Category Archives: Personal

Fixing Mac Kernel Panic: IOGMD: not wired for the IODMACommand

Since upgrading to OS X 10.8, aka Mountain Lion, my Mac Pro has been suffering from kernel panics. The solution has been to replace my two NVidia GT120 graphics cards with a single ATI 5770 graphics card.

The problem appears to effect those running multiple monitors and using the Apple issued GT120 graphics cards.

For me, the kernel panics occurred while browsing the web with Safari. Often the kernel panic occurred as I scrolled down a page. It did not require a complex web page; just a web page containing plain text was enough. It was not caused by Flash or any third party plug-in.

I reported these kernel panics to Apple through Bug Reporter, and through the “send report” mechanism upon restarting. Months have passed since the problem began, multiple updates to OS X 10.8 have been released, and still the kernel panics continued.

Rather than continue to wait for a solution from Apple, I opted to bypass the problem.

Replacing the Graphics Card

Thanks to a discussion on the Apple Discussion Forum, I learnt that replacing the graphics card will stop the kernel panics. One ATI 5770 graphics card can drive up to three monitors on a Mac Pro. I only have two monitors, so was pleased to feel the new card would not be immediately pushed to its limits.

Thus earlier this week, my replacement card arrived from Amazon. I had fun swapping out the two old cards for the slightly less dated graphics card.

Swapping over took about 30 minutes and required surprisingly little effort. The small manual included with the replacement provided all the instructions I needed.

Upon restarting everything worked. I have not had a kernel panic since and am starting to regain faith that I can use the computer for longer periods without being suddenly interrupted.

Apple issued ATI Radeon HD 5770 graphics card

Two Apple NVidia GeForce GT 120 cards removed

Mac Pro empty PCI slots ready for replacement graphics card

ATI Radeon 5770 fitted inside a Mac Pro Early 2009, 4.1 model

ATI 5770 offers two DisplayPorts and one DVI port for connecting three monitors

Kernel Panic

Below is an extract of the kernel panic reports I saw. The panics were frequent enough to change my behaviour and to avoid using Safari during critical work.

Fri Mar 29 15:44:58 2013
panic(cpu 2 caller 0xffffff800a451107): "IOGMD: not wired for the IODMACommand"@/SourceCache/xnu/xnu-2050.22.13/iokit/Kernel/IOMemoryDescriptor.cpp:1424
Backtrace (CPU 2), Frame : Return Address
0xffffff81009e30f0 : 0xffffff800a01d626 
0xffffff81009e3160 : 0xffffff800a451107 
0xffffff81009e31f0 : 0xffffff800a44bede 
0xffffff81009e32a0 : 0xffffff800a44cb0a 
0xffffff81009e32c0 : 0xffffff7f8a6dea04 
0xffffff81009e3330 : 0xffffff7f8a73f1c9 
0xffffff81009e3380 : 0xffffff7f8a73f13b 
0xffffff81009e33d0 : 0xffffff7f8a726901 
0xffffff81009e3460 : 0xffffff7f8a724ad6 
0xffffff81009e34b0 : 0xffffff7f8a70f764 
0xffffff81009e3560 : 0xffffff7f8a73c240 
0xffffff81009e3760 : 0xffffff7f8a73d983 
0xffffff81009e3830 : 0xffffff7f8b7ee480 
0xffffff81009e3970 : 0xffffff7f8b7edf6c 
0xffffff81009e3980 : 0xffffff7f8b7e4dfe 
0xffffff81009e3db0 : 0xffffff7f8b79120a 
0xffffff81009e3de0 : 0xffffff7f8b7952b3 
0xffffff81009e3e00 : 0xffffff7f8b11d2a4 
0xffffff81009e3e20 : 0xffffff7f8b11d237 
0xffffff81009e3e50 : 0xffffff7f8b7a218c 
0xffffff81009e3e80 : 0xffffff7f8b7918e2 
0xffffff81009e3ed0 : 0xffffff7f8b78f8a5 
0xffffff81009e3ef0 : 0xffffff800a4467a8 
0xffffff81009e3f30 : 0xffffff800a4452aa 
0xffffff81009e3f80 : 0xffffff800a4453d9 
0xffffff81009e3fb0 : 0xffffff800a0b2977 
      Kernel Extensions in backtrace:
         com.apple.iokit.IOSurface(86.0.4)[C1007599-42D0-32FF-9F2F-C63F4E6C1DEB]@0xffffff7f8b119000->0xffffff7f8b12afff
         com.apple.NVDAResman(8.1)[A26D2A3D-C06F-3A0F-BCFF-901A98C93C3D]@0xffffff7f8a6d9000->0xffffff7f8a9e6fff
            dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily(2.7.3)[1D668879-BEF8-3C58-ABFE-FAC6B3E9A292]@0xffffff7f8a644000
            dependency: com.apple.iokit.IONDRVSupport(2.3.7)[38C214C0-83C8-3594-8A4C-DC6AC3FEC163]@0xffffff7f8a6c5000
            dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOGraphicsFamily(2.3.7)[74E3E50F-E50A-3073-8C96-06F854292A91]@0xffffff7f8a682000
         com.apple.GeForce(8.1)[A15BB65E-3501-340F-87CB-2FD2BAD33E35]@0xffffff7f8b789000->0xffffff7f8b855fff
            dependency: com.apple.NVDAResman(8.1.0)[A26D2A3D-C06F-3A0F-BCFF-901A98C93C3D]@0xffffff7f8a6d9000
            dependency: com.apple.iokit.IONDRVSupport(2.3.7)[38C214C0-83C8-3594-8A4C-DC6AC3FEC163]@0xffffff7f8a6c5000
            dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily(2.7.3)[1D668879-BEF8-3C58-ABFE-FAC6B3E9A292]@0xffffff7f8a644000
            dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOGraphicsFamily(2.3.7)[74E3E50F-E50A-3073-8C96-06F854292A91]@0xffffff7f8a682000

