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sterfry · Jul 30, 2003, 10:45 PM

Hello, friends!
I've got a serious issue and a serious deadline. My OS X install keeps KPing incredibly frequently, and I have no idea why. I have copied the text from the KP log in the hopes that you can help me, I've got a deadline in 2 days and my computer keeps crashing every 5 minutes. Here you go:
Wed Jul 30 23:43:32 2003

panic(cpu 0): getnewbuf: bp @ 0x1c37fd98 is LOCKED! (flags 0x60106220)

Latest stack backtrace for cpu 0:
Backtrace:
0x0008581C 0x00085C4C 0x000287B4 0x000A9D0C 0x000A8EDC 0x000A8084 0x000A815C 0x1FED77F8
0x000BE3BC 0x001ECC0C 0x001ECA54 0x0020F3CC 0x00092970 0x68674141
Kernel loadable modules in backtrace (with dependencies):
com.symantec.kext.symfs(7.0.2)@0x1fed4000
dependency: com.symantec.kext.symdc(1.3)@0x1f00e000
Proceeding back via exception chain:
Exception state (sv=0x1F49F000)
PC=0x90000E2C; MSR=0x0000D030; DAR=0x1E6FAE00; DSISR=0x42000000; LR=0x00023FA8; R1=0xBFFFF680; XCP=0x00000030 (0xC00 - System call)

Kernel version:
Darwin Kernel Version 6.6:
Thu May 1 21:48:54 PDT 2003; root:xnu/xnu-344.34.obj~1/RELEASE_PPC

Any help, please! I hope I don't KP while this is posting!

decursive · Jul 30, 2003, 11:12 PM

i know nothing about these things, but i see the word "symantec" in there. running any of their devil products?

Chuckit · Jul 30, 2003, 11:13 PM

It looks like it's yet another case of some Symantec/Norton product bringing the OS to its knees. I'm not sure which one it is, but if you have anything by Symantec, try removing it from your system.

Honestly, after bad RAM, Symantec kexts seem to be the leading cause of kernel panics in Mac OS X.

DaGuy · Jul 30, 2003, 11:31 PM

Try to turn off anything made by Symantec and then reboot.

A better solution is to get rid of it permanently, think about uninstalling it. Why? because the effect of having it installed is messing you up just like a virus or worm would.

sterfry · Jul 30, 2003, 11:35 PM

Guys, thanks for the help. It seems that my problem has died down for now (I uninstalled SystemWorks) so I'll only rely on the seemingly useless DiskDoctor and boot-only SystemWorks for a while, I guess. That was the most annoying thing I have ever dealt with.

Thanks so much,
Your eternally grateful friend,
Greg

OwlBoy · Jul 31, 2003, 12:03 AM

One thing of note: those Symantic utilities are not all needed in OS X (well, many here would say that they are not)

-Owl

DaGuy · Jul 31, 2003, 09:22 AM

No utility should be allowed to take down any machine -especially those machines that generate income.

I would get rid of those utilities or begin looking for alternatives, which exist. Also, ask around and see when was the last time MacOSX was hit with a virus?

Terri · Jul 31, 2003, 09:28 AM

Symantic products are unneeded and evil.

Just last week I had a new G4 that kept on getting KP. I did a search for Symantic and deleted everything including the pieces that I found in the root library folders and the KP went away.

It seems that running Disk Utility and fixing permissions is about all Mac OS X needs, but it is a good idea to have Disk Warrior around incase something bad does happen.

suthercd · Jul 31, 2003, 09:38 AM

What were you wanting to get done by using the Symantec utilities? Sometimes software vendors try to promote features that are not needed and can be harmful.

Craig

sniffer · Jul 31, 2003, 10:03 AM

[Side note]

If you encore KP or any other instabilities, consider enable journaling.

This is arguable but I had some serious strange issues with kernel panics earlier. So I enabled journaling, checked the hard drive for errors from the jag cd. Verified the disk permissions. And for some reason the system stabilized it self over time. Not at once but over a period with journaling enabled.

Well anyway, whether journaling can stabilize a system or not, that discussion is over as no one believes it here any way. (It have been discussed here before) Although it seemed to stabilize my setup in my case. (Take this comment with a grand of salt as I can not prove it anyway, but it is the only explanation I could come up with at the time)

To enable it just type in this in terminal:

Code:
sudo diskutil enableJournal /

Type in administrative password, push enter, and it should be enabled.

