Sound stuttering after Mountain Lion install

They told me that it would also be about a week. That was back at the end of September around the 25th. I guess this means they don't know what the problem is and will be waiting indefinitely?

My tech person was quite interested and helpful...until I said I'd had enough of being an unpaid Apple test analyst and just wanted advice on reinstalling Lion - I didn't receive anymore contact!

My first tech guy bailed. A second one took a log file. Never got back to me so I don't know what they found if anything.

I think this issue is in the bucket of "darn hard to pinpoint" and is a natural result of the "add a bunch of pointless features nobody needs nor asked for" philosophy they have adopted. So for them backtracking and finding what they screwed up is going to be work.

If it were a priority for them not to suck they wouldn't have shipped it, so I don't expect they will make much effort. Just rush to ship an equally buggy Battle Goat or whatever comes next. Probably it will include a bunch of pointless Twitter integration or while breaking VIDEO. ;)

Ok, now after all I wrote another email to the AppleCare Senior Advisor:

Another person here with this annoying audio stutter issue.

2008 macbook pro. All i notice is the red light in the headphone port flickers or stays on while the audio is cut out. Doesnt seem to be too much strain on the CPU or heat as ive only got a web browser open and itunes playing in the background, or VLC on its own just playing a .mp4.

When it happens playing an mp4 in VLC the video doesnt stutter at all and continues to play smoothly but the audio will cut out for a second or maybe two every so often. sometimes i can go 30 minutes with no stutter, other times i will get it every other minute.

Think i will have to downgrade to snow leopard and hope it doesnt continue in that.

This is not the stuttering issue. It's another known Apple software problem. It's related with bad management of the headphone jack. Mine now have this problem too, it's all fine until I put the headphone and take it off, after taking it off the "Most Advanced Operanting System in the Whole World" may or may not stop thinking it should produce sound through the sound speakers. It may become mute, but after some time of use, it comes back without any specific reason I know.

I just downloaded Lion from Apple Store (although I'm not sure if I'll keep using Apple buggy OS). If you have purchased and upgraded to Lion before, you can go to your previous purchases and download it again. After the download finishes a message saying you can't upgrade to an older OS will show. You should then go to "/Applications/Install Mac OS X Lion.app/Contents/SharedSupport/" and copy the DMG for burning a installation disk. You may then delete the Lion Installation App and burn the installation disk to DVD or thumb drive.

about "You're Apple, not Samsung!"... To me, this sounds as a joke.

I own a Galaxy Note and I love this gadget, everyday, I use it to read books, play chess, stream grooveshark music for free, take notes and sketch with its discrete pen, it's a tablet that I'm able to carry at my pocket without any hassle (contrary to some weird mini?-icrap), it's a big cellphone too, and it's not uncomfortable to use, at last for me. I just downloaded a HD movie through torrent on it, donwloaded the subtitles at another website, it's was not synchronized with the audio, I adjusted everything inside the Note, it's a joy to use, I can even stream full hd media to my TV through MHL technology, using a inexpensive cable.

My G-Note received its updates accordingly, it was updated to ICS and Jelly Bean is comming, I think it'll will be the last update for this model.

Next time I feel I need a new cellphone, I'll buy another from this line. All in One, tablet/phone, It does a good job as both.

Now, about my experience with my single Apple gadget, a 2011 expensive macbook pro:

THIS IS THE LAST TIME I BUY APPLE STUFF

... wait, after saying all that I just realized: for sure!, Apple is not Samsung!

We'll see if this is a joke. Lets hope it is not and Apple will fix this problem.

(There is some hope, since Apple is working on 10.8.3).

But I've still no answer of the "Apple Care Senior Advisor"…

I thought this problem had gone away, but it's been back a lot this week. During the stuttering, I've been working in Photoshop and my iMac just instalty rebooted itself – kernal panic. This has happened a couple of times this week, twive yesterday and once today.

I've no idea how to decipher the crash log, but I'll paste it here in case it helps anyone see similarities? I was worried this may be a mother board issue (mid 2011 iMac 27" i7) but judging by the amount of similar cases, it must be a serious OSX 10.8.x issue (I'm now running 10.8.2 and still get the stuttering).

