I'm running Mountain Lion on a mid-2012 MBP. I'm finding that Disk Utility will open and work fine for a period just after a reboot, but then it will stop responding for no apparent reason. It happens consistently every time. Has anybody heard of this? Please help! Many thanks.
MacBook Pro (15-inch, Mid 2012), OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.3)
Run disk Utility from the R partition on launch.
Repair Disk and Repair Permission.
Run disk Utility from the R partition on launch.
Repair Disk and Repair Permission.
Hi Rhys.Perrin,
When you say 'work fine for a period' does that mean you have Disk Utility open and are using it for various tasks? Or do you open it once in a while to see how long it takes for it to stop responding?
Hi mmollo22.
This certainly helped me, thank you, but I get this impression this merely sidesteps the issue and is not actually a fix.. I'm about to respond to jayv (below) with a more thorough description of what's been happening. Perhaps you could cast your eye over this and let me know any thoughts you may have as to why it's happening as I doubt I'll be able to go into the R-partition every time.
Many thanks in advance!
Hi jayv.
Essentially, if I access the Disk Utility after the MBP has been running for some time, the Disk Utility will stop responding (ie the "neverending pinwheel of death") during the process of trying to gather the HDD information. If, however, I reboot the MBP and immediately open Disk Utility, Disk Utility will find all HDD information without any fuss and I can do whatever I need to do... to a point. I found last night, for example, that I could verify the disk permissions, but I only got half-way through the repair process before it stopped responding again. Better luck the second time around and I actually succeeded in repairing the permissions, but it stopped responding again part-way through a secure erase (I actually succeeded in executing the secure erase thanks to mmollo22's suggestion above). Each time it stops it appears to be for no apparent reason, and given I work a lot with DVD format via Disk Utility, I'm concerned mmollo2's suggestion is not really a fix, but just a sidestep to do some maintenance. Perhaps there's a fix you're aware of, jayv or mmollo22 (or anyone else!!)? Any help greatly appreciated!
Cheers!
The next time you have the problem, note the exact time: hour, minute, second.
If you have more than one user account, these instructions must be carried out as an administrator.
Launch the Console application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Console in the icon grid.
Make sure the title of the Console window is All Messages. If it isn't, select All Messages from the SYSTEM LOG QUERIES menu on the left. If you don't see that menu, select
View ▹ Show Log List
from the menu bar.
Scroll back in the log to the time you noted above. Select any messages timestamped from then until the end of the episode, or until they start to repeat. Copy them to the Clipboard (command-C). Paste into a reply to this message (command-V).
When posting a log extract, be selective. In most cases, a few dozen lines are more than enough.
Please do not indiscriminately dump thousands of lines from the log into this discussion.
Important: Some private information, such as your name, may appear in the log. Anonymize before posting.
Hi Linc.
Please find log information pertaining to the most recent instance below. Not many lines, I'm afraid, but perhaps it means something to you? Very keen to hear your thoughts! Many thanks in advance for your assistance.
Cheers.
30/06/13 12:47:59.000 AM kernel[0]: TMCCFS 2229 MSG execveHook skip scan the file(/usr/lib/dyld)
30/06/13 12:47:59.000 AM kernel[0]: TMCCFS 2230 MSG execveHook skip scan the file(/usr/lib/dyld)
30/06/13 12:48:00.000 AM kernel[0]: TMCCFS 2231 MSG fileOpScopeListener exec file:/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/Me tadata.framework/Versions/A/Support/mdworker:1
30/06/13 12:48:00.000 AM kernel[0]: TMCCFS 656 MSG handlePutExceptionPids in with 10 apps & 11 pids
Uninstall the Trend Micro product by following the instructions on whichever of the pages linked below is applicable:
Removing Trend Micro Titanium Internet Security
Uninstalling Trend Micro Smart Surfing
Reboot. Back up all data before making any changes.
Hi Linc.
I haven't done what you suggest yet, but I will. Before I do, however, I just wanted to ask a question... Are you suggesting Trend Micro (in my case Trend Micro Titanium Internet Security) is the culprit, or are you thinking that its presence is simply preventing a proper diagnosis of the problem? I'm intrigued!
Cheers.
Are you suggesting Trend Micro (in my case Trend Micro Titanium Internet Security) is the culprit
I'm suggest two things: that it might be the culprit, and that even if it isn't, you're still a lot better off without it, since it's completely useless for any purpose other than slowing down and destabilizing your computer. It does nothing to protect you from any real security threat. As long as it's installed, your system is unmaintainable. If you're determined to keep it despite all that, you can easily reinstall it.
Hi Linc.
I've removed Trend Micro Titanium Internet Security now, but alas, this has not rectified the issue. Please see the log below (there may be a line or two in the below that doesn't relate, but I couldn't be sure so I selected all the lines for roughly the time in question [4:16:00 - 4:16:40).
