Mac OS X 10.3.6 Update Now Available

[Dogfood1]

Did 10.3.6 kill your system? A tale of survival.

This is more a reply to "Rusian" and those who's systems were killed by 10.3.6 and a little help (hopefully)!

I have a FP iMac 800. As of last week, it had 10.3.5 and was working fine. No kernel panics, no spontaneous application crashes - rock solid as expected. Then I updated to 10.3.6. I did all my due diligence prior to the upgrade - repaired permissions and such, disconnected all externals - the update went fine - no timeout or crashes as has been reported. No problems with my LaCie FW drive.

After a reboot, things got wierd, apps stopped opening, apps would randomly crash, and documents were getting corrupted. I made the tough decision to do a clean install, and update back to 10.3.5. I backed everything up on my LaCie and proceded to erase/wipe my drive and do the clean install.

Almost instantly after installation I had the same types of problems. While installing applications (like iLife) the installers would just quit with errors. I wiped and tested the drive and found all kinds of errors. Fixed the errors and reinstalled 10.3 - more kernel panics and crashes. I then ran Disk Warrior, Drive 10, etc...nothing would fix it.

I then found a hardware test disk that came with the computer - it identified "bad memory"!

I yanked the 512mb user-installed RAM (that Apple put in there) and it was like the sky opened up and Steve Jobs himself decended to anoint my iMac healed. Disk Warrior fixed everything it wouldn't fix before. I did a fresh install, and everthing has been perfect for 48hours.

Did 10.3.6 kill my RAM? Can't tell for sure, I'll get it tested and by some new RAM. But it seems the problems "Rusian" was explaining sounded pretty similar, and I've heard some other horror stories about 10.3.6 so I thought I would share.

Hopefully somewhere in the ether, an angry Mac user will pull some bad RAM out and get their system back and running (on 10.3.5 of course!)

Good-Luck,

Dogfood1

 

[AidenShaw]

three little letters

Hopefully somewhere in the ether, an angry Mac user will pull some bad RAM out and get their system back and running (on 10.3.5 of course!)

ECC

It's sad that companies build systems without it...

 

[harperska]

Good update fro me, no probs so far and samba client picks up the windows machine instantly now, where as b4 it took about a minute after opening the network in finder to see them. very handy in the world of windowz.

I too seem to be one of the few that was actually quite happy with this update, and for the same reasons as jabbawok. Before I updated, I made sure that any hacks I might have running were turned off and repaired permissions like a good mac user. And after update I was just satisfied that things seemed to be pretty much the same as they were before. I only just noticed an improvement that I wanted to shout 'hurray' about when I discovered that samba networking suddenly started working the way it should have since OSX was originally released! When I discovered this monumental improvement to the samba client, I felt compelled to come down here to the forums to shout my praise. Let me tell you, I was quite shocked to see all of the problems people were having. I hope that all of you who have had problems with this update can solve them soon. Here's to 10.3.6.1!

~Harperska

p.s. I'll try to track down a firewire device and see if I have any problems with it.

 

[MacinDoc]

No problems

Installed 10.3.6, repaired permissions before and after, no crashes since update, faster opening of apps, faster eye candy in Finder (maybe due to permission repair?).

 

[Stinkysteve]

I have similar Mac's to yours. When I changed to X this past January, thought that I was among the last. May I ask your reasoning for still only running 9.2.2. After I changed to X and got my programs over to X then I never looked back.

The G4 iBook is strictly OS X
The G4 Sawtooth has OS X and 9.2 (not just classic)
The Pismo has 9.2

I need OS 9 because I can't afford a new printer, (Photoshop in X does not print nicely to this ancient Epson 740i), software, (some Macromedia stuff from 2 or 3 releases ago), and the scanner is not the same in X.

Buying a new computer is one thing, it's all the other crap that runs the bills up fast.

 

[Ant-honey]

How does one revert back to 10.3.5 or earlier for that matter?

I suspect the update 10.3.6 to be the source of my printing troubles via PhotoShop CS to an Epson 2200. My prints are surrounded by a large, red border on the non printed on area.

 

[edalzell]

How does one revert back to 10.3.5 or earlier for that matter?

I suspect the update 10.3.6 to be the source of my printing troubles via PhotoShop CS to an Epson 2200. My prints are surrounded by a large, red border on the non printed on area.

I think the only way is to do an Archive & Install with 10.3 and then install the 10.3.5 update.

 

[gopher]

The G4 iBook is strictly OS X
The G4 Sawtooth has OS X and 9.2 (not just classic)
The Pismo has 9.2

I need OS 9 because I can't afford a new printer, (Photoshop in X does not print nicely to this ancient Epson 740i), software, (some Macromedia stuff from 2 or 3 releases ago), and the scanner is not the same in X.

Buying a new computer is one thing, it's all the other crap that runs the bills up fast.

Printers only cost $50 to $100.

And a nice HP Scanjet 3970 only costs $99 and the scanning software really works.

