Arduino 1.0.1 causes Mac OS X to crash regularly. Ideas?

Ardinator:
Nick you are a smart guy and I appreciate your help, and I'm sorry if I upset you.

I'm not upset. I don't have that device, and was only trying to help based on what I saw on that web site. Sorry it didn't work for you.

Ardinator:
I called it a "firmware upgrade" but the truth is I'm not sure if "firmware" is the right word. I'm new to Arduino technology

The "Arduino Technology" isn't that complex. It is a PCB with a USB to Serial chip, Voltage Regulator, and ATmega328. The only "firmware" is the bootloader programmed on the ATmega328 and possibly the USB to Serial Chip, depending on which one is being used.

This isn't a complex PC with hundreds of layers. It is a simple 8-bit microcontroller board.

Ardinator:
Is anyone willing to suggest a product that I could use instead of this one?

One suggestion might be an official Arduino board. They are well tested and used by a large number of people. You're working with a board few people use and a USB to Serial chip even fewer people use. It is difficult to provide much help in that case.

There is no magic to the IDE software. The only they it might do in the background is poll for what serial ports are available. Otherwise, it doesn't touch the serial port until you press upload. It is hard to imagine why you would see this problem with 1.0.1 and not 1.0. It is more likely a coincidence the problem surfaced after updating.

I've been experiencing similar symptoms. I'm using an Arduino UNO R3, and occasionally (and seemingly at random) my MacBook Pro reboots itself. Not the expected kernel panic warning, just an immediate reboot. It happens when I'm uploading code to the Arduino.

It seems to have started with Arduino 1.0.1. I'm running 1.0.2 now and had 3-4 reboots in an hour before giving up.

I'm going to try to go back to 1.0 and see if it continues.

MacBook Pro "Mid 2009", OS X 10.8.2

  • Chris

I too have been experiencing similar problems. I am using a late 2008 Mac Book Pro with OS X 10.8.2. The boards I am using are the Sparkfun 8 MHz pro-mini in both '168 and '328 versions and a Freetronics EtherTen. The symptoms appeared when I upgraded to 1.0.1 and have continued into 1.0.2. My system reboots after 15 or 20 minutes and only seems to do so when I have a board connected via USB. I haven't been able to duplicate the problem with no board connected.

I downgraded to Arduino 1.0 and was having better luck, but then today I've had a couple immediate reboots using 1.0 and a Diecimila board. It seems to have the most problems when the Serial Monitor window is open and I either try to upload to the board or try to close the Serial Monitor window.

The OS X kernel panic crash report didn't have anything obvious to say.

I'm going back to Arduino 1.0.2 and continuing the investigation. I'm thinking maybe it's something in the latest OS X Mountain Lion update (I'm running 10.8.2).

  • Chris

Make sure you have the latest FTDI drivers installed.

chriswei:
but then today I've had a couple immediate reboots using
...
The OS X kernel panic crash report didn't have anything obvious to say.

I don't consider "immediate reboots" and "kernel panics" to be the same thing. So which is happening?

Sorry for the ambuguity - I'm admittedly not an expert on OS X internals. The effect I'm experiencing is an immediate reboot of the machine - no intermediate screen or other error indication, just an instant reboot (gray screen, boot sound, spinner and eventually back to my desktop). After the reboot, as the Mac is coming back up, I see a crash report dialog. One of the lines in that report mentions a "kernel panic" from an unknown thread.

chriswei:

[quote author=James C4S link=topic=123901.msg1018018#msg1018018 date=1354491053]
Make sure you have the latest FTDI drivers installed.

chriswei:
but then today I've had a couple immediate reboots using
...
The OS X kernel panic crash report didn't have anything obvious to say.

I don't consider "immediate reboots" and "kernel panics" to be the same thing. So which is happening?

Sorry for the ambuguity - I'm admittedly not an expert on OS X internals. The effect I'm experiencing is an immediate reboot of the machine - no intermediate screen or other error indication, just an instant reboot (gray screen, boot sound, spinner and eventually back to my desktop). After the reboot, as the Mac is coming back up, I see a crash report dialog. One of the lines in that report mentions a "kernel panic" from an unknown thread.
[/quote]

I'm getting exactly the same reaction. I think the problem has to do with Java, the 1.0.x versions of the IDE and USB communication. There have been some upgrades to Java for OS X this Fall. I haven't upgraded to the latest Oracle supplied Java. I am still running Java for OS X 2012-006 version 1.0 from October 2012.

