Error message "Master Pointer was nil (-109)"
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This forum is for seeking solutions to technical problems involving Digital Performer and/or plug-ins on MacOS, as well as feature requests, criticisms, comparison to other DAWs.
This forum is for seeking solutions to technical problems involving Digital Performer and/or plug-ins on MacOS, as well as feature requests, criticisms, comparison to other DAWs.
Error message "Master Pointer was nil (-109)"
Hey folks. I've run into a problem, and so far haven't been able to get it figured out, even with some MOTU tech support help. I'm running DP 9.01 on my Mac master computer, with the current Yosemite update. Everything's been working fine until this morning, when I can't get DP to finish starting up. It scans through the plugins, but when it gets to the end of that list I get the following message:
"Digital Performer has encountered an error.
OS error:
Master pointer was nil (-109)"
DP then crashes, and I'm back to square one. I did some quick Googling of it, and the only things I was able to turn up was that it was in fact and error message (maybe related to the Storage Allocator), and that MacKeeper claims to be able to fix it. MacKeeper seems to be malware, so I didn't head down that route.
I've spoken to Apple tech support, who figured it was a MOTU thing, and so I tried all the usual things with MOTU tech support (clean install of DP, repairing disk permissions, rebooting, trashing my DP preferences), but no luck.
Anyone else run into this problem? The kicker is that everything had been working fine as recently as yesterday, and of course, I've got a looming deadline that I need to be back and running ASAP. Any help would be very appreciated.
Thanks.
Jeff
"Digital Performer has encountered an error.
OS error:
Master pointer was nil (-109)"
DP then crashes, and I'm back to square one. I did some quick Googling of it, and the only things I was able to turn up was that it was in fact and error message (maybe related to the Storage Allocator), and that MacKeeper claims to be able to fix it. MacKeeper seems to be malware, so I didn't head down that route.
I've spoken to Apple tech support, who figured it was a MOTU thing, and so I tried all the usual things with MOTU tech support (clean install of DP, repairing disk permissions, rebooting, trashing my DP preferences), but no luck.
Anyone else run into this problem? The kicker is that everything had been working fine as recently as yesterday, and of course, I've got a looming deadline that I need to be back and running ASAP. Any help would be very appreciated.
Thanks.
Jeff
2019 MacPro, 10.15.5, 16 core 3.2 GHz, 384 GB RAM
DP 10.11
Kontakt 6.2.2, Spectrasonics, u-he, Arturia, NI Komplete 11, VE Pro
UAD, Waves, Soundtoys, Slate, FabFilter
DP 10.11
Kontakt 6.2.2, Spectrasonics, u-he, Arturia, NI Komplete 11, VE Pro
UAD, Waves, Soundtoys, Slate, FabFilter
Re: Error message "Master Pointer was nil (-109)"
Avoid MacKeeper as though it was the ebola virus. I'd start by running Disk Utility. Perhaps several times. One utility that I do trust is Malware Bytes:
https://www.malwarebytes.org/antimalware/mac/
https://www.malwarebytes.org/antimalware/mac/
828x MacOS 13.6.5 M1 Studio Max 1TB 64G DP11.31
- mikehalloran
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Re: Error message "Master Pointer was nil (-109)"
Apple support didn't recognize that? Really? Good grief, what do they teach them?
Either you don't have privileges to write to that drive or your hard drive has a bad spot and you found it. If you didn't do something to hose privileges or if that's your boot drive, you have a hard disk that is failing.
If you have a Time Machine backup of that drive, replace it and restore from Time Machine or other backup.
F you do not have a backup, run Repair Disk from Disk Utility from another drive. Keep running it till you have no errors, then get the data onto another drive, preferably a new one.
MacKeeper is crapware. Avoid.
-109 is not malware.
Either you don't have privileges to write to that drive or your hard drive has a bad spot and you found it. If you didn't do something to hose privileges or if that's your boot drive, you have a hard disk that is failing.
If you have a Time Machine backup of that drive, replace it and restore from Time Machine or other backup.
F you do not have a backup, run Repair Disk from Disk Utility from another drive. Keep running it till you have no errors, then get the data onto another drive, preferably a new one.
MacKeeper is crapware. Avoid.
-109 is not malware.
