[chasg]

Hi All,

Very strange behaviour from QuickTime Player: it tries to launch, then quits (and I get a bug report dialog).

I can't quite remember exactly when it started happening, but it's been a problem under OSX 10.3.2, and still happens under 10.3.3 (the machine in question is an iBook 12"/800 combo). The Classic version of QuickTime Player still works (it's a stopgap measure, but I prefer to not launch Classic if possible).

I deleted QT Player, and then downloaded the standalone QuickTime installer and reinstalled, but that doesn't fix the problem.

Deleting the "com.apple.QuickTime Player.plist" file doesn't fix the problem (old OS9 reflexes not helping :-(

I can look at the crash.log for QuickTime Player and there are lots of entries there but, to be honest, I'm not sure how to interpret it.

Can anyone assist me?

Chas

[gorickey]

Have you repaired permissions?

[Uncle Skeleton]

click on the "submit to apple" button and it will give you the log of just that crash. then look for the thread that crashed (it will be like Thread 1...bunch of stuff...Thread 2...bunch of stuff...Thread 3 crashed...bunch of stuff...Thread 4...etc; in that case you want thread 3) and copy that thread's backtrace here and maybe someone can tell you what it means

[chasg]

it's a good suggestion but, sadly, it hasn't worked.

Thanks for helping out though, it's appreciated.

Chas

[chasg]

sorry Uncle, my previous reply was to gorickey (you replied too fast :-)

Thanks for your suggestion too (I've never had a reply from Apple on a bug report though (has anybody ever had a reply from Apple on a bug report??)

Thanks again,

Chas

[ryju]

Originally posted by chasg:
sorry Uncle, my previous reply was to gorickey (you replied too fast :-)

Thanks for your suggestion too (I've never had a reply from Apple on a bug report though (has anybody ever had a reply from Apple on a bug report??)

Thanks again,

Chas

When presented with the dialog box that allows you to submit a bug to Apple, click "Submit Bug to Apple" or whatever it is. Then in the window that shows up, look in that report for the info needed.

[Uncle Skeleton]

yeah, apple doesn't reply to bug reports (what would they say?), but the bug report screen gives convenient access to the memory backtrace from the crash that just occurred. It's the same data that gets logged in the CrashReporter logs, it's just easier to get to from the bug report screen.

[petrol]

Sorry I can help you, but I wanted to say that I'm having the exact same problem, so it's not something specific to your system.

When I get back to my home computer I'll try fixing permissions to see if that does any good for me.

Phil.

Edit: By the way, my system is a dual 1.25 GHz G4 PowerMac, also running 10.3.3. I can't remember if it started happening before I upgraded to 10.3.3. I've also been having problems with GarageBand crashing and locking up my entire computer (or at least the GUI)!

[chasg]

thanks petrol for weighing in (at least I know it's not just me!)

Uncle Skeleton and ryju, thanks for the suggestion to actually use the bug report dialog to see the crash log (yep, it's the same one I found when I did a global search on "Quicktime Player"). Still can't figure out what components could be causing the problem, but the report notes that Thread 0 crashed, and here is the info:

******

Command: QuickTime Player
Path: /Applications/QuickTime Player.app/Contents/MacOS/QuickTime Player
Version: 6.5 (6.5)
PID: 771
Thread: 0

Exception: EXC_BAD_ACCESS (0x0001)
Codes: KERN_INVALID_ADDRESS (0x0001) at 0x2f8f6fc6

Thread 0 Crashed:
0 com.apple.QuickTime 0x91bbb654 findChildAtomPtr + 0x7c
1 com.apple.QuickTime 0x91bbdff4 QTFindChildByIndex_priv + 0x44
2 ...uickTimeStreaming.component 0x8c9c04c4 CGInsertPosition + 0x38
3 ...uickTimeStreaming.component 0x8c9bf138 QTCG_SetSubscriptionPosition + 0x5c
4 ...ple.CoreServices.CarbonCore 0x90282544 CallComponentFunctionCommon + 0x434
5 ...uickTimeStreaming.component 0x8c9bedc0 QTCG_ComponentDispatch + 0x58
6 ...ple.CoreServices.CarbonCore 0x90281290 CallComponent + 0x10c
7 com.apple.QuickTime 0x91bebd08 ChannelGuideSetSubscriptionPosition + 0x2c
8 com.apple.QuickTime Player 0x00038858 0x1000 + 0x37858
9 com.apple.QuickTime Player 0x00025d60 0x1000 + 0x24d60
10 com.apple.QuickTime Player 0x00025974 0x1000 + 0x24974
11 com.apple.QuickTime Player 0x00024804 0x1000 + 0x23804
12 com.apple.QuickTime Player 0x00023984 0x1000 + 0x22984
13 com.apple.QuickTime Player 0x000234ec 0x1000 + 0x224ec
14 com.apple.QuickTime Player 0x00023360 0x1000 + 0x22360

******

I'm not quite comfortable with trashing stuff found in the System, can anybody diagnose all of this and maybe point me towards a component that I can trash/replace safely?