I don't consider "immediate reboots" and "kernel panics" to be the same thing.

Maybe not, but a kernel panic usually causes a reboot...

-j

PapaG:
I'm getting exactly the same reaction. I think the problem has to do with Java, the 1.0.x versions of the IDE and USB communication. There have been some upgrades to Java for OS X this Fall.

The IDE uses RXTX to determine what serial ports are available and for the Serial Monitor to communicate with the serial port. avrdude handles the serial port directly for programming.

It is more likely there is a driver / chip issue that is causing the problem and less likely the IDE.

PapaG:
I haven't upgraded to the latest Oracle supplied Java. I am still running Java for OS X 2012-006 version 1.0 from October 2012.

Why would you use the Oracle supplied Java?

kg4wsv:

I don't consider "immediate reboots" and "kernel panics" to be the same thing.

Maybe not, but a kernel panic usually causes a reboot...

I have never had an "immediate reboot" on OSX. Kernel Panics go to a very distinctive error screen that requires a power cycle. There is nothing immediate about it.

Why would you use the Oracle supplied Java?

Because Apple stopped supplying the upgrade with the 2012-006 release. I personally have not used the Oracle supplied Java.

I have never had an "immediate reboot" on OSX. Kernel Panics go to a very distinctive error screen that requires a power cycle. There is nothing immediate about it.

I have never had one either, before this. It is like the power is interrupted for a moment.

In my case it's a kernel panic (on a early 2008 MBP (running 10.8 ) with an Uno).

Forget Arduino 1.0.1. This kernel panic is happening to me with my 24" iMac running 10.8.2 and Arduino 1.0.3. I even upgraded to the latest 10.8.3 beta (I'm a registered developer) and am still getting the panic. Here are the details:

In the Arduino Editor, all that I have to do is click the checkmark button to compile the code in the window. IF there are no compile errors, then about 1 out of every 8 times when I click this, the mouse stops moving, and 1 second later the screen goes black and I get the grey panic screen.

This is so frustrating. It makes development a crapshoot because I don't know when the panic will occur. It appears more likely to occur if I do a number of successive compiles in short order (after fixing bugs or adding small features), but it could also happen if I wait minutes or hours to do a compile.

Here is my panic report. Granted, the stack has little information to go on.

Interval Since Last Panic Report:  142025 sec
Panics Since Last Report:          1
Anonymous UUID:                    C9D979AD-BC62-8A09-D830-6AE020D91210

Tue Jan 29 06:53:45 2013
panic(cpu 1 caller 0xffffff80080b7e95): Kernel trap at 0xffffff80083665c3, type 14=page fault, registers:
CR0: 0x000000008001003b, CR2: 0x0000000000000154, CR3: 0x00000000527dc000, CR4: 0x0000000000000660
RAX: 0x0000000000000000, RBX: 0xffffff8019da2660, RCX: 0xffffff80b91150b8, RDX: 0xffffff8017a67070
RSP: 0xffffff8012ccbd90, RBP: 0xffffff8012ccbe50, RSI: 0x000000000000001f, RDI: 0xffffff8019ddb550
R8:  0x000000000000003c, R9:  0x00000000000003ff, R10: 0xffffffffffffffff, R11: 0x00000000ffffffff
R12: 0x0000000000000000, R13: 0x0000000000000004, R14: 0xffffff8017a67020, R15: 0x0000000000080000
RFL: 0x0000000000010246, RIP: 0xffffff80083665c3, CS:  0x0000000000000008, SS:  0x0000000000000010
Fault CR2: 0x0000000000000154, Error code: 0x0000000000000000, Fault CPU: 0x1

Backtrace (CPU 1), Frame : Return Address
0xffffff8012ccba30 : 0xffffff800801d626 
0xffffff8012ccbaa0 : 0xffffff80080b7e95 
0xffffff8012ccbc70 : 0xffffff80080cd4dd 
0xffffff8012ccbc90 : 0xffffff80083665c3 
0xffffff8012ccbe50 : 0xffffff8008356082 
0xffffff8012ccbec0 : 0xffffff8008039ce9 
0xffffff8012ccbef0 : 0xffffff800803c7e8 
0xffffff8012ccbf20 : 0xffffff800803c65e 
0xffffff8012ccbf50 : 0xffffff800801b70d 
0xffffff8012ccbf90 : 0xffffff80080b84a3 
0xffffff8012ccbfb0 : 0xffffff80080cd4ac 

