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Don't be an idiot like I am: Resist the urge to have the "latest and greatest" OS X

DeputyRob

DeputyRob

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 2, 2009
25
0
Upper Midwest
Hi...

I'll preface this by saying I'm the fool who never learns. I somehow get lured into having the "latest and greatest" version of OS X and it often leads to my own peril. The latest example of my gnat-sized brain at work was the installation of OS X 10.9 through a bona fide Apple Developer account. (I may be a fool but at least I didn't download a Torrent or pirated version.) So what's going on?

My installation of OSX 10.9 "Beta" (13A476u) has been a complete disaster. Mail crashes and neither Terminal nor the App Store icons work; double-clicking on the Terminal or App Store icon does nothing. Oddly enough, after installing OS X 10.9, my Ethernet no longer functions but WiFi does. Refreshing the DHCP lease always results in a 169.x.x.x IP address which, as we know, is reserved and will not link with my ISP. Another issue: The OS X installation disk that came with the iMac will not allow me to install it and, because the App Store application doesn't load, I can't download OS X 10.8 to re-install Mountain Lion. To make matters worse, I didn't do a backup so I now have a 27" i7 iMac that's useless.

Please don't rip me for being an idiot as I already know that's the case. All I can do now is warn others that it's best to wait for any given version of OS X to be released to the public, however "difficult" that may be.

In the meanwhile, any suggestions to get my Mac up and running again would be appreciated. Luckily, I don't have much of anything that's per se "important" on my computer (hence my nonchalance regarding backups) so I didn't incur data or monetary loss, just inconvenience.

Regards,

Rob
 
Wait, are you saying that there are bugs in the first developer preview version?

...


Just install it on a separate disk/partition/secondary Mac, instead of your primary machine/drive.
 
Oh dear, sorry to hear that.

If you erase your whole drive, you should be able to reinstall Mountain Lion on it.

Normally, you can put it on a USB key and install from there.

But do you have any means to download Mountain Lion again (since you said you can't access the App store anymore)?

If not, maybe you need to find a way to get it working (maybe google can get you a solution...) to then download ML.
 
C64 said:
Wait, are you saying that there are bugs in the first developer preview version?

...


Just install it on a separate disk/partition/secondary Mac, instead of your primary machine/drive.
Click to expand...


Ah, yes. More sarcasm. I already stated three times in my original post that I was a fool and politely asked for respondents to refrain from piling it on further. Apparently, that was lost on you.
 
First, get a backup. Something as simple as drag and drop to an external drive will get most of your data, then just make sure you backup your mail and bookmarks, if they don't sync with iCloud.

THEN.

put your install DVD in your mac, and open up disk utility. erase the hard drive, completely. That will let your OS X dvd install onto your mac. Then you can go about restoring your data, in whatever manner works best.
 
Sounds to me like corrupt plist files. Try this to get the App store working:


Go to and delete ( ONLY THE PLIST) ~ Library/Preferences/com.apple.appstore.plist
Go to and delete ( ONLY THE PLIST ) ~ /Library/Preferences/com.apple.storeagent.plist
Go to and delete everything inside ~ /Library/Preferences/ByHost/

The 169 issue should be solved by this ( i would also reboot your router before hand ):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHCBRsSvFwA

For Terminal:

Go to ~/Library/Preferences.

Move the com.apple.Terminal.plist file to the Trash.

Restart your Mac.

~ (Tilde) represents your Home folder.
 
Clean Install

If you didn't do a clean install and still have any desire to use 10.9, try that first.
 
Last edited:
Risco said:
Sounds to me like corrupt plist files. Try this to get the App store working:


Go to and delete ( ONLY THE PLIST) ~ Library/Preferences/com.apple.appstore.plist
Go to and delete ( ONLY THE PLIST ) ~ /Library/Preferences/com.apple.storeagent.plist
Go to and delete everything inside ~ /Library/Preferences/ByHost/

The 169 issue should be solved by this ( i would also reboot your router before hand ):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHCBRsSvFwA

For Terminal:

Go to ~/Library/Preferences.

Move the com.apple.Terminal.plist file to the Trash.

Restart your Mac.

~ (Tilde) represents your Home folder.
Click to expand...

Excellent advice. I tried all of your suggestions and they didn't seem to get my computer running again. I also watched the self-assigned IP problem video you linked and thought that would work for sure. Oddly enough, it didn't. I still have WiFi but my Ethernet continues to be assigned a 169.x.x.x IP address.

I really do appreciate your efforts, though. It's great to see people stepping up to help instead of ripping me for mistakes I've already admitted to.

----------
mreckhof said:
If you didn't do a clean install and still have any desire to use 10.9, try that first. It doesn't take long to create the USB bootable install and I've noticed things run much smoother.
Click to expand...

How is that performed? My original 10.9 installation program seems to have been automatically deleted as part of the installation. If not, where would it be?
 
DeputyRob said:
Excellent advice. I tried all of your suggestions and they didn't seem to get my computer running again. I also watched the self-assigned IP problem video you linked and thought that would work for sure. Oddly enough, it didn't. I still have WiFi but my Ethernet continues to be assigned a 169.x.x.x IP address.

I really do appreciate your efforts, though. It's great to see people stepping up to help instead of ripping me for mistakes I've already admitted to.

