Illegal Instruction/Bus Error -- Help me or the Mac gets a cement bath

[ctsrar]

Man, I think it's happening. I think I'm turning into a PC person. Those cute little windows aren't doing it for me. I toward the screen, and the love just isn't there.

It all started when my Mac started acting funny. Me and the 350 PCI-video G4 have been together since 98, and the 001's been with us since early 99. For a while, it was beautiful. I'd record band after band with never an embarassing crash. Sure, it was tough being limited to 5 or 6 plugins (or one Moogerfooger), and I'd rather not wait an hour for my session to bounce to disk, but love ain't always perfect.

A few weeks ago, the Mac started to change.I noticed it after I upgraded from OS 8.6 to 9.2, but I think it had started before that. "Illegal Instruction," it would tell me, or "Bus Error." The strange thing is the machine would start up differently every time. One time, it would hang at startup on the "Bus Error Message." The next time, it would hang while booting PT. The next time, it would open fine, but gag on my plugins. The next time, it would open absolutely perfectly.

I opened 'er up, and found a lot of dust, but not much else to worry about. I booted without the PT PCI card -- same problems. I clean installed the OS and the PT software -- same problem. I removed all non-essential problems -- same problem.

Bus Error.

Illegal Instruction.

What can I do? I really want this love to work out, but I'm skeptical. The fact that it boots up differently every time and hasn't responded to the clean installs leads me to believe it's a motherboard problem.

What do y'alls think? Do I throw the Mac into the L.A. River and start again with a PC? Do I start the costly process of replacing Mac Hardware? Do I go buy an 1/2" tape machine?

I really would appreciate any guidance you can give me.

Thanks,

Tim

[Kickin.da.speaker]

I'm afraid I can't help but ask the gurus at http://dealchat.com

[Michael Cottrell]

I'm sure there are firmware updates for your machine. Maybe more than one at this point. If you have already installed them from Apple site disregard.

9.2 will not function correctly without them.

All the Best!
Michael [img]images/icons/cool.gif[/img]

[shaggy]

I had a rash of illegal instruction/trap error messages on the Yosemite. Cousin to your Yikes G-4.

The virus MBDF/ab can cause this type of problem. Or no boot. Period. Scan w/ CD boot 'though.

Have you downloaded a bunch of new Plug-ins?

Anyway, what firmware (system profiler under production) are you running?

Also, don't run any firmware updates unless you check with Apple. Or remove non Apple OEM DIMMS first. I'm not sure which update your machine can take, though I have a feeling yours may not be on the list (that's causing the DIMM refresh mismatch)

Have you updated your Adaptec SCSI controller? If ya got em? 2940u2 and Powerdomain's needed a firmware update to go to 9.

Think about going back to 8.6 (unless you need to run FCP or Premier) then 9.1. That's just my opinion.

...has anyone tested 9.2.1 or 9.2.2 on these almost legacy machines?

...and if you need firewire, just download the latest firewire set and install them on 9.1

BTW- I saw one of these machines floating downstream at Dohene; one of those last big rains. I guess it wasn't yours.

It had a turd stuck to it.

.02 fleas

[DigiTechSupt]

Originally posted by shaggy:
The virus MBDF/ab can cause this type of problem. Or no boot. Period. Scan w/ CD boot 'though.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">I got the "Bus Error" message twice...both times it was the result of the MBDF-B virus. Scan all drives.

Brent

[Avid]

There is a link on our Downloads/Utilities page to download Disinfectant, a free Mac anti-virus utility which finds and removes the MBDF A and B virus.

[shaggy]

If you have Nortan AV 5 + it will work also. The concept is to boot with a 'locked system' i.e. CD.

Somehow Norton needs to find its virus definitions, and if it can't, run sherlock looking for the exact name of file. It should then appear in the navigation window.

Also, sometimes this virus causes the problem where your USB keyboard commands are not recognized. On Yosemites, plug in ADB keyboard and hold 'c' key while booting.

On newer machines, hold 'option' while booting into openfirmware and choose a CD as start-up disk.

I am the defacto expert on this virus, as it destroyed thousands of my Vision files. And even Dave O couldn't put humpty dumpty back together again. I hate MDBF/ab and will save a big fat turd for the guy or gal who dreamed it up.

.02 fleas

[ctsrar]

The virus MBDF/ab can cause this type of problem. Or no boot. Period. Scan w/ CD boot 'though.

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Yup, startup with CD is fine. And yes, illegal instruction, bus error, or no boot at all. Where can I learn more about this MBDF/ab thingy?

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Have you downloaded a bunch of new Plug-ins?

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Yes, recently. Problems started before this, however.

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Anyway, what firmware (system profiler under production) are you running?

---

Never knew how to check firmware profile. Thanks. To my best knowledge, however, I've never downloaded any firmware.

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Have you updated your Adaptec SCSI controller? If ya got em? 2940u2 and Powerdomain's needed a firmware update to go to 9.

Nope -- I've got a pair of 7200 rpm EIDEs.

----

Think about going back to 8.6 (unless you need to run FCP or Premier) then 9.1. That's just my opinion.

---

Well, here's the thing -- I've lost my 8.6 disc. Does Apple make these old OSs available online? Can I walk into the Apple store and buy a replacement OS 8.6? I am starting to feel a little stupid for movin' on up . . . .

[Avid]

MBDF is a 10 year old virus:
http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/mbdf.html

[shaggy]

Download disinfectant and scan both disks. Throw out marked files. Even questionable resource files.

Then download 9.1 to audio disk? Do you any CDRs at all i.e. OS 9.0?

Or TechToolPro, Norton, DiskWarrior, Norton AV as these all have bootable systems?

Otherwise, copy your system to audio drive, scan it with disinfectant, then switch start-up drives in StartUP Control Panel. Now you've booted from audio drive.

Scan system drive from Disinfectant located on Audio drive.

You may want to go with 9.1 (there is still a sleep issue- but I heard there's now a fix)

9.1 seems to test out ok, on this Yosemite PCI graphics unit. Sleep is the only bug with Le. If you run Direct I/O you're ok, the app will disconnect the DAE and not freeze up.

You definately want to re-install everything clean. You can do this booted from the audio disk, and applying the downloaded 9.1 installer (from the audio disk- target Macintosh HD)

Also, System Profiler under Apple menu (go to production information) get the Firmware number in Hex. i.e. 1.1f4 (but I doubt you could run 9.2 if the firmware is out of date) So, this is probably a non issue.

Run disinfectant on your audio disk again. I just used it, and it works. It won't fix files, just so you know, but will tell you which are questionable. Chuck though resource files that it can't scan.

(make a back up of system folder on your audio disk- do this before you start installing apps)

I got MBDF/ab on a brand spanking new Yosemite from a forced Shockwave download. Which I reported to Macromedia. Unfortunately, they were unable to trace the offending server, cause of all the mirrored FTP sites. Bummer.

FYI it's all over the Legacy macs, high schools, etc. Floppies should basically be chucked, in those institutions.

Again, one big fat turd earmarked for that parking spot (near the drivers side) MBDF/ab Arghp!

.02 fleas more