MacBook Pro 10.9 Dictation has stopped working

Question

Level 1

5 points

MacBook Pro 10.9 Dictation has stopped working

I'm on a MacBook Pro running 10.9. When I activate the Dictation function, the other sound source fades away and, as I speak, I see the sound response in the microphone icon. However, nothing gets typed on the screen. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Peter Miller

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Posted on Nov 29, 2013 1:19 PM

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Answer 1

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,547 points

Nov 29, 2013 5:18 PM in response to Peterkin

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.

Click the Clear Display icon in the toolbar. Then try the action that you're having trouble with again. Select any messages that appear in the Console window. Copy them to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination 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.

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Answer 2

Peterkin Author

Level 1

5 points

Nov 29, 2013 7:05 PM in response to Linc Davis

Thanks Linc: I hope that this will help you to spot the problem.

11/29/2013 6:57:10.469 PM com.apple.SecurityServer[14]: Killing auth hosts

11/29/2013 6:57:10.469 PM com.apple.SecurityServer[14]: Session 100128 destroyed

11/29/2013 6:57:10.473 PM com.apple.SecurityServer[14]: Session 100130 created

11/29/2013 6:57:16.664 PM com.apple.SpeechRecognitionCore.brokerd[2605]: daemon(2606) recycled.

11/29/2013 6:57:16.664 PM com.apple.SpeechRecognitionCore.speechrecognitiond[2606]: peer(20150) is first peer alive

11/29/2013 6:57:16.665 PM DictationIM[20150]: Hello <dictionary: 0x61800018af80> { count = 6, contents =

"options" => <uint64: 0x618000241470>: 16777216

"id" => <uint64: 0x6180002413b0>: 105553118157424

"msg" => <int64: 0x618000241350>: 101

"locale" => <string: 0x6180002768c0> { length = 5, contents = "en_US" }

"live" => <bool: 0x7fff7be3d920>: true

"audioDevice" => <string: 0x6180002769c0> { length = 30, contents = "AppleHDAEngineInput:1B,0,1,0:1" }

} -> <dictionary: 0x61800018b1f0> { count = 1, contents =

"msg" => <int64: 0x60000024a1a0>: 201

}

11/29/2013 6:57:16.665 PM DictationIM[20150]: client received XPC_ERROR_CONNECTION_INVALID

11/29/2013 6:57:16.665 PM com.apple.SpeechRecognitionCore.speechrecognitiond[2606]: RDSoundSource::CreateLiveSource

11/29/2013 6:57:16.666 PM com.apple.SpeechRecognitionCore.speechrecognitiond[2606]: RDSoundSource::Open

11/29/2013 6:57:16.666 PM com.apple.SpeechRecognitionCore.speechrecognitiond[2606]: peer(20150) was last peer alive

11/29/2013 6:57:16.666 PM com.apple.SpeechRecognitionCore.speechrecognitiond[2606]: S2: Info: closing external chanel

11/29/2013 6:57:16.666 PM com.apple.SpeechRecognitionCore.speechrecognitiond[2606]: RDSoundSource::Close

11/29/2013 6:57:16.667 PM com.apple.SpeechRecognitionCore.speechrecognitiond[2606]: S2: Info: resetting primary channel

11/29/2013 6:57:16.667 PM com.apple.SpeechRecognitionCore.speechrecognitiond[2606]: Audio ducking was already OFF

11/29/2013 6:57:16.667 PM com.apple.SpeechRecognitionCore.speechrecognitiond[2606]: peer(20150) XPC_ERROR_CONNECTION_INVALID

11/29/2013 6:57:16.689 PM com.apple.SpeechRecognitionCore.speechrecognitiond[2606]: peer(20150) is first peer alive

11/29/2013 6:57:16.690 PM DictationIM[20150]: Hello <dictionary: 0x60000018b530> { count = 6, contents =

"options" => <uint64: 0x600000250b30>: 16777216

"id" => <uint64: 0x60000024cc30>: 105553118157904

"msg" => <int64: 0x60000024a1a0>: 101

"locale" => <string: 0x60000027dfc0> { length = 5, contents = "en_US" }

"live" => <bool: 0x7fff7be3d920>: true

"audioDevice" => <string: 0x60000027df40> { length = 30, contents = "AppleHDAEngineInput:1B,0,1,0:1" }

} -> <dictionary: 0x61000018a900> { count = 1, contents =

"msg" => <int64: 0x618000241890>: 201

}

11/29/2013 6:57:16.690 PM com.apple.SpeechRecognitionCore.speechrecognitiond[2606]: RDSoundSource::CreateLiveSource