You can always sell your old equipment if you have a good reason to upgrade to X.

 

[wrldwzrd89]

I think the only way is to do an Archive & Install with 10.3 and then install the 10.3.5 update.

There's two other methods:

1. edalzell's method followed by deleting the archive
2. Erase & Install 10.3, followed by 10.3.5 update

I wouldn't recommend either of those unless you know what you're doing.

 

[MacinDoc]

I know there are some reported issues with this update (FireWire & Bluetooth devices, sound levels on MDD models), but I find it curious that by my count, 58% of newbies' posts on this forum could be considered negative (eliminating those I considered neutral), compared to 39% negative non-newbie posts. Are there a few trolls out there, too, trying to make this update look worse than it really is?

 

[~Shard~]

I know there are some reported issues with this update (FireWire & Bluetooth devices, sound levels on MDD models), but I find it curious that by my count, 58% of newbies' posts on this forum could be considered negative (eliminating those I considered neutral), compared to 39% negative non-newbie posts. Are there a few trolls out there, too, trying to make this update look worse than it really is?

Although quite a few of the complaints are 100% legitimate and I appreciate that, I think there are also quite a significant number of people who don't know enough about what they're doing and don't know about simple things such as verify/repair permissions...

 

[Les Kern]

Although quite a few of the complaints are 100% legitimate and I appreciate that, I think there are also quite a significant number of people who don't know enough about what they're doing and don't know about simple things such as verify/repair permissions...

I'd have to agree. To take ABSOLUTELY nothing away from the fine folks who use their Macs daily, I have 18 years of experience to fall back on, so those pesky problems tend not to show up, if ever. Puters are complercated beasts, and having a expreience helps. I have to make directives on occasion, and the new one for next year, for instance, is that OS9 support will end completely, and that under no circumstances will I ever allow admin access to my 200+ wireless laptop users. I (or rather my assistant) spends too much time looking for "lost" files or un-doing click-itis attacks.

 

[~Shard~]

Hmm, if the update to this article is correct, then we might be seeing 10.3.7 much sooner than I had anticipated. I wonder if Apple addressed some of these issues people have been having with 10.3.6 and wanted to get the next update out as fast as possible to rectify them. Which makes me think, should this update be called 10.3.7, or more accurately, 10.3.6.2? Seriously, there does seem to be quite a few improvements listed as well for 10.3.7, so it should be all good. Let's just hope Apple isn't rushing it's release too much, or else we might find a number of other problems surfacing which they may have overlooked in their haste. Of course, that's never been Apple's style - sounds like more of a Microsoft thing...

 

[~Shard~]

I'd have to agree. To take ABSOLUTELY nothing away from the fine folks who use their Macs daily, I have 18 years of experience to fall back on, so those pesky problems tend not to show up, if ever. Puters are complercated beasts, and having a expreience helps. I have to make directives on occasion, and the new one for next year, for instance, is that OS9 support will end completely, and that under no circumstances will I ever allow admin access to my 200+ wireless laptop users. I (or rather my assistant) spends too much time looking for "lost" files or un-doing click-itis attacks.

And I agree with that. Having experience is important, and I pride myself on keeping up my knowledge when it comes to my Mac, computers, and technology in general. (I have to due to the industry I'm in as well, I have no choice I suppose.) I think it's crucial for people to be educated about things, and not just blindly go along with whatever, and use things without knowing the how and why - or maybe that's just the Engineer in me speaking - I always need to know how something works and why, I'm never satisfied with being ignorant about something, being uneducated about something, and taking things for granted - it's just not in my nature.

 

[MacinDoc]

Although quite a few of the complaints are 100% legitimate and I appreciate that, I think there are also quite a significant number of people who don't know enough about what they're doing and don't know about simple things such as verify/repair permissions...

I'm sure most of them are, I just found it to be an interesting trend...

 

[wrldwzrd89]

And I agree with that. Having experience is important, and I pride myself on keeping up my knowledge when it comes to my Mac, computers, and technology in general. (I have to due to the industry I'm in as well, I have no choice I suppose.) I think it's crucial for people to be educated about things, and not just blindly go along with whatever, and use things without knowing the how and why - or maybe that's just the Engineer in me speaking - I always need to know how something works and why, I'm never satisfied with being ignorant about something, being uneducated about something, and taking things for granted - it's just not in my nature.

Me too ~Shard~! In that respect I'm very similar to you. I am proud of the fact that I am familiar with all the typical Mac maintenance tasks, and I make sure all tasks are done on a regular basis.

 

[~Shard~]

Me too ~Shard~! In that respect I'm very similar to you. I am proud of the fact that I am familiar with all the typical Mac maintenance tasks, and I make sure all tasks are done on a regular basis.

Well, you know what they say, great minds think alike... hmm, now how does the rest of that go?

 

[inktomite]

Firewire busted on mine too!!

