Re: Need advice on catching thorny hang
Re: Need advice on catching thorny hang
- Subject: Re: Need advice on catching thorny hang
- From: "Brian Bechtel" <email@hidden>
- Date: Sun, 24 Feb 2008 22:21:32 -0800
On Sun, Feb 24, 2008 at 7:21 AM, David Hoerl <email@hidden> wrote:
> I have a MacBook Pro that apparently crashes, and my regular bug
> reports have not resulted in anything I can do to assist Apple in
> tracking down the reason.
Hangs are the worst bugs, because they are so nebulous.
> My computer is used mostly in a "closed lid" mode, with occasional
> use in portable mode. I never seem to have problems with it in
> closed-lid mode - its always a result of going to portable mode (ie I
> use it untethered).
>
> I am using Time Machine, so before I unplug the computer I unmount
> the Time Machine disk, then do a "Sleep" from the finder.
>
> Two events are happening fairly regularly:
>
> 1) When the machine gets re-plugged into all the cables needed for
> closed lid mode, it never wakes up, and I have to use the power
> switch to shut it down for real, then reboot it. When this happens,
> the fan is going.
That sounds like it could be either a panic, or a runaway process.
Look for log files in the directory /Library/Logs/PanicReporter/.
> 2) Last night, the machine just froze. I was in Xcode typing away
> when the trackpad and keyboard went dead. I have the clock in the
> menu bar show seconds, so I can see if the Window Manager is running,
> but it was stopped too.
The system log might be helpful; a full system profiler report
includes the last portion of each log. Choose "Full Report" from the
"View" menu before saving a system profile, or use the command line
/usr/sbin/system_profiler -detailLevel full -xml >hoerl.spx
and send the the spx file.
> Apple had suggested I try to ssh into the machine, which I have, but
> its non-responsive (I cannot get a login prompt). When the machine
> does reboot, there is nothing in the log - no crash report, nothing
> at all. Its like it never happened.
You can try connecting before the panic, and doing the command
tail -f /var/log/system.log
to see the system log.
> So, the purpose of this post: what else can I do to try and track
> down what is going on? Is the some additional logging or reporting I
> can enable?
Assuming you have two Macs available, you can use the firewire SDK
from http://developer.apple.com/sdk and the FirewireKPrintf folder
contained therein. Download the Firewire SDK 26 disk image, mount it
and install it. You'll have a new folder in /Developer/ called
FirewireSDK26. In there you'll find Tools/FirewireKPrintf. Open the
rtf file which is the readme.
You'll need to modify your boot arguments with
sudo nvram boot-args="debug=0x8 io=0x80"
install the appropriate kext, and reboot. Attach the second mac with
a firewire cable, launch fwkpfv, and get the log. That's kind of how
I remember how to do it; details may vary.
This will generate a large amount of power management logging which
can be sent to Apple to be attached to the bug.
The only other idea I can think of is to generate a core dump and send
it to Apple. That's a LOT of data. Technote 2118 has details; see
<http://developer.apple.com/technotes/tn2004/tn2118.html>
Good luck; it's a hard problem
> Can I build a debug kernel and use it to catch the
> problem?
You can build and install a debug kernel, but without knowing more
about the hang, it's difficult to imagine it would help.
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