11/29/2013 6:57:16.690 PM DictationIM[20150]: client received XPC_ERROR_CONNECTION_INVALID

11/29/2013 6:57:16.690 PM com.apple.SpeechRecognitionCore.speechrecognitiond[2606]: RDSoundSource::Open

11/29/2013 6:57:16.691 PM com.apple.SpeechRecognitionCore.speechrecognitiond[2606]: peer(20150) was last peer alive

11/29/2013 6:57:16.691 PM com.apple.SpeechRecognitionCore.speechrecognitiond[2606]: S2: Info: closing external chanel

11/29/2013 6:57:16.691 PM com.apple.SpeechRecognitionCore.speechrecognitiond[2606]: RDSoundSource::Close

11/29/2013 6:57:16.692 PM com.apple.SpeechRecognitionCore.speechrecognitiond[2606]: S2: Info: resetting primary channel

11/29/2013 6:57:16.692 PM com.apple.SpeechRecognitionCore.speechrecognitiond[2606]: Audio ducking was already OFF

11/29/2013 6:57:16.692 PM com.apple.SpeechRecognitionCore.speechrecognitiond[2606]: peer(20150) XPC_ERROR_CONNECTION_INVALID

11/29/2013 6:57:17.246 PM com.apple.SpeechRecognitionCore.speechrecognitiond[2606]: peer(20150) is first peer alive

11/29/2013 6:57:17.246 PM DictationIM[20150]: Hello <dictionary: 0x61800018c7e0> { count = 6, contents =

"options" => <uint64: 0x618000251850>: 16777216

"id" => <uint64: 0x618000250b90>: 105553118155024

"msg" => <int64: 0x618000250bf0>: 101

"locale" => <string: 0x61800026d700> { length = 5, contents = "en_US" }

"live" => <bool: 0x7fff7be3d920>: true

"audioDevice" => <string: 0x61800026d740> { length = 30, contents = "AppleHDAEngineInput:1B,0,1,0:1" }

} -> <dictionary: 0x61800018e450> { count = 1, contents =

"msg" => <int64: 0x6180002517f0>: 201

}

11/29/2013 6:57:17.246 PM com.apple.SpeechRecognitionCore.speechrecognitiond[2606]: RDSoundSource::CreateLiveSource

11/29/2013 6:57:17.247 PM com.apple.SpeechRecognitionCore.speechrecognitiond[2606]: RDSoundSource::Open

11/29/2013 6:57:17.247 PM com.apple.SpeechRecognitionCore.speechrecognitiond[2606]: peer(20150) was last peer alive

11/29/2013 6:57:17.247 PM com.apple.SpeechRecognitionCore.speechrecognitiond[2606]: peer(20150) is first peer alive

11/29/2013 6:57:43.487 PM com.apple.usbmuxd[57]: _SendAttachNotification Device 00:88:65:74:82:18@fe80::288:65ff:fe74:8218._apple-mobdev2._tcp.local. has already appeared on interface 4. Suppressing duplicate attach notification.

11/29/2013 6:57:50.993 PM Printer Pro Desktop[462]: Empty task

11/29/2013 6:58:18.710 PM com.apple.usbmuxd[57]: _SendAttachNotification Device e4:8b:7f:44:a2:ad@fe80::e68b:7fff:fe44:a2ad._apple-mobdev2._tcp.local. has already appeared on interface 4. Suppressing duplicate attach notification.

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Answer 3

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,547 points

Nov 29, 2013 7:12 PM in response to Peterkin

Please read this whole message before doing anything.

This procedure is a diagnostic test. It changes nothing, and therefore will not, in itself, solve your problem.

Third-party system modifications are a common cause of usability problems. By a “system modification,” I mean software that affects the operation of other software — potentially for the worse. The procedure will help identify which such modifications you've installed, as well as certain other aspects of the configuration that may have a bearing on the problem. Don’t be alarmed by the apparent complexity of these instructions — they’re easy to carry out and won’t change anything on your Mac.

These steps are to be taken while booted in “normal” mode, not in safe mode, if possible. If you’re now running in safe mode, reboot as usual before continuing. If you can only boot in safe mode, you can still use this procedure, but not all of it will work. Be sure to mention that in your reply, if you haven't already done so.

Below are instructions to enter UNIX shell commands. The commands are safe and do nothing but produce human-readable text output, but they must be entered exactly as given in order to work. If you have doubts about the safety of the procedure suggested here, search this site for other discussions in which it’s been followed without any report of ill effects. I am not asking you to trust me. If you can't satisfy yourself that these instructions are safe, don't follow them.

