Mac OS X 10.3.8 Released

[lostngone]

Looks like?

I have the first Gen Dual 2Ghz G5 and it sounds like a few other people with the same version as mine are having the same problem.
I have never had a fan problem before going to 10.3.8.

Is it only a problem with the first Gen Dual systems?

 

[LimitedEdition]

Yes, I have the same system as you. I can verify mine is doing the same thing.

Quite a common system I would have thought. Maybe this build didn't get as good a test because a lot of the developer community are already on Tiger?

 

[opq]

73 days on my Windows Computer 😀

 

[russed]

well things seem ok for me here. mail is much quicker, it hasnt been playing nicely for the past while, but thankfully that is now gone. it also loads in one bounce. well good!

 

[mrwalker]

Same thing here

I have the first Gen Dual 2Ghz G5 and it sounds like a few other people with the same version as mine are having the same problem.
I have never had a fan problem before going to 10.3.8.

Is it only a problem with the first Gen Dual systems?

No, 2004 Dual 1.8GHz does the same thing.

 

[JFreak]

73 days on my Windows Computer 😀

i once had a year of uptime with a NT4 workstation. that was ruined because i had to install another scsi card into it, and to mess with network routings. it is the only good windows version ever released.

 

[kneedropper]

Hmmm... it seems to have introduced this issue on my PM G5. I have never had any unusual fan behavior for a long time (since 10.2.x).
But now with 10.3.8 it will suddenly rev up very high with no apparent provacation for about 10-20s and then fall down again.

Same here with a 6 month old. Annoying.

 

[nagromme]

Heaps of the members here claim to hardly ever restart their computers. Is that just a Mac thing because I'm a pretty recent switcher an I know that if I didn't restart my computer for more than a week it would have massive slowdown.

Is the speed-up after an update just a result of the restart?

I go for months, restarting for updates only. OS X is just in another world from Windows OR OS 9 in terms of stability. In using several OS X Macs for several years, I have seen it crash occasionally. But it's almost exciting because it's so rare 😀 It's weird how I think differently about OS X than any previous OS... in OS X, I'll open another app while three others are chugging away at something intensive, and not even think about it. I don't "baby" it. With any other OS, I would just naturally wait for something to finish before doing some other major task. My habits have changed now--it's a higher level of "trust" or confidence that is a very nice feeling to have.

On my ancient 333 Mhz PowerBook with low RAM, I opened every app I own in BOTH OS 9 AND X simultaneously in OS X public beta. It slowed down, but did not crash. I wouldn't dream of doing such a thing with OS 9 or Windows.

As for speed-ups after restarts... The speed-up could sometimes be a result of software improvement. And occasionally I see some disk space freed up by a restart. But I'm cynical... I think most claims of speed-ups are the placebo effect 🙂

And re Safari discussion... older versions of Safari would crash sometimes, but FWIW that's long been a thing of the past for me. It loads fast, stays stable, and works on all the sites I visit.

 

[nagromme]

Addresses "jumping cursor" issues that might occur when using your portable computer's trackpad with your thumb, side of thumb, or a "flat" finger.

A big thanks from all the tree frogs out there!

 

[frenetic]

Installed it on a 15 inch powerbook 1.33 Ghz, no problems so far, airport reception like before, iTunes playing and previewing normal... do not notice any speed improvement in mail.app, though, nor speedier DNS lookup (still not instant, but I don't know whether that is my provider or the PB)

 

[Brize]

I'm also having the fan problems on a Dual 2.0 Power Mac. It's driving me up the bloody wall. 🙁

 

[surfsofa]

Does anyone know why it takes 10 years to 'Optimise Volume' when you do these software updates? (OK, I'm exaggerating a little for dramatic effect, but you get the point 😛 ). What on earth is it doing during all this time? Takes longer than a Permissions Repair.

 

[Mac-Xpert]

Fan behavior on G5 Dual 2.5 GHz

I'm reading some contradicting stories here on the influence of this update on the fan behavior on the G5's

Could any users with a G5 Dual 2.5 GHz tell me if this update changed (improved of the opposite) the behavior of the fans on your machine.