---

Crash report 02/11/12

Interval Since Last Panic Report: 16414 sec

Panics Since Last Report: 1

Anonymous UUID: B6F66D65-CDE6-7904-07A1-ED6971F9B73C

Fri Nov 2 11:10:03 2012

Panic(CPU 0): NMIPI for spinlock acquisition timeout, spinlock: 0xffffff80474e0840, spinlock owner: 0xffffff804c1a3550, current_thread: 0xffffff804c1a3550, spinlock_owner_cpu: 0x0

RAX: 0x00000000000000fe, RBX: 0xffffff8049973f80, RCX: 0x0000000000001a50, RDX: 0xffffff818f43a000

RSP: 0xffffff817fde5ec0, RBP: 0xffffff817fde5f40, RSI: 0xffffff817fde5ef8, RDI: 0xffffff8049973f80

R8: 0x0000000000000001, R9: 0x00000000000003ff, R10: 0xffffffffffffffff, R11: 0x00000000ffffffff

R12: 0xffffff817fde5ef8, R13: 0xffffff8049963680, R14: 0xffffff80499fe000, R15: 0xffffff817fde5f08

RFL: 0x0000000000000083, RIP: 0xffffff7faeae0041, CS: 0x0000000000000008, SS: 0x0000000000000010

Backtrace (CPU 0), Frame : Return Address

0xffffff817fde5d40 : 0xffffff802d4bd371

0xffffff817fde5d70 : 0xffffff802d4b7203

0xffffff817fde5dc0 : 0xffffff802d4ce81b

0xffffff817fde5f40 : 0xffffff7fada91815

0xffffff817fde5f50 : 0xffffff7faf11e62d

0xffffff817fde5f60 : 0xffffff7faf125b5b

0xffffff817fde5f80 : 0xffffff802d4b720f

0xffffff817fde5fd0 : 0xffffff802d4ce6a8

0xffffff818eebbda0 : 0xffffff802d41763d

0xffffff818eebbe00 : 0xffffff802d410aaa

0xffffff818eebbed0 : 0xffffff802d411601

0xffffff818eebbf00 : 0xffffff802d4195f9

0xffffff818eebbf70 : 0xffffff802d4a5b16

0xffffff818eebbfb0 : 0xffffff802d4ced53

Kernel Extensions in backtrace:

com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily(2.7.1)[9901C237-547C-3B52-99DE-C4870A19E2B5]@0xffff ff7fada90000->0xffffff7fadab4fff

com.apple.driver.AppleACPIPlatform(1.6)[4F08531B-7E5A-3604-924A-8769CF53458B]@0 xffffff7faf118000->0xffffff7faf16efff

dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOACPIFamily(1.4)[A35915E8-C1B0-3C0F-81DF-5515BC9002FC]@0xfffff f7fadf2c000

dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily(2.7.1)[9901C237-547C-3B52-99DE-C4870A19E2B5]@0xffff ff7fada90000

Kernel Extensions in backtrace:

com.apple.kext.AMD6000Controller(8.0)[B8119AB9-CAB3-374E-917D-294D7365F60A]@0xf fffff7faeade000->0xffffff7faeb23fff

dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOACPIFamily(1.4)[A35915E8-C1B0-3C0F-81DF-5515BC9002FC]@0xfffff f7fadf2c000

dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily(2.7.1)[9901C237-547C-3B52-99DE-C4870A19E2B5]@0xffff ff7fada90000

dependency: com.apple.kext.AMDSupport(8.0.0)[7B2EC6D1-101A-3928-919E-337D6724752A]@0xffffff 7fae8d9000

dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOGraphicsFamily(2.3.5)[803496D0-ADAD-3ADB-B071-8A0A197DA53D]@0 xffffff7fadfbd000

BSD process name corresponding to current thread: WindowServer

Mac OS version:

12C54

Kernel version:

Darwin Kernel Version 12.2.0: Sat Aug 25 00:48:52 PDT 2012; root:xnu-2050.18.24~1/RELEASE_X86_64

Kernel UUID: 69A5853F-375A-3EF4-9247-478FD0247333

Kernel slide: 0x000000002d200000

Kernel text base: 0xffffff802d400000

System model name: iMac12,2 (Mac-942B59F58194171B)

