Install the app
How to install the app on iOS

Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.

Note: This feature may not be available in some browsers.

Has macOS Sequoia 15.2 broken ABB

As an Amazon Associate, we may earn commissions from qualifying purchases. Learn more...

13
5
NAS
DS1618
Operating system
  1. macOS
Mobile operating system
  1. iOS
Last edited:
UPDATE: Have seen the failure on a third Mac. This posting from the SuperDuper folks points to a macOS bug: Shirt Pocket Watch - You’re a Mean One

Please consider this preliminary - I am still troubleshooting. ABB backup jobs for two Macs here have started failing coincident with those systems upgrading to macOS Sequoia 15.2 (from 15.1). DSS, ABB Package and ABB Agent fully up-to-date. Jobs now taking a very long time, GB transferred increases but percentage done ceases to update around 70 or 80 percent done and some time later backup fails with error -3 (Failed to run asr).

This might be local to my circumstances but wanted to post this heads up in case anyone is observing failures (or continued success) post 15.2
 
This is not an abb issue. It’s sequoia problem that will be hopefully fixed soon now that the holidays are over.

As support has noted in the ticket reply’s, Apple is aware of this issue.
To be honest, ABB is such a bad product with the limitations list longer than the user guide, that I would be very surprised if it's genuinely just Apple causing the issue. But who knows, maybe I'm too harsh in this one limited case ;)
 
Upvote 0
What I did was to log out the Mac ABB agent, using a DSM administrator account. Then used Mac's Disk Utility to delete the ActiveBackupforBusiness_Reserved AFPS volume on the Mac's primary drive. Then finally I logged the agent back in using the DSM user's account. Kicked off a backup manually in DSM ABB from the task list.
Tried this, but no joy my end. I've uninstalled and reinstalled the Agent a few times before. Tried the same with the new version supporting Sequoia officially since yesterday (both ABB Package and Agent). Still no joy. The last thing I'll try is to create a completely new backup task. This thing already took 3 days of my life. And the support ticket? 3rd round of a generic AI response with steps I've written in the original description I have done already.

Synology is a tough love.
 
Upvote 0
My SMB mounts were "glitchy" and TM backups would stop. I found that mounting the SMB share with the NAS IP address instead of hostname resolved the issue.

macOS 15 and iOS 18 have been one of the most unstable updates in a while. I think Apple needs to stop trying to stick to its September/October release timeline and actually test their software for stability.
 
Upvote 0
Went to submit the ticket as well. More visibility, more urgency you know...

This is the response:

We would like to share with you that what you’ve encountered seems to be a bug from macOS.

This issue is an Apple-side bug(FB16090831) introduced by Apple in their Mac 15.2 (on the Apple Silicon versions) update, and it is not an issue caused by a bad Synology update to the Active Backup for Business application.

There are also other backup version providers like CCC and SuperDuper report that encounter the same issue with macOS.

macOS 15.2 breaks the ability to copy the OS to another drive | Hacker News
Has macOS Sequoia 15.2 broken ABB
Shirt Pocket Watch - You’re a Mean One

This Mac OS 15.2 bug is affecting all programs that use the ASR service, not just our Synology Active Backup service. Since it is an issue caused by a Mac side bug, it is up to Apple to fix it. Synology and other 3rd party companies have no control over the development of the ASR service.

Based on the research from our developers, we suspect the issue may related to the file generated by macOS speech recognition.

Our developers have some workaround that you can try, however, it will affect the functionality of macOS speech recognition.

If you would like to try the workaround, please let us know, we will need you to provide further information.

If you do not feel like adjusting the Mac settings, at this point, we can only wait for Apple to address their issue.

You can search "macOS FB16090831" as the keyword and see more information.
 
Upvote 0
Patching to 15.3 beta 2 just to be certain that this is (or isn't) still an issue. Will update with the results.

UPDATE:
1st full backup has not been completed, second attempt started, so, no, beta 2 definitely did not fix the issue.
 
Upvote 0
Everyone affected by this should email Tim Cook. I know he doesn't personally read all the emails, but maybe somebody in his corporate team will get engineers to address it (since it hasn't been addressed in nearly 4 months). [email protected]

I think I'm going to start waiting a year before upgrading to macOS 16... at the very least I'll wait 6 months. This broke reliable connections to my NAS. It seems to be a general network discovery issue as when I lose connectivity to my NAS, going to Finder's network section doesn't list any of my computers that are normally visible.

