User profile for user: andrew011
andrew011 Author
User level: Level 1
0 points

Kernel: IOSurface buffer allocation size is zero

I tend to receive the above message when listening to Itunes, this message can cause itunes to pause the music and sometimes cause the whole system to crash. Although it does not affect spotify.


I have only recently found out what the problem is, this problem has been going on for a long time. it does get annoying after sometime that your music pauses.


The list of text below has been copied from my Kernel.log and shows that this problem is quite prominent.

Would there be a olution to this? I have previously reinstalled my Operating system, after the reinstallation the problem occurs again. Even after an upgrade to OS X Lion the problem is still there


Mid 2010 Imac, 2.8Ghz Quad Core i5, 8GB ram, 1TB HDD, ATI Radeon HD 5750 1024 MB





rdbus=0)

Jul 26 16:36:22 localhost kernel[0]: [ PCI configuration end, bridges 8 devices 36 ]

Jul 26 16:36:22 localhost kernel[0]: FireWire (OHCI) TI ID 823f built-in now active, GUID e80688fffebe3be2; max speed s800.

Jul 26 16:36:22 localhost kernel[0]: mbinit: done [96 MB total pool size, (64/32) split]

Jul 26 16:36:22 localhost kernel[0]: Pthread support ABORTS when sync kernel primitives misused

Jul 26 16:36:22 localhost kernel[0]: com.apple.AppleFSCompressionTypeZlib kmod start

Jul 26 16:36:22 localhost kernel[0]: com.apple.AppleFSCompressionTypeDataless kmod start

Jul 26 16:36:22 localhost kernel[0]: com.apple.AppleFSCompressionTypeZlib load succeeded

Jul 26 16:36:22 localhost kernel[0]: com.apple.AppleFSCompressionTypeDataless load succeeded

Jul 26 16:36:22 localhost kernel[0]: AppleIntelCPUPowerManagementClient: ready

Jul 26 16:36:22 localhost kernel[0]: Ethernet [AppleBCM5701Ethernet]: Wake reason GIGE - bonjour - service connect

Jul 26 16:36:22 localhost kernel[0]: Network wake from BCM5701Enet

Jul 26 16:36:22 localhost kernel[0]: USBMSC Identifier (non-unique): 000000009833 0x5ac 0x8403 0x9833

Jul 26 16:36:22 localhost kernel[0]: USBMSC Identifier (non-unique): 00001411A7BE 0x411 0x105 0x300

Jul 26 16:36:22 localhost kernel[0]: [IOBluetoothHCIController::setConfigState] calling registerService

Jul 26 16:36:22 localhost kernel[0]: rooting via boot-uuid from /chosen: F995335E-73C3-3050-9BE7-6AD137A3B0CA

Jul 26 16:36:22 localhost kernel[0]: Waiting on <dict ID="0"><key>IOProviderClass</key><string ID="1">IOResources</string><key>IOResourceMatch</key><string ID="2">boot-uuid-media</string></dict>

Jul 26 16:36:22 localhost kernel[0]: Got boot device = IOService:/AppleACPIPlatformExpert/PCI0@0/AppleACPIPCI/SATA@1F,2/AppleIntelPchS eriesAHCI/PRT0@0/IOAHCIDevice@0/AppleAHCIDiskDriver/IOAHCIBlockStorageDevice/IOB lockStorageDriver/ST31000528AS Media/IOGUIDPartitionScheme/NotQuiteMaxDisk@2

Jul 26 16:36:22 localhost kernel[0]: BSD root: disk0s2, major 14, minor 2

Jul 26 16:36:22 localhost kernel[0]: Kernel is LP64

Jul 26 16:36:23 localhost kernel[0]: BCM5701Enet: Ethernet address c4:2c:03:0f:54:8f