System uptime in nanoseconds: 17200107047540

last loaded kext at 838800566707: com.apple.filesystems.smbfs 1.8 (addr 0xffffff7faf6cf000, size 229376)

last unloaded kext at 252817427446: com.apple.driver.AppleUSBUHCI 5.2.5 (addr 0xffffff7fadd67000, size 65536)

loaded kexts:

com.apple.filesystems.smbfs 1.8

com.apple.filesystems.msdosfs 1.8

com.apple.driver.AppleBluetoothMultitouch 75.15

com.apple.driver.AppleHWSensor 1.9.5d0

com.apple.iokit.IOBluetoothSerialManager 4.0.9f33

com.apple.driver.AudioAUUC 1.60

com.apple.driver.AGPM 100.12.69

com.apple.driver.AppleMikeyHIDDriver 122

com.apple.filesystems.autofs 3.0

com.apple.driver.AppleHDA 2.3.1f2

com.apple.iokit.IOUserEthernet 1.0.0d1

com.apple.driver.AppleUpstreamUserClient 3.5.10

com.apple.driver.AppleMikeyDriver 2.3.1f2

com.apple.iokit.BroadcomBluetoothHCIControllerUSBTransport 4.0.9f33

com.apple.kext.AMDFramebuffer 8.0.0

com.apple.driver.AppleIntelHD3000Graphics 8.0.0

com.apple.driver.AppleBacklight 170.2.3

com.apple.Dont_Steal_Mac_OS_X 7.0.0

com.apple.driver.ApplePolicyControl 3.2.11

com.apple.driver.ACPI_SMC_PlatformPlugin 1.0.0

com.apple.driver.AppleMCCSControl 1.0.33

com.apple.driver.AppleIntelSNBGraphicsFB 8.0.0

com.apple.driver.AppleSMCLMU 2.0.2d0

com.apple.driver.AppleLPC 1.6.0

com.apple.AMDRadeonAccelerator 1.0.0

com.apple.driver.AppleSMCPDRC 1.0.0

com.apple.iokit.SCSITaskUserClient 3.5.1

com.apple.driver.AppleUSBCardReader 3.1.0

com.apple.driver.AppleIRController 320.15

com.apple.AppleFSCompression.AppleFSCompressionTypeDataless 1.0.0d1

com.apple.AppleFSCompression.AppleFSCompressionTypeZlib 1.0.0d1

com.apple.BootCache 34

com.apple.driver.XsanFilter 404

com.apple.iokit.IOAHCIBlockStorage 2.2.2

com.apple.driver.AppleUSBHub 5.2.5

com.apple.driver.AirPort.Atheros40 600.70.23

com.apple.driver.AppleFWOHCI 4.9.6

com.apple.iokit.AppleBCM5701Ethernet 3.2.5b3

com.apple.driver.AppleUSBEHCI 5.4.0

com.apple.driver.AppleAHCIPort 2.4.1

com.apple.driver.AppleEFINVRAM 1.6.1

com.apple.driver.AppleACPIButtons 1.6

com.apple.driver.AppleRTC 1.5

com.apple.driver.AppleHPET 1.7

com.apple.driver.AppleSMBIOS 1.9

com.apple.driver.AppleACPIEC 1.6

com.apple.driver.AppleAPIC 1.6

com.apple.driver.AppleIntelCPUPowerManagementClient 196.0.0

com.apple.nke.applicationfirewall 4.0.39

com.apple.security.quarantine 2

com.apple.driver.AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement 196.0.0

