ferdnerfer
Level 1 (0 points)

Q: Lion Spotlight search broken? Always returns 1000's of results!

Anytime I do a search in Lion I get 5,000+ results.

 

Even for a known unique word like "aaabbbcccdddeee".

 

Reindexing Spotlight has no effect.

Mac OS X (10.7)

Posted on Aug 4, 2011 2:03 PM

by ferdnerfer,Solvedanswer
ferdnerfer ferdnerfer
Level 1 (0 points)
A:

Problem has been resolved.

 

I repaired User account permissions using the Reset Password utility in the Lion Recovery Partition. This is different than Repair Permissions using Disk Utility.

 

Good description of how to do this here:

 

http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/how_to_resolve_user-level_permissions_iss ues_mac_os_x/

Posted on Nov 4, 2011 3:03 PM

Close
ferdnerfer

Q: Lion Spotlight search broken? Always returns 1000's of results!

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

Page 1 Next

  • by MHTechSolutions,

    MHTechSolutions MHTechSolutions Aug 4, 2011 2:21 PM in response to ferdnerfer
    Level 1 (60 points)
    Aug 4, 2011 2:21 PM in response to ferdnerfer

    Delete all files containing "aaabbbcccdddeee". Just kidding

     

    Create a 'test' user and log in using it. See if spotlight still has the same issue.

     

    - Mark

    MH Tech Solutions, LLC.

  • by ferdnerfer,

    ferdnerfer ferdnerfer Aug 4, 2011 4:36 PM in response to MHTechSolutions
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 4, 2011 4:36 PM in response to MHTechSolutions

    Good idea, I even already had a 'test' user account just for this purpose.

     

    Spotlight in the 'test' account worked as expected, returning results that made sense.

     

    Some plist related to spotlight must be corrupt?

  • by MHTechSolutions,

    MHTechSolutions MHTechSolutions Aug 4, 2011 5:04 PM in response to ferdnerfer
    Level 1 (60 points)
    Aug 4, 2011 5:04 PM in response to ferdnerfer

    Not sure if this will help but you can try this in Terminal.app

     

     

    Turn indexing off for /

    sudo mdutil -i off /

     

    Clear the metadata store for /

    sudo mdutil -E /

     

    Turn indexing back on for /

    sudo mdutil -i on /

     

     

    - Mark

    MH Tech Solutions, LLC.

     


  • by ferdnerfer,

    ferdnerfer ferdnerfer Aug 4, 2011 8:36 PM in response to MHTechSolutions
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 4, 2011 8:36 PM in response to MHTechSolutions

    Building a new index with terminal commands didn't help, it was worth a try.

     

    I had already rebuilt the index by adding and then removing the volume from the Privacy pane in the Spotlight System Preference.

  • by MHTechSolutions,

    MHTechSolutions MHTechSolutions Aug 5, 2011 5:57 AM in response to ferdnerfer
    Level 1 (60 points)
    Aug 5, 2011 5:57 AM in response to ferdnerfer

    Don't know if this will help, but you can delete the folder 'Cache' in your user library and in the System Library folder.

     

    Reboot the computer.

     

    Empty trash.

     

    You might want to try to disable spotlight indexing first, delete the old spotlight metadata. After emptying the trash, renable spotlight.

     

    - Mark

    MH Tech Solutions, LLC.

  • by ferdnerfer,

    ferdnerfer ferdnerfer Aug 5, 2011 10:27 AM in response to MHTechSolutions
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 5, 2011 10:27 AM in response to MHTechSolutions

    I deleted 2 plists in user/Library/Preferences:

     

    com.apple.finder.plist

    com.apple.spotlight.plist

     

    The finder.plist regenerated, and I could tell I lost some Finder settings.

     

    The spotlight.plist regnerated when I changed a setting in the Spotlight System Preference.

     

    Spotlight is still broken.

     

    I'll try deleting the caches, otherwise I'm running out of ideas.

     

    It's like Spotlight is permanently using a wildcard with every search.

  • by ferdnerfer,

    ferdnerfer ferdnerfer Aug 6, 2011 3:15 PM in response to ferdnerfer
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 6, 2011 3:15 PM in response to ferdnerfer

    I turned Spotlight indexing OFF, cleared the metadata, moved user/Library/Caches to the Trash.

     

    Rebooted, emptied trash, turned indexing ON.