DP 11.31; 828mkII FW, micro lite, M4, MTP/AV USB Firmware 2.0.1
2023 Mac Studio M2 8TB, 192GB RAM, OS Sonoma 14.4, USB4 8TB external, M-Audio AIR 192|14, Mackie ProFxv3 6/10/12; 2012 MBPs Catalina, Mojave
IK-NI-Izotope-PSP-Garritan-Antares, LogicPro X, Finale 27.4, Dorico 5.2, Notion 6, Overture 5, TwistedWave, DSP-Q 5, SmartScore64 Pro, Toast 20 Pro
2023 Mac Studio M2 8TB, 192GB RAM, OS Sonoma 14.4, USB4 8TB external, M-Audio AIR 192|14, Mackie ProFxv3 6/10/12; 2012 MBPs Catalina, Mojave
IK-NI-Izotope-PSP-Garritan-Antares, LogicPro X, Finale 27.4, Dorico 5.2, Notion 6, Overture 5, TwistedWave, DSP-Q 5, SmartScore64 Pro, Toast 20 Pro
Re: Error message "Master Pointer was nil (-109)"
Hey guys, thanks for the responses. Yeah, I'd seen the MacKeeper popups enough times that it seemed like something fishy, and so I Googled "MacKeeper review" and got the skinny.
The Apple support guy didn't get too deep into things, seemed to think pretty strongly that it was a MOTU thing, so off I went to their tech support. It is my boot drive, and I was having Time Machine problems a while back so I stopped using it. I'll give your suggestions a try though, and hopefully get back on my feet ASAP.
I'll let you know what happens. Thanks again!
The Apple support guy didn't get too deep into things, seemed to think pretty strongly that it was a MOTU thing, so off I went to their tech support. It is my boot drive, and I was having Time Machine problems a while back so I stopped using it. I'll give your suggestions a try though, and hopefully get back on my feet ASAP.
I'll let you know what happens. Thanks again!
2019 MacPro, 10.15.5, 16 core 3.2 GHz, 384 GB RAM
DP 10.11
Kontakt 6.2.2, Spectrasonics, u-he, Arturia, NI Komplete 11, VE Pro
UAD, Waves, Soundtoys, Slate, FabFilter
DP 10.11
Kontakt 6.2.2, Spectrasonics, u-he, Arturia, NI Komplete 11, VE Pro
UAD, Waves, Soundtoys, Slate, FabFilter
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Re: Error message "Master Pointer was nil (-109)"
Had the very same error message with DP9 a while back, after updating to Yosemite. Following Mike's advice, after running disk repair, ended up replacing system drive. Definitely frustrating!
Good luck!!
Carlos
Good luck!!
Carlos
- mikehalloran
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Re: Error message "Master Pointer was nil (-109)"
Having Time Machine problems so you stopped using it? Oh my...
Ok... find out how many drives are bad and replace them.
The only reason to run Disk Repair on your drive is to try and get it in good enough shape to pull the data off. When the drive is repaired, this is a temporary situation.
If you were to use a third party tool, use TechTool Pro to generate a S.M.A.R.T. graph to see how the drive failed. It won't repair the drive nor will anything else.
Get a new drive, install a fresh OS. Use Migration Assistant to pull the data off the old drive.
If you were considering upgrading to SSDs, now is the time. If you do, download and install Trim Enabler.app from Cindori.org. This is not necessary if you are running Yosemite 10.10.4 or later -- in that case, open Terminal and run sudo trimforce enable
Ok... find out how many drives are bad and replace them.
The only reason to run Disk Repair on your drive is to try and get it in good enough shape to pull the data off. When the drive is repaired, this is a temporary situation.
If you were to use a third party tool, use TechTool Pro to generate a S.M.A.R.T. graph to see how the drive failed. It won't repair the drive nor will anything else.
Get a new drive, install a fresh OS. Use Migration Assistant to pull the data off the old drive.
