Fix for applications (TextWrangler, Chrome, Evernote, iPhoto …) crashing on startup in Mountain Lion

Update: if you’re using OS X 10.7 Lion (not Mountain Lion!) and you have a similar problem, perhaps this information could help you.

My friend noticed that after he updated to Mac OS X Mountain Lion some applications (including famous TextWrangler and various application installers) started to crash every time right after being launched. (It later turned out that for other users the same problem also affected Google Chrome, Evernote and iPhoto).

I noticed that the crash logs of those applications contained the same errors.

Crashed Thread:  0  Dispatch queue: com.apple.main-thread
Exception Type:  EXC_BAD_ACCESS (SIGBUS)
Exception Codes: KERN_PROTECTION_FAILURE

...

Thread 0 Crashed:: Dispatch queue: com.apple.main-thread
0   ???			0xac201000 objc_assign_ivar + 0
1   libobjc.A.dylib	0x92464d47 object_setIvar + 353
2   libobjc.A.dylib	0x92464bda object_setInstanceVariable + 80
3   com.apple.AppKit	0x9143c461 -[NSNibOutletConnector establishConnection] + 486
4   com.apple.AppKit	0x9140e15f -[NSIBObjectData nibInstantiateWithOwner:topLevelObjects:] + 1002
5   com.apple.AppKit	0x916257d0 -[NSNib _instantiateNibWithExternalNameTable:] + 634
6   com.apple.AppKit	0x916254a2 -[NSNib instantiateNibWithOwner:topLevelObjects:] + 166

and in Console I found the following errors:

Job appears to have crashed: ... Abort trap: 10
Data/Stack execution not permitted ... protections were read-write

After digging Google I came across a very helpful thread in the Chromium project issue tracker with the solution:

1) Run in Terminal:

sudo update_dyld_shared_cache -force

2) Reboot!

All kudos goes to mark@chromium.org!

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37 Responses to Fix for applications (TextWrangler, Chrome, Evernote, iPhoto …) crashing on startup in Mountain Lion

  1. Nathan says:

    Same problem as above ^ Tried your solution but I didn’t get any results sadly :(

  2. John Zimmerman says:

    I tried your solution, seemed elegant, but terminal asked for my password and I entered my “global” password for this machine and it was rejected. Thoughts?
    JZ

  3. Tarek says:

    Worked like a charm! Thanks a lot.

  4. l.s.wagenaar@leense.nl says:

    Great! Works for me! Trouble started for me after I used the migration assistant. Not sure what went wrong, but indeed both iPhoto and Chrome started crashing. After applying your solution it works again!

  5. Nick says:

    This worked for me also. Thanks so much for making the solution available!

  6. Meanest says:

    Rocking tip – worked for me. Cheers!

  7. bilal says:

    when i try typing my pass in the grey block thing is still :( What do i do to solve it?

  8. lana says:

    I LOVE YOU!!!

    thanks so much, you saved my macbook from being thrown at the wall ^^

  9. Jim says:

    I’m have a problem installing Illustrator CS6. It gets thru the installer interface and then the app opens for about 8 seconds then crashes. All other CS6 app are ok. I’m on a Mac Pro 2.66GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon with 12GB ram. I tried going into the terminal and pasteing in sudo update_dyld_shared_cache -force but no luck. Please help if you can I also replaced the amtlib.framework. Also I reformatted my internal HD and Carbon Copied Cloned all my stuff from a redundant internal HD and reinstalled CS6 many times. Did a repair permission. Nothing can get me past the Illustrator crashing.

  10. Nathan Johnson says:

    I erased my mac’s HDD and reinstalled everything from there. It works perfectly now, no snags!

    • Jim says:

      I reformatted mine and no luck. Bur I copied over all my CS5 app’s also with Mountain Lion. Could the CS5 app’s be the problem?

  11. Jim says:

    No it didn’t work before I replaced the amtlib.framework

  12. Duncan says:

    I plugged it into terminal and it asked for password but now it wont let me type anything. Any thoughts?

    Thanks.

    • Dae says:

      Simply blindly type your password and press Enter. When Terminal asks for a password it does not show characters that you type, not even asterisks.

  13. Duncan says:

    Amazing thanks so much.

