-5408 error on all RTSP streams via QuickTime (after a near-disk failure)

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-5408 error on all RTSP streams via QuickTime (after a near-disk failure)

Hi Folks.

Today I had a near catastrophic failure on my startup drive: following a simple permissions repair routine, after a shutdown the startup drive failed to mount. It took DiskWarrior to get it back again, but most of my preference files were corrupted. With Time Machine most of these were restored successfully however.

Everything is back in order, except that when I try to connect to any QuickTime compatible RTSP stream, I end up getting a -5408 error.

The streams I am connecting to are from IP cameras which have RTSP and h264. I know they're working fine because I have another MacBook beside me also running 10.6.8 which is pulling them down fine, doing exactly the same thing.

I also know that the streams I am connecting to are using TCP, not UDP. Normally when buffering it starts at about 3 seconds and goes down, but at present it is switching transports immediately and counting down from 8.7 seconds before timing out.

This is happening in any browser with the QuickTime Plugin, and QuickTime Player itself (both the X version and the old 7 version).

So it would seem to me that TCP is being blocked within the OSX system when trying to use port 554. And I do not have firewall turned on.

I know this has been caused by something being affected due to the need for a recovery, but short of installing a clean version of Snow Leopard, I wondered if there was a way of checking transports and seeing if this can be fixed more easily.

Hope you can help.

Paul C.

17, Mac OS X (10.6.8)

Posted on Jul 26, 2011 4:19 AM

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Answer 1

Paul Carter Author

Level 1

30 points

Jul 26, 2011 1:50 PM in response to Paul Carter

Addendum:

I also tested a working RTSP stream with VLC, and it is able to connect but the stream also isn't getting through. So that confirms this is a system issue, not just a QuickTime issue.

My guess is that port 554 is being blocked within OSX.

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Answer 2

Paul Carter Author

Level 1

30 points

Jul 26, 2011 5:14 PM in response to Paul Carter

Further addendum:

I decided that perhaps a re-install of Snow Leopard would help.

So I ran the Snow Leopard installer from the disc, which took me back to 10.6.3 (I think). In this version the QuickTime Plugin wouldn't even work - Safari was telling me that I needed the QuickTime System extension version 7.0 - when I most definitely have 7.6.6 installed along with X. I even re-installed the optional QuickTime 7 software, and that made no difference.

So I then did a full upgrade to 10.6.8 via Software Update, and I am back where I was before: the plugin is working, but am getting the Switching Transports / countdown from 8.7 sec/ -5408 Timed Out error when trying to get an RTSP stream.

What should I do next? Migrate everything onto another partition, erase this partition and start again?

Surely there is a part of the QuickTime system I can replace to put this back in order...

Paul C.

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Answer 3

Paul Carter Author

Level 1

30 points

Jul 26, 2011 7:38 PM in response to Paul Carter

More information:

I just fired up Parallels running Windows XP, and the QuickTime Plugin is working fine in there for Internet Explorer! Just not in OSX itself!

Help!

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Answer 4

Paul Carter Author

Level 1

30 points

Jul 27, 2011 4:19 PM in response to Paul Carter

Seems no-one can shed any light on this sadly...

I did another test by creating a new user account on this MacBook, and hey presto, it's working for that user fine. Just not my user login.

So I think I'll just fast switch between users when I need RTSP via QuickTime... it's the least waste of time...

🙂

PC.

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Answer 5

Paul Carter Author

Level 1

30 points

Jul 31, 2011 3:13 AM in response to Paul Carter

Well, given no-one could shed any light on this, I'd like to let you all know that I worked it out myself.

Here's how the story ends:

A few days after the near-disk-death experience, I went to use my Express Card modem to connect to 3G wireless and found that all of my network settings preferences were gone (airport/VPNs etc...). It couldn't even recognise my Sierra Wireless express card at all. This was even after restoring my entire preferences folder in my Home folder using Time Machine, which got most things back to normal.

Some research in these discussion forums found that network settings are not stored in your home folder's library, but on your startup drive's /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration folder. It has these files in it:

preferences.plist

com.apple.airport.preferences.plist

com.apple.PowerManagement.plist

com.apple.network.identification.plist

com.apple.smb.server.plist

com.apple.nat.plist

NetworkInterfaces.plist

com.apple.Boot.plist

So I used Time Machine to restore an older version of that folder, and hey presto, all my network settings returned.

And then I connected to a page where RTSP wasn't working in via QuickTime, and it worked.

I'm still not sure which file contained the problem with RTSP over TCP, and that still doesn't explain why a different user on this same machine I setup had no problems.

Not that I care anymore, because my MacBook is now back the way it was. It seems...

I highly recommend DiskWarrior for when strange things start happening to your Mac, or if a drive/partition disappears. It can find and restore things that other 'salvage' type disk recovery apps cannot.

🙂

PC.

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Answer 6

Paul Carter Author

Level 1

30 points

Aug 14, 2013 5:04 AM in response to Paul Carter

Hi Folks.

More to this story (and if anything I am writing this for my own future reference as I was thrilled to find this post!).

Two and a bit years on, and I had another catastrophic hard drive failure on my Macbook Pro 17". This time I didn't try to recover that but rather restored everything off a Time Machine backup (from the night before!) to a Mac Mini as a temporary solution while waiting for a new MacBook. As part of this process I upgraded from Snow Leopard to Mountain Lion.

And the same thing happened as per above - QuickTime Plugin would not work with any RTSP stream. The plugin also looks rather different now - with no connection/buffering information like it used to. RTSP streams also wouldn't work in QuickTime Player - both the 7.6.9 player and QuickTime X Player. VLC worked through.

Upgraded to 10.8.4 and this made no difference. But like above, if I logged in as a different user which was basically unused, all RTSP streams worked in all forms of QuickTime.

After a few hours of letting my subconscious work on it, I remembered that I once had a similar issue a couple of years ago. And to my enormous relief I found and read my own instructions above, did the same thing - went and found an older "System Configuration" folder, rebooted - and it worked!

So self, if this happens again, do come back...

:-)

PC

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