Stange behaviors; unable to diagnose

For the last few weeks, I have been getting these behaviors with increasing frequency:
1. unable to shut down-have to shut down by holding power switch for 5 sec
2. having to force-quit a number of non-responsive apps: System Prefs, Firefox 3, Word 2004, PowerPoint 2004
3. Dock icons bounce interminably but dont open.
4. Restarting in single user mode and running fsck -fy ends with "the volume appears to be OK AND FILE SYSTEM WAS MODIFIED. After running fsck -fy again, no problems. Typing exit starts login sequence that sometimes ends with just a black screen. Have to hold down start again to shut down and restart.
5. Disk repair today from install disk: no problems
6. Apple Hardware Test today" no problems
7. Disk Warrior 4.1.1 today: no problems
8. Cocktail run today without apparent problems.
9. Also, sometimes ForceQuit wont work: report to Apple is a "hang"

I was planning on updating to OSX.5.7 but am leery of doing so while this weird behavior is going on. I can't find anything wrong...what am I missing???

Thanks in advance.

ph

Message was edited by: pomme-homme

PowerMac G5 2.0 GHz Dual Processor, Mac OS X (10.5.6), 6 GB RAM

Posted on May 27, 2009 4:47 PM

34 replies

Király

Level 6

10,025 points

Jun 1, 2009 7:21 PM in response to pomme-homme

I'm so glad you figured it out! 🙂

Is it too late to cancel the new Mac your ordered as a replacement?

pomme-homme Author

Level 2

454 points

Jun 1, 2009 8:42 PM in response to Király

Well, not so fast...

Still not right. I think the 640 GB hard disk may be bad and have erased it and dismounted it. I erased and installed on the old 160 GB HD and after battery replacement, there are still a lot of hangs, trouble starting with blue and back screens on start, inability to shut down.

I'm gonna continue to work on it but I think the new machine is the only thing that will fix the problem.

It is just driving me crazy as to what is happening. I checked temp sensors with Hardware Monitor, nothing is crazy hot.

A mystery.

pomme-homme Author

Level 2

454 points

Jun 2, 2009 10:20 AM in response to pomme-homme

More data:

While waiting for a new machine, I am still investigating this: most of the problems seem to start with an application hanging: Force Quit doesn't work and the only way I can shutdown is with the Start switch. I cannot access the hang reports, either. It takes 4-5 restarts leading to black screens before getting a good restart. I think this is the pertinent Console log entry for these attempts:

6/2/09 9:44:15 AM [0x0-0x1b01b].org.mozilla.thunderbird[722] Warning: unrecognized command line flag -psn 0110619
6/2/09 9:45:00 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (0x10b380.cron[739]) Could not setup Mach task special port 9: (os/kern) no access
6/2/09 9:46:00 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (0x10b380.cron[760]) Could not setup Mach task special port 9: (os/kern) no access
6/2/09 9:57:41 AM com.apple.launchctl.System[2] fsck_hfs: Volume is journaled. No checking performed.
6/2/09 9:57:41 AM com.apple.launchctl.System[2] fsck_hfs: Use the -f option to force checking.
6/2/09 9:57:44 AM com.apple.launchctl.System[2] launchctl: Please convert the following to launchd: /etc/mach_init.d/dashboardadvisoryd.plist
6/2/09 9:57:44 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (org.cups.cupsd) Unknown key: SHAuthorizationRight
6/2/09 9:57:44 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (org.ntp.ntpd) Unknown key: SHAuthorizationRight
6/2/09 9:57:44 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (org.x.privileged_startx) Unknown key for boolean: EnableTransactions
6/2/09 9:58:00 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (0x10b560.cron[72]) Could not setup Mach task special port 9: (os/kern) no access
6/2/09 9:59:02 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (0x10b650.cron[91]) Could not setup Mach task special port 9: (os/kern) no access
6/2/09 10:00:08 AM com.apple.launchctl.System[2] fsck_hfs: Volume is journaled. No checking performed.
6/2/09 10:00:08 AM com.apple.launchctl.System[2] fsck_hfs: Use the -f option to force checking.
6/2/09 10:00:10 AM com.apple.launchctl.System[2] launchctl: Please convert the following to launchd: /etc/mach_init.d/dashboardadvisoryd.plist
6/2/09 10:00:10 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (org.cups.cupsd) Unknown key: SHAuthorizationRight
6/2/09 10:00:10 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (org.ntp.ntpd) Unknown key: SHAuthorizationRight
6/2/09 10:00:10 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (org.x.privileged_startx) Unknown key for boolean: EnableTransactions
6/2/09 10:00:29 AM org.ntp.ntpd[14] Error : nodename nor servname provided, or not known

Please realize that I keep doing the same thing 4-6 times and after a number of failures, I get to a login screen.

BTW, here are the most recent Console log entries:

66/2/09 10:20:00 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (0x10c660.cron[465]) Could not setup Mach task special port 9: (os/kern) no access
6/2/09 10:20:00 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (0x10c840.cron[466]) Could not setup Mach task special port 9: (os/kern) no access
6/2/09 10:20:00 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (0x10c840.cron[466]) Could not setup Mach task special port 9: (os/kern) no access
6/2/09 10:20:12 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (org.postfix.master[448]) Stray process with PGID equal to this dead job: PID 449 PPID 1 pickup
6/2/09 10:20:12 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (org.postfix.master[448]) Stray process with PGID equal to this dead job: PID 450 PPID 1 qmgr

Is that helpful?

pomme-homme Author

Level 2

454 points

Jun 3, 2009 5:18 PM in response to pomme-homme

I think I found the problem (really) but don't know the answer:

Somewhere on these forums I read about similar problems caused by FireWire devices. I have a 2 year old LaCie d2 500 GB HD connected to the FW 800 port on my G5 and an older LaCie Porsche design mobile 80 GB HD connected to a FW 400 port on my monitor. The problem is with the d2 connected to the FW 800 port. When I start getting apps that don't quit, I also cannot eject or unmount the d2. I can however shut it off and unplug it from the FW800 port. Of course I get a message about not ejecting correctly, but the stuck open apps quit and I can shut down normally.

So I think this may have been the problem all along. But, is the problem with the FW bus or with the FW peripheral? Disk Warrior says the LaCie d2 is OK (but it also said my G5 was OK...)

Any thoughts or suggestions about how to proceed?

Thanks.

ph

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Stange behaviors; unable to diagnose