Jul 26 16:36:25 Andrew-Purdys-iMac kernel[0]: Previous Shutdown Cause: 5

Jul 26 16:36:25 Andrew-Purdys-iMac kernel[0]: ** Device in slot: SLOT--1 **

Jul 26 16:36:25 Andrew-Purdys-iMac kernel[0]: DSMOS has arrived

Jul 26 16:36:26 Andrew-Purdys-iMac kernel[0]: 27.597048: ath_get_caps[4036] rx chainmask mismatch actual 3 sc_chainmak 0

Jul 26 16:36:26 Andrew-Purdys-iMac kernel[0]: 27.597073: ath_get_caps[4011] tx chainmask mismatch actual 3 sc_chainmak 0

Jul 26 16:36:26 Andrew-Purdys-iMac kernel[0]: 27.601135: Atheros: mac 128.2 phy 13.027.601140: radio 12.027.601142:

Jul 26 16:36:26 Andrew-Purdys-iMac kernel[0]: 27.601146: Use hw queue 0 for WME_AC_BE traffic

Jul 26 16:36:26 Andrew-Purdys-iMac kernel[0]: 27.601152: Use hw queue 1 for WME_AC_BK traffic

Jul 26 16:36:26 Andrew-Purdys-iMac kernel[0]: 27.601158: Use hw queue 2 for WME_AC_VI traffic

Jul 26 16:36:26 Andrew-Purdys-iMac kernel[0]: 27.601163: Use hw queue 3 for WME_AC_VO traffic

Jul 26 16:36:26 Andrew-Purdys-iMac kernel[0]: 27.601169: Use hw queue 8 for CAB traffic

Jul 26 16:36:26 Andrew-Purdys-iMac kernel[0]: 27.601174: Use hw queue 9 for beacons

Jul 26 16:36:26 Andrew-Purdys-iMac kernel[0]: 27.601235: wlan_vap_create : enter. devhandle=0xd320c610, opmode=IEEE80211_M_STA, flags=0x1

Jul 26 16:36:26 Andrew-Purdys-iMac kernel[0]: 27.601271: wlan_vap_create : exit. devhandle=0xd320c610, opmode=IEEE80211_M_STA, flags=0x1.

Jul 26 16:36:26 Andrew-Purdys-iMac kernel[0]: AirPort_AtherosNewma40: Ethernet address d8:30:62:59:e7:bd

Jul 26 16:36:26 Andrew-Purdys-iMac kernel[0]: IO80211Controller::dataLinkLayerAttachComplete(): adding AppleEFINVRAM notification

Jul 26 16:36:26 Andrew-Purdys-iMac kernel[0]: IO80211Interface::efiNVRAMPublished():

Jul 26 16:36:26 Andrew-Purdys-iMac kernel[0]: NTFS driver 3.8 [Flags: R/W].

Jul 26 16:36:26 Andrew-Purdys-iMac kernel[0]: AirPort: Link Down on en1. Reason 1 (Unspecified).

Jul 26 16:36:26 Andrew-Purdys-iMac kernel[0]: 28.701894: setDISASSOC from disconnectVap

Jul 26 16:36:26 Andrew-Purdys-iMac kernel[0]: 28.701905: switchVap from 1 to 1

Jul 26 16:36:27 Andrew-Purdys-iMac kernel[0]: NTFS volume name BOOTCAMP, version 3.1.

Jul 26 16:36:27 Andrew-Purdys-iMac kernel[0]: nstat_lookup_entry failed: 2

Jul 26 16:36:28: --- last message repeated 1 time ---

Jul 26 16:36:27 Andrew-Purdys-iMac kernel[0]: Ethernet [AppleBCM5701Ethernet]: Link up on en0, 100-Megabit, Full-duplex, Symmetric flow-control, Debug [796d,2300,0de1,0300,45e1,0000]

Jul 26 16:36:29 Andrew-Purdys-iMac kernel[0]: macx_swapon SUCCESS

Jul 26 16:36:34 andrew-pc kernel[0]: [ffffff8015319c00][BNBMouseDevice::init][66] init is complete

