Intermittent spinning wheel, mdworker and CrashReport processes in Activity Monitor

Question

Level 1

0 points

Intermittent spinning wheel, mdworker and CrashReport processes in Activity Monitor

It started with spinning wheel, not knowing what was bogging the system down followed by the grey screen with the flashing ? folder and a couple of Kernel Panic crashes. After using the Step by Step guide (https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3353) and OnyX, it appears that I have "fixed" the boot problem.

"Fixed".

I still have the spinning wheel issue, albeit intermittently. During these spinning wheel lags, I have looked at the Activity monitor and have seen mdworker and CrashReport gobbling up %CPU.

In the console, it appears that CrashReport is generating a ton of logs (hundreds in the last hour) regarding mdworker that look like this:

Jan 5 07:38:41 Ricks-MacBook-Pro.local ReportCrash[2882]: Removing excessive log: file://localhost/Users/ricksmith/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/mdworker32_2013 -01-05-073725_Ricks-MacBook-Pro.crash

Jan 5 07:38:46 Ricks-MacBook-Pro com.apple.launchd.peruser.501[152] (com.apple.mdworker.32bit.01000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000[2908]): Job appears to have crashed: Segmentation fault: 11

Jan 5 07:38:46 Ricks-MacBook-Pro.local ReportCrash[2909]: Saved crash report for mdworker32[2908] version 707.3 to /Users/ricksmith/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/mdworker32_2013-01-05-073846_Ri cks-MacBook-Pro.crash

Jan 5 07:38:46 Ricks-MacBook-Pro.local ReportCrash[2909]: Removing excessive log: file://localhost/Users/ricksmith/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/mdworker32_2013 -01-05-073730-1_Ricks-MacBook-Pro.crash

Jan 5 07:38:46 Ricks-MacBook-Pro com.apple.launchd.peruser.501[152] (com.apple.mdworker.32bit.01000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000[2910]): Job appears to have crashed: Segmentation fault: 11

Jan 5 07:38:46 Ricks-MacBook-Pro.local ReportCrash[2909]: Saved crash report for mdworker32[2910] version 707.3 to /Users/ricksmith/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/mdworker32_2013-01-05-073846-1_ Ricks-MacBook-Pro.crash

Jan 5 07:38:46 Ricks-MacBook-Pro.local ReportCrash[2909]: Removing excessive log: file://localhost/Users/ricksmith/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/mdworker32_2013 -01-05-073730_Ricks-MacBook-Pro.crash

Jan 5 07:38:52 Ricks-MacBook-Pro com.apple.launchd.peruser.501[152] (com.apple.mdworker.32bit.01000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000[2911]): Job appears to have crashed: Segmentation fault: 11

What's the next step?

MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2012), OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)

Posted on Jan 5, 2013 4:57 AM

Reply

Answer 1

h2oneuron Author

Level 1

0 points

Jan 5, 2013 5:06 AM in response to h2oneuron

The Console > System Diagnostic Reports shows no less than 20 items titled mdworker, all dated today. An example report:

Process: mdworker32 [1385]

Path: /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/Metadat a.framework/Versions/A/Support/mdworker32

Identifier: mdworker32

Version: 707.3

Code Type: X86 (Native)

Parent Process: launchd [147]

User ID: 89

Date/Time: 2013-01-05 06:18:48.312 -0500

OS Version: Mac OS X 10.8.2 (12C3006)

Report Version: 10

Crashed Thread: 3 Dispatch queue: <MDSImporterWorker 0x7a645d20 shutdown:NO got shutdown notification:NO>

Exception Type: EXC_BAD_ACCESS (SIGSEGV)

Exception Codes: EXC_I386_GPFLT

Application Specific Information:

Initializing

Application Specific Signatures:

mdworker

Thread 0:: Dispatch queue: com.apple.main-thread

0 libsystem_kernel.dylib 0x9563e7d2 mach_msg_trap + 10

1 libsystem_kernel.dylib 0x9563dcb0 mach_msg + 68

2 com.apple.CoreFoundation 0x9261a599 __CFRunLoopServiceMachPort + 185

3 com.apple.CoreFoundation 0x9261ff7f __CFRunLoopRun + 1247

4 com.apple.CoreFoundation 0x9261f63a CFRunLoopRunSpecific + 378

5 com.apple.CoreFoundation 0x9262f061 CFRunLoopRun + 129

6 mdworker32 0x000e2d14 0xd9000 + 40212

7 libdyld.dylib 0x9a715725 start + 1

Reply

Answer 2

The hatter

Level 9

60,990 points

Jan 5, 2013 6:47 AM in response to h2oneuron

That is a great FAQ and the user has done a great deal and over the years. But it doesn't mention testing memory (AHT does not do a good enough job). Rember or Memtest or even swapping out DIMMs.

Spotlight issues I assume you fixed or resolved and deleted and rebuilt.

CLONE your system both for testing and backup and to have an off line 2nd backup set and then start over with a clean system and gradually introduce programa and all the rest.

And keep everything disconnected while you troubleshoot.

Resolving Kernal Panics

http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/kernelpanics.html

http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-10344626-263.html

http://macs.about.com/od/usingyourmac/qt/Troubleshooting-Os-X-Kernel-Panics.htm

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3742

You have a notebook, you posted in a forum for workstations, you might want to check that and also look in Mac OS community.

MacBook Pro
https://discussions.apple.com/community/notebooks/macbook_pro

https://discussions.apple.com/community/mac_os?view=discussions

http://www.apple.com/support/macbookpro

Reply

Answer 3

japamac

Level 7

24,400 points

Jan 6, 2013 4:29 AM in response to h2oneuron

Add all hard drives to System Preferences/Spotlight/Options/Privacy.

This will stop mdworker from activating to index the drives for Spotlight services.

It should also stop the bog down and logging.

This isn't, however, a fix, simply a workaround or test.

Search functions will also be incomplete or disabled due to lack of drive indexing when a drive is placed in "Privacy".

*

FYI, mdworker will run virtually non-stop after a new OS install, a large backup or connection of a new, data filled drive. This is necessary to build indexes to allow searches of your hard drives, but consumes all CPU resources that mdworker can grab.

Until the indexing is complete, the process will continue to sap resources.

More:

http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/stopspotlightindex.html

*

The EXC_BAD_ACCESS (SIGSEGV) could be RAM or other memory type (drive cache) related, as alluded to by The hatter.

This is further supported by the log entry "Segmentation fault: 11" which refers to a memory error regarding access of an unassigned memory block.

Sometimes this error is a bad programming issue, but may also be hardware related; memory, drive cache, drive block or sector, CPU, etc.

Testing the RAM with one of the mentioned softwares would be prudent in my estimation.

Testing with Memtest X in Single User mode will likely provide the most thorough test, as it allows testing of all memory with none left in reserve as when testing in the OS does.

Reply

Answer 4

h2oneuron Author

Level 1

0 points

Jan 7, 2013 12:55 PM in response to japamac

Unfortunately, I was unable to get so far. My processor kept hanging with a reasonable number of programs running. After shutting down and restarting, I got the flashing question mark grey careen again, so I restarted with The online help and am using disk utility. Disk Utility appears to ha e found some issues this time around which it did not last time, so I am at a loss. Currently writing from my iPad, as my MacBook Pro is running Disk Utility.

Currently performing disk verify, and the following messages have come up:

-Journal need to be replayed but volume is read-only

-Incorrect number of thread records

-Invalid leaf record count

-Missing thread record (id = #########) there are 20 id's listed.

Not sure where to go from here

Reply

Answer 5

japamac

Level 7

24,400 points

Jan 8, 2013 1:57 AM in response to h2oneuron

If the MacBook Pro is still in warranty, use it.

Call and get an appointment.

Reply