com.apple.driver.IOBluetoothHIDDriver 4.0.9f33

com.apple.driver.AppleMultitouchDriver 235.28

com.apple.iokit.IOSerialFamily 10.0.6

com.apple.kext.triggers 1.0

com.apple.driver.DspFuncLib 2.3.1f2

com.apple.iokit.IOAudioFamily 1.8.9fc10

com.apple.kext.OSvKernDSPLib 1.6

com.apple.iokit.IOSurface 86.0.3

com.apple.iokit.AppleBluetoothHCIControllerUSBTransport 4.0.9f33

com.apple.iokit.IOBluetoothFamily 4.0.9f33

com.apple.driver.AppleBacklightExpert 1.0.4

com.apple.driver.AppleGraphicsControl 3.2.11

com.apple.driver.AppleSMBusPCI 1.0.10d0

com.apple.driver.IOPlatformPluginLegacy 1.0.0

com.apple.driver.AppleSMBusController 1.0.10d0

com.apple.iokit.IOAcceleratorFamily 19.0.26

com.apple.iokit.IONDRVSupport 2.3.5

com.apple.driver.AppleSMC 3.1.4d2

com.apple.driver.IOPlatformPluginFamily 5.2.0d16

com.apple.driver.AppleHDAController 2.3.1f2

com.apple.iokit.IOHDAFamily 2.3.1f2

com.apple.iokit.IOFireWireIP 2.2.5

com.apple.kext.AMD6000Controller 8.0.0

com.apple.kext.AMDSupport 8.0.0

com.apple.iokit.IOGraphicsFamily 2.3.5

com.apple.driver.AppleThunderboltEDMSink 1.1.8

com.apple.driver.AppleThunderboltEDMSource 1.1.8

com.apple.driver.AppleUSBHIDKeyboard 165.5

com.apple.driver.AppleHIDKeyboard 165.5

com.apple.driver.AppleThunderboltDPOutAdapter 1.8.5

com.apple.driver.AppleThunderboltDPInAdapter 1.8.5

com.apple.driver.AppleThunderboltDPAdapterFamily 1.8.5

com.apple.driver.AppleThunderboltPCIDownAdapter 1.2.5

com.apple.iokit.IOSCSIMultimediaCommandsDevice 3.5.1

com.apple.iokit.IOBDStorageFamily 1.7

com.apple.iokit.IODVDStorageFamily 1.7.1

com.apple.iokit.IOCDStorageFamily 1.7.1

com.apple.iokit.IOSCSIBlockCommandsDevice 3.5.1

com.apple.iokit.IOUSBMassStorageClass 3.5.0

com.apple.iokit.IOAHCISerialATAPI 2.5.0

com.apple.iokit.IOSCSIArchitectureModelFamily 3.5.1

com.apple.iokit.IOUSBHIDDriver 5.2.5

com.apple.driver.AppleUSBMergeNub 5.2.5

com.apple.driver.AppleUSBComposite 5.2.5

com.apple.iokit.IOUSBUserClient 5.2.5

com.apple.driver.AppleThunderboltNHI 1.6.0

com.apple.iokit.IOThunderboltFamily 2.1.1

com.apple.iokit.IO80211Family 500.15

com.apple.iokit.IOFireWireFamily 4.5.5

com.apple.iokit.IOEthernetAVBController 1.0.2b1

com.apple.iokit.IONetworkingFamily 3.0

com.apple.iokit.IOAHCIFamily 2.2.1

com.apple.iokit.IOUSBFamily 5.4.0

com.apple.driver.AppleEFIRuntime 1.6.1

com.apple.iokit.IOHIDFamily 1.8.0

com.apple.iokit.IOSMBusFamily 1.1

com.apple.security.sandbox 220

com.apple.kext.AppleMatch 1.0.0d1

com.apple.security.TMSafetyNet 7

com.apple.driver.DiskImages 344

com.apple.iokit.IOStorageFamily 1.8

com.apple.driver.AppleKeyStore 28.21

com.apple.driver.AppleACPIPlatform 1.6

com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily 2.7.1

com.apple.iokit.IOACPIFamily 1.4

com.apple.kec.corecrypto 1.0

panic(cpu 6 caller 0xffffff802d410703): "Spinlock acquisition timed out: lock=0xffffff80474e0840, lock owner thread=0xffffff804c1a3550, current_thread: 0xffffff8049809000, lock owner active on CPU 0x0, current owner: 0xffffff804c1a3550"@/SourceCache/xnu/xnu-2050.18.24/osfmk/i386/locks_i386.c:363

Backtrace (CPU 6), Frame : Return Address

0xffffff818de8bd90 : 0xffffff802d41d626

0xffffff818de8be00 : 0xffffff802d410703

0xffffff818de8bed0 : 0xffffff802d411601

0xffffff818de8bf00 : 0xffffff802d4195f9

0xffffff818de8bf70 : 0xffffff802d4a5b16

0xffffff818de8bfb0 : 0xffffff802d4ced53

BSD process name corresponding to current thread: WindowServer

Model: iMac12,2, BootROM IM121.0047.B1F, 4 processors, Intel Core i7, 3.4 GHz, 12 GB, SMC 1.72f2

