Bookends freeze after changing external displays on Macbook

[pablitosan]

Posting this to the forum in hopes another user might have some help for me, since Jon hasn't been able to figure it out:

For the last 6 months, I've experienced the following problem intermittently on a Macbook Pro. I frequently move between locations. I put the Macbook to sleep, disconnect the external display, and later hook up a different display or else use the computer with no external display. About 50 percent of the time - not always - when I do this, Bookends freezes.

The Dock says "Application not responding," and no matter how long I wait, the Bookends window will not come up. If I reveal it by hiding everything else, the Bookends window does not respond to mouse clicks. I have to force quit and restart. I've tried waiting up to an hour for the program to finish whatever's holding it up, but no luck. Sometimes this causes database problems necessitating a rebuild (which so far has always worked.)

It never happens if I leave the external display connected, OR if I leave it disconnected, even if the computer goes to sleep and wakes up many times. So the key variable is connecting/disconnecting the display.

I've tried reinstalling the program, as well as deleting the prefs files and recreating them. None of this helps.

Anybody have a clue?

- Paul

[usv]

Hi there, the same situation is occurring to me. At first I thought it was because using Spaces in leopard that caused that, but now you've mentioned, I also have an external display on going and I'm constantly moving between my office and my home.

The OS X color spinning wheel just keeps on turning when I try to switch to it. I have to kill the process and reopen it again.
I'm reporting this to the tech support as well.

[pablitosan]

It's worth noting that Bookends is not the only application that suffers from problems related to attaching/detaching an external display to a Macbook Pro.

When I switch displays, Microsoft Word will sometimes reduce all my windows to 3-inch-wide rectangles, which I cannot enlarge with any of the usual techniques, even if I close and reopen them. It also sometimes highlights those little windows in a hideous greenish yellow, more or less the color of vomit. As with Bookends, the only way out is to quit the program and restart. However, with Word, I can quit normally (even though I can't enlarge the reduced windows.) With Bookends, the program just freezes, and I have to force quit, occasionally corrupting my bibliography.

This might mean the problem is Apple's.

I raise it because just as with Bookends, the problem does not seem to be caused by changing displays while the program is actively doing something. It occurs even if I put the computer to sleep manually before disconnecting.

I hope somebody figures this out one day - it's really a problem, since I attach/detach displays several times almost every day.

[peteran]

The problems is persistent as has not vanished with OS 10.6.4 and Bookends 11.0.6.

[Jon]

Hi, I don't know what's going on, but I can't imagine what it might be with Bookends that I could do anything about. Bookends doesn't care about what displays are being used, and except for ensuring that windows open on-screen doesn't even check.

Jon
Sonny Software

[daiyi]

What OS are you running? I recall having these problems before but after upgrading to Snow Leopard haven't had any problems recently.

[Jack Post]

I've had several freezes of Bookends as well, but I could never find a reason for it.
A freeze in my case means that Bookends takes up a lot of CPU, won't become the active application anymore and that I've to force quit the application.
Now that I read these postings about freezes related to the changing of displays, I'm using a second display as well - I always thought that it had something to do with putting the computer to sleep and awaking it again.
Maybe it's a combination of the two.
Bookends is the only application that suffers from this kind of freezes (I seldom use MSWord).
I'm using a MacbookPro and the latest versions of Bookends and OSX.

Jack

[macula]

Interesting thread. On my system, Bookends does occasionally freeze after a considerable period of activity. I frequently connect and disconnect an external monitor (in "extended desktop" mode), so there may indeed be a correlation, and I will be sure to send Jon a crash report if/when this happens again.

[hrashid]

I thought it was happening from switching networks. It usually happens to me when I'm switching from my work network, for which I have to be registered, and my home network. However, I use an externally display almost every day at work, so I suppose that could be an issue as well. It's not 100% reproducible, so I thought it was a problem on my system.

[macula]

I really do suspect that we have a Bookends bug here.
I tend to use my Macbook with an external 24" display attached to it ('extended desktop' mode) and the Bookends window maximized in the external monitor. Unfortunately, there seems to be a tendency for BE to freeze immediately upon unplugging the external monitor. Whereas one would expect the BE window to scale down and adapt to the smaller dimensions of the laptop monitor, what happens instead is that the toolbar buttons disappear (!), the laptop fans start spinning like crazy, the Bookends UI becomes completely unresponsive, and I get a spinning beach ball for a mouse pointer.

Could it perhaps be an issue with the composite windows library...

Or, of course, it could be an issue with my system alone, much it is perfectly stable otherwise.

Thank you.

[Jon]

I wouldn't expect the Bookend window to resize (unless the OS did that) -- it only checks for window boundaries when a window is opened. But I wouldn't expect it to hang, either. I don't have an external monitor with which to try this so I can't check it myself. But if you can on another system that would at least tell us if it's a local problem or a more general one.

Jon
Sonny Software

[macula]

I'm sorry Jon, unfortunately I don't have access to a second dual-monitor system to try this out. Hopefully another fellow member will be able to do so. For the record, my system is a 2.4GHz C2D Macbook with 4GB of RAM and GMA X3100 graphics.

[pablitosan]

My Macbook Pro system does not display the spinning beach ball or the fan noise, but otherwise the response to unplugging my external monitor is exactly as described by macula here. Bookends simply freezes and I have to force-quit the program. About 3 times out of 5, this also means I have to rebuild the bibliography I've been working on. I've never lost data this way, but I now have literally dozens of files named "Library x rebuilt rebuilt rebuilt rebuilt...."

I started this thread several years ago and the response from Jon -- who is generally, I must say, absolutely terrific -- has always been "it's not Bookends."

I just don't see how that can be the case, since very few other programs freeze when I unplug my monitor. The one exception is MS Word. There, when I open up the laptop after unplugging the monitor, Word windows show up as small squares about 2.5" across and I can't resize them. I have to quit the program and restart to get the windows to behave normally.

[Jon]

I'm not saying "it's not Bookends", I'm saying I have no idea why anything to do with an external monitor would affect Bookends in any way (it's not the same thing). Does this happen with Reference Miner, too (which shares some of the same code as Bookends)? Please test that if you can and let me know. Can you reproduce the problem with Bookends every time? If so, try rebooting with the Shift key held down and see if you can reproduce it then. These sorts of diagnostic tests might provide some clues.

Jon
Sonny Software

[macula]

About 3 times out of 5, this also means I have to rebuild the bibliography I've been working on. I've never lost data this way, but I now have literally dozens of files named "Library x rebuilt rebuilt rebuilt rebuilt...."

Yes, I can confirm that rebuilding is often necessary on my system, and the ⅗ ratio seems to reflect my experience as well.

Re Jon's suggestions: The issue is not 100% reproducible, unfortunately (I'm afraid we are dealing with a very elusive yet also very real problem here). I can give Reference Miner a try, and plug-unplug the external display several times, but given this less-than-perfect reproducibility, the results may be misleading. Obviously, I cannot safe-boot more than a couple of times as it takes ages… Anyway, I will get back as soon as possible.