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netnothing

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Mar 13, 2007
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I noticed tonight that my Time Machine hasn't run since I manually forced a backup right after I installed El Cap. I'm on a 2010 Mac Pro and my TM disk in one of the internal bays.

Not errors from TM. Disk was mounted and shown. TM just said Last backup was 9/30.

However, while I could successfully do a manual backup, it would never back up it's own. If I did a manual backup at 4:30 today.....it would say next backup at 5:30. But when 5:30 came, no backup. The time would then change to 6:30.

Anyone seen anything like this? I ended up wiping the drive and starting over....will see if that solves it. Never had this behavior before.

-Kevin
 

netnothing

macrumors 68040
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Mar 13, 2007
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An update......I wiped the drive and did a full backup again. Still no go.....it finished and kept skipping future backups.

I have now tried a full TM reset by wiping the .plist file and I waiting to see if that helped.

-Kevin
 

Mattww

macrumors 6502
Jan 11, 2008
395
19
Same here - still trying to troubleshoot but deleting the plist file didn't help.

In the Console I was seeing:

kernel[0]: Sandbox: storeaccountd(315) deny(1) mach-lookup com.apple.backupd.sandbox.xpc
storeaccountd[315]: XPC error for connection com.apple.backupd.sandbox.xpc: Connection invalid

So I tried force quitting storeaccountd but no change :(
 

netnothing

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Mar 13, 2007
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NH
Same here - still trying to troubleshoot but deleting the plist file didn't help.

In the Console I was seeing:

kernel[0]: Sandbox: storeaccountd(315) deny(1) mach-lookup com.apple.backupd.sandbox.xpc
storeaccountd[315]: XPC error for connection com.apple.backupd.sandbox.xpc: Connection invalid

So I tried force quitting storeaccountd but no change :(

I see the same in my logs.

Not sure what storeaccountd has anything to do with backup?!?

If you find out anything let me know. I'll do the same. Really don't want to have to reinstall and rebuild machine. Like I said before, backups work perfectly.....just not automatic. It's a pain there's no error message with it.

-Kevin
 

netnothing

macrumors 68040
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Mar 13, 2007
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FYI, helping my Mom out today with a Filevault issue......her's is doing the exact same thing. Just skipping each scheduled backup. She also upgraded to El Cap.

-Kevin
 

Mattww

macrumors 6502
Jan 11, 2008
395
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I'm guessing it isn't a common issue as I can't find other reports. Still trying stuff but I have now compared the plist files from my backup before the install and nothing has changed in them.

Also tried force quitting backupd-helper but that had no effect. It's not easy as you have to wait an hour then to see if there is any effect.
 

netnothing

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Mar 13, 2007
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I'm guessing it isn't a common issue as I can't find other reports. Still trying stuff but I have now compared the plist files from my backup before the install and nothing has changed in them.

Also tried force quitting backupd-helper but that had no effect. It's not easy as you have to wait an hour then to see if there is any effect.

Yeah, hate the waiting. Also wondering how many people don't know yet.....since there was no error message. People might just think it's working.

-Kevin
 

Mattww

macrumors 6502
Jan 11, 2008
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Also it is running once on wake from sleep which also meant I didn't spot it until today...
 

the4thmatrix

macrumors newbie
Jul 3, 2007
16
1
Pasadena, CA
I'm having the same issue as well. I have a hard drive connected to my 2013 AirPort Extreme and I can no longer backup via Time Machine either. Twice now I have deleted the old backup and started a fresh one. That initial backup has completed successfully both times, but subsequent automatic backups fail to complete. I have an early 2015 13" MBP for reference. I'm having no issues with the drive itself...
 
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netnothing

macrumors 68040
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Mar 13, 2007
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Also it is running once on wake from sleep which also meant I didn't spot it until today...

Tested with my Mom's machine and sure enough......it backed up after waking from sleep.

We looked in the prefs and saw the next backup scheduled for 12:53pm.....we slept the machine at 12:45 and woke it at 1:00pm.....sure enough once it was woken up a backup started. Nice find, and probably why it hasn't been caught yet.

-Kevin
 

netnothing

macrumors 68040
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Mar 13, 2007
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FYI I have opened a bug report with Apple (22962819) and will update if/when I hear anything.

-Kevin
 

tom vilsack

macrumors 68000
Nov 20, 2010
1,880
63
ladner cdn
-I have a external drive with 2 partitions (one yosemite,one el capitan time machine backup's)
-Today I tried booting from external drive ("alt") and into el capitan time machine....booted then error then back to desktop.
-Tried again booting external drive ("alt") and into yosemite time machine....booted with no issues and could pick either partitions (yosemite or el capitan) backup's.

anyone else having issue with booting from el capitan made time machine?
 

netnothing

macrumors 68040
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Mar 13, 2007
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Apple responded to my Bug Report asking for typical logs etc. Makes me think this is the first they are hearing about this (usually my bug reports are closed as duplicates).

-Kevin
 

Mattww

macrumors 6502
Jan 11, 2008
395
19
OK I tried a test on a Mac Pro 09 at work which has had a recent fresh install of Yosemite and then was upgraded to El Capitan. It has very few applications installed (mainly OS X server) and very similar hardware to my own machine.

I used a disk connected by USB 3.0 on this machine as a test and time machine ran normally backing up every hour.

I then took screen shots of the the two plist files:

/System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.backupd-auto.plist
/System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.backupd.plist

I have now compared these to my own and they are identical so it isn't one of these it seems.

