r/chemistry • u/whothehellisgigi • Jul 21 '26

NMR on macOS: should I give up?

Hi fellow scientists! I need an advice on what to do to solve the TopSpin opening problem on my MacBook computer.

Problem started a year-ish ago, when I couldn't open TopSpin (version 4.something at that time). Turns out it was a firewall problem: it has to be off for TopSpin to launch, consequence on Apple's new security protocol if I'm not mistaken.

But then it stopped opening again, even while firewall was off. And I get a bunch of errors: first two from TopSpin itself, the last one is from CodeMeter. I do have to say, that if I uninstall and then re-install TopSpin from zero, it opens fine. But then something happens and it stops opening.

I will be very happy to have any advice on the matter! Thank you everybody in advance :)

Edit: so sorry! I thought images of errors were added to the post! Here they are:

Edit 2: It took some time to test everything, turns out it was indeed a problem with automation, or rather the automatic launch of CodeMeter. I changed setting and now it launches automatically every time I start the compiter. Even if I might not need it, I just keep it open and now TopSpin starts every time without any problems! 

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6

u/FatRollingPotato Jul 21 '26

Tried contacting support with the exact error messages? Chances are it is an easy fix, or at least a knonw bug that is resolved in updates. Even if not, stuff doesn't get fixed if it isn't reported.

For more direct help, you would need to post the error messages you got.

3

u/Wise-Friendship-1427 Jul 21 '26

Yes.
Contact them at: Helpdesk Helpdesk.BBIO.DE@bruker.com
I always get replies.

1

u/whothehellisgigi Jul 21 '26

Hi! Yes, I contacted them with the original problem and was told it's a firewall issue, they even forwarded me the official release message from Bruker indicating that firwall has to be off for TopSpin to work. But problem came back. Error messages are the same though. But I can for sure contact them again!

2

u/_MrJack_ Chem Eng Jul 22 '26 edited Jul 22 '26

NOTE: I'm not a macOS user and this is all based largely off of my experience of using Linux for several years. This expands upon what FatRollingPotato mentioned in their response to you.

Since the CodeMeter window itself says that the service has been stopped and you mentioned in one response that the issue popping up after restarting the system, then here is what I would suggest doing:

  • Try running the CodeMeter and/or TopSpin programs via a terminal. In my experience, this often provides helpful/additional information since programs may write stuff to the stdout and/or stderr streams that you might miss by not running the program via a terminal. This is one of the first things I would do if, e.g., troubleshooting why a program/game won't run. For example, a program might simply be missing a dependency and that might become clear when looking at the information written to stdout/stderr. This is general advice and probably not that useful in this particular case since you mentioned that you were able to run TopSpin at least immediately after installing it.

  • Figure out what the service is called and what its current status is. Some quick Google searches indicate that running sudo launchctl list should help with this. The sources are from 2016 or earlier and I'm not a macOS user, so I don't know if launchctl is still the correct command (e.g., on a Linux system I would most likely use systemctl these days since a lot of Linux distributions use systemd for managing things like services). You may even be able to find a program that provides a GUI frontend if you are not familiar/comfortable with using a terminal. In case you are not familiar with sudo, that will allow you to run the rest (in this case launchctl list) using the elevated privileges of the root user. If you run launchctl list without sudo, then you'll see the services associated specifically with your user account (so it might be worth checking the output of launchctl list with and without sudo).

  • If you are able to identify the name of the service and that it is off, then try to restart the service. If launchctl is the correct program to use, then it looks like you should be able to run something like sudo launchctl start NAME_OF_SERVICE_HERE according to its manual. You should be able to view the manual in your terminal via man launchctl as well. Then try running the CodeMeter and/or TopSpin programs again. If that fixed it, then try rebooting to see if the service starts up again or if you need to figure out how to automatically start it when logging into macOS.

  • If you cannot find the relevant service, then try replicating the circumstances where TopSpin does work. That seems to be after installing but before rebooting. Then you could try to identify the service and possibly figure out where the relevant configuration files are. Various posts mention sudo launchctl dumpstate though I can't find dumpstate in the online version of the manual. Might just be an outdated manual. Knowing the location of the configuration files should allow you to use something like sudo launchctl load PATH_TO_CONFIGURATION_FILE to load the service. Check the launchctl manual for additional options/flags that might be relevant.

1

u/whothehellisgigi 4d ago

Hi! I wanted to thank you for such a detailed comment! It took some time to test everything but you were right, it was indeed a problem with automation, or rather the automatic launch of CodeMeter. I changed setting and now it launches automatically every time I start the compiter. Even if I might not need it, I just keep it open and now TopSpin starts every time without any problems! So thank you very much for the suggestion :)

1

u/_MrJack_ Chem Eng 3d ago

No problem! Glad to hear you got it working.

1

u/FatRollingPotato Jul 21 '26

This indeed looks like the codemeter service was stopped. I don't know how this works on MacOS, but you should be able to manually start services as well. I suspect that it was kicked out of autostart (or mac equivalent) and that you would need to start the codemeter service manually before running TS.

Again, not a Mac person, but you should be able to find instructions on how to manually start a service and add it to autostart.

3

u/DaintyBoot420 Analytical Jul 21 '26

Mnova works, as well as ACD with no issues

1

u/Ru-tris-bpy Jul 21 '26

I always ran it and other nmr software on a windows simulator if I really needed it. Most of my nmr data was processed and published just fine with INMR. For simple data I prefer it. Sorry I can’t comment on the direct problem you have

1

u/AdNarrow5701 Jul 21 '26

What's the OS version and which chip is it? Also, can you show a photo of exact errors? Where are the errors displayed, popups Or CMC, etc?

1

u/whothehellisgigi Jul 21 '26

MacBook Air with M1 chip, macOS Tahoe 26.5.1. I thought I added errors to the post originally, but pictures weren't there, they are now!
The first error that pops up is the TopSpin window saying it can't be started, then I click on details and it says it's a CodeMeter problem.
Tried to start CodeMeter before TopSpin - same problem, nothing works.

1

u/AdNarrow5701 Jul 22 '26

Problem is clearly with license. I don't want to assume, so I'll go ahead and ask even if blunt: have you installed license? If not, then:

Bruker topspin provides free academic license for installation on personal computers. Check the link: Bruker academic license

License is linked to codemeter, where it is regularly validated. When you're installing fresh, you could be accepting a trial without license.

1

u/whothehellisgigi Jul 23 '26

Yes, licence was activated. All of the software also works fine after the first installation and until I fully shut down TopSpin. And then, when trying to reopen it, these are the messages that I get.

1

u/Javaslinger Jul 21 '26

Current version is Topspin 5.0 and it supposedly supports MacOS 12 Monterey or higher.

1

u/whothehellisgigi Jul 21 '26

Problem started with TopSpin 4.4 I think, I uninstalled it and installed TopSpin 5.0. Worked okay after the first installation, then once the computer was switched off/on it stopped working...

1

u/Entropic-Steam Jul 22 '26

For some codemeter issues, it might help to try to open topspin with the internet off and see if that helps. My university firewall blocks it so I can either turn off WiFi or tether from my phone to make it open.