     

    Spotlight is still broken, returning 1000's of results.

     

    Filename searching does work [and always has].

     

    Haven't decide if I'm going to try this again deleting /System/Library/Caches

  • by janopus,

    janopus janopus Aug 7, 2011 3:06 PM in response to ferdnerfer
    Level 1 (1 points)
    Aug 7, 2011 3:06 PM in response to ferdnerfer

    "wildcard" ... intresting notion

    try picking any one of the 5000 files and do a get info (command-i).

    Is there anything in the "Spotlight Comments" at the top.  I don't know why there should be, but a common character inserted (by some unknown gremlin) into all the files would cause hits for all the files.

    Another grasp in the dark.

     

    Any other search programs like HoudaSpot that use the index?  Might try.

     

    Does a simple "Find" (command-f) work?

     

    Something flakey is going on my machine too, sometimes getting 10,000 hits for a simple search like "apple".

    Although HoudaSpot works fine.

     

    Entering  "appl" into the Finder 'Searching "This Mac" ' displays a window that should be showing that files containing "appl" in the name, but many don't. But look; something interesting: it also say that the kind of files found (which on the left you will see should be "any"), but it leasts the kinds "Application" and "Apple icon image", but not "PDF".  Perhaps it is picking up the pdf icon that is displayed with each file.  This is the only thing that might make sense, since each of the files displayed has an icon associated with it.  Just a guess, but it could be a bug in Spotlight.  This search found 10,000 items, which is also clealy incorrect unless the search is somehow limited to exactly 10,000 items.  That I don't know.  See image below:

    From Clipboard.png

    whatever ... something is rotten in Denmark (Shakespeare)

    -j

  • by ferdnerfer,

    ferdnerfer ferdnerfer Aug 7, 2011 5:53 PM in response to janopus
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 7, 2011 5:53 PM in response to janopus

    Thanks for your thoughts, I am using CMD-F in the Finder, or global shortcut CMD-Option-Spacebar.

     

    I have poured through my Console 'all messages' log, and the System.log. There are lots of messages and errors. I deleted some corrupt zip files, reindexed, Spotlight still not working.

     

    I think there may be a bigger problem here that I'm not going to fix without a software update.

     

    Here is my stripped down 'all messages' log, I've removed most of the dups [which is about 99% of the file]:

     

    110807 3:22:21.431 PM sudo:   ferdnerfer : TTY=ttys000 ; PWD=/Users/ferdnerfer ; USER=root ; COMMAND=/usr/bin/mdutil -E /

    110807 3:26:55.946 PM sudo:   ferdnerfer : TTY=ttys000 ; PWD=/Users/ferdnerfer ; USER=root ; COMMAND=/usr/bin/mdutil -i on /

    110807 3:29:42.789 PM com.apple.launchd.peruser.504: (com.apple.mdworker.prescan.0) Throttling respawn: Will start in 5 seconds

    110807 3:37:29.141 PM com.apple.mdworker.isolation.0: Incorrect start/end range ordering; fixing.

    110807 3:37:39.008 PM com.apple.mdworker.isolation.0: invalid stream length 2200; should be 2202.

    110807 3:37:39.008 PM com.apple.mdworker.isolation.0: FlateDecode: decoding error: invalid bit length repeat.

    110807 3:38:08.230 PM com.apple.mdworker.isolation.0: invalid stream length 3857; should be 4096.

    110807 3:38:26.941 PM com.apple.mdworker.isolation.0: invalid `Widths' entry in font dictionary.

    110807 3:38:40.815 PM com.apple.mdworker.isolation.0: Range {0x0000, 0xFFFF} is not 1-dimensional; handling as a special case.

    110807 3:38:43.439 PM com.apple.mdworker.isolation.0: Incorrect start/end range ordering; fixing.

    110807 3:39:09.206 PM com.apple.mdworker.isolation.0: invalid `Widths' entry in font dictionary.

    110807 3:39:14.737 PM com.apple.mdworker.isolation.0: FlateDecode: decoding error.

    110807 3:41:35.328 PM mdworker32: kCGErrorFailure: Set a breakpoint @ CGErrorBreakpoint() to catch errors as they are logged.

    110807 3:42:07.137 PM com.apple.mdworker.isolation.0: ASCII85Decode: invalid character 0x78 encountered in stream.

