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so will apple replace our buggy panther CDs?

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Macette

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Mar 5, 2002
472
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Melbourne
If you do an install from your original panther discs at any time - even if apple release updates for all these crazy problems at some point - you will be installing from the same buggy version that might at some stage have erased your firewire hard drive.

So i guess what i'm saying is: the problem with the firewire hard drives won't ever just 'go away'. they can fix it for all the sensible people who've held off buying Panther until after it's been tested on all of us dummies, but for the early adopters, there's always a risk that in some hasty moment, we'll install while still attached to a firewire hard drive, and bingo... all is lost. Again.

do you think they'll give replacement discs - some kind of 'trade' - to those of us who've got the scary original panther CDs, if and when they solve the firewire problem?
 
yamabushi

yamabushi

macrumors 65816
Oct 6, 2003
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It sounds like a good idea. If they decided to do it Apple might have to charge for shipping unless you trade it at a dealer.
 
LimeLite

LimeLite

macrumors 6502a
Mar 20, 2003
652
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Los Angeles, Ca
Anyone who has the CDs now has already installed Panther, so installing the updates is all you need to do. I'm sure that, once it's made, systems and boxes will be switched to 10.3.1, or some variant. But I doubt there'll be a trade, because like I said, you have the CDs, you've already installed 10.3.0, all you need is the update.
 
M

Macette

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Mar 5, 2002
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Melbourne
Originally posted by LimeLite
Anyone who has the CDs now has already installed Panther, so installing the updates is all you need to do. I'm sure that, once it's made, systems and boxes will be switched to 10.3.1, or some variant. But I doubt there'll be a trade, because like I said, you have the CDs, you've already installed 10.3.0, all you need is the update.
Click to expand...

yeah, but what i'm saying is that if you need to do a full slate-cleaning reinstall, then you DO need to use the CDs, and if you happen to have a firewire hard drive attached, then the problem will occur - despite whatever updates Apple release to counter it.

and in fact my dad, for example, bought a firewire harddrive AFTER he got Panther, and so didn't run into the problem the first time around - and since it didn't happen the first time, and since he's still got the same install CDs, he probably doesn't know what can happen, and is totally susceptible to it happening to him now, if he needs to reinstall.

so. what i'm saying is that those dodgy Panther CDs are a ticking time bomb. not everybody is tuned into forums like these.
 
LimeLite

LimeLite

macrumors 6502a
Mar 20, 2003
652
0
Los Angeles, Ca
What I don't understand is why everyone is using fw800 drives? Drives barely get to speeds fast enough that there's a huge benefit of having fw800 over fw400. Not saying it's fw800 owners faults by any means, just wondering.

My understanding is that this only effects fw800 drives. If that's the case, it's an amazingly small number of users.
 
M

Makosuke

macrumors 604
Aug 15, 2001
6,662
1,242
The Cool Part of CA, USA
Originally posted by LimeLite
What I don't understand is why everyone is using fw800 drives? Drives barely get to speeds fast enough that there's a huge benefit of having fw800 over fw400. Not saying it's fw800 owners faults by any means, just wondering.

My understanding is that this only effects fw800 drives. If that's the case, it's an amazingly small number of users.
Click to expand...
Not as small as you'd think--for one thing, high-end drives these days are fast enough that FW800 makes a difference, particularly with multi-drive set-ups. BareFeats has plenty of real-world tests to back this up.

And pro users want that speed. So there is definitely a FW800 market, and there's more of the drives out there than you'd think. Don't underestimate the pro Mac-using segment.

Those pro users also are usually the folks who run out and upgrade immediately, so they're proportionally more likely to get hammered by this particular bug. Lucky for them, they're also more likely to follow forums like this, and save themselves from potential disaster.

And as for the bug, no, it doesn't just affect FW800 drives. The FW800-eating version is the only one that's gotten any definitive action out of Apple and drive manufacturers, but there seem to be plenty of people with FW400 drives who're also having problems, so there's some other variant of the same bug at play here.
 
Foxer

Foxer

macrumors 65816
Feb 22, 2003
1,274
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Washington, DC
If you have to do a clean install, disconnect the firwire drive until you've installed AND downloaded any eventual upgrades.
 
M

Macette

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Mar 5, 2002
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Melbourne
Originally posted by Foxer
If you have to do a clean install, disconnect the firwire drive until you've installed AND downloaded any eventual upgrades.
Click to expand...


yes of course... but it would be very easy to forget. for example, at my work, the powermacs all have firewire drives attached, and they're all out of sight in a cabinet... so there's no visual reminder to disconnect them. that's why i want new discs. i don't want to have the problem constantly waiting to happen.
 
bousozoku

bousozoku

Moderator emeritus
Jun 25, 2002
15,719
1,894
Lard
No, I don't think that Apple will replace the Panther CDs.

What I've seen the problem with the drives to be is thi:

1. FireWire 800 drive using an adapter to run on a FireWire 400 bus.

2. The firmware is a version 1.0.2

3. Panther

According to everything I've seen on other sites is that once the firmware is updated in the drive, there should not be another problem with corruption/erasure. My FireWire 400 drive is fine, thankfully.

Obviously, it shouldn't have happened and Apple should have tested much better.
 
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