Jul 26 16:36:35 andrew-pc kernel[0]: [ffffff8015319c00][BNBMouseDevice::handleStart][66] Done

Jul 26 16:36:35 andrew-pc kernel[0]: [ffffff8015a16000][AppleMultitouchHIDEventDriver::start] entered

Jul 26 16:36:35 andrew-pc kernel[0]: [ffffff8015a90d00][AppleMultitouchDevice::start] entered

Jul 26 16:36:56 andrew-pc kernel[0]: udf log: Allow bogus directory length

Jul 26 16:37:14 andrew-pc kernel[0]: AppleBCM5701Ethernet: 0 1 BCM5701Enet::replaceOrCopyPacket worked after N tries

Jul 26 16:40:27 andrew-pc kernel[0]: IOSurface: buffer allocation size is zero

Jul 26 16:41:22: --- last message repeated 2 times ---

Jul 26 16:41:40 andrew-pc kernel[0]: IOSurface: buffer allocation size is zero

Jul 26 16:43:52: --- last message repeated 6 times ---

Jul 26 16:45:16 andrew-pc kernel[0]: IOSurface: buffer allocation size is zero

Jul 26 16:46:22: --- last message repeated 2 times ---

Jul 26 18:25:18 andrew-pc kernel[0]: IOSurface: buffer allocation size is zero

Jul 26 18:26:23 andrew-pc kernel[0]: IOSurface: buffer allocation size is zero

Jul 26 18:32:19 andrew-pc kernel[0]: IOSurface: buffer allocation size is zero

Jul 26 18:34:08 andrew-pc kernel[0]: IOSurface: buffer allocation size is zero

Jul 26 18:34:45 andrew-pc kernel[0]: IOSurface: buffer allocation size is zero

Jul 26 18:36:22: --- last message repeated 1 time ---

Jul 26 18:37:53 andrew-pc kernel[0]: IOSurface: buffer allocation size is zero

Jul 26 18:38:52: --- last message repeated 1 time ---

Jul 26 18:39:27 andrew-pc kernel[0]: IOSurface: buffer allocation size is zero

Jul 26 18:40:17 andrew-pc kernel[0]: IOSurface: buffer allocation size is zero

Jul 26 19:27:48 andrew-pc kernel[0]: IOSurface: buffer allocation size is zero

Jul 26 19:28:45: --- last message repeated 1 time ---

Jul 26 19:28:45 andrew-pc kernel[0]: IOSurface: buffer allocation size is zero

Jul 26 19:29:15: --- last message repeated 2 times ---

Jul 26 22:53:21 andrew-pc kernel[0]: IOSurface: buffer allocation size is zero

Jul 26 22:56:56 andrew-pc kernel[0]: IOSurface: buffer allocation size is zero

Jul 26 22:58:28: --- last message repeated 1 time ---

Jul 26 22:58:28 andrew-pc kernel[0]: IOSurface: buffer allocation size is zero

Jul 26 22:58:58: --- last message repeated 6 times ---

Jul 26 22:59:00 andrew-pc kernel[0]: IOSurface: buffer allocation size is zero

Jul 26 22:59:30: --- last message repeated 5 times ---

Jul 26 23:03:12 andrew-pc kernel[0]: CoreServicesUIAg[590] Unable to clear quarantine `CodeResources': 93

Jul 26 23:03:12 andrew-pc kernel[0]: CoreServicesUIAg[590] Unable to clear quarantine `Growl': 93

Jul 26 23:03:12 andrew-pc kernel[0]: CoreServicesUIAg[590] Unable to clear quarantine `Headers': 93

Jul 26 23:03:12 andrew-pc kernel[0]: CoreServicesUIAg[590] Unable to clear quarantine `Resources': 93

Jul 26 23:03:12 andrew-pc kernel[0]: CoreServicesUIAg[590] Unable to clear quarantine `Current': 93