The commands will line-wrap or scroll in your browser, but each one is really just a single long line, all of which must be selected. You can accomplish this easily by triple-clicking anywhere in the line. The whole line will highlight, and you can then copy it.

Note: If you have more than one user account, Step 2 must be taken as an administrator. Ordinarily that would be the user created automatically when you booted the system for the first time. Step 1 should be taken as the user who has the problem, if different. Most personal Macs have only one user, and in that case this paragraph doesn’t apply.

Launch the Terminal 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 Terminal in the icon grid.

When you launch Terminal, a text window will open with a line already in it, ending either in a dollar sign (“$”) or a percent sign (“%”). If you get the percent sign, enter “sh” and press return. You should then get a new line ending in a dollar sign.

Step 1

Triple-click anywhere in the line of text below on this page to select it:

{ echo "Loaded kernel extensions:"; kextstat -kl | awk '!/com\.apple/{printf "%s %s\n", $6, $7}'; echo $'\n'"Loaded user agents:"; launchctl list | sed 1d | awk '!/0x|com\.apple|org\.(x|openbsd)|\.[0-9]+$/{print $3}'; echo $'\n'"Inserted libraries:"; launchctl getenv DYLD_INSERT_LIBRARIES; echo $'\n'"User cron tasks:"; crontab -l; echo $'\n'"System launchd configuration:"; cat /e*/lau*; echo $'\n'"User launchd configuration:"; cat .lau*; echo $'\n'"Login items:"; osascript -e 'tell application "System Events" to get name of login items'; printf "\nRestricted user files: %s\n" $(find ~ $TMPDIR.. $ -flags +sappnd,schg,uappnd,uchg -o ! -user $UID -o ! -perm -600 $ | wc -l); echo $'\n'"Extrinsic loadable bundles:"; cd; find -L /S*/L*/E* {,/}L*/{Ad,Compon,Ex,In,Keyb,Mail/Bu,P*P,Qu,Scripti,Servi,Spo}* -type d -name Contents -prune | while read d; do /usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c 'Print :CFBundleIdentifier' "$d/Info.plist" | egrep -qv "^com\.apple\.[^x]|Accusys|ArcMSR|ATTO|HDPro|HighPoint|driver\.stex|hp-fax|JMicron|print|SoftRAID" && echo ${d%/Contents}; done; echo $'\n'"Unsigned shared libraries:"; find /u*/{,*/}lib -type f -exec sh -c 'file -b $1 | grep -qw shared && ! codesign -v $1' {} {} \; -print; echo; ls -A {,/}L*/{La,Priv,Sta}* L*/Fonts; } 2> /dev/null | open -ef

Copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. Then click anywhere in the Terminal window and paste (command-V). I've tested these instructions only with the Safari web browser. If you use another browser, you may have to press the return key after pasting.

The command may take up to a few minutes to run, depending on how many files you have and the speed of the computer. A TextEdit window will open with the output. Post the contents of the TextEdit window (not the Terminal window) — the text, please, not a screenshot. You can then close the TextEdit window. The title of the window doesn't matter, and you don't need to post that. No typing is involved in this step.

Step 2

Remember that you must be logged in as an administrator for this step. Do as in Step 1 with this line:

{ echo "Loaded system agents:"; sudo launchctl list | sed 1d | awk '!/0x|com\.(apple|openssh|vix\.cron)|org\.(amav|apac|cups|isc|ntp|postf|x)/{print $3}'; echo $'\n'"Login hook:"; sudo defaults read com.apple.loginwindow LoginHook; echo $'\n'"Root cron tasks:"; sudo crontab -l; echo $'\n'"Log check:"; syslog -k Sender kernel -k Message CReq 'GPU |hfs: Ru|I/O e|find tok|n Cause: -|NVDA\(|pagin|timed? ?o' | tail } 2> /dev/null | open -ef

This time you'll be prompted for your login password, which you do have to type. Nothing will be displayed when you type it. Type it carefully and then press return. You may get a one-time warning to be careful. Heed that warning, but don't post it. If you see a message that your username "is not in the sudoers file," then you're not logged in as an administrator.

To prevent confusion, I'll repeat: When you type your password in the Terminal window, you won't see what you're typing.

Note: If you don’t have a login password, set one before taking Step 2. If that’s not possible, skip the step.

Important: If any personal information, such as your name or email address, appears in the output of these commands, anonymize it before posting. Usually that won't be necessary.

Remember, Steps 1 and 2 are all copy-and-paste — no typing, except your password. Also remember to post the output as text, not as a screenshot.

You can then quit Terminal.

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