For a few months now, I've had a problem with Spotlight crashing almost
immediately nearly every time I call it up (command-space). The crash report
shows:
Exception Type: EXC_BAD_INSTRUCTION (SIGILL)
Exception Codes: 0x0000000000000001, 0x0000000000000000
Exception Note: EXC_CORPSE_NOTIFY
Termination Signal: Illegal instruction: 4
Termination Reason: Namespace SIGNAL, Code 0x4
Terminating Process: exc handler [0]
Application Specific Information:
XPC API Misuse: Release of last reference on a suspended connection.
(I once had chops as a dump reader, but with no access to the source, I won't
even try.)
Assuming corruption, I tried trashing the drive's Spotlight index and
rebuilding it. Spotlight behaved for almost 24 hours, then was back to its old
tricks. Future repetitions of this tactic gave zero relief, even temporary.
About a month ago, I started getting kernel panics, and assumed the problem was
hardware and escalating… so I brought the MBP into the Apple Store just under
the warranty line (my logic board had been replaced this summer due to physical
damage from a swollen battery). It failed a couple shop tests, so it went to
Houston and came back with a few new parts and a totally clean bill of health.
But apparently none of this was related to the Spotlight problem, which
persevered.
I determined the problem existed only in my user account, so not hardware, not
index corruption, and not OS damage. I figured, maybe a local preference file.
Running DiskWarrior over the files located a few hinky prefs, none of which
were obviously associated with Spotlight. I got rid of most of those (the
Little Snitch deformity is well-known and apparently purposeful), but it didn't
help.
My experience has been that if I can type enough of the search string and then
hit return REALLY FAST, I can make it launch the app or file without crashing,
or at least before crashing. This made me think: Spotlight no longer just finds
things in the file system, it now "helpfully" looks at internet sources,
dictionaries, and the like. What if it wasn't faulting on the file search, but
some helper routine like a web suggestion facility? That might implicate
something like a corrupted preference file that wasn't obviously related to
Spotlight.
I tried invoking Spotlight with all my networks disconnected. It didn't help.
It was at that point I remembered that I had an old copy of Preferential
Treatment, which apparently hasn't been updated in ages. I ran it, and it found
exactly one hinky (zero-length) pref: com.apple.WebKit.Plugin.64.plist. Feeling
certain I had found the culprit, I removed it and rebooted.
Nope.
At this point, I'm out of ideas. Does anybody here have insight into
Spotlight's peculiarities, or any suggestion as to where I might look to solve
this issue?
--
Macs R We -- Personal Macintosh Service and Support
in the Wickenburg and far Northwest Valley Areas.
http://macsrwe.com
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