Enabled journaling protects the files on the drive against getting corrupted if you for instance encore force quits (aka KP shut downs). As the system will log any disk activities and remembers at any time if a file is fully written to the drive or not. Panther will have Journaled enabled by default.
[/Side note]

Glad to hear you solved the KP issue.

Moose · Jul 31, 2003, 10:06 AM

Originally posted by DaGuy:
No utility should be allowed to take down any machine -especially those machines that generate income.

Certain utilites have to be resident in kernel memory, because of what they do.

Any kernel code (and kexts, when loaded into memory, become, for all intents and purposes, part of the kernel) can crash the system completely. That's why Apple encourages the following:

1) Anything that can be done in userland, do in userland.
2) Test kernel extensions rigorously.

sniffer · Jul 31, 2003, 10:12 AM

Originally posted by Moose:
Certain utilites have to be resident in kernel memory, because of what they do.

Any kernel code (and kexts, when loaded into memory, become, for all intents and purposes, part of the kernel) can crash the system completely. That's why Apple encourages the following:

1) Anything that can be done in userland, do in userland.
2) Test kernel extensions rigorously.

So true. So true. Every installation that requires Admin password or even worse root passwords should be threaded with caution.

Moose · Jul 31, 2003, 11:13 AM

Originally posted by sniffer:
So true. So true. Every installation that requires Admin password or even worse root passwords should be threaded with caution.

Root != kernel. There are a couple of things that even processes running as root cannot do directly.

Attempting to access an invalid pointer in a process running as root will kill that process. Attempting to access an invalid pointer in a kernel extension will kill the kernel.

DaGuy · Jul 31, 2003, 11:27 AM

My conclusion is that, if the Symantec utilities have been updated and the affected party has not kept up with it then we all know where to point the finger... If however, Symantec is just negligent then I would bad mouth them to the extreme and hopefully the word would spread they will wake up and either fully support or retire any crappy products.

Using kernel extensions is a HUGE responsibility and one that Apple itself should help enforce. They are after all wanting to make MacOSX enterprise caliber, right?

How? Well by posting on their websites a page that lists such crappy extensions. They need to handle the slackers appropriately otherwise their system looses credibility.

Terri · Jul 31, 2003, 11:45 AM

My customers always ask me why do they sell them if it isn't needed and/or causes problems? I always answer to make money, let the buyer beware.

sniffer · Jul 31, 2003, 01:30 PM

Originally posted by DaGuy:
My conclusion is that, if the Symantec utilities have been updated and the affected party has not kept up with it then we all know where to point the finger... If however, Symantec is just negligent then I would bad mouth them to the extreme and hopefully the word would spread they will wake up and either fully support or retire any crappy products.

Using kernel extensions is a HUGE responsibility and one that Apple itself should help enforce. They are after all wanting to make MacOSX enterprise caliber, right?

How? Well by posting on their websites a page that lists such crappy extensions. They need to handle the slackers appropriately otherwise their system looses credibility.

Just wonder. Isn't much of the parts so deep down pretty much open sourced trough Darwin?

DaGuy · Jul 31, 2003, 02:58 PM

Darwin is completely Opensource. But Apple has final say of what goes into any build. So you can see the code, you can fiddle with it and create your own OS i.e., MyDarwinExteme 1.0 but that doesn't mean that any of the changes that I make or submit will make it to a release. Opensource is a good thing.

sniffer · Aug 1, 2003, 02:44 AM

Thanks for clearing it up for me.

CharlesS · Aug 1, 2003, 09:48 AM

Don't ever use Norton at all with an OS X disk. In long-gone days, Norton used to be a useful tool, but these days, it's awful. Having it installed causes kernel panics, but the worst thing about it is this: Norton Disk Doctor Kevorkian quite often destroys OS X disks, requiring a reformat! I've had this happen to me - a disk which was previously working fine, and which said that it was fine in every other disk utility I had wouldn't even mount after Norton Disk Doctor Kevorkian killed it. Beware!

If you want something that will fix a damaged disk, the only one you want to use is DiskWarrior. If you want a "kitchen sink" utility to supplement DiskWarrior, TechTool Pro 4 is available, or if you want a utility specifically for file recovery or unerase, DataRescue and DataRecycler respectively fill those functions.