    110807 3:47:16.746 PM com.apple.mdworker.isolation.0: Range {0x0000, 0xFFFF} is not 1-dimensional; handling as a special case.

    110807 3:48:14.281 PM com.apple.mdworker.pool.0: PSSniffer error: Invalid argument

    110807 3:49:47.731 PM com.apple.mdworker.pool.0: ImageIO: <ERROR>  JPEG Warning: unknown JFIF revision number 2.01

    110807 3:49:56.392 PM com.apple.mdworker.isolation.0: syntax error, unexpected DICTSTART.

    110807 3:49:56.392 PM com.apple.mdworker.isolation.0: failed to parse embedded CMap.

    110807 3:49:58.446 PM com.apple.mdworker.isolation.0: FlateDecode: decoding error.

    110807 3:50:07.272 PM com.apple.mdworker.isolation.0: invalid `Widths' entry in font dictionary.

    110807 3:50:13.920 PM com.apple.mdworker.isolation.0: Range {0x0000, 0xFFFF} is not 1-dimensional; handling as a special case.

    110807 3:57:45.274 PM com.apple.mdworker.isolation.0: invalid stream length 10461; should be 10460.

    110807 3:57:45.951 PM com.apple.mdworker.isolation.0: LZW decode: encountered unexpected EOF.

    110807 3:58:54.094 PM com.apple.mdworker.isolation.0: Converting string with language tags....

    110807 3:59:16.763 PM com.apple.mdworker.isolation.0: LZW decode: invalid chain sequence.

    110807 4:00:14.298 PM com.apple.mdworker.isolation.0: invalid function: not a dictionary or stream.

    110807 4:00:14.298 PM com.apple.mdworker.isolation.0: invalid image `ColorSpace' value.

    110807 4:03:35.694 PM mdworker: iCal.mdimporter: could not find component keys: /Users/ben/Library/Application Support/iCal/Sources/0FFB3DD5-2A6A-42DB-A195-77448C337155.calendar/corestorage. ics

    110807 4:03:35.721 PM mdworker: iCal.mdimporter: could not find component keys: /Users/ben/Library/Application Support/iCal/Sources/2B835489-C867-4DBB-9AFC-5986AA3F58F4.calendar/corestorage. ics

    110807 4:05:05.089 PM com.apple.mdworker.pool.0: line 67,0: expecting "END", found 'X-WR-OCCTRIGGER' as token type 48

    110807 4:05:05.090 PM mdworker: Component boundaries mismatch (VEVENT VALARM)

    110807 4:05:05.090 PM mdworker: Component boundaries mismatch (VCALENDAR VEVENT)

    110807 4:05:05.091 PM com.apple.mdworker.pool.0: line 96,0: expecting "END", found 'X-WR-OCCTRIGGER' as token type 48

    110807 4:05:05.091 PM mdworker: Component boundaries mismatch (VEVENT VALARM)

    110807 4:05:05.091 PM mdworker: Cal not a ICSCalendar *nil description*

    110807 4:05:05.091 PM mdworker: iCal.mdimporter: could not parse ICS file: /Users/ferdnerfer/Desktop/_pending projects_/osx new computer, apple macbook, hardware, pro/osx mbp, new mbp setup/ical setup 10.6.4/$$$.ics

    110807 4:20:55.483 PM mdworker32: kCGErrorFailure: Set a breakpoint @ CGErrorBreakpoint() to catch errors as they are logged.

    110807 4:21:04.315 PM mdworker32: kCGErrorFailure: Set a breakpoint @ CGErrorBreakpoint() to catch errors as they are logged.

    110807 4:21:15.112 PM com.apple.mdworker.isolation.0: failed to find PDF header: `%PDF' not found.

    110807 4:21:30.989 PM com.apple.mdworker.isolation.0: Incorrect start/end range ordering; fixing.

    110807 4:21:47.988 PM mdworker32: (Normal) Import: mdworker type 'org.openxmlformats.spreadsheetml.sheet' using 'file://localhost/Library/Spotlight/Microsoft%20Office.mdimporter/' exceeded time/resource use limits after 12001 milliseconds, reason:1 - find suspect file using: sudo mdutil -t 3654955

    110807 4:21:54.175 PM mdworker32: kCGErrorFailure: Set a breakpoint @ CGErrorBreakpoint() to catch errors as they are logged.