Well.. just wanted to chime in. I'm the umpteenth person complaining about this, but after installing 10.3.6 I can not access my firewire drive.

External Drive Case: Beyond Micro External FW/USB2.0 case: http://tinyurl.com/5odws
Drive in case is 200G Maxtor

Computer: Powerbook Aluminum 15"/60G/1.33Ghz

Problem: My photo library got so big I had to put it on this external drive. I can not access it now and it has all my 5 month old's photos on it. My computer can not see the drive now when I mount. Disk Utility can not see it either.

I am sad. I checked the Beyond Micro support page and see nothing for 10.3+ in terms of firmware.

Apple, I trusted you. Please help me.

 

[aswitcher]

Well.. just wanted to chime in. I'm the umpteenth person complaining about this, but after installing 10.3.6 I can not access my firewire drive.

External Drive Case: Beyond Micro External FW/USB2.0 case: http://tinyurl.com/5odws
Drive in case is 200G Maxtor

My Lacie has my 30+ gig iTunes library on it, and its working fine right now playing music through my 17"PB to my JS USB speakers...

 

[Video_Producer]

10.3.6 issues

I've been checking along and haven't found any answers, so if they have been answered forgive me.

I upgraded a new iMac g5 from 10.3.4 to 10.3.6 just after it was purchased and now there have been some issues that I hope someone knows the answers.

1. Both IE and Safari randomly quit, it seems like when you are on pages using the Flash plug-in. or have multiple pages open and click between them.

2. No clock in menu bar, no volume in menu bar either; no matter what I try to do I can only get the clock to float on the desktop, it never shows in the menu. When I turn show volume in menu it won't activate.

3. Random quitting of other applications too, Photoshop, Illustrator mostly.

I've tried to repair permissions, seemed to work fine, but as soon as the I launch apps the problems start.

Can anyone shed some light,

Thanks
Rich

 

[wrldwzrd89]

I've been checking along and haven't found any answers, so if they have been answered forgive me.

I upgraded a new iMac g5 from 10.3.4 to 10.3.6 just after it was purchased and now there have been some issues that I hope someone knows the answers.

1. Both IE and Safari randomly quit, it seems like when you are on pages using the Flash plug-in. or have multiple pages open and click between them.

2. No clock in menu bar, no volume in menu bar either; no matter what I try to do I can only get the clock to float on the desktop, it never shows in the menu. When I turn show volume in menu it won't activate.

3. Random quitting of other applications too, Photoshop, Illustrator mostly.

I've tried to repair permissions, seemed to work fine, but as soon as the I launch apps the problems start.

Can anyone shed some light,

Thanks
Rich

Your symptoms suggest one or more corrupt preference files as the cause. Which one(s) are causing the problem is still unclear.

 

[Video_Producer]

system crashes under 10.3.6

Your symptoms suggest one or more corrupt preference files as the cause. Which one(s) are causing the problem is still unclear.

Is there a more than likely canidate or application could try ? I'm wondering if it's within a system preference since some of the problems seem to involve system functionality like the clock and volume.

If anyone has a suggestion on what to try it would be greatly appreciated.

Rich

 

[wrldwzrd89]

Is there a more than likely canidate or application could try ? I'm wondering if it's within a system preference since some of the problems seem to involve system functionality like the clock and volume.

If anyone has a suggestion on what to try it would be greatly appreciated.

Rich

Hmm... I did some searching, and I've come to a different conclusion than before. If your clock and volume are affected, maybe you've got a PRAM problem. To reset the PRAM, reboot your Mac, and hold down Command+Option+P+R until the Mac chimes three times.

 

[Video_Producer]

Hmm... I did some searching, and I've come to a different conclusion than before. If your clock and volume are affected, maybe you've got a PRAM problem. To reset the PRAM, reboot your Mac, and hold down Command+Option+P+R until the Mac chimes three times.

Thanks, thinking it was a new machine I never would have thought to even try it, I'll be at the machine on Monday night, I'll give it a shot and post a reply.

Thanks again,

Rich

 

[ant_s]

10.3.6 very unreliable...but only just started this weekend

My PowerBook G4 15" 1.25 SuperDrive has started making any app disappear (ie, "This application has unexpectedly quit.") whenever the app throws up an error or question dialog box. Which, obviously - is quite often!

Apps include Safari, iTunes, Software Updater and I even tried reloading 10.3.6 update, but can't because it asks if it's okay to run a program to determine if it's okay to install...

I tried repairing disk permissions from the startup DVD (as recommended by several people) to no avail. I also tried to isolate the problem by trashing Safari prefs files, again - to no avail.

Oddly, this has only started happening since Friday, and before then I had no problems at all with 10.3.6. I haven't installed anything or changed any major preferences that could have obviously caused this.




edit: it only happens on my own user profile - is there a way of clearing prefs or otherwise that might clear this fault? I'd rather do this than re-build my profile from scratch...

Any suggestions?

Any help greatly appreciated!!