Mac OSX 10.3.9 - Arrrgghhh!

[Lincoln]

I've had my first kernel panick today.

I thought that they were a myth, a bit like a unicorn or a cyclopse.

Ever since I installed OSX 10.3.9 (via software update from 10.3.8) I've had nothing but problems.

Initially everything was fine, my banking websites did improve in speed. However, if I load multiple tabs in Safari, my machine will freeze until all tabs are loaded. Safari will hang occasionally. The powerbook has locked up twice and Mail will hang with any graphics intensive web pages. I've had the iTunes Music Store crash too!

It seems that Safari 1.3 and its SDK (used in Mail and iTMS) have problems, as it is always when bits of Safari are in use.

It seems to get worse the longer the Powerbook is on (I tend to leave it on sleep when not in use). A reboot makes everything OK again until the errors start.

However, all is not lost. Tiger is on pre-order and after a backup of important files, I will do a wipe and re-install.

Has anyone else experienced similar issues?

 

[Blue Velvet]

Has anyone else experienced similar issues?

No. I don't think so...

 

[thedoc1111]

Sounds like Hardware failure to me...

 

[Makosuke]

Before someone else does I'll ask if you've run through the standard OS update troubleshooting system:

1) Start up in Single User Mode and fsck the disk to check for errors.
2) Repair permissions.
3) (Re)install the update using the 10.3.9 combo updater, not the "incrimental" update. You'd be surprised how many issues this seems to fix.
4) Make sure you've installed the couple of small patches (Java and I think Security 004) since .9 was released.
5) Re-do 1 and 2 after the update, for good measure.

Assuming you have already done all that, you might try getting a cache cleaner utility (like Applejack, PCC, etc) and muck out your basic caches--that helps a lot of the time.

If it's none of the above, then although it could be totally the fault of the update, and there's a tiny chance it's a coincidental hardware issue, I'd look at any extras I've got installed for incompatability--10.3.9 changed more than usual assince it appears to be the "keep people who don't upgrade to Tiger in business" upgrade in the same way that 10.2.8 was to keep people on Jaguar compatible with basic Panther features.

In particular, 10.3.9 apparently breaks a number of Safari plugins, such as AcidSearch. Don't know that those would cause kernel panics, though.

 

[Lincoln]

Thanks

After reading the first few pages that Blue Velvet pointed me too, it became clear that I haven't been singled out by Apple. It also seemed that i should try the combo update as tis had helped a few people. I had already tried repairing permissions. Makosuke also suggested this too.

Well I downloaded the update applied it and I thought that I would try a few things that would have casued freezes with the first OSX10.3.9 update everything was OK. After a more than a whole day everything is much better.

So thanks for the help.

I have only one more question though, how do I start in Single User mode?