If you were considering upgrading to SSDs, now is the time. If you do, download and install Trim Enabler.app from Cindori.org. This is not necessary if you are running Yosemite 10.10.4 or later -- in that case, open Terminal and run sudo trimforce enable
DP 11.31; 828mkII FW, micro lite, M4, MTP/AV USB Firmware 2.0.1
2023 Mac Studio M2 8TB, 192GB RAM, OS Sonoma 14.4, USB4 8TB external, M-Audio AIR 192|14, Mackie ProFxv3 6/10/12; 2012 MBPs Catalina, Mojave
IK-NI-Izotope-PSP-Garritan-Antares, LogicPro X, Finale 27.4, Dorico 5.2, Notion 6, Overture 5, TwistedWave, DSP-Q 5, SmartScore64 Pro, Toast 20 Pro
2023 Mac Studio M2 8TB, 192GB RAM, OS Sonoma 14.4, USB4 8TB external, M-Audio AIR 192|14, Mackie ProFxv3 6/10/12; 2012 MBPs Catalina, Mojave
IK-NI-Izotope-PSP-Garritan-Antares, LogicPro X, Finale 27.4, Dorico 5.2, Notion 6, Overture 5, TwistedWave, DSP-Q 5, SmartScore64 Pro, Toast 20 Pro
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Re: Error message "Master Pointer was nil (-109)"
Does anyone else find it curious that the exact same thing happened to Carlos and Jeff within weeks of one another, after having updated to Yosemite? It is of particular interest to me, since I have an older(2010) Mac Pro. I updated to Yosemite a couple months ago with no problems.. but I think I'll do a time machine backup as soon as I get home, and, possibly look into getting a new startup drive
DP11, 2019 16-Core Mac Pro, Monterey, 64GB RAM. RME HDSPe MADI FX to SSL Alphalink to SSL Matrix console, and multiple digital sub consoles. UAD Quad PCIe. Outboard stuff.
Re: Error message "Master Pointer was nil (-109)"
No. The chances of any two Mac users having recently updated to Yosemite are pretty high. And the chances of two people seeing the same error are pretty high.Killahurts wrote:Does anyone else find it curious that the exact same thing happened to Carlos and Jeff within weeks of one another, after having updated to Yosemite?
2018 Mini i7 32G 10.14.6, DP 11.3, Mixbus 9, Logic 10.5, Scarlett 18i8
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Re: Error message "Master Pointer was nil (-109)"
Good point..bayswater wrote:No. The chances of any two Mac users having recently updated to Yosemite are pretty high. And the chances of two people seeing the same error are pretty high.Killahurts wrote:Does anyone else find it curious that the exact same thing happened to Carlos and Jeff within weeks of one another, after having updated to Yosemite?
So "Master Pointer was nil (-109)" is apparently DP's way of telling you your startup drive is broken. And you can still get your data off the drive, which means that DP is a fantastic hard drive failure indication utility, as well as a great DAW.
DP11, 2019 16-Core Mac Pro, Monterey, 64GB RAM. RME HDSPe MADI FX to SSL Alphalink to SSL Matrix console, and multiple digital sub consoles. UAD Quad PCIe. Outboard stuff.
- mikehalloran
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Re: Error message "Master Pointer was nil (-109)"
Actually, it's the OS telling you that there was a problem writing to a drive. It could have been any app that gave the message. This is not a DP error.So "Master Pointer was nil (-109)" is apparently DP's way of telling you your startup drive is broken
Most often, this is a Time Machine error. In the early days it was the reason that so many were convinced that TM was a defective program. No, it was those crappy Seagate drives and the bursting caps in the early Time Capsules. TM was the messenger like DP is now, nothing more.
Any error with -109 means that the OS cannot write to the disk. If not hardware, it means that you have no permissions so you might get it if trying to save to, say, an inserted DVD. DP might pop it if trying to write to an incorrectly formatted drive. If not one of those user mistakes, there's only one choice left. When the OP said it was a boot drive, it couldn't be anything else.
I still can't believe that an Apple tech wouldn't know what -109 means.
The only thing that further diagnosis with TTP will do is give a readout like this. Notice that S.M.A.R.T parameters still show it as Passed. No, it has failed but S.M.A.R.T doesn't know it yet. This gave a Time Machine -109 error, BTW. ST stands for Seagate.
