Interpreting system-generated error messages

Not having received any suggestion that explained and/or resolved the problem that has been resulting in repeated system-generated error messages. I have decided that it is time to fall back on the alternative approach of learning to interpret the almost indecipherable error messages myself.


Can anyone suggest a source that provides a layman's introduction to "reading" system-generated error messages — what the information in the error messages is saying, where to look for the critical information and what to ignore. Presumably, this information is available to software engineers in Apple, but surely there must be some explanations in the public domain that those of us who have a reasonable understanding of IT systems can follow.

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 11.7

Posted on Jul 31, 2023 3:50 PM

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Posted on Aug 1, 2023 11:04 AM

If you value your sanity, you will avoid the macOS system logs. The macOS logs haven't been useful for troubleshooting in over 10 years. Even the Console app won't show you all of the available logs...you must now locate them using the Finder which shows how much Apple thinks of them. These days even if there would potentially be a useful entry, it may be sanitized so there is no actual information associated with it. the logs are full of repeating entries, many with scary sounding & non-sensical entries meant only for the developers themselves. The only still partially useful macOS logs are the Kernel Panic logs, but even those are becoming less useful these days as well.


This article written by a respected forum contributor is probably the best advice available for preventing problems by practicing safe computing habits:

Effective defenses against malware and other threats - Apple Community


Safe Mode and a second admin account are the best ways to test things. Even a simple reboot is known to fix a lot of issues. Followed by asking for assistance on these forums... in which case it is best to post an EtreCheck report so it can be reviewed for clues. Since macOS is now on a read-only signed & sealed APFS volume, the core macOS should be intact....it will be the third party apps and custom configurations which will be causing the problems. Run the Apple Diagnostics to see if any hardware issues are detected (only a failing diagnostic is useful though).


Remember to disconnect all external devices as well when troubleshooting.


Keep in mind the regular forum contributors here assist so many users, they tend to have a good idea of the current things which are causing problems so they can usually point out where to look for many problems and whether a recent update has caused any problems. Just make sure to provide enough details when asking for assistance.


28 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Aug 1, 2023 11:04 AM in response to AusMacU

If you value your sanity, you will avoid the macOS system logs. The macOS logs haven't been useful for troubleshooting in over 10 years. Even the Console app won't show you all of the available logs...you must now locate them using the Finder which shows how much Apple thinks of them. These days even if there would potentially be a useful entry, it may be sanitized so there is no actual information associated with it. the logs are full of repeating entries, many with scary sounding & non-sensical entries meant only for the developers themselves. The only still partially useful macOS logs are the Kernel Panic logs, but even those are becoming less useful these days as well.


This article written by a respected forum contributor is probably the best advice available for preventing problems by practicing safe computing habits:

Effective defenses against malware and other threats - Apple Community


Safe Mode and a second admin account are the best ways to test things. Even a simple reboot is known to fix a lot of issues. Followed by asking for assistance on these forums... in which case it is best to post an EtreCheck report so it can be reviewed for clues. Since macOS is now on a read-only signed & sealed APFS volume, the core macOS should be intact....it will be the third party apps and custom configurations which will be causing the problems. Run the Apple Diagnostics to see if any hardware issues are detected (only a failing diagnostic is useful though).


Remember to disconnect all external devices as well when troubleshooting.


Keep in mind the regular forum contributors here assist so many users, they tend to have a good idea of the current things which are causing problems so they can usually point out where to look for many problems and whether a recent update has caused any problems. Just make sure to provide enough details when asking for assistance.


Aug 4, 2023 6:53 AM in response to AusMacU

Also, think about how an anti-virus product works (same goes for cleaning/optimizer apps & third party security software). These types of products have to integrate themselves into the lower levels of the OS in order to work properly. This is where an app can cause the most problems because these types of apps are designed to interfere with the normal operation of the OS....that is their sole purpose, because they need to be able to intercept communications between low level system functions to do their job. Anything that messes with this communication is going to cause problems no matter how well designed & behaved the app is. Many times it may be subtle and unnoticeable to the user, but other times it cannot be ignored with decreased performance and intermittent (or not so intermittent) crashes.


These remnants could also have been installed by almost any third party app you downloaded outside the App Store since some download sites (even popular respected legit & safe sites) may sometimes add unexpected extras to the download as advertising (both CNet & SourceForge have done this at some point as two examples). Not necessarily malicious software, but unexpected & unwanted additions.


We cannot guarantee this is the source of the problem, but reading & assisting people on these forums for years now, this is the first thing to address as it either solves or greatly helps many users' issues. Also keep in mind we can never be sure what these types apps may have modified on our system....they may have modified a system configuration which is not easily accessible to users. At least with later versions of macOS we at least know that the macOS core system files can no longer be damaged by these apps due to the recent security changes to prevent modification of the system binaries, although system configuration files are still able to be modified.

Aug 5, 2023 4:33 PM in response to BDAqua

I wasn't sure what the relevance of your first post re MacBook crashing was. So, I appreciated seeing the second post.


