Fast User Switching stutter / loginwindow crash
Jolly Roger
interesting problem I'm trying to figure out:
When another family member wishes to log into his computer using Fast
User Switching, he's seeing some very strange behavior. The other person
chooses their name from the Fast user Switching menu at the top-right
corner of the display, and enters their credentials in the resulting
login window. Then the cube effect appears, only to get stuck about
halfway through the spin. The animation just halts, and it sits there
motionless for a few seconds, then disappears to be replaced with the
desktop of the person logging in.
I've examined the system log, and see this sequence repeat each time:
Nov 16 14:31:59 localhost SecurityAgent[325]: NSExceptionHandler has
recorded the following exception:\nNSRangeException -- *** -[NSCFArray
objectAtIndex:]: index (0) beyond bounds (0)\nStack trace: 0x39dbc
0x9512b4ec 0x97275c00 0x97275c38 0x93020180 0x749c8 0x5fee4
0x72dd8 0x677b4 0x689c4 0x682f0 0x66fc0 0x6c300 0x7b4a4 0xe068
0x14200 0x13f64 0xdb58 0x930578f0 0x971e626c 0x97208634 0x952cbb18
0x952cb93c 0x952cb77c 0x90c04248 0x90c03c00 0x90bfd8a0 0x11e14
0x2db0
Nov 16 14:32:08 localhost authorizationhost[324]: MechanismInvoke
0x12cb30 retainCount 2
Nov 16 14:32:08 localhost SecurityAgent[325]: MechanismInvoke 0x101680
retainCount 1
Nov 16 14:32:08 localhost SecurityAgent[325]: NSSecureTextFieldCell
detected a field editor ((null)) that is not a NSTextView subclass
designed to work with the cell. Ignoring...
Nov 16 14:32:08 localhost SecurityAgent[325]: NSExceptionHandler has
recorded the following exception:\nNSRangeException -- *** -[NSCFArray
objectAtIndex:]: index (0) beyond bounds (0)\nStack trace: 0x39dbc
0x9512b4ec 0x97275c00 0x97275c38 0x93020180 0x749c8 0x5fee4
0x72dd8 0x677b4 0x6c368 0x7b4a4 0xe068 0x14200 0x13f64 0xdb58
0x930578f0 0x971e626c 0x97208634 0x952cbb18 0x952cb93c 0x952cb77c
0x90c04248 0x90c03c00 0x90bfd8a0 0x11e14 0x2db0
Nov 16 14:32:09 localhost SecurityAgent[325]: MechanismDestroy 0x101680
retainCount 1
Nov 16 14:32:09 localhost authorizationhost[324]: MechanismDestroy
0x12cb30 retainCount 2
Nov 16 14:32:17 localhost
/System/Library/CoreServices/loginwindow.app/Contents/MacOS/loginwindow[3
41]: Login Window Application Started -- Threaded auth
Nov 16 14:32:23 localhost loginwindow[341]: Login Window Started
Security Agent
Nov 16 14:32:24 localhost authorizationhost[348]: MechanismInvoke
0x12c9b0 retainCount 2
Nov 16 14:32:24 localhost SecurityAgent[349]: MechanismInvoke 0x1016c0
retainCount 1
Nov 16 14:32:24 localhost loginwindow[341]: Login Window - Returned from
Security Agent
Nov 16 14:32:24 localhost authorizationhost[348]: MechanismDestroy
0x12c9b0 retainCount 2
Nov 16 14:32:24 localhost SecurityAgent[349]: MechanismDestroy 0x1016c0
retainCount 1
Nov 16 14:32:25 localhost loginwindow[341]: USER_PROCESS: 341 console
Nov 16 14:32:33 localhost com.apple.launchd[1]
(com.apple.UserEventAgent-LoginWindow[351]): Exited: Terminated
Nov 16 14:32:33 localhost com.apple.launchd[354]
(com.apple.AirPortBaseStationAgent): Unknown key for boolean:
EnableTransactions
Nov 16 14:32:33 localhost com.apple.launchd[354] (org.x.startx): Unknown
key for boolean: EnableTransactions
As a software developer, I recognize the "retainCount" messages as debug
code that really should have been removed from Mac OS X before shipping.
