The problem: at some point Vodafone Mobile Connect refuses to start. The application icon bounces in the dock for a couple of minutes and the application window never gets displayed. The only way to quit the application at this point is using "Force Quit".
Quick solution
1/ Force quit VMC
2/ Delete "/Library/Application Support/nova media/VMC/ppp_session.log"
3/ Start VMC
Please note that deleting the ppp_session.log file wipes your PPP session history so VMC will re-start the traffic statistics from zero.
Why it hangs
VMC maintains a log of all the PPP traffic that flows through the 3G PPP interface. This log is saved under the ppp_session.log file mentioned above.
In certain conditions (e.g. traffic exceeding 90 MB in the previous session), VMC enters a function that never finishes execution namely:
001a428e t _ClassConnectionAbstract.TrafficFormat%s%o<ClassConnectionAbstract>i4
Here's an Instruments screenshot demonstrating the endless loop:
This is the ppp_session line that causes the infinite loop on my Mac:
The problem with that line is the "in" value which is too big - I'm guessing it's causing "pow" (the C function for computing the raising of X to the power of Y) to return a range error and the calling function doesn't process this error correctly (i.e. it calls pow$fenv_access_off again instead of exiting).
On Leopard, the effect is you cannot download more then 90 MB in one session - if you do, Vodafone Mobile Connect will refuse to start the next time you run it.
To fix the problem you either edit the ppp_session.log file and remove the last line, or, you delete the file altogether.
Quick solution
1/ Force quit VMC
2/ Delete "/Library/Application Support/nova media/VMC/ppp_session.log"
3/ Start VMC
Please note that deleting the ppp_session.log file wipes your PPP session history so VMC will re-start the traffic statistics from zero.
Why it hangs
VMC maintains a log of all the PPP traffic that flows through the 3G PPP interface. This log is saved under the ppp_session.log file mentioned above.
In certain conditions (e.g. traffic exceeding 90 MB in the previous session), VMC enters a function that never finishes execution namely:
001a428e t _ClassConnectionAbstract.TrafficFormat%s%o<ClassConnectionAbstract>i4
Here's an Instruments screenshot demonstrating the endless loop:
This is the ppp_session line that causes the infinite loop on my Mac:
diciu$ diff ~/Desktop/ppp_session.log.crasher ~/Desktop/ppp_session.log.works
200d199
< [2008/10/25 13:7:14] out:8736305 in:99719384 time:14036
The problem with that line is the "in" value which is too big - I'm guessing it's causing "pow" (the C function for computing the raising of X to the power of Y) to return a range error and the calling function doesn't process this error correctly (i.e. it calls pow$fenv_access_off again instead of exiting).
On Leopard, the effect is you cannot download more then 90 MB in one session - if you do, Vodafone Mobile Connect will refuse to start the next time you run it.
To fix the problem you either edit the ppp_session.log file and remove the last line, or, you delete the file altogether.