially recognizable.

Post the first page or so here if necessary -- somebody may be able to figure it out.

Also . . . do you perform any sort of routine maintenance? Do you have a reasonable amount of disk space available (on each drive)?

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Answer 2

Alf Megson Author

Level 2

157 points

Jul 4, 2008 3:37 AM in response to Pondini

Thanks.

The crash logs follow (edited to jump to crashed threads) - there doesn't seem to be a crash log for Safari generated in the last four months. As a side issue, I have just noticed that all online flash video looks like very poorly encoded .avi, i.e. no keyframes and mainly composed of green blocks - totally unwatchable. I'm guessing that this is down to the new Flash plug-in so I'm going to try to revert to the previous version.

VLC:

Process: VLC [338]
Path: /Applications/VLC/VLC.app/Contents/MacOS/VLC
Identifier: org.videolan.vlc
Version: 0.8.6h (0.8.6f)
Code Type: PPC (Native)
Parent Process: launchd [125]

Date/Time: 2008-07-01 22:09:21.505 +0100
OS Version: Mac OS X 10.5.4 (9E17)
Report Version: 6

Exception Type: EXC BADACCESS (SIGSEGV)
Exception Codes: KERN INVALIDADDRESS at 0x000000007e00002c
Crashed Thread: 9

...

Thread 9 Crashed:
0 vlc_libmad.dylib 0x0b8f345c III_decode + 8104
1 vlc_libmad.dylib 0x0b8f400c mad layerIII + 1480
2 vlc_libmad.dylib 0x0b8ecac8 mad framedecode + 116
3 libmpgatofixed32_plugin.dylib 0x0b8e5148 DoWork + 128
4 org.videolan.vlc 0x00113144 aout_FiltersPlay + 128
5 org.videolan.vlc 0x0013e5b4 aout_InputPlay + 1620
6 org.videolan.vlc 0x000f11b4 aout_DecPlay + 940
7 org.videolan.vlc 0x0011d128 DecoderDecode + 1948
8 org.videolan.vlc 0x0011da2c DecoderThread + 64
9 libSystem.B.dylib 0x9338b658 pthreadstart + 316

Quicktime

Process: QuickTime Player [360]
Path: /Applications/QuickTime Player.app/Contents/MacOS/QuickTime Player
Identifier: com.apple.quicktimeplayer
Version: 7.5 (7.5)
Build Info: QuickTimePlayer-1490500~4
Code Type: PPC (Native)
Parent Process: launchd [98]

Date/Time: 2008-07-03 23:48:22.967 +0100
OS Version: Mac OS X 10.5.4 (9E17)
Report Version: 6

Exception Type: EXC BADACCESS (SIGSEGV)
Exception Codes: KERN INVALIDADDRESS at 0x00000000d1cffa7c
Crashed Thread: 0

Thread 0 Crashed:
0 ??? 0xd1cffa7c 0 + 3520068220
1 ...ickTimeComponents.component 0x91321d58 CallActionNotifications + 152
2 ...ickTimeComponents.component 0x9131fa54 internalDoAction + 10804
3 ...ickTimeComponents.component 0x91310190 _MCIdle + 272
4 com.apple.QuickTime 0x968d7b00 MCIdle + 32
5 com.apple.QuickTime 0x9687397c QTOMovieObject::SendCommand(unsigned long, void const*) + 1164
6 com.apple.QuickTime 0x968614c0 DispatchQTMsg(void const*, unsigned long, unsigned long, unsigned long, QTOGenericObject*) + 1008
7 com.apple.QuickTime 0x96858f94 QTObjectTokenPriv::SendMessageToObject(QTMessagePriv*, unsigned long) + 196
8 com.apple.QuickTime 0x9685a60c QTObjectTokenPriv::DispatchMessage(QTMessagePriv*, void const*, __CFAllocator const*, unsigned long, unsigned long, ComponentMsgParam*, unsigned long, unsigned long) + 1324
9 com.apple.QuickTime 0x96854f78 QTSendToObject + 104
10 com.apple.QTKit 0x94f42340 -[QTMovie idle] + 184
11 com.apple.CoreFoundation 0x9516132c CFSetApplyFunction + 288
12 com.apple.QTKit 0x94f4215c +[QTMovie idleAllMovies:] + 112
13 com.apple.Foundation 0x969f4b08 __NSFireTimer + 148
14 com.apple.CoreFoundation 0x9515c9f0 CFRunLoopRunSpecific + 2972
15 com.apple.HIToolbox 0x954a4730 RunCurrentEventLoopInMode + 268
16 com.apple.HIToolbox 0x954a4554 ReceiveNextEventCommon + 416
17 com.apple.HIToolbox 0x954a4394 BlockUntilNextEventMatchingListInMode + 88
18 com.apple.AppKit 0x937e305c _DPSNextEvent + 600
19 com.apple.AppKit 0x937e2a14 -[NSApplication nextEventMatchingMask:untilDate:inMode:dequeue:] + 116
20 com.apple.quicktimeplayer 0x00006088 0x1000 + 20616
21 com.apple.AppKit 0x937dc6d0 -[NSApplication run] + 740
22 com.apple.AppKit 0x937ad0d4 NSApplicationMain + 444
23 com.apple.quicktimeplayer 0x000569ec 0x1000 + 350700
24 ??? 0000000000 0 + 0