Jul 26 23:03:12 andrew-pc kernel[0]: CoreServicesUIAg[590] Unable to clear quarantine `Headers': 93

Jul 26 23:03:12 andrew-pc kernel[0]: CoreServicesUIAg[590] Unable to clear quarantine `Resources': 93

Jul 26 23:03:12 andrew-pc kernel[0]: CoreServicesUIAg[590] Unable to clear quarantine `Skype': 93

Jul 26 23:03:12 andrew-pc kernel[0]: CoreServicesUIAg[590] Unable to clear quarantine `Current': 93

Jul 26 23:04:53 andrew-pc kernel[0]: IOSurface: buffer allocation size is zero

Jul 26 23:06:23: --- last message repeated 1 time ---

Jul 26 23:08:22 andrew-pc kernel[0]: IOSurface: buffer allocation size is zero

Jul 26 23:18:09 andrew-pc kernel[0]: IOSurface: buffer allocation size is zero

Jul 26 23:22:01 andrew-pc kernel[0]: IOSurface: buffer allocation size is zero

Jul 26 23:24:39 andrew-pc kernel[0]: IOSurface: buffer allocation size is zero

Jul 26 23:26:23: --- last message repeated 1 time ---

Jul 26 23:27:36 andrew-pc kernel[0]: IOSurface: buffer allocation size is zero

Jul 26 23:33:49 andrew-pc kernel[0]: IOSurface: buffer allocation size is zero

Jul 26 23:35:58 andrew-pc kernel[0]: IOSurface: buffer allocation size is zero

Jul 26 23:36:28: --- last message repeated 1 time ---

Jul 26 23:37:23 andrew-pc kernel[0]: IOSurface: buffer allocation size is zero

Jul 26 23:37:58 andrew-pc kernel[0]: IOSurface: buffer allocation size is zero

Jul 26 23:38:37: --- last message repeated 1 time ---

Jul 26 23:38:37 andrew-pc kernel[0]: IOSurface: buffer allocation size is zero

Jul 26 23:39:08: --- last message repeated 1 time ---

Jul 26 23:39:52 andrew-pc kernel[0]: IOSurface: buffer allocation size is zero

Jul 26 23:40:36: --- last message repeated 1 time ---

Jul 26 23:40:36 andrew-pc kernel[0]: IOSurface: buffer allocation size is zero

Jul 26 23:42:23 andrew-pc kernel[0]: IOSurface: buffer allocation size is zero

Jul 26 23:46:12 andrew-pc kernel[0]: IOSurface: buffer allocation size is zero

Jul 26 23:46:44 andrew-pc kernel[0]: IOSurface: buffer allocation size is zero

Jul 26 23:47:14: --- last message repeated 2 times ---

Jul 26 23:47:58 andrew-pc kernel[0]: IOSurface: buffer allocation size is zero

Jul 26 23:48:38 andrew-pc kernel[0]: IOSurface: buffer allocation size is zero

Jul 26 23:49:36 andrew-pc kernel[0]: IOSurface: buffer allocation size is zero

Jul 26 23:50:19: --- last message repeated 1 time ---

Jul 26 23:50:19 andrew-pc kernel[0]: IOSurface: buffer allocation size is zero

Jul 26 23:51:23: --- last message repeated 1 time ---

Jul 27 00:50:43 andrew-pc kernel[0]: HFS: Very Low Disk: freeblks: 0, dangerlimit: 154

