Core Audio crashes repeatedly after about 90 -120 minutes - has anyone else seen this?

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Level 1

16 points

Core Audio crashes repeatedly after about 90 -120 minutes - has anyone else seen this?

I am an amateur musician and use my computer at least 3 hours a day for music processing. I have a variety of applications I use, including Apple Logic. My audio interface is a Clarette 4Pre Thunderbolt. This problem affects all applications that use the core audio - all of the musical applications and any games etc. All Focusrite drivers and software are current versions. Mac is a newish M1Max running (now) Ventura. The problem has been with me with the previous computer (an older MacBook Pro) and any OS version since Catalina.

After 90-120 minutes of use Core Audio crashes. I am forced to reset it by killing the process and cycling the power on the interface. This happens continuously. It makes recording quite irritating, since I can be in the midst of a passage and the system will crash.

Before I replace my audio interface at much expense, I wanted to see if anyone else has seen this problem, and if so, what might be going on.

MacBook Pro 14″, macOS 13.1

Posted on Jan 15, 2023 5:17 AM

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Answer 1

mdl978 Author

Level 1

16 points

Jan 17, 2023 4:29 AM in response to J_Johnnyboy

Thanks for replying.

If you read my message carefully though, you can see that I wasn't asking how to fix the problem. I was asking if anyone has seen something similar. Receiving obvious generic advice about a messy driver problem is less than helpful, it is very frustrating.

After some more detailed work, I have determined that the problem lies somewhere in the interaction of Core Audio with the Focusrite driver. Core Audio doesn't fully crash, but it loses access to the interface. I can reload the Focusrite driver using root commands on the terminal, and power cycle the interface (while not power cycling or rebooting the computer) which will restore functionality. Power cycling the interface may also reset the thunderbolt bus, but I don't really know much about how that operates.

To be useful, the computer must have access to the interface for long periods of time (at least 24 hrs) without an error, otherwise alternative computers or interfaces will be needed.

FWIW, I am in contact with Focusrite who is taking a look at this. The reason I asked what I did here is to try to see if anyone else has seen this type of problem with any type of audio interface. If so, it could be an inherent problem with Core Audio or Thunderbolt rather than the Focusrite drivers. If this is the case, I'll likely need a different computer.

One important additional item - the audio interface is Thunderbolt 2 while the mac is Thunderbolt 4. I am using the Apple Thunderbolt adapter. Maybe that is the problem?

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Answer 2

Jan 16, 2023 6:30 PM in response to mdl978

Hi mdl978,

We recommend you try the steps here via the link below since apps on your Mac are crashing after 90-120 minutes of use.

If an app on your Mac stops responding, closes unexpectedly, or won’t open - Apple Support

To perform the steps in the article we suggested above, click and open the link, read the subheadings below, and try each step.

1) Quit and reopen the app

2) Restart your Mac

3) Check for updates

4) Reinstall the app

The reason why we are recommending the steps above is because they will show you what to do if an app on your Mac does not work as expected

Please let us know the outcome after giving the above steps a try.

Thanks for using the Apple Support Communities.

Cheers!

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Core Audio crashes repeatedly after about 90 -120 minutes - has anyone else seen this?

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