# PsychoPy3 ERROR crash upon opening (MacOS)

**URL:** <https://discourse.psychopy.org/t/psychopy3-error-crash-upon-opening-macos/11341>\
**Category:** Other\
**Created:** [March 6, 2020, 2:09pm UTC](https://discourse.psychopy.org/t/psychopy3-error-crash-upon-opening-macos/11341 "2020-03-06T14:09:05Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Vinh\_Cao](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.psychopy.org/vinh_cao/32/7153_2.png) [@Vinh\_Cao](https://discourse.psychopy.org/u/Vinh_Cao)\
**Post date:** [March 6, 2020, 2:09pm UTC](https://discourse.psychopy.org/t/psychopy3-error-crash-upon-opening-macos/11341/1 "2020-03-06T14:09:05Z")

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Hi all, I downloaded PsychoPy3 (Mac Catalina 10.15.3) and used it normally after a few days but suddenly now I get the error message upon opening. I thought it might’ve been an issue with my changed preferences but after clearing them I still can’t open it. I have also tried redownloading, but nothing so far has worked.

This is the error report I get from my console:  
Exception Type: EXC\_BAD\_INSTRUCTION (SIGILL)  
Exception Codes: 0x0000000000000001, 0x0000000000000000  
Exception Note: EXC\_CORPSE\_NOTIFY

Termination Signal: Illegal instruction: 4  
Termination Reason: Namespace SIGNAL, Code 0x4  
Terminating Process: exc handler [987]

Thread 0 Crashed:: PTB mainthread Dispatch queue: com.apple.main-thread  
0 libwx\_baseu-3.0.0.4.0.dylib 0x000000010ec5734b typeinfo name for wxObject + 3  
1 \_aui.cpython-36m-darwin.so 0x00000001162257f6 sipwxAuiManager::~sipwxAuiManager() + 54  
2 \_aui.cpython-36m-darwin.so 0x0000000116225d2e 0x116200000 + 154926  
3 siplib.cpython-36m-darwin.so 0x00000001061d849a forgetObject + 186  
4 siplib.cpython-36m-darwin.so 0x00000001061d80ae sipWrapper\_dealloc + 14  
5 org.python.python 0x000000010057e17a subtype\_dealloc + 1146  
6 org.python.python 0x0000000100557dd9 dict\_dealloc + 169  
7 siplib.cpython-36m-darwin.so 0x00000001061d6660 sipSimpleWrapper\_clear + 112  
8 siplib.cpython-36m-darwin.so 0x00000001061d8279 sipWrapper\_clear + 25  
9 org.python.python 0x00000001006474b9 collect + 2233  
10 org.python.python 0x000000010064784d \_PyGC\_CollectNoFail + 61  
11 org.python.python 0x0000000100616cf2 PyImport\_Cleanup + 290  
12 org.python.python 0x0000000100626f5c Py\_FinalizeEx + 124  
13 org.psychopy.PsychoPy3 0x0000000100002f3c py2app\_main + 6732  
14 org.psychopy.PsychoPy3 0x0000000100000f4b main + 347  
15 org.psychopy.PsychoPy3 0x0000000100000dc4 start + 52

0x4 is siplib.cpython-36m-darwin.so 0x00000001061d80ae sipWrapper\_dealloc + 14 but I have no idea what it means and what I can do to fix it. Any help would be great, it’s a bit urgent.

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**Author:** ![jonathan.kominsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a587f6/32.png) [@jonathan.kominsky](https://discourse.psychopy.org/u/jonathan.kominsky)\
**Post date:** [March 6, 2020, 2:22pm UTC](https://discourse.psychopy.org/t/psychopy3-error-crash-upon-opening-macos/11341/2 "2020-03-06T14:22:11Z")

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Not sure this will work, but try downgrading to PsychoPy 3.2.4. Remove your current PsychoPy3 app and get this one: [https://github.com/psychopy/psychopy/releases/tag/3.2.4](https://github.com/psychopy/psychopy/releases/tag/3.2.4)

I’ve also had some issues with crashes in High Sierra after 2020.1.0, but my error messages are different. On the whole I think it might have something to do with PyQt, which, looking around the internet, has had some issues of late.

Depending on what you need, the nuclear option is to go all the way back to PsychoPy2, though that will introduce other problems.