    110807 4:22:05.358 PM mdworker32: (Normal) Import: mdworker type 'org.openxmlformats.spreadsheetml.sheet' using 'file://localhost/Library/Spotlight/Microsoft%20Office.mdimporter/' exceeded time/resource use limits after 12001 milliseconds, reason:1 - find suspect file using: sudo mdutil -t 3654955

    110807 4:22:12.265 PM mdworker32: kCGErrorFailure: Set a breakpoint @ CGErrorBreakpoint() to catch errors as they are logged.

    110807 4:25:21.898 PM mdworker: iCal.mdimporter: could not parse ICS file: /Applications/Microsoft Office 2011/Office/OutlookCore.framework/Versions/14/Resources/en.lproj/Timezones.ics

    110807 4:25:24.417 PM mdworker32: kCGErrorFailure: Set a breakpoint @ CGErrorBreakpoint() to catch errors as they are logged.

    110807 4:26:47.300 PM com.apple.mdworker.isolation.0: syntax error, unexpected DICTSTART.

    110807 4:26:47.300 PM com.apple.mdworker.isolation.0: failed to parse embedded CMap.

    110807 4:27:30.439 PM mdworker32: kCGErrorFailure: Set a breakpoint @ CGErrorBreakpoint() to catch errors as they are logged.

    110807 4:27:34.449 PM com.apple.mdworker.isolation.0: unsupported security handler `EBX_HANDLER'.

    110807 4:27:34.494 PM com.apple.mdworker.isolation.0: FlateDecode: decoding error: incorrect header check.

    110807 4:27:34.512 PM com.apple.mdworker.isolation.0: FlateDecode: decoding error: unknown compression method.

    110807 4:28:10.163 PM com.apple.mdworker.isolation.0: syntax error, unexpected DICTSTART.

    110807 4:28:10.163 PM com.apple.mdworker.isolation.0: failed to parse embedded CMap.

    110807 4:28:10.164 PM com.apple.mdworker.isolation.0: *** process 1721 exceeded 500 log message per second limit  -  remaining messages this second discarded ***

    110807 4:28:51.331 PM com.apple.mdworker.isolation.0: syntax error, unexpected DICTSTART.

    110807 4:29:13.638 PM mdworker: iCal.mdimporter: could not parse ICS file: /Applications/Microsoft Office 2008/Office/EntourageCore.framework/Versions/12/Resources/en.lproj/Timezones.ic s

    110807 4:32:35.017 PM com.apple.mdworker.isolation.0: Incorrect start/end range ordering; fixing.

    110807 4:48:38.319 PM mdworker: *** Failed to decode 8bit  data, treating as binary

    110807 4:48:55.560 PM com.apple.mdworker.pool.0: I/O error : encoder error

    110807 4:49:39.888 PM com.apple.mdworker.pool.0: I/O

    110807 4:49:39.888 PM com.apple.mdworker.pool.0: error :

    110807 5:10:05.673 PM com.apple.mdworker.pool.0: ImageIO: <ERROR>  readICCData Embedded profile header length is greater than data length.

    110807 5:10:11.912 PM mdworker32: kCGErrorFailure: Set a breakpoint @ CGErrorBreakpoint() to catch errors as they are logged.

    110807 5:10:16.317 PM com.apple.mdworker.isolation.0: invalid stream length 144240; should be 144074.

    110807 5:10:16.332 PM com.apple.mdworker.isolation.0: invalid stream length 417097; should be 416928.

    110807 5:10:16.332 PM com.apple.mdworker.isolation.0: invalid stream length 13770; should be 13603.

    110807 5:10:16.333 PM com.apple.mdworker.isolation.0: invalid stream length 36097; should be 35930.

    110807 5:10:16.334 PM com.apple.mdworker.isolation.0: invalid stream length 66108; should be 65941.

    110807 5:10:16.334 PM com.apple.mdworker.isolation.0: invalid stream length 34431; should be 34264.

    110807 5:10:16.336 PM com.apple.mdworker.isolation.0: invalid stream length 85290; should be 85123.

    110807 5:10:16.338 PM com.apple.mdworker.isolation.0: invalid stream length 125821; should be 125653.

    110807 5:10:16.341 PM com.apple.mdworker.isolation.0: invalid stream length 151798; should be 151630.