The question now is what software or hardware we (those of us having the issue) have in common that could be causing it.

I certainly have more devices attached to my own machine and my backup is to an internal drive rather than an external and Time machine is also backing up several volumes - ie not just the boot disk.

I am also running on a UPS where as the test machine was not.
 

netnothing

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Mar 13, 2007
3,822
422
NH
OK I tried a test on a Mac Pro 09 at work which has had a recent fresh install of Yosemite and then was upgraded to El Capitan. It has very few applications installed (mainly OS X server) and very similar hardware to my own machine.

I used a disk connected by USB 3.0 on this machine as a test and time machine ran normally backing up every hour.

I then took screen shots of the the two plist files:

/System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.backupd-auto.plist
/System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.backupd.plist

I have now compared these to my own and they are identical so it isn't one of these it seems.

The question now is what software or hardware we (those of us having the issue) have in common that could be causing it.

I certainly have more devices attached to my own machine and my backup is to an internal drive rather than an external and Time machine is also backing up several volumes - ie not just the boot disk.

I am also running on a UPS where as the test machine was not.

For me I'm running a 2010 Mac Pro with 5 internal drives. OS is SSD and the TM drive is installed in one of the bays. I'm backing up the SSD and 2 of the internal drives. Machine is on a UPS.

For my Mom, she's running a 2013 iMac.....very little installed outside of basic things like Office. She backs up to an external OWC drive via USB.

Thanks for looking at those files. Definitely odd that that machine isn't having the problem.

-Kevin
 

Mattww

macrumors 6502
Jan 11, 2008
395
19
OK, my machine, yours and the test Mac Pro have multiple hard disks and a boot SSD so that can't matter.

if you Mum's iMac only has one volume that is being backed up we can rule that (number of volumes) out. Internal or external disk for backup destination doesn't seem to matter either.

Is her machine on a UPS or connected direct to the mains (seeing as we both have one on our Mac Pro)?

I do have office installed - 2011 Home (Word, Excel, Powerpoint) and also the 2016 public test version up dated to latest builds - 2016 has recently expired but I've not yet removed it as I haven't decided about buying it or sticking with 2011.
 

netnothing

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Mar 13, 2007
3,822
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NH
OK, my machine, yours and the test Mac Pro have multiple hard disks and a boot SSD so that can't matter.

if you Mum's iMac only has one volume that is being backed up we can rule that (number of volumes) out. Internal or external disk for backup destination doesn't seem to matter either.

Is her machine on a UPS or connected direct to the mains (seeing as we both have one on our Mac Pro)?

I do have office installed - 2011 Home (Word, Excel, Powerpoint) and also the 2016 public test version up dated to latest builds - 2016 has recently expired but I've not yet removed it as I haven't decided about buying it or sticking with 2011.

Mom's machine also on a UPS (TM drive as well).

She had Office 2011 installed when she upgraded to El Cap and TM didn't work then. This past weekend she had a Filevault issue and at that time I upgraded to Office 2016.

-Kevin
 

Mattww

macrumors 6502
Jan 11, 2008
395
19
OK I'm not in a position to reboot at the moment but I did try disconnecting the USB to my APC UPS but the next scheduled backup time arrived and passed without Time Machine doing anything as before so I'm guessing it's not that.
 

Mattww

macrumors 6502
Jan 11, 2008
395
19
Given that your setup and mine are going to be far more complex the next best step would be to get a system report from your Mum's machine and check that against what software and hardware you have to find the commonalities.

Then anything that is on both we can check against my machine and rule it out if I don't have it - sound OK?
 

netnothing

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Mar 13, 2007
3,822
422
NH
Given that your setup and mine are going to be far more complex the next best step would be to get a system report from your Mum's machine and check that against what software and hardware you have to find the commonalities.

Then anything that is on both we can check against my machine and rule it out if I don't have it - sound OK?

I set the machine up, so on the software side I believe the only 3rd party software she has is Chrome and Office 2016. Everything else is standard Apple apps that either come with the OS or things like Pages, Numbers, etc.

I also have a Macbook Air that I'm setting up with a TM backup to a USB thumb drive. This machine doesn't normally have TM running as it's a second machine. I've excluded a ton of stuff to make the backup small and will report back how the auto backups go.

-Kevin
 

netnothing

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Mar 13, 2007
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NH
Of all things to break it had to be Time Machine where no matter what we do.....we have to wait at least an hour :mad:

So did the fresh backup on my Air......waited.....and sure enough 3:43 came and went, no backup, no errors, nothing in logs.

I did notice these log entries on both my machines:

Sep 30 16:30:50 localhost com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.backupd-auto): Unknown key for Boolean: ForceEnableHack
Sep 30 16:30:50 localhost com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.backupd-auto): This service is defined to be constantly running and is inherently inefficient.
Sep 30 16:30:50 localhost UserEventAgent[41]: com.apple.backupd-auto launchd job enabled

Kind of funny if Apple's own OS update to not have things constantly run affects Time Machine.

-Kevin
 

netnothing

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Mar 13, 2007
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Another Update:

Same Macbook Air - I took the USB and plugged it into my Airport Extreme and did a TM setup that way. Same thing.....the hour passed and no auto backup.

This is making me think it's some OS level issue.

-Kevin
 

netnothing

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Mar 13, 2007
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NH
So my bug report was closed as a duplicate today. Clearly someone else reported this earlier. Let's hope they get a fix out for it quickly.



-Kevin
 
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