BSD process name corresponding to current thread: kernel_task

Mac OS version:
12D78

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: [redacted]
Kernel slide:     0x0000000009e00000
Kernel text base: 0xffffff800a000000
System model name: MacPro4,1 (Mac-F221BEC8)

Amazon links on this page help support running The Work Life.

First Boardgame

We are avid viewers of TableTop with Wil Wheaton. The show’s premise is to present a table top game or games in each episode. Each show plays through a game and provides a flavour of what to expect – alongside banter, mirth, and snappy editing to keep the programme flowing.

Megan recently compiled and narrowed down the list of table top games we had watched. We wanted a game that could be played by two people but would scale up to four or six. We also wanted a simpler game – as compared to some of the fairly involved games we had seen.

We ended up getting Ticket to Ride European Edition.

Today we played our first game.

Megan’s first move in Ticket to Ride

Graham’s first move in Ticket to Ride

Our first completed game in Ticket to Ride

It was great fun. The rules took only a few minutes to grasp and I can see that this game has a lot of scope and many hours of playing ahead.

Amazon links on this page help support running The Work Life.

Escaping My Enclosure

I have looked forward to my first walk since the surgery with delight. We often walk in the local park to escape our apartment and the trials of the day. So I dreaded being stuck inside while I recovered.

Ducks on our local park lake in Lyon

I was not disappointed by my first slow, and a touch uncomfortable, walk yesterday evening. The rain had just stopped when we stepped outside and the light was fading. It made for a magical environment and a near deserted park. Only a few runners looping the edge shared the quiet paths with us.

Lamp posts and trees in our local park.

Recovering

Thank you for your support and concern; it helped more than you might imagine.

I am back from surgery and recovering nicely at home. Megan is looking after me and doing her best to keep me from injuring myself. If anyone deserves sympathy it is Megan.

This morning I discovered I have metal staples in my stomach holding me together. Not sure how to feel about that. A mixture of impressive and horrifying comes to mind.

I continue to be in awe of the French health care system. We have been helped through every stage by caring and considerate medical staff.

It is still less than 48 hours since I went into surgery. Since then I have checked in new code – with unit tests, helped customers with queries, and am resting enough to keep Megan sane.

It is going to be a little while before I am back to full strength but I will make sure that time is as short as possible.

An Unwilling Encore

The week has been a swirl of emotion and activity. Once again I have found myself venturing into the French medical establishment. This time for something a touch more serious than a simple fall.

Those that know me personally will appreciate my attitude as I deal with what needs doing – a quiet focused determination that leaves little time for much else.

I will be fine; that is not my focus here.

A worn corridor in the Tonkin Clinic, Lyon

Section R, Hopital Croix Rousse, Lyon

There is something about visiting various medical buildings that lingers. They feel a touch unreal. Doors along corridors that open automatically – highlighting the expected direction of traffic. Staff in white wearing sensible shoes moving quietly around confused members of the public. The smokers standing just outside of the building catching a moment of peace and nicotine while they wait for the next burst of activity.