Graphics: AMD Radeon HD 6970M, AMD Radeon HD 6970M, PCIe, 1024 MB

Memory Module: BANK 0/DIMM0, 2 GB, DDR3, 1333 MHz, 0x80CE, 0x4D34373142353637334648302D4348392020

Memory Module: BANK 1/DIMM0, 2 GB, DDR3, 1333 MHz, 0x80CE, 0x4D34373142353637334648302D4348392020

Memory Module: BANK 0/DIMM1, 4 GB, DDR3, 1333 MHz, 0x802C, 0x31364A54463531323634485A2D3147344831

Memory Module: BANK 1/DIMM1, 4 GB, DDR3, 1333 MHz, 0x80CE, 0x4D34373142353237334348302D4348392020

AirPort: spairport_wireless_card_type_airport_extreme (0x168C, 0x9A), Atheros 9380: 4.0.70.23-P2P

Bluetooth: Version 4.0.9f33 10885, 2 service, 18 devices, 1 incoming serial ports

Network Service: Wi-Fi, AirPort, en1

Serial ATA Device: ST31000528AS, 1 TB

Serial ATA Device: HL-DT-STDVDRW GA32N

USB Device: FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in), apple_vendor_id, 0x850b, 0xfa200000 / 3

USB Device: hub_device, 0x0424 (SMSC), 0x2514, 0xfa100000 / 2

USB Device: Keyboard Hub, apple_vendor_id, 0x1006, 0xfa130000 / 5

USB Device: Apple Keyboard, apple_vendor_id, 0x0221, 0xfa132000 / 7

USB Device: BRCM2046 Hub, 0x0a5c (Broadcom Corp.), 0x4500, 0xfa110000 / 4

USB Device: Bluetooth USB Host Controller, apple_vendor_id, 0x8215, 0xfa111000 / 6

USB Device: hub_device, 0x0424 (SMSC), 0x2514, 0xfd100000 / 2

USB Device: My Book, 0x1058 (Western Digital Technologies, Inc.), 0x1100, 0xfd140000 / 5

USB Device: Internal Memory Card Reader, apple_vendor_id, 0x8403, 0xfd110000 / 4

USB Device: IR Receiver, apple_vendor_id, 0x8242, 0xfd120000 / 3

---

Same situation here designaholic. None of the suggested remedies worked and no official response from Apple. I'm afraid the only resolution I can suggest is heading back to Lion. I've had zero crashes, zero lags, zero stutters since reinstalling.

It's the software, not the hardware. Mountain Lion simply hadn't been tested properly at Apple HQ.

Yeah guys, this is a sticky bug.

I went back to lion and it followed me back! Ha. Must have been something in the preferences files I brought over. Tried kill coreaudio trick and maybe made it better...? Probably it will be back tomorrow.

Argh Apple what did you do!

Bring nothing back with you from ML to be safe.

Here's a quick video clearly showing the issue I am having, and I expect others?

In this example, just using the Lasso tool on a tiny doc in Photoshop caused the stuttering. Sometimes simply scrolling a web page in Safari or Chrome resulted in the same issue. Occasionally, it just does it when nothing is happening, i.e, I'm idle and not moving the cursor.

Nb. On this particular occasion no kernel panic happened, but when they have, it has been as the stuttering kicks in as it does so in the video the – iMac simply reboots itself instantly.

Check it out:

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/5837624/ML_iTunes_stuttering_issue.m4v

That's just the thing, mine is more noticeable than yours, maybe because it has lower specs than an iMac, but it's the same thing. Mine doesn't enter kernel panic at last.

Hey, I thought it would be the exact same thing as everyone else. To be honest, it's been way more pronouced than that at times for me too.

If it were simply stuttering, although very annoying, it's not as bad as having the entire system crash... it really worries me when that happens, it's usually when I have a bloody deadline too!

The only saving grace is that the OS relaunches well in Mountain Lion and the apps I work with are generally good at restoring right back where they were left.

I've worked with music in the background for over 10 years, it's crucial productivity food. Never has this been an issue, so I really hope Apple get to the bottom of this soon.