Jul 27 14:07:46 andrew-pc kernel[0]: IOSurface: buffer allocation size is zero

Jul 27 14:09:00: --- last message repeated 1 time ---

Jul 27 14:09:00 andrew-pc kernel[0]: IOSurface: buffer allocation size is zero

Jul 27 14:13:16 andrew-pc kernel[0]: IOSurface: buffer allocation size is zero

Jul 27 14:15:07 andrew-pc kernel[0]: IOSurface: buffer allocation size is zero

Jul 27 14:15:50: --- last message repeated 3 times ---

Jul 27 14:15:50 andrew-pc kernel[0]: IOSurface: buffer allocation size is zero

Jul 27 14:16:24: --- last message repeated 1 time ---

Jul 27 14:16:26 andrew-pc kernel[0]: IOSurface: buffer allocation size is zero

Jul 27 14:16:56 andrew-pc kernel[0]: IOSurface: buffer allocation size is zero

Jul 27 14:17:26: --- last message repeated 2 times ---

Jul 27 14:17:28 andrew-pc kernel[0]: IOSurface: buffer allocation size is zero

iMac, Mac OS X (10.7)

Posted on Jul 27, 2011 6:29 AM

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154 replies
User profile for user: Anic264b
Anic264b
User level: Level 1
36 points

Jan 17, 2012 11:59 AM in response to cat-ger

Perhaps it's a foolish idea, but does no one else thinks the best way to solve a problem is to focus on the messages (logs) rather than trying to simply reinstall the OS or uninstall random applications?


What about trying to understand which IOSurface can suffer from an allocation size of 0?


"Me too" and "If nothing works, reinstall the OS" messages aren't going to solve anyting. Yet, these are the most seen messages, not only in this thread, but for most problems on the Apple forums. I'm amazed as to how people usually try work-arounds first and don't even try to understand what the logs mean!


Tell me how I'm wrong about this idea, I'm curious…

Reply
User profile for user: Anthony R....
Anthony R....
User level: Level 1
4 points

Jan 17, 2012 2:06 PM in response to Anic264b

Here's some information I found from: this page talking about IOSurface:


As one of the long overdue issues, not to mention all the limitations derived from its venerable age, Apple has introduced a first step to the future of the old Quicktime (that will stay in 32 bit universe) with the new Quicktime X: however, Quicktime isn’t so easy to replace in one shot, and it’s still present in the system, transparently invoked by Quicktime X (or, for us developers, by QTKit) whenever it’s needed.But, how can a 64-bit software (like the Quicktime X Player, or the Finder itself) use a 32-bit library? The answer is, it doesn’t, the technique used behind the scenes is far more interesting: when a 64-bit software needs a frame from a movie it can’t process otherwise, a specific software is launched (you’ll see it in the Activity Monitor as QTKitServer-(process-ID) process-name) that gives back the frames to the 64-bit app.Hey, isn’t that nice? Graphics passed from one process to another, how can they do that? The answer looks like it’s in a new framework, IOSurface…


There's details on the previous link mentioned that includes examples of how to use IOSurface which may give more hints on how having a buffer size of 0 could not be good.


So how does this possibly relate to our issue? It is tied into how well (or not depending on perspective) Flash is integrating with the OS' capability to handle video, whether its movie-related not.


For my MBP, it appears when I run anything that uses Flash on Chrome whether or not I have Adobe Flash installed (Chrome already has its own shockwave flash extensions independent of adobe flash)


To help support the motivation to fix this issue, there's a bug 3077658 that's been filed with Adobe, please vote to help increase its visibility with Adobe Developers.




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User profile for user: davidh
davidh
User level: Level 4
1,896 points

Jan 17, 2012 2:15 PM in response to Anthony R....

Anic264b: spot-on. Wild conflation and confusion of symptoms with cause, and lack of will to do/use rigorous troubleshooting, are things that have led me to nearly cease involvement here, with very rare exceptions.


Anthony R: Excellent info. Thank-you !!!


In terms of submitting a bug to Adobe, well: I wouldn't hold your breath :-) Bearing in mind that they've already announced they'll be ceasing development of Flash for mobile devices, the writing is on the wall...
http://blogs.adobe.com/conversations/2011/11/flash-focus.html


It's possible to log in to Youtube, for example, and choose HTML5 as your default,

http://www.youtube.com/html5


But some older videos might not play without Flash still, unsure.

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User profile for user: Anic264b
Anic264b
User level: Level 1
36 points

Jan 17, 2012 2:21 PM in response to Anthony R....