    110807 5:10:27.134 PM com.apple.mdworker.isolation.0: Incorrect start/end range ordering; fixing.

    110807 5:10:34.411 PM com.apple.mdworker.isolation.0: failed to find PDF header: `%PDF' not found.

    110807 5:11:23.078 PM sandboxd: ([33]) mds(33) deny file-write-create /private/var/folders/zz/zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n0000000000000/T

    110807 5:11:32.651 PM sandboxd: ([33]) mds(33) deny file-write-create /private/var/folders/zz/zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n0000000000000/T

    110807 5:11:33.686 PM sandboxd: ([33]) mds(33) deny file-write-create /private/var/folders/zz/zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n0000000000000/T

    110807 5:11:34.842 PM sandboxd: ([33]) mds(33) deny file-write-create /private/var/folders/zz/zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n0000000000000/T

    110807 5:12:10.724 PM mdworker32: kCGErrorFailure: Set a breakpoint @ CGErrorBreakpoint() to catch errors as they are logged.

    110807 5:13:32.326 PM com.apple.mdworker.isolation.0: FlateDecode: decoding error.

    110807 5:18:11.465 PM sandboxd: ([33]) mds(33) deny file-write-create /private/var/folders/zz/zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n0000000000000/T

  • by MHTechSolutions,

    MHTechSolutions MHTechSolutions Aug 8, 2011 5:56 AM in response to ferdnerfer
    Level 1 (60 points)
    Aug 8, 2011 5:56 AM in response to ferdnerfer

    Just a suggestion, why not create a new user account and migrate all your documents over?

     

    Since its only your user account affected, I doubt the System\Caches will fix it. But I always empty it out anyway whenever deleting a User Cache folder.

     

    I'm out of ideas myself and I can't really try anything without having access to your computer to dig deeper.

     

    Do you get a different amount of results when searching

     

    "apple"

     

    verses searching

     

    "s281kjsx9x7y2"

  • by ferdnerfer,

    ferdnerfer ferdnerfer Aug 8, 2011 11:53 AM in response to MHTechSolutions
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 8, 2011 11:53 AM in response to MHTechSolutions

    Searching for 'apple' returns 10,000+, 's281kjsx9x7y2' returns 5,693 results, my normal unique word search result.

     

    I wonder if I have a bunch of corrupt .DS_Store files that are impacting Spotlight searches?

     

    There are a few files/folders showing up with 1969 Created/Modified dates [around 23], which are not valid. I should reboot from one of my Snow Leopard backups and look at the date on these files.

     

    I've considered migrating the user account, but if it's some sort of corruption I fear moving the problem to the new account, along with the lost time and settings.

  • by MHTechSolutions,

    MHTechSolutions MHTechSolutions Aug 8, 2011 2:01 PM in response to ferdnerfer
    Level 1 (60 points)
    Aug 8, 2011 2:01 PM in response to ferdnerfer

    Try to create another user and migrate the files, except for anything inside Library

     

    See if the problem still occurs. I would even remove the spotlight metadata and let it re-index everything.

     

    If no issues are found on the account, then we can narrow it down to being in the Library folder.

     

    To get to the root of the issue, we have to remove each possible scenario one by one.

     

    Let me know the outcome of what I suggested.

     

    - Mark

    MH Tech Solutions, LLC.

  • by ferdnerfer,

    ferdnerfer ferdnerfer Aug 11, 2011 12:26 PM in response to MHTechSolutions
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 11, 2011 12:26 PM in response to MHTechSolutions

    The problem doesn't occur with any Houdaspot search I've tried, or when searching a Folder from the Finder Toolbar.

     

    Name searches with Find in the Finder also work fine.

     

    So the index doesn't seem to be corrupt.

     

    Doing full Spotlight searches from the menubar, or using Find in the Finder both return 6,000 results or more.

  • by janopus,

    janopus janopus Aug 11, 2011 12:51 PM in response to ferdnerfer
    Level 1 (1 points)
    Aug 11, 2011 12:51 PM in response to ferdnerfer

    I have exactly the same experience as ferdnerfer, Houdaspot works fine, so the index itsef appears to be fine.

    For the time being I am relying on Houdaspot as I have a couple of thousand journal articles on my machine and spotlight is failing me just now.

    I am currently checking the second user on machine to see if, for some unknown reason, it might be different.

    -j

Page 1 Next