Firefox

Process: firefox-bin [499]
Path: /Applications/Internet Applications/Firefox.app/Contents/MacOS/firefox-bin
Identifier: org.mozilla.firefox
Version: 3.0 (3.0)
Code Type: PPC (Native)
Parent Process: launchd [139]

Date/Time: 2008-07-03 13:41:05.225 +0100
OS Version: Mac OS X 10.5.4 (9E17)
Report Version: 6

Exception Type: EXC BADINSTRUCTION (SIGILL)
Exception Codes: 0x0000000000000002, 0x00000000000030b0
Crashed Thread: 1

...

Thread 1 Crashed:
0 ??? 0x000030b0 catch exceptionraise + 0
1 libSystem.B.dylib 0x93421218 exc_server + 164
2 XUL 0x2d024564 XRE_GetFileFromPath + 17392
3 libSystem.B.dylib 0x9338b658 pthreadstart + 316

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Answer 3

Alf Megson Author

Level 2

157 points

Jul 4, 2008 4:42 AM in response to Alf Megson

Reverting to Flash v9 seems to have solved the side issue of poor Flash video.

The main issue remains. 😟

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Answer 4

Pondini

Level 8

38,863 points

Jul 4, 2008 8:57 AM in response to Alf Megson

Hmmm. I'm no expert (just enough knowledge to be dangerous) -- but I don't see much of a trend, although 2 bad addresses and a bad instruction might be related. Perhaps a techie-type will see something and chime in.

It's curious that there are no Safari crash logs. From your original post, I'd guess it's crashed several times, no? See if you can make it crash and generate one. Might be a clue there.

A few possibilities (some I'd guess you've already tried), as it sounds like something, somewhere is corrupt (or getting corrupted):

Do you have a lot of other applications running (or even idle)? Try rebooting, starting up as little as possible, then playing a problem file. Does it crash again? In the same place?

With a file that's caused a crash, can you copy it successfully, and play it again with the same player? Does it crash again? In the same place? Can you play it with a different player?

Verify your disks -- seems unlikely to have problems on more than one, but possible.

Clean them up -- you didn't mention how much free space you have on each -- should be a minimum of 10%, 20% is best. Manually or with something like OnyX, clean out caches, etc. (but keep the logs until this is resolved, though).

Hang in there!

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Answer 5

Alf Megson Author

Level 2

157 points

Jul 5, 2008 3:52 AM in response to Pondini

Thanks for your thoughts.

Yes, Safari crashes a LOT - probably 5-6 times a day if I'm looking at YoouTube or Google Videos over about 10 minutes long.

No, like I said, I have tried running with no other applications running and I still have the problem. I suspected that Safari might be causing everything because it very often gives me a beach ball when I'm just scrolling down a page or filling in an online form - but not having Safari running didn't help.