DP 11.31; 828mkII FW, micro lite, M4, MTP/AV USB Firmware 2.0.1
2023 Mac Studio M2 8TB, 192GB RAM, OS Sonoma 14.4, USB4 8TB external, M-Audio AIR 192|14, Mackie ProFxv3 6/10/12; 2012 MBPs Catalina, Mojave
IK-NI-Izotope-PSP-Garritan-Antares, LogicPro X, Finale 27.4, Dorico 5.2, Notion 6, Overture 5, TwistedWave, DSP-Q 5, SmartScore64 Pro, Toast 20 Pro
2023 Mac Studio M2 8TB, 192GB RAM, OS Sonoma 14.4, USB4 8TB external, M-Audio AIR 192|14, Mackie ProFxv3 6/10/12; 2012 MBPs Catalina, Mojave
IK-NI-Izotope-PSP-Garritan-Antares, LogicPro X, Finale 27.4, Dorico 5.2, Notion 6, Overture 5, TwistedWave, DSP-Q 5, SmartScore64 Pro, Toast 20 Pro
- Shooshie
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Re: Error message "Master Pointer was nil (-109)"
I no longer remember the specifics, but my upgrade to Yosemite was rather traumatic. Took weeks to get things smoothed out, and some never did.
Shooshie
Shooshie
|l| OS X 10.12.6 |l| DP 10.0 |l| 2.4 GHz 12-Core MacPro Mid-2012 |l| 40GB RAM |l| Mach5.3 |l| Waves 9.x |l| Altiverb |l| Ivory 2 New York Steinway |l| Wallander WIVI 2.30 Winds, Brass, Saxes |l| Garritan Aria |l| VSL 5.3.1 and VSL Pro 2.3.1 |l| Yamaha WX-5 MIDI Wind Controller |l| Roland FC-300 |l|
Re: Error message "Master Pointer was nil (-109)"
I've been on it for quite a while, and haven't had any problems of any significance (some weird iTunes behavior was about the worst of it). Everything had been working fine until yesterday morning, so who knows.
2019 MacPro, 10.15.5, 16 core 3.2 GHz, 384 GB RAM
DP 10.11
Kontakt 6.2.2, Spectrasonics, u-he, Arturia, NI Komplete 11, VE Pro
UAD, Waves, Soundtoys, Slate, FabFilter
DP 10.11
Kontakt 6.2.2, Spectrasonics, u-he, Arturia, NI Komplete 11, VE Pro
UAD, Waves, Soundtoys, Slate, FabFilter
Re: Error message "Master Pointer was nil (-109)"
I had one or two odd things happen on my MBP with the upgrade to Yosemite, but these disappeared with the first update. On my main audio Mac (iMac), things were fine right away, and several improvements were noticeable.
It's not encouraging that experiences with Mac updates are so inconsistent.
It's not encouraging that experiences with Mac updates are so inconsistent.
2018 Mini i7 32G 10.14.6, DP 11.3, Mixbus 9, Logic 10.5, Scarlett 18i8
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Re: Error message "Master Pointer was nil (-109)"
Hey everyone, check to see what kind of old software you might have lurking around in there before updating your OS. Saved me a lot of headache. For audio stuff, the first stop is Audio MIDI Setup, in the utilities.bayswater wrote:I had one or two odd things happen on my MBP with the upgrade to Yosemite, but these disappeared with the first update. On my main audio Mac (iMac), things were fine right away, and several improvements were noticeable.
It's not encouraging that experiences with Mac updates are so inconsistent.
DP11, 2019 16-Core Mac Pro, Monterey, 64GB RAM. RME HDSPe MADI FX to SSL Alphalink to SSL Matrix console, and multiple digital sub consoles. UAD Quad PCIe. Outboard stuff.
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Re: Error message "Master Pointer was nil (-109)"
This right here is sage advice, I could see it as a sticky, or part of a sticky thread.. did I just write that?mikehalloran wrote:Ok... find out how many drives are bad and replace them.
The only reason to run Disk Repair on your drive is to try and get it in good enough shape to pull the data off. When the drive is repaired, this is a temporary situation.
If you were to use a third party tool, use TechTool Pro to generate a S.M.A.R.T. graph to see how the drive failed. It won't repair the drive nor will anything else.
Get a new drive, install a fresh OS. Use Migration Assistant to pull the data off the old drive.
If you were considering upgrading to SSDs, now is the time. If you do, download and install Trim Enabler.app from Cindori.org. This is not necessary if you are running Yosemite 10.10.4 or later -- in that case, open Terminal and run sudo trimforce enable
DP11, 2019 16-Core Mac Pro, Monterey, 64GB RAM. RME HDSPe MADI FX to SSL Alphalink to SSL Matrix console, and multiple digital sub consoles. UAD Quad PCIe. Outboard stuff.