You have all my congratulations and admiration! This is a constructive answer, so rare these days! In one (or two) posts, you've found to what relates the problem. Just imagine how many pages the forums would have with only constructive answers (perhaps always a single page per topic, and… problem solved! Wouldn't that be nice? 😉).

Well done.

Now, my only regret is I can't set your post as "Resolved" (no button available, perhaps because I'm not the original poster)

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User profile for user: Anic264b
Anic264b
User level: Level 1
36 points

Jan 17, 2012 2:35 PM in response to davidh

davidh wrote:


Anic264b: spot-on. Wild conflation and confusion of symptoms with cause, and lack of will to do/use rigorous troubleshooting, are things that have led me to nearly cease involvement here, with very rare exceptions.

Better said from a native english speaker than from me 😉. I'm reassured there are still people who know how to troubleshoot correctly, but they don't seem to be so many (less than before?).

I think it's not only users' fault anyway: since Mac OS X days, all started to be put in the Console, and Apple started to use "private" strings and error codes to logs things.

So, in Mac OS 9 you had useful alerts, with known error codes (even the "The application “name” has unexpectedly quit because of an error code 10" dialog).


In Mac OS X, you can still decipher a lot of things (and, granted, not a lot of people take the time to do it, which would be needed) but there are others (several) harder.

I'm thinking, among others, about some like these:

kernel: SAM Multimedia: READ or WRITE failed, SENSE_KEY = 0x03, ASC = 0x11, ASCQ = 0x00

(we know this is a IO error (error code -36, under the hood), but what mean these hex values?)

The “Wake reasons” and “Previous Sleep Cause” strings, and the Apple Hardware Test values are hard-coded into the hardware/software and only Apple has the exact list (I've started to build mine, but, obviously, I can only see the codes I get and the ones over the internet). But I have the hope all can be understood!

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User profile for user: Fustbariclation
Fustbariclation
User level: Level 1
39 points

Jan 19, 2012 9:21 PM in response to andrew011

This may not work for everybody, of course, however, I've now not had a freeze or panic for two whole days, something of a record for Lion - I may be speaking too soon, but at least I've had a stable machine since the 18th.


All I've done, following advice on another similar problem, is to delete this file and reboot:


~/Library/Preferences/byhost/com.apple.windowserver.771F2FF6-383F-5141-BDB3-B09D 28D83EF8.plist


My early 2009 24-inch iMac on Lion 10.7.2 has, until now, crashed most days, sometimes several times a day with freezes and kernel panics. I've had the same mix of work, pretty well.


There are also no NVIDIA or kernel messages in the system log - there used to be tons of them.


It's worth a try anyway!

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User profile for user: Daphiel
Daphiel
User level: Level 1
0 points

Jan 29, 2012 3:09 PM in response to andrew011

hi, same issue on a macbook pro 15'' (mid 2010). The issue stop spamming my logs when I uninstalled Flash 11. But this problem appear again when I launch Photo Booth (you can test on your own mac with the Terminal and tail -f /var/log/kernel.log) and I switch between the various effects.

I'm not sure that this error results only from the adobe flash. Hoping this can help... Apple are aware of this bug?

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User profile for user: sandman619
sandman619
User level: Level 1
38 points

Feb 5, 2012 11:47 PM in response to andrew011

An IOSurface is essentially used in by software handling graphics routines. Apple's developer docs state that this error code is a debug level #7 error, the lowest error level possible & far from being critical, it is useful for software developers only. The apperance in a log entry is not significant, even repeated every minute. Entries occuring more rapidly maybe responsible for latent responses from OS X or running apps. Then it could be useful to track running apps & websites to see if there is a way to avoid the issue. Otherwise, the occassional appearance of the 

kernel: IOSurface: buffer allocation size is zero
is not a concern


Cheers !

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Kernel: IOSurface buffer allocation size is zero

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