Unfortunately, using the IP address instead of hostname was short-lived. Time Machine gave me an error and I was no longer able to access my NAS SMB share. Then 10 minutes later it was available (without me doing anything). I wonder if there is some process that is crashing that is causing it.
 
Upvote 0
Last edited:
Went to submit the ticket as well. More visibility, more urgency you know...

This is the response:

We would like to share with you that what you’ve encountered seems to be a bug from macOS.

This issue is an Apple-side bug(FB16090831) introduced by Apple in their Mac 15.2 (on the Apple Silicon versions) update, and it is not an issue caused by a bad Synology update to the Active Backup for Business application.

There are also other backup version providers like CCC and SuperDuper report that encounter the same issue with macOS.

macOS 15.2 breaks the ability to copy the OS to another drive | Hacker News
Has macOS Sequoia 15.2 broken ABB
Shirt Pocket Watch - You’re a Mean One

This Mac OS 15.2 bug is affecting all programs that use the ASR service, not just our Synology Active Backup service. Since it is an issue caused by a Mac side bug, it is up to Apple to fix it. Synology and other 3rd party companies have no control over the development of the ASR service.

Based on the research from our developers, we suspect the issue may related to the file generated by macOS speech recognition.

Our developers have some workaround that you can try, however, it will affect the functionality of macOS speech recognition.

If you would like to try the workaround, please let us know, we will need you to provide further information.

If you do not feel like adjusting the Mac settings, at this point, we can only wait for Apple to address their issue.

You can search "macOS FB16090831" as the keyword and see more information.
Maybe I'm the only one with this view, but here it goes anyway.

This is not an Apple problem. This is a Synology problem. This is their backup product, and for whatever reason they decided that the product they'd sell was reliant on an external vendor's interface (in this case, Apple with their ASR service). I bought the ABB product from Synology, not Apple. Therefore, to me it's a Synology issue. They need to fix their product, and if they're reliant on Apple to help them fix their product that's their issue. I'm not willing to let Synology off the hook so easily.

This sentence really drives me crazy: "Since it is an issue caused by a Mac side bug, it is up to Apple to fix it. Synology and other 3rd party companies have no control over the development of the ASR service."

Maybe they need to change the design of their product to not rely on the ASR service. Maybe they need to get Apple on contract to maintain the ASR interface, to ensure the Synology ABB product they're selling works. It appears they're not doing either, and instead sitting back, throwing up their hands, and saying it's Apple's problem. That's BS to me.

Synology needs to fix their product. It doesn't work, and it's not fit for purpose. It's not an Apple issue, it's a Synology issue and they should be seeking solutions, not throwing up their hands and saying "well, not our problem, it's an Apple issue." They need to own it, and fix it.
 
Upvote 0
Maybe I'm the only one with this view, but here it goes anyway.

This is not an Apple problem. This is a Synology problem. This is their backup product, and for whatever reason they decided that the product they'd sell was reliant on an external vendor's interface (in this case, Apple with their ASR service). I bought the ABB product from Synology, not Apple. Therefore, to me it's a Synology issue. They need to fix their product, and if they're reliant on Apple to help them fix their product that's their issue. I'm not willing to let Synology off the hook so easily.

This sentence really drives me crazy: "Since it is an issue caused by a Mac side bug, it is up to Apple to fix it. Synology and other 3rd party companies have no control over the development of the ASR service."

Maybe they need to change the design of their product to not rely on the ASR service. Maybe they need to get Apple on contract to maintain the ASR interface, to ensure the Synology ABB product they're selling works. It appears they're not doing either, and instead sitting back, throwing up their hands, and saying it's Apple's problem. That's BS to me.

Synology needs to fix their product. It doesn't work, and it's not fit for purpose. It's not an Apple issue, it's a Synology issue and they should be seeking solutions, not throwing up their hands and saying "well, not our problem, it's an Apple issue." They need to own it, and fix it.
I can tell you this is an Apple problem and it is affecting multiple things: SMB mounting, Time Machine backups, ABB, etc. I think it's a network discovery issue that is causing problems.

I do not have any problems with Windows 11 24H2 machines.
 