I'm sure they can be ignored. I do see some other messages, however,
(like the "beyond bounds" messages) that indicate bugs or issues with
data being processed, which could be a cause or symptom of this issue.
So it appears for one reason or another loginwindow is crashing halfway
through the cube effect transition, and then restarting to complete the
login.
The big question is: Why?
And what can we do to resolve the error condition that causes this? I've
tried the obvious things (deleted all cache files, restarted,
re-installed the latest combo update in the hopes it would restore some
file that might have been corrupt or missing); none of these things has
fixed the problem, though.
Any other ideas would be much appreciated!
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JR
Kevin McMurtrie
concurrently with the new login so it's normal for it to get stuck then
abort due to VM paging. Switch back and forth without running anything
else and it will probably be smooth.
Get used to the Console warnings about uncaught exceptions and
malloc/free abuse. The PowerPC version of 10.5.8 isn't maintained very
well.
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Jolly Roger
Kevin McMurtrie <mcmu...@pixelmemory.us> wrote:
> I don't see a crash in those log entries. The cube animation happens
> concurrently with the new login so it's normal for it to get stuck then
> abort due to VM paging. Switch back and forth without running anything
> else and it will probably be smooth.
>
> Get used to the Console warnings about uncaught exceptions and
> malloc/free abuse. The PowerPC version of 10.5.8 isn't maintained very
> well.
You're right. It's not that it crashes - it's that it exits:
Nov 16 14:32:33 localhost com.apple.launchd[1]
(com.apple.UserEventAgent-LoginWindow[351]): Exited: Terminated
It seems like it's exiting prematurely to me. I could be wrong about
that though.
Paul Sture
Jolly Roger <jolly...@pobox.com> wrote:
> When another family member wishes to log into his computer using Fast
> User Switching, he's seeing some very strange behavior. The other person
> chooses their name from the Fast user Switching menu at the top-right
> corner of the display, and enters their credentials in the resulting
> login window. Then the cube effect appears, only to get stuck about
> halfway through the spin. The animation just halts, and it sits there
> motionless for a few seconds, then disappears to be replaced with the
> desktop of the person logging in.
What happens if you create a brand new user and do a Fast user switch to
that?
--
Paul Sture
Paul Sture
Kevin McMurtrie <mcmu...@pixelmemory.us> wrote:
> I don't see a crash in those log entries. The cube animation happens
> concurrently with the new login so it's normal for it to get stuck then
> abort due to VM paging. Switch back and forth without running anything
> else and it will probably be smooth.
>
> Get used to the Console warnings about uncaught exceptions and
> malloc/free abuse. The PowerPC version of 10.5.8 isn't maintained very
> well.
Interesting comment. Last week I added some User Agent plists and the
first login of the day (after a system restart) was giving all sorts of
timeouts (on PowerPC version 10.5.8).
I had to hit the off switch, which in turn resulted in Time Machine
doing deep traversals.
--
Paul Sture
Jolly Roger
Paul Sture <paul....@sture.ch> wrote:
It just so happens that the day he described the problem to me, I
created a brand-new account for my mom on his computer so she could use
it while her iMac was in the shop to get the LCD panel replaced. The
same problem is illustrated when switching to her account. So yes, we've
tried that. Thanks for the suggestion! Any other ideas?
Jolly Roger
Paul Sture <paul....@sture.ch> wrote:
I have to wonder if this isn't an issue in one of the more recent
software updates (10.5.8 or 10.5.7 perhaps). He said it only started
happening quite recently, and I installed system updates to his machine
remotely not long ago. Hmmm...