# Target VM failed to initialize on Mac

**URL:** <https://discourse.processing.org/t/target-vm-failed-to-initialize-on-mac/23329>\
**Category:** Coding Questions\
**Created:** [August 18, 2020, 10:03am UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/target-vm-failed-to-initialize-on-mac/23329 "2020-08-18T10:03:58Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![benvining](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9bcb4/32.png) [@benvining](https://discourse.processing.org/u/benvining)\
**Post date:** [August 18, 2020, 10:03am UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/target-vm-failed-to-initialize-on-mac/23329/1 "2020-08-18T10:03:58Z")

</div>

Hello all,

I know there have been discussions about this issue in the past, but most of the solutions I can find online are dealing with Windows computers with Nvidia graphics cards. I am on a MacBook Pro, running OSX 10.13.6 (High Sierra), with an Intel Iris Plus Graphics 650 1536 MB graphics card.

Any time I try to run my sketch, it will open and work for a few moments, and then crash unexpectedly and show the following error message:

# A fatal error has been detected by the Java Runtime Environment:

# 

# SIGSEGV (0xb) at pc=0x00007fff36b2285e, pid=904, tid=0x000000000000e6b3

# 

# JRE version: Java™ SE Runtime Environment (8.0\_202-b08) (build 1.8.0\_202-b08)

# Java VM: Java HotSpot™ 64-Bit Server VM (25.202-b08 mixed mode bsd-amd64 compressed oops)

# Problematic frame:

# C [libGL.dylib+0x185e] glEnable+0xf

# 

# Failed to write core dump. Core dumps have been disabled. To enable core dumping, try “ulimit -c unlimited” before starting Java again

# 

# An error report file with more information is saved as:

# /Users/benvining/hs\_err\_pid904.log

Compiled method (nm) 6044 1434 n 0 jogamp.opengl.gl4.GL4bcImpl::dispatch\_glEnable1 (native)  
total in heap [0x00000001153bf710,0x00000001153bfa38] = 808  
relocation [0x00000001153bf838,0x00000001153bf878] = 64  
main code [0x00000001153bf880,0x00000001153bfa30] = 432  
oops [0x00000001153bfa30,0x00000001153bfa38] = 8

# 

# If you would like to submit a bug report, please visit:

# [http://bugreport.java.com/bugreport/crash.jsp](http://bugreport.java.com/bugreport/crash.jsp)

# The crash happened outside the Java Virtual Machine in native code.

# See problematic frame for where to report the bug.

# 

Could not run the sketch (Target VM failed to initialize).  
For more information, read revisions.txt and Help → Troubleshooting.  
Copied to the clipboard. Use shift-click to search the web instead.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![benvining](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9bcb4/32.png) [@benvining](https://discourse.processing.org/u/benvining)\
**Post date:** [August 18, 2020, 11:41am UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/target-vm-failed-to-initialize-on-mac/23329/2 "2020-08-18T11:41:05Z")

</div>

OK, so I saw someone suggest somewhere that this problem could be caused by fonts loading incorrectly. I tried replacing all my fonts with a createFont() instead of a loadFont() and the sketch didn’t crash.  
I re examined the text I was printing using println() and discovered that for a couple of the things which I allow the user to rename dynamically in the GUI, for some reason there’s a mystery character inserted at the beginning of the string:   
This is the code I’m using in my keypressed() to allow the user to edit their username while the sketch is running – is there something I’ve goofed that’s adding a weird character to the beginning of the string?  
void keyPressed() {  
if (editingPlayerName == true) {  
if (key == ‘\n’) {  
playerName = typingPlayerName;  
typingPlayerName = “”;  
profileScreen = 0;  
drawPlayerProfileScreen();  
updatePlayerName();  
} else if (key == BACKSPACE) {  
typingPlayerName = typingPlayerName.substring(0, max(0, typingPlayerName.length() - 1));  
} else {  
typingPlayerName = typingPlayerName + key;  
}  
}