I need to go back to a comment I made. I said that it is possible to find many mentions of "Safari Web Content (Cached) quit unexpectedly" on the Internet. Actually, that is not true. When I went back to check I realised that there are many mentions of "Safari Web Content quit unexpectedly" but only a few mentions of "Safari Web Content (Cached) quit unexpectedly".


Safari Web Content (Cached) is a process. So the error message is actually saying that this process quit unexpectedly. So when Mac users say that have got an error message "Safari Web Content quit unexpectedly" they have abbreviated the message or they have received a different message. If one does not know that "Safari Web Content (Cached)" is a process, then the meaning of the message could easily be misconstrued.

Aug 2, 2023 5:37 AM in response to HWTech

Most of the suggestions you have made I am already aware of. I hadn't yet run Apple Diagnostics. I have done that now.


The only issue that the report identified was an issue with the battery. I don't believe that it is the battery that is the issue but the Magsafe to Magsafe 2 converter which I have to use to charge the battery. This has to be one of the most unreliable pieces of technology that Apple has ever produced. It's sole purpose is to narrow the width of the plug so that it will attach to the narrower Magsafe 2 connections installed in older MacBook Airs. However the converters seem to have a mean time to failure of about eighteen months, based on my experience. What happens is that one or more of the spring-loaded prongs no long springs out fully and as result the connection is no longer reliable. However, all that is by the way.


In my own attempts to troubleshoot the error messages, I have pinpointed the fact that the most common error message is fairly reliably produced when I log on to a particular online service. However, its appearance doesn't seem to be completely restricted to this situation. Also, I occasionally get other error messages that don't seem to be associated with that website. At present I'm focusing on that error message because, if I can discover what is causing it I may be able to work out what is causing it on the much less frequent occasions when it appears when I have not logged onto that website.


I have reported the issue to the owner of the website but I have been told that they have not received similar complaints from anyone else. The explanation for this could well be that most people are connecting to the service with PCs. Irrespective of whether or not that is true, one can scarcely expect a website administrator or an IT specialist to work out what the problem is if it is not possible to provide a clear explanation of the problem at the user end.


In this case, although an error message is generated, there is no obvious evidence of an error in transmission of information. It could be that the error message is of no practical consequence, beyond the irritation it causes. On the other hand it could be signalling that there is a nontrivial problem that is not obvious. That is why I have been keen to understand the nature of the error being reported.

Aug 2, 2023 4:31 PM in response to dialabrain

The error message to which I've referred is "Safari Web Content (Cached) quit unexpectedly"


Further down the message there is a line "Error Code: 0x0000004 (No mapping for user data read)"


I have reproduced the problem and then run EtreCheck. I was not able to allow full disc access. When I searched this on Google I could not follow the instructions I located.


The first entry in the EtreCheck report under "Diagnostic information" corresponds to the time when the above message was displayed.






Aug 3, 2023 6:05 AM in response to HWTech

I thought that your detailed suggestions offered the possibility of my receiving useful help, but I can see that the obsession wrote anti-virus software that pervades these forums makes seeking help here rather pointless. Let me just say that Avira has been installed by following the developer's instructions. The fact that some remnants are left that Etrecheck detects doesn't indicate otherwise. Moreover, Etrecheck reports that Avira Security app wasn't found and Avira Security Service was disabled.


Thank you for making an attempt to provide help but I think i will return to my attempt to understand what the error messages say.

Aug 3, 2023 6:59 AM in response to AusMacU

Seems like you still have some something installed as this is found in Launch Daemons, not sure if it is from Avira or some other product:

[Loaded] com.jdi.ss.SSHelper.plist (SS Protect Limited - installed 2021-05-12)
Executable: /Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/com.jdi.ss.SSHelper

[Loaded] net.protected.macos.AVHelper.plist (SS Protect Limited - installed 2022-10-22)
Executable: /Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/net.protected.macos.AVHelper


The WebKit framework seems to be experiences lots of high CPU usage which seems to go along with what you have been describing. WebKit is the macOS framework for displaying web content in various apps.


Do you have the same issues with websites when using a third party browser such as Firefox, Vivaldi, Brave, or Chrome?


I don't see anything else which would cause a problem, but I'm not a macOS software expert so I will leave the rest of the software analysis to other more knowledgeable contributors.


Aug 3, 2023 7:33 AM in response to HWTech

Yes. I know that WebKit is the MacOS framework for displaying web content. I haven't tried tried accessing the website giving trouble with a range of browsers but I have tried doing so with Chrome and Chrome doesn't seem to be affected.


The items you list aren't from Avira. I don't have any other antivirus software installed, either. However, they could be left over from a brief investigation I made some time ago of a password manager. Thanks for pointing that out.



Aug 3, 2023 7:36 PM in response to AusMacU

No direct evidence, just thousands of problems seen & cured, it's not like a sure thing, & some AV act very nice on install, but seem to break down later, perhaps some added OS or other App Update or Upgrade. Info was given out as possible clues for you to look into since we're short solid evidence.


PS. I've installed & used perhaps every AV App there is for Macs & as a statement to their programming skills 90%+ of their Uninstallers don't remove all they installed, often leaving Daemons

or Agents running.

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Interpreting system-generated error messages

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