  14. Duncan says:

    So the script ran in terminal, I rebooted and iphoto and chrome still crashed so I tried to run the script again and it just says this. Any thoughts?

    Thanks.

    Last login: Sat Jan 12 14:58:30 on ttys000
    duncan-penns-macbook-pro-2:~ Duncan$ sudo update_dyld_shared_cache -force
    Password:
    update_dyld_shared_cache: deleting old temp cache file: /var/db/dyld//dyld_shared_cache_i386.tmp659
    update_dyld_shared_cache: deleting old temp cache file: /var/db/dyld//dyld_shared_cache_x86_64.tmp628
    duncan-penns-macbook-pro-2:~ Duncan$

    • Dae says:

      Seems fine. Can you copy a crash log? You can find it when you click “Show details” in the notification window when an app crashes.

  15. Duncan says:

    Here’s the first 50 lines or so of the iPhoto crash. http://pastie.org/5675627

  16. Duncan says:

    I appreciate that. My chrome has been crashing in the same way which is why I thought the problem was the same as your fix here.

    From that link you gave me, if my codec is in there double as well, how would I fix that?

    Chrome still not working, going crazy. Thanks again for your help.

    • Dae says:

      Try the following:

      1. Open Finder, press Cmd + Shift + G, a dialog “Go to the folder” will appear.
      2. Paste /Library/QuickTime/ into it and press “Go”. Finder will open this folder.
      3. Find “DesktopVideoOut.component” in it and move it to Desktop. Make sure to delete it from the original place.
      4. Restart your computer.

      Let me know if it worked. I’m going to sleep now, will reply in the morning.

  17. Amanda says:

    After I upgraded to os 10.6.8 and chrome kept crashing, I tried going through the terminal and deleting and reinstalling chrome but chrome still quits before loading the home page for me. I tried to use chrome on my guest account and it worked perfectly fine but won’t work on the main account. Do you have any suggestions for me to try to get it to work?

  18. Abiola Owoaje says:

    Worked perfectly! I had spent the best part of 3hrs trying all sorts including re-installing without any luck.

    Thanks mate!!!

  19. Daan says:

    Hi, I’m having a 2011 macbook pro and running Mountain Lion. I get an error when I launch Adobe InDesign. I ran the code in terminal but it didn’t work. Can you help me?
    Here is the crash report: http://pastebin.com/FjUez8zs

  20. Thanks a lot! It worked fine and it seems to fix all crashes!

  21. Brad says:

    Any ideas for Mavericks? I’m getting several apps crashing before they can start, same crash report, but my terminal returned this message when I tried your code above:

    update_dyld_shared_cache failed: can’t read all of existing cache file (18446744073709551615 of 273706072): /var/db/dyld/dyld_shared_cache_i386

    Help!

    • Dae says:

      Hmm… Try doing the same from Onyx.

      Open Onyx, skip SMART checks etc., go to Maintenance > Rebuild > tick “dyld’s shared cache” > press “Execute”.

      • Brad says:

        The process was successful in Onyx, but no change. I could add my Chrome crash log if that helps.

        I believe in you! Help!

        • Dae says:

          Yes, send me your Chrome crash log via pastie.org or a similar service. Do other apps crash as well?

          Also, have you restarted your computer after rebuilding cache?

          • Brad says:

            I installed the combo update for Mavericks and everything is working fine now. It was Chrome, Dropbox, and Subler, plus overall system slowdown.

            Hope she stays afloat, but thank you so much for your help!

  22. PO says:

    Hi there.
    I had the same problem with Chrome crashing every time I wanted to “sign in again”. I thought it was related to the two factor authentication but even if I disable it the problem is still there. The funny part is that I have the same problem on both Windows and MacOS.
    Your magic trick fixed the MacOS part but I still have the Windows part to fixed now :)
    Thanks a lot!
    PO

  23. ios - developer says:

    My IOS app was developed with ios 7.3.1 version. It works fine in iphone 4s, iphone 6 but in iphone 5s it crashed and main thread issue occurs. can anyone please help me?

  24. anna says:

    wow, so kuul :)!! this suddenly appearing problem with iphoto crashing each time i want information about a picture is just gone :)!
    thank you so much!

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