I rarely reboot unless I really have to - such as the odd occasion when absolutely nothing is happening, the dock stays hidden, application windows don't come to the front when clicked and the clock stops for more than a minute or so. But that is rare. I haven't had a kernel panic for at least a month.

Files don't crash in the same place and the same file will crash with both VLC and Quicktime. There isn't a single video file over about 20 minutes that I have tried to play in the last month which hasn't crashed whatever application I have been using. I simply have to get back on the horse where I fell off and wait for the next crash.

I spent about 12 hours yesterday running every maintenance routine from repairing permissions and disk repair to the full TechTool Pro suite on each of the four hard drives I have installed.

The free memory on each is as follows:

1) 29/112 Gb (main drive, system etc)
2) 237/375 Gb (Time Machine back up only)
3) 12/112 Gb (iTunes library, GarageBand loops only)
4) 70/288Gb (video archive and secondary start up disk)

All figures rounded up and drive total space (second figure) is formatted capacity.

I haven't tried to watch anything since my marathon maintenance but I will do later on today - I have to watch something quite long and expect a crash somewhere between 20 and 30 minutes. I'll file a report.

Thanks for your help.

P.S. You don't have any thoughts on this little baby, do you:

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1573185

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Answer 6

Pondini

Level 8

38,863 points

Jul 5, 2008 8:01 AM in response to Alf Megson

Alf Megson wrote:

I rarely reboot unless I really have to - such as the odd occasion when absolutely nothing is happening, the dock stays hidden, application windows don't come to the front when clicked and the clock stops for more than a minute or so. But that is rare. I haven't had a kernel panic for at least a month.

I don't know about anybody else, but I see two red flags here! The problems you say are rare are things I've NEVER seen in 4 years with my iMac G5. And I saw ZERO kernel panics for the first 3; then I added some non-Apple memory and I've had a grand total of 3 in the last year.

I suspect whatever is going on isn't limited to video -- it just shows up there more often since you use it heavily and it takes lots of resources.

Also, I'm not sure what you mean by "rarely reboot" -- I don't think it's necessary often, but it does clean out some things -- once a month ought to be plenty for most of us.

Although it seems you are a much heavier user than I, especially with video, you seem to have more than your share of trouble. Until recently, I spent perhaps an hour or so a day with iMovie4, mostly converting old VHSs to DVDs, with a fair amount of editing: re-arranging, culling (especially of jerky-camera moments, etc.) I had the usual well-documented problems with iMovie4, but never anything like what you've experienced. (And no, I don't have Final Cut Pro, from your other post.)

Still, I'd now be inclined to suspect an intermittent memory problem -- although one that might show up with a tester only rarely.

I'm not familiar with the G4. Have you tested it's memory, especially with a tester that will "beat it to death"? I use one called Rember. I don't find a URL for it, but there are several such products, some free.

Is the G4's memory easily accessible? Can you remove portions? If all else fails, and If you can do it without too much of a performance hit, as a last resort I'd be inclined to try it, one piece at a time.

I really do wish a G4 and/or video "guru" would chime in here . . .

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Answer 7

Alf Megson Author

Level 2

157 points

Jul 5, 2008 4:34 PM in response to Pondini

Sorry, I should have been more specific. I boot up almost every day but I rarely have to reboot due to problems but like you said, it is good to do it every now and then - especially if things are feeling sluggish.

No, actually, on this Mac I don't really suffer from kernel panics either. I did have a G4 Powerbook 17" which used to kernel panic a lot but that was down to dodgy memory too.

The RAM has been installed since it was bought over five years ago. It's never been removed. It passed the TechTool Pro RAM test and I'm not inclined to think that it is the problem, though I will look into that if nothing else sorts it out.

I'm very grateful for your input but I think it is either a problem I will learn to live with on this ancient (five year old) Mac or it will disappear as mysteriously as it came and in two months I will have forgotten all about it.

Thanks

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Answer 8

Alf Megson Author

Level 2

157 points

Jan 12, 2009 1:18 PM in response to Alf Megson

Somehow the problem seems to have gone away of its own accord - though QT and VLC still occasionally crash.

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