30/06/13 4:16:00.739 PM AddressBookManager[918]: Validate metadata timed out, cancelling
30/06/13 4:16:01.216 PM mdwrite[922]: [ERROR] [0.000s] com.apple. UBItemStatusNotification.c:805 _do_UBItemStatusNotificationRegisterURLs() can't find realpath for "/Users/rhys1/Library/Mobile Documents/com~apple~system~spotlight/mdlabels", was blocked at "/Users/rhys1/Library/Mobile Documents": 2 (No such file or directory)
30/06/13 4:16:01.216 PM mdwrite[922]: [ERROR] [0.001s] com.apple. UBItemStatusNotification.c:805 _do_UBItemStatusNotificationRegisterURLs() can't find realpath for "/Users/rhys1/Library/Mobile Documents/com~apple~system~spotlight/mdlabels", was blocked at "/Users/rhys1/Library/Mobile Documents": 2 (No such file or directory)
30/06/13 4:16:35.000 PM kernel[0]: Sandbox: sandboxd(932) deny mach-lookup com.apple.coresymbolicationd
30/06/13 4:16:37.899 PM sandboxd[932]: ([931]) mdworker(931) deny file-write-owner /Users/rhys1/Library/Containers/com.apple.Notes/Data/Library/Notes/NotesV1.stor edata-wal (import fstype:hfs fsflag:480D000 flags:240000005F diag:0 uti:com.apple.notes.externalrecord plugin:/Library/Spotlight/Notes.mdimporter - find suspect file using: sudo mdutil -t 33796554)
30/06/13 4:16:38.561 PM sandboxd[932]: ([931]) mdworker(931) deny file-write-owner /Users/rhys1/Library/Containers/com.apple.Notes/Data/Library/Notes/NotesV1.stor edata-shm (import fstype:hfs fsflag:480D000 flags:240000005F diag:0 uti:com.apple.notes.externalrecord plugin:/Library/Spotlight/Notes.mdimporter - find suspect file using: sudo mdutil -t 33796554)
Any thoughts greatly appreciated.
Perhaps you also have some thoughts on appropriate anti-virus measures too? I suspect your advice may be to be vigilant rather than become complacent by relying on third party apps, which I also suspect to be largely useless?
Cheers.
Please read this whole message before doing anything.
If you find this comment too long or too technical, read only sections 5, 6, and 10.
2. All versions of OS X since 10.6.7 have been able to detect known Mac malware in downloaded files, and to block insecure web plugins. This feature is transparent to the user, but internally Apple calls it "XProtect." The malware recognition database is automatically checked for updates once a day; however, you shouldn't rely on it, because the attackers are always at least a day ahead of the defenders.
The following caveats apply to XProtect:
Gatekeeper doesn't depend on a database of known malware. It has, however, the same limitations as XProtect, and in addition the following:
For the reasons given above, App Store products, and other applications recognized by Gatekeeper as signed, are safer than others, but they can't be considered absolutely safe. "Sandboxed" applications may prompt for access to private data, such as your contacts, or for access to the network. Think before granting that access. OS X security is based on user input. Never click through any request for authorization without thinking.
4. Starting with OS X 10.8.3, a third layer of protection has been added: a "Malware Removal Tool" (MRT). MRT runs automatically in the background when you update the OS. It checks for, and removes, malware that may have evaded the other protections via a Java exploit (see below.) MRT also runs when you install or update the Apple-supplied Java runtime (but not the Oracle runtime.) Like XProtect, MRT is presumably effective against known attacks, but maybe not against unknown attacks. It notifies you if it finds malware, but otherwise there's no user interface to MRT.
5. XProtect, Gatekeeper, and MRT reduce the risk of malware attack, but they're not absolute protection. The first and best line of defense is always your own intelligence. With the possible exception of Java exploits, all known malware circulating on the Internet that affects a fully-updated installation of OS X 10.6 or later takes the form of so-called "trojan horses," which can only have an effect if the victim is duped into running them. The threat therefore amounts to a battle of wits between you and the malware attacker. If you're smarter than he thinks you are, you'll win.
That means, in practice, that you never use software that comes from an untrustworthy source, or that does something inherently untrustworthy. How do you know what is trustworthy?
Fortunately, client-side Java on the Web is obsolete and mostly extinct. Only a few outmoded sites still use it. Try to hasten the process of extinction by avoiding those sites, if you have a choice. Forget about playing games or other non-essential uses of Java.
8. ClamXav doesn't have these drawbacks. That doesn't mean it's entirely safe. It may report email messages that have "phishing" links in the body, or Windows malware in attachments, as infected files, and offer to delete or move them. Doing so will corrupt the Mail database. The messages should be deleted from within the Mail application.
A Windows malware attachment in email is usually easy to recognize. The file name will often be targeted at people who aren't very bright; for example:
♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥!!!!!!!H0TBABEZ4U!!!!!!!.AVI♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥.exe
ClamXav may be able to tell you which particular virus or trojan it is, but do you care? In practice, there's seldom a reason to use ClamXav unless a network administrator requires you to run an anti-virus application.
Hi Linc.
I carried out the safe boot procedure as you suggested and appeared to have no issues in the 45-odd minutes I was in this mode. I also carried out a process of resetting PRAM. I then rebooted into normal mode. For the bulk of the past 24-hours there has been no issue... Until now. I have just tried to launch Disk Utilities again, and the issue has returned. This time, the Console log reads as follows:
1/07/13 10:38:05.172 PM WindowServer[154]: CGXDisableUpdate: UI updates were forcibly disabled by application "Disk Utility" for over 1.00 seconds. Server has re-enabled them.
1/07/13 10:38:05.313 PM WindowServer[154]: reenable_update_for_connection: UI updates were finally reenabled by application "Disk Utility" after 1.14 seconds (server forcibly re-enabled them after 1.00 seconds)
Given the reference to Windows Server in the above, I should also highlight out a couple of other points at this stage:
Linc, once again, any thoughts are greatly appreciated.
Cheers.
Hi again, Linc and Thomas.
Many thanks for the advice re anti-virus. Feeling a lot better having read over all of this - thank you!! :-)
Cheers.
Disk Utility Stops Responding