Upvote 0
Patching to 15.3 beta 2 just to be certain that this is (or isn't) still an issue. Will update with the results.

UPDATE:
1st full backup has not been completed, second attempt started, so, no, beta 2 definitely did not fix the issue.
So mine has worked for a few times now, but yesterday started to fail to complete again.

It would be interesting to know what the 'fix' is that's related to speech recognition, since I don't use these macOS features (i.e. they are disabled in Accessibility and Siri).
 
Upvote 0
I can tell you this is an Apple problem and it is affecting multiple things: SMB mounting, Time Machine backups, ABB, etc. I think it's a network discovery issue that is causing problems.

I do not have any problems with Windows 11 24H2 machines.
Imagine you buy a car from a well-known automaker, but the car is designed to only run on fuel from one specific gas station chain. Over time, that gas station chain changes its fuel formula or stops offering the required fuel altogether, and now your car no longer works. When you contact the automaker, they tell you it’s the gas station’s problem, not theirs. However, as the customer, you didn’t choose this dependency—the automaker did. You purchased the car expecting it to function as advertised, and it was the automaker’s decision to design it in a way that relies on the gas station. Therefore, you reasonably hold the automaker accountable for resolving the issue or providing alternatives.

When a product is designed with dependencies on third-party systems or services, it remains the responsibility of the product manufacturer to ensure those dependencies are managed effectively. Customers should not bear the burden of decisions made during product design. Synology chose to rely on Apple’s software environment as part of their backup solution. If that dependency breaks, it is reasonable to expect Synology to address it since they are ultimately responsible for delivering a functional product.
 
Upvote 0
When a product is designed with dependencies on third-party systems or services, it remains the responsibility of the product manufacturer to ensure those dependencies are managed effectively. Customers should not bear the burden of decisions made during product design. Synology chose to rely on Apple’s software environment as part of their backup solution. If that dependency breaks, it is reasonable to expect Synology to address it since they are ultimately responsible for delivering a functional product.
Completely share this sentiment. I do have a lot of patience, understand the complexity of the ABB interoperability with all the systems, understand the IT development. Bugs do happen. I am not unreasonable. I also get the need for a good relationship with Synology. I quite like their products.

But over the years I've really grown to hate ABB for its limitations which are purely short sighted managerial decisions and sometimes just outright customer ignorance. I mean out of my whole infrastructure I can only backup one Win11 x86 VM without issues. Everything else is either straight no go, or constant problems. That's not on.

And it goes through the whole of their desktop tools ecosystem. They're just lacking in functionality, design, interoperability, support and general up-to-date-ness. I mean who does release their official core product support half a year after the macOS release. And even that is a stealth update. You wouldn't know if you haven't listed everything available in the download center. There's gonna be a new beta in 5 months. It just isn't the standard I would expect from such a big name. I don't know what's the problem. Budget and staffing springs to mind, that old chestnut.

And don't get me started on notifications and heads up for customers. This issue should be in big bold red in their ABB guide.

I like tinkering, I like learning. I like solving problems. I geek out on my HomeLab and smart home. But I am tired to be beta tester to just about every commercial software developer out there these days. There's just not enough time in anyone's life to do everyone else's job.
 
Upvote 0
From Synology support:

I did check with our developers regarding Sequoia's issues with SMB functionality. While we can't speak with them on behalf of individual users, they (Apple Support) have been informed of the issue, and is working on the fix for the service. Apple Support maintains that the fix should be provided in the next OS update.
 
Upvote 0
From Synology support:

I did check with our developers regarding Sequoia's issues with SMB functionality. While we can't speak with them on behalf of individual users, they (Apple Support) have been informed of the issue, and is working on the fix for the service. Apple Support maintains that the fix should be provided in the next OS update.
Let’s hope they don’t mean next main version :P
 
Upvote 0

Create an account or login to comment

You must be a member in order to leave a comment

Create account

Create an account on our community. It's easy!

Log in

Already have an account? Log in here.

Popular tags from this forum

Similar threads

Hello I would need to perform a full restore of a Mac (Intel). From these instructions I should be using...
Replies
0
Views
638

Welcome to SynoForum.com!

SynoForum.com is an unofficial Synology forum for NAS owners and enthusiasts.

Registration is free, easy and fast!

Trending content in this forum

Back
Top