----------



How is that performed? My original 10.9 installation program seems to have been automatically deleted as part of the installation. If not, where would it be?
Click to expand...

Ahh damn, shame none of that worked. :eek: You could try either reinstalling over the top ( won't lose data, but backup just in case! )

Or try downgrading..

 
Update: Ethernet issue solved

Hi all:

I was able to get my Ethernet back up and running and it had zero to do with OS X 10.9. I have my entire house hardwired with Cat 6 Ethernet cabling and every room's port runs through an 8-port TrendNet TEG-S80g gigabit switch. It appears that switch died at the same time I upgraded to OS X 10.9, an unfortunate coincidence that confounded a proper diagnosis.

Thanks again for everyone's support. Please keep the suggestions coming.
 
Your experience has been very different from mine. Installed on my laptop in my signature straight over the top of ML with no Time Machine backup made prior and had absolutely zero issues so far. The only semi-issue was Skype and Viscosity but both were fixed with reinstalling a different older/newer version.

Hope everything gets sorted out, also I'm a Windows sysadmin but don't macs have an online based recovery partition? Hold command-R on boot and use it to download and install the version of OS X that came with your mac?
 
Just fresh install your Maverick .. I have no problem at all .. the only problem only Crossover not working with Steam .. other than that.. no problem at all :p
 
DeputyRob said:
Hi...

I'll preface this by saying I'm the fool who never learns. I somehow get lured into having the "latest and greatest" version of OS X and it often leads to my own peril. The latest example of my gnat-sized brain at work was the installation of OS X 10.9 through a bona fide Apple Developer account. (I may be a fool but at least I didn't download a Torrent or pirated version.) So what's going on?

My installation of OSX 10.9 "Beta" (13A476u) has been a complete disaster. Mail crashes and neither Terminal nor the App Store icons work; double-clicking on the Terminal or App Store icon does nothing. Oddly enough, after installing OS X 10.9, my Ethernet no longer functions but WiFi does. Refreshing the DHCP lease always results in a 169.x.x.x IP address which, as we know, is reserved and will not link with my ISP. Another issue: The OS X installation disk that came with the iMac will not allow me to install it and, because the App Store application doesn't load, I can't download OS X 10.8 to re-install Mountain Lion. To make matters worse, I didn't do a backup so I now have a 27" i7 iMac that's useless.

Please don't rip me for being an idiot as I already know that's the case. All I can do now is warn others that it's best to wait for any given version of OS X to be released to the public, however "difficult" that may be.

In the meanwhile, any suggestions to get my Mac up and running again would be appreciated. Luckily, I don't have much of anything that's per se "important" on my computer (hence my nonchalance regarding backups) so I didn't incur data or monetary loss, just inconvenience.

Regards,

Rob
Click to expand...

Well, that's why they call it "developer beta".
 
I'm sorry to hear about your problems but I am extremely happy I upgraded to Mavericks. I have a 4 year old Macbook that was chugging along but due to the innovations within Mavericks such as App Napp the machine feels brand new.

Sometimes you're going to have problems but if you're going to take the risk of upgrading make sure all your important info is backed up.
 
Haven't had any issues with it on my 15" rMBP. Have not installed it on my work 13" or my server iMac though. I'd look at installing it on a second partition or a VM in the future if you only have one Mac and want to check it out.
 
Works fine for me, as stable as ML ever was. And the improved battery life and graphical performance makes my computing experience even more enjoyable :D
 
Stable for me as well.

A few programs not working, but for the most part it seems to be running quite well.

I am not finding enough faults that I need to revert back to Mountain Lion.

I think I'll be using this DP, and all the ones yet to be released, up through the Gold Master.
 
DarkRyoushii said:
Your experience has been very different from mine. Installed on my laptop in my signature straight over the top of ML with no Time Machine backup made prior and had absolutely zero issues so far. The only semi-issue was Skype and Viscosity but both were fixed with reinstalling a different older/newer version.

Hope everything gets sorted out, also I'm a Windows sysadmin but don't macs have an online based recovery partition? Hold command-R on boot and use it to download and install the version of OS X that came with your mac?
Click to expand...

Same experience I had on my mid 2012 MBA. Didn't bother with any back-up since there's no unique information stored on it and as you say, it can always be restored.
 
People should install it on a USB hard drive, and never use it as a replacement for their stable OS, unless they do very little with their Mac.
 
People should install it on a USB hard drive, and never use it as a replacement for their stable OS, unless they do very little with their Mac.
Click to expand...

Listen, I am torn. That's good, standard advice you are giving. I am not blaming you for what you are trying to convey...

...but coming from someone who has run Developer Preview versions as my operating system since Mountain Lion, I don't totally agree.

Just as with Mountain Lion DP1, this is a very stable preview.

Of course, mileage does vary between users.

I am on a brand-new 2013 iMac with i7 processor and 16GB ram.

I see no problems with this DP other than a few programs not working -- and they are not major ones. I contacted those developers and they are already telling me that compatibility updates are soon to arrive.

I think this DP can be used everyday, over your initial ML operating system, as long as you did a backup using a program like SuperDuper.

You should also read threads on this forum to find out exactly what programs do not work.

...but I am impressed with what I see thus far.
 
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