BSD process name corresponding to current thread: Unknown

Mac OS version:
12D54

Kernel version:
Darwin Kernel Version 12.3.0: Sun Jan  6 22:37:10 PST 2013; root:xnu-2050.22.13~1/RELEASE_X86_64
Kernel UUID: 3EB7D8A7-C2D3-32EC-80F4-AB37D61492C6
Kernel slide:     0x0000000007e00000
Kernel text base: 0xffffff8008000000
System model name: iMac7,1 (Mac-F42386C8)

System uptime in nanoseconds: 146999748730101
last loaded kext at 143699045128632: com.apple.driver.AppleUSBAudio	2.9.0f6 (addr 0xffffff7f8a254000, size 262144)
last unloaded kext at 144811937227386: com.silabs.driver.CP210xVCPDriver64	3.1.0d1 (addr 0xffffff7f8a20d000, size 28672)
loaded kexts:
com.vmware.kext.vmioplug.10.1.24	10.1.24
com.vmware.kext.vmx86	0090.04.91
com.vmware.kext.vmnet	0090.04.91
com.vmware.kext.vsockets	90.4.22
com.vmware.kext.vmci	90.4.18
com.FTDI.driver.FTDIUSBSerialDriver	2.2.18
tc.tctechnologies.driver.AlesisFirewire	3.5.6 11675
com.apple.filesystems.smbfs	1.8
com.apple.driver.AppleBluetoothMultitouch	75.19
com.apple.filesystems.autofs	3.0
com.apple.driver.AudioAUUC	1.60
com.apple.driver.IOBluetoothSCOAudioDriver	4.1.3f3
com.apple.driver.AppleHWSensor	1.9.5d0
com.apple.driver.AppleHDA	2.3.7fc4
com.apple.driver.AppleUSBCDCACMData	4.1.23
com.apple.iokit.CSRBluetoothHCIControllerUSBTransport	4.1.3f3
com.apple.driver.ACPI_SMC_PlatformPlugin	1.0.0
com.apple.driver.AppleLPC	1.6.0
com.apple.driver.AppleBacklight	170.2.5
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com.apple.kext.AMDFramebuffer	8.1.0
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Moderator edit:
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tags added.

I am having nearly the exact same issue with my mid-2012 macbook. My mac does a kernel panic randomly when I unplug the Arduino. This is incredibly frustrating for development as it seems the only way I can reliably stop the code/serial monitor and upload a new version is to unplug the usb cable from the Arduino. The Kernel Panic happens randomly somewhere between the 2nd and 10th unplugging of the Arduino. Always on the unplugging.

Here is my environment:
macbook 2.7Ghz Core i7
OS X 10.7.5
Arduino 1.0.2
Boards: Happens when working with both UNO and MEGA boards

This is a serious bummer and I would appreciate any recommendations if anyone has solved this problem.

Thanks,
Dave

ralfieroo:
the only way I can reliably stop the code/serial monitor and upload a new version is to unplug the usb cable from the Arduino.

The only time this has even been an issue for me was when the code on the Arduino was sending (too much?) Serial data at a near constant rate. Small delays helped.

Just an update:

Not to be a "quitter" but I really had too much development to keep fiddling with the mac and I had a perfectly good Ubuntu linux PC sitting right next to it. I've switched my Arduino development to that linux PC and I've had no problems. Can plug and unplug Arduino's to my heart's content.

Dave

Currently running version 152 on OSX 10.8.3 with no problems.!

Running all sorts of things on 10.7.5 and never had a problem.
OTOH, I don't unplug my Arduinos while they're generating serial data, either. Hardly ever.

Has anyone found a solution, or an idea of where this is coming from yet? It just happened again using IDE version 1.0.4 and uploading a sketch. I have a late '08, 17" Macbook Pro running 10.8.3. My panic report is just as uninformative as the one already posted.

Another detail, this crash always happens when uploading to a board. In my case, a genuine Arduino UNO R3. It has not happened with the Leonardo yet.

When my Mac crashed this morning, I had only the Arduino IDE and Google Chrome running, in addition to the normal Mac processes. In order to eliminate the possibility of another USB device confusing the OS, all external devices, other than the Uno, were disconnected.

After posting the last message, I updated to IDE version 1.0.5. It took 25 or 30 uploads before my Mac crashed, but it did crash. At the time of the crash, Chrome was not running, but other USB devices were connected and iTunes was running. Also, it crashed uploading to a Leonardo. As before, the panic report did not show anything interesting.