Chas

[Uncle Skeleton]

it looks like it's choking on a stream, which is something that it always tries to open when I launch the app instead of just opening a movie (I hate that non-feature). Are you opening it by clicking on the QT icon or by clicking on a movie?

[chasg]

both methods lead to the exact same result (crash report the same, to my eye).

Interesting that you pointed out that this looks like a streaming problem, thanks. Thinking of that, I went into the Quicktime section of System Prefs and turned off "instant on", and the automatic updating feature. Sadly, no joy.

I'm thinking of pulling out a bunch of QT components from the System, but I don't know what sort of adverse effects that might have. Reinstalling all of OSX just to take care of this would really bite <sigh>.

Thanks for the info and help,

Chas

[Uncle Skeleton]

well I would start with deleting (or better still moving them or zipping them as backups) QTPlayer itself and /System/Library/QuickTime/QuickTimeStreaming.component (since that's the part that crashed). Make backups of your important data first and make sure you have another bootable volume around just in case (but I don't expect just those to cause any problems). Then get Pacifist and extract those files from your OS X install CD (actually, get the new files ready before you start) and see if that clears it up. If not, you're certainly free to try the same thing with other components, or ask for more suggestions.

[Powaqqatsi]

Trash all the QT prefs you can find, and see if it works.

[Uncle Skeleton]

Just a little follow-up to my previous suggestion, I removed my /System/Library/QuickTime/QuickTimeStreaming.component and QT still launched just fine, and told me to connect to the internet to see something insanely great. (You have to authenticate through the Finder to trash anything from /System). So try that first. At least then you should get a different crash log (and post the new one if you still get it)

[chasg]

Uncle Skeleton rules OK!

That obviously was exactly the component that was causing the prob: I removed it, and the player not only launches, but doesn't crash! ("it's not a bug, it's a feature" ;-)

You've saved me some serious work (backing up, Pacifist-ing etc).

You definitely rock :-)

Chas

[Uncle Skeleton]

cool. I still recommend you use Pacifist or equivalent to replace the streaming component you removed with a clean one.

[chasg]

it's a good idea, thanks.

[memyselfandimac]

Originally posted by chasg:
it's a good idea, thanks.

Also you could go to Library/Receipts and trash the QT 6.5pkg and it should let you install the QT clean from the installer. That way you wouldn't have go and try to extract the single component. just trash QT and all it components, get rid of the receipt and you should be able to just do a clean install of QT from the installer.

Also there was a bug about a year ago involving Real Player and QT, not sure if it's fixed now or not or if you even have Real installed. But in library/internet plugins there will be 2 aliases pointing to to 2 components inside the Real Player app package. Delete these and try launching QT again, that was my problem and the fix. Real Player will reinstall next time it's run and I have not seen the problem since then.... just a thought.

[chasg]

Hmm, you've hit on an issue about which I know nothing: Reciepts (but I have been curious)

If I blow a Receipt away, does it take everything involved with it? Is that what these are for? (I had assumed, I guess erroneously, that Receipts were just some logging aid).

This would be a great way for me to get rid of some annoying stuff that's been bugging me! (in OS9, I knew the System Folder backwards and forwards, and would have had no fear searching out the remnants of some install that I didn't want anymore, but I'm not so knowledgeable in OSX, sadly).

[rytc]

Originally posted by chasg:
Hmm, you've hit on an issue about which I know nothing: Reciepts (but I have been curious)

If I blow a Receipt away, does it take everything involved with it? Is that what these are for? (I had assumed, I guess erroneously, that Receipts were just some logging aid).

This would be a great way for me to get rid of some annoying stuff that's been bugging me! (in OS9, I knew the System Folder backwards and forwards, and would have had no fear searching out the remnants of some install that I didn't want anymore, but I'm not so knowledgeable in OSX, sadly).

My understanding of receipts was that they were just, as you say, a logging mechanism, deleting them won't remove anything more than the log. The installed files will remain.

[chasg]

Yeah, that's what I thought, too bad :-)

Funny though, some of them are pretty huge, for log files. For example, iMovieUpdater3.0.3.pkg is 3.7Mb. Too big for a log file, so I did a little digging and found the following: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=25751

Seems Receipts are a record (ok, a log :-) of proper permissions and are used as a basis for repairing permissions (so it'd be a bad idea to delete any).

Slowly but surely learning more about OSX.

[chasg]

just a folllow-up, in case anyone is still reading this thread.

I found out what quicktimestreaming.component is for: it's necessary in order to play embedded QT movies in web pages.

I wanted to view the Kill Bill II trailer at the Apple trailer site, but I was getting a broken QT icon. I grabbed a fresh copy of quicktimestreaming.component, put it back in System/Library/QuickTime, and the trailer now loads! All is good again, until...

I quit QuickTime Player and re-launched it, and now I'm getting the same behaviour: quitting on launch. Bummer.

Next step is to take memyselfandimac's advice (trash receipt and all components and do a full reinstall). If that doesn't work, it's either use VLC for everything, or reinstall OSX (which might take care of some other niggling problems I've been having anyway :-/

End update!