Ticket Options

Question Details

TICKET ARCHIVE -> Safari crashes galore!! A nuisance.

applequest - Jan 22, 2006 - 1:38 pm

New in the forum.
Would getting more Memory (now have 512 MB) on my PB G4 1GHz help at all improve Safari stability?
I check authorizations regularly +cache clearing (using Mac Janitor and Cache Out in combination).
Crashes have increased a lot over the past few days. No new software installed though.
Thanks in advance

EdtheMacDyer - Jan 23, 2006 - 10:26 pm

You might try checking Console.app (/Applications/Utilities/Console.app) for messages on crashing. I'm betting something gets written to console.log each time. A strong possibility is a corrupt font - are you doing any sort of font management?
Good luck.

applequest - Jan 24, 2006 - 2:20 am

Thanks to Ed. D for the response. Checked in the Console and found al kinds fo scribbling, unfathomable for me. Extrtact below for you. You might make sense out of it"
=======
Mac OS X Version 10.3.9 (Build 7W98)
2006-01-23 18:28:47 +0100
Device Appeared

Found a device...

Activating the message port

Activiating timer port

{type = 15, string = Contents/PlugIns/,

base = {type = 15, string = file://localhost/System/Library/Extensions/IomegaSAM.kext/Contents/Resources/IomegaDriver.app/, base = (null)}}

{type = mutable-small, count = 2, values = (

0 : 6489D402-14F7-11D6-96CE-00306557676C

1 : 21ED6942-3C86-11D6-BC93-00306557676C

)}

2006-01-23 18:28:48.623 loginwindow[196] LSOpenFromURLSpec return err = -10660

before CFRunLoopRun

2006-01-23 18:29:53.262 System Preferences[349] Unable to get info for item /Applications/Microsoft Office X/MSN Messenger: Error: -43

2006-01-23 18:29:53.291 System Preferences[349] Unable to get info for item /Applications/Microsoft Office X/Office/Microsoft Database Daemon: Error: -43

2006-01-23 18:29:53.362 System Preferences[349] Unable to get info for item /Applications/Microsoft Office 2004/Office/Microsoft Database Daemon: Error: -43

Device disappeared

Device Appeared
==========
Strange device that appears, disapapears, rather spooky!
And no I am not doing any font management. Changed to differents fonts, all right, but no lately"
Thanks in advance.
PS: I am rather p-d off, and might very well install Firefox and to hell with Safari. Apple should really deliver better products.

EdtheMacDyer - Jan 29, 2006 - 3:16 pm

I wouldn't pin the blame on Apple products, much less Safari just yet. About the console log:
1. Open Console, clear the log. Keep it open.
2. Do your thing with Safari. Let it crash.
3. See what Safari writes to your log. Sounds like something may be wrong with the MS fonts installed in Office:/Applications/Microsoft Office 2004/Office/Fonts. You might try pitching them and let Office reinstall them for you.
Good luck...

applequest - Jan 29, 2006 - 5:38 pm

Thanks ED
Yes you are right. eeems like fonts are the culprit. Copy of the note on the log after the last provoqued crash. But what does ATSUF fontfall back objects means? and where are they?
===== Sun Jan 29 2006 ===== 14:33:04 Europe/Amsterdam =====
Jan 29 14:34:07 d154-20-233-158 /Applications/Safari.app/Contents/MacOS/Safari: *** Warning: ATSUSetFontFallbacks has been deprecated. Use ATSUFontFallbacks objects instead. ***

Jan 29 14:34:10 d154-20-233-158 crashdump: Started writing crash report to: /Users/claudebouygues/Library/Logs/CrashReporter/Safari.crash.log

Jan 29 14:34:10 d154-20-233-158 crashdump: Finished writing crash report to: /Users/claudebouygues/Library/Logs/CrashReporter/Safari.crash.log

EdtheMacDyer - Jan 30, 2006 - 8:14 am

OK, we're getting closer. I can't remember the acronym for ATS, but decided to Google the term "ATSUFontFallbacks". The first link here solves the issue by trashing specific preference files related to recently installed apps, but that might be too specific in your case. I'll bet that if you try the same "shotgun" approach as the user did, by creating another user account and simply testing the apps, they work.

http://forums.macosxhints.com/archiv...p/t-38488.html

A more targeted approach after confirming that works would be to trash prefs for apps you know you don't use anymore (putting them on the desktop, and selecting all of them, then right-clicking or control-clicking and choosing "make arechive of x items" will make a zip file for preservation of them, rather than just trashing them...just in case)

After that, try trashing your system font caches:
/System/Library/Caches/com.apple.FcacheSystemDomain
/System/Library/Caches/com.apple.ATSServer.FODB_System
/System/Library/Caches/fontTablesAnnex

Also, there is a great little app called Cocktail that will do automated maintenance routines for you, and allow you manual control over these. Look it up on VersionTracker.com..

Ultimately, if none of this works, PLEASE come on back and let us know.

applequest - Feb 3, 2006 - 1:19 pm

Dear Ed. D.,
Thanks so much for the reply. I am afraid this cleaning op is too advanced for me: I dread treading in a place where I feel uncomfortable, for fear of dumping the wrong file.... Is there anything SIMPLER that I can do?
Also I have just received a Warning from SmartReporter about "Impending HD failure" . The console log displayed mentions Safari (764) many times and -Inconsistent set of values to create NSBitmapImageRep
-Unknown GIF label (0xc3)
I cannot (am unable to) forward that text to you for some reason.
This seems to corroborate what I found earlier on and on which your answer is based, right?
I feel embarrassed mortgaging so much of your time.

Claude

EdtheMacDyer - Feb 6, 2006 - 1:31 pm

Claude! Impending hard drive failure means just that. Independent (most likely) of your other stuff, this means you should get your data off your drive IMMEDIATELY. Run, don't walk, to your nearest shop for a new hard drive. If you're uncomfortable migrating the data, have someone do it for you and since your hard drive is probably under manufacturer warranty (maybe even Apple Care?) get it returned and get the replacement as a spare.

applequest - Feb 10, 2006 - 3:26 am

Ed, I did what you said. Indeed the HD was on the brink of failing. Got an 80 installed and also Tiger + last upgrade. Safari works like a charm now. Speed also increased apparently. I am very impressed by Spotlight. All this for a price of course, but had no choice. I want to thank you for your dedication and steadfastness. It is nice to know that there are people like you out there ready to help. Thanks a mill again. CB

EdtheMacDyer - Mar 9, 2006 - 7:31 pm

Claude,
Glad you got your data safe. And faster more reliable Safari to boot. Woohoo!