The French medical system has a positive reputation in the United Kingdom. We hear stories of better service, better facilities, and less cost cutting. Specifics are rarely mentioned, just France is somehow better.

The British forget that in France going to a doctor is likely to involve a payment. They forget that in France individuals are recommended to have top-up insurance; the state does not cover the full cost of treatment. They forget that the system expects more from you.

In the United Kingdom, healthcare is mostly out of your hands. You go to the doctor and the National Health Service (NHS), puts you on a treadmill of care. Appointments are made for you, you go where and when you are told. You learn to expect delays and waiting periods but never a fee, never a personal cost when you need treatment. All those costs have been dealt with through every salary cheque and every pay packet.

In France, we are discovering the expectation on the patient is greater. I am learning to appreciate why and the control it puts in my hands. I am not sure I need the control but it is a point of difference.

Here you are responsible for your medical file. You get copies of all your tests, you see the bulk of the paperwork carrying your name. With every appointment, test, scan, or interaction your file grows. The mountain of paperwork can feel overwhelming but a pattern establishes itself and life goes on.

Much of the French medical system is changing. Swipe cards for medical services have appeared. Doctors are being jostled into a more active role for administering patients’ files. As with the NHS, the French system seems to be in near constant change and reform.

As an outsider venturing for the first time in the serious units of my local massive modern hospital, I am both scared and in awe of the treatment.

It took thirteen months to get my carte vitale. I did not expect it to be so essential so soon.

Font Awesome PDFs

Today I released Font Awesome PDFs. This is a collection of small PDF files, each containing a single icon from the wonderful Font Awesome Version 2.0 project.

Stained glass window in Worcester Town Hall

I recently wanted to use the Font Awesome icons in a project. The original form is in a font – thus the name. The font format did not meet my project’s needs and so I spent a little time searching the Internet. I was looking for alternative vector based version of these icons. I remember finding SVG editions but SVG is not natively supported by Mac OS X. My searches turned up nothing immediately usable, so I created my own.

The collection is free and available through the same permissive licence that allowed me to create this work – CC BY 3.0.

Photo Feed

Today I released Miln Photo Feed. This plug-in for WordPress lets you offer a photo feed for your web site. Feeds are used to share content and make it easy for people to keep up to date with your news. A photo feed is different from a normal feed. The photo feed only includes the photographs attached to the content, rather than the textual content.

Light streams into through the doors of the V&A

I created this WordPress plug-in for my family. I wanted an easy way to put my photos into their copy of iPhoto. iPhoto is a natural place to go when you want to browse photos.

Photo Stream

Apple’s Photo Stream does not offer the form, privacy, or control I want for my content. I want to host my own content and control my own distribution; Miln Photo Feed lets me do just that.

Subscribing with iPhoto

Mac users can subscribe to my photos using iPhoto with a couple of clicks. If you use Google Reader or another RSS tool, the feed is available at: http://theworklife.com/graham-miln/photos

As time allows, I plan to extend this plug-in but for now v1.0 does one task really well.

A Year in France

Last weekend I enjoyed speeding across the French countryside by train. A couple of light bags in tow and a fun few days ahead with friends.

Sunset from the TGV

A year ago we made the same long journey but then burdened with large suitcases and significant trepidation. The last year has been difficult and the culture shock of French society has been more challenging than I expected. There is only so much that planning can prepare you for.

I hope this next year will remind me why we made this move. With a little luck we may be able to avoid committing too many more hours to paperwork and getting set up.

Doubt

I underestimated the influence and hold doubt can have over me. Doubt creeps in and lurks unwelcome in the corner of my mind. It waits patiently. Here, time is on doubt’s side.

We have been waiting for months. Deadlines, fixed expiry dates, are fast approaching. An attitude of waiting and seeing is not an option.

Action counters fear, worry, and stress. And we have taken action. We have done what we can but some things are beyond our influence. Yet the deadlines remain. Firm, fixed, and increasing close to hand.

Log glowing in the woodburner

Things will work out; they always do. But do not ascribe that to fate. It is not fate dealing our hand.

A determined effort is occurring out of the lime light. Doubt has no home here; it will be moved aside, consigned to an anecdote, a recalling of times past.

Postscript: Everything is fine; this post sums up the last weeks as we met another hurdle in our move into French society.

Changi airport is not the most attractive airport but it does have impressive recycling stations. I love the functional and playful design of these three bins.

A fun and self explanatory recycling station at Changi airport

Graham Miln

Adventures in life.