How can I start the mds process Revised Question

I am getting errors that mds cannot be started:

9/18/12 9:04:45.262 AM com.apple.launchd[1]: (com.apple.metadata.mds[4720]) Job appears to have crashed: Segmentation fault: 11


Crash Report: PasteBin

Original Question

I ran cd /System/Library/LaunchDaemons
sudo launchctl load -w com.apple.metadata.mds.plist which returned com.apple.metadata.mds: Already loaded but when I go to my Activity Monitor and change my filter to All Processes and search for mds I don't see anything, is there a way to force mds to start?

I've tried everything on these sites:


https://superuser.com/questions/420068/spotlight-refuses-to-be-enabled-on-lion
http://osxdaily.com/2007/02/15/spotlight-wont-work-fix-a-broken-spotlight-menu-with-these-troubleshooting-tips/
My guess is that it's launching, then crashing or erroring out in some form. Try sudo launchctl list com.apple.metadata.mds, and look at the PID (id of currently running process, probably 0 since it's not running) and LastExitStatus (which would be 0 if it exited successfully, but may be something else in this case). Also, look at /var/log/system.log (with either Console.app or 'tail') and see if it holds any clues. Also, look in /Library/Logs/CrashReporter for any relevant reports.

As for possible causes: if the logs don't tell you where the problem is, my first guess would be a broken mdimporter plug-in; I'd remove everything (temporarily) from /Library/Spotlight and ~/Library/Spotlight. Also, check /System/Library/Spotlight, and make sure these are the only mdimporters there:

Application Archives Audio Automator Bookmarks Chat CoreMedia Font Image MIDI Mail Notes PDF PS QuartzComposer RichText SystemPrefs iCal iPhoto iPhoto8 vCard

Another possible cause is a badly corrupted spotlight database. If removing suspect mdimporters doesn't get it started, try dismounting everything but the startup volume (&amp; if that solves it, remount them one at a time and see which kills it). If that doesn't do it, try removing the existing spotlight database with sudo mv /.Spotlight-V100 /.Spotlight-V100-disabled (I'm not certain how thoroughly sudo mdutil -E / wipes out the old DB, but renaming it should force a full rebuild).