Im still on 10.3.4. which runs rock solid for me, and haven't seen the need to upgrade yet. However I always keep my machine in Reduced mode to keep the fans down, and only put it in Highest when I really need the power. Both the Automatic and Highest mode gets the fans spinning up way too often to my liking.

Does 10.3.8 make any difference?

 

[virividox]

i cant wait to get my computer back and install

 

[frenetic]

Does anyone know why it takes 10 years to 'Optimise Volume' when you do these software updates? (OK, I'm exaggerating a little for dramatic effect, but you get the point 😛 ). What on earth is it doing during all this time? Takes longer than a Permissions Repair.

It updates prebindings - has something to do with links between libraries and apps, if I am not mistaken. Basically it makes your applications start up faster. Again: I am no expert, google it if you want good info.

 

[cmvsm]

If anyone's curious as to why some downloads are 27 MB and others 14.6 MB, it's because of the security updates. If you've installed all security updates prior to the release of 10.3.8, you get the 14.6 MB download. If you haven't, you get the 27 MB download. If you were running Mac OS X 10.3.0 to 10.3.6, you get a 96 MB download.

At least that's how I THINK it works...

I install the combo update every time. Seems as if the updates go much smoother if you do the entire combo update instead of the just an automatic update. The combo update was 103MB.. 😱

 

[hvfsl]

Well I noticed some IQ improvements when playing DVDs interlaced DVDs, it's now on par with PowerDVD on the PC, although WinDVD still has the best quality.

 

[devman]

73 days on my Windows Computer 😀

Ah an unpatched windows computer... 😱

 

[Symtex]

I have a PM G5 SP 1.8ghz that I got 3 weeks ago and I have no noticable change in fan behavior. I'll test it more in the coming days.

 

[kettle]

Ah an unpatched windows computer... 😱

he he, that's the badger

 

[TENBLUE7™]

Vvvvrrrrrrooooooooooooooom...

...count me in as well June 2004 Dual 1.8 - big fan spin after re-boot via the update hope it's not gonna be an occasional thing.

It makes me want to work loads faster when the fan spins up like a turbo boost.

Zooooooooom 😉

 

[kirk26]

i once had a year of uptime with a NT4 workstation. that was ruined because i had to install another scsi card into it, and to mess with network routings. it is the only good windows version ever released.

Yea, next to Windows 2000 and XP. 🙄

 

[iGary]

The update for my G4 MDD was only 16.8 MB, while both my iMac and my iBook took the 27 MB update.

All seems well, but I have not tried my external FW drive yet. 🙄

 

[~Shard~]

Apart from the usual niggles with a software update, most people seem to find that their Macs run faster afterwards. Is this attributed to the actual update or just to the fact that we had to restart our computers. Heaps of the members here claim to hardly ever restart their computers. Is that just a Mac thing because I'm a pretty recent switcher an I know that if I didn't restart my computer for more than a week it would have massive slowdown.

Is the speed-up after an update just a result of the restart? If not, does this mean I don't have to do the weekly restart of my iBook each week cos that'd be really cool.

Just as a side note - why didn't anyone tell me about macs earlier? I swear I find a new feature I love about OSX every day!

Sometimes it's just a psychological thing as well. 😉 But yes, you really never need to restart your Mac expect for cases like this where a restart is required. One of my friends can probably count them number of times he's restarted his PowerBook since he bought it 4 years ago... It doesn't slow down after prolonged use, and it never crashes... 😎

 

[tf23]

Not sure if this is happening to anyone else, but ever since the update, the screen on my PowerBook has been flipping out on me. It will dim and brighten again to normal every so many seconds even though the light level in my room hasn't changed at all. It seems like the sensors are a lot more sensitive or something. I have the first rev 15" Aluminum PowerBook G4 (1.25 GHz). Anyone else notice this issue?

same h/w here, the 3.8 update's d/ling now.

I have noticed this behavior when I'm using my Belkin Omni Cube 4 port KVM. When I switch sometimes the brightness goes up/down on the Powerbook. I've never taken the time to look into it further.

Do you use a KVM at all?