OS X 10.3.7 This Week?

[gopher]

Alas the 10.3.6 Firewire conundrum has NOT been fixed:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=300385

Says:

Important: Please read before installing


If you have a third-party FireWire hard drive connected, turn it off and disconnect it before installing this update. Reconnect it and turn it back on after installation is complete and you've restarted.

Heed that warning, or forever hold your peace!

http://www.macmaps.com/firewirebug2.html

Explains an identical scenario which required the exact same set of instructions to avoid problems.

 

[Rod Rod]

10.3.7 now available in software update

The 10.3.7 Update delivers enhanced functionality and improved reliability for Mac OS X v10.3 "Panther" and is recommended for all users.

Key enhancements include:
improved AFP support for saving documents with long file names
improved OpenGL technology and updated ATI and NVIDIA graphics drivers
improved FireWire device compatibility
updated Preview application
improved compatibility for third party applications
previous standalone security updates




For detailed information on this Update, please visit this website: http://www.info.apple.com/kbnum/n300385
For detailed information on Security Updates, please visit this website: http://www.info.apple.com/kbnum/n61798


from the first link above:

Enhancements

These are some of the enhancements included with the Mac OS X 10.3.7 Update.

Applications

Allows TextEdit to open certain RTF documents that previously wouldn't open, resulting in a "TextEdit Open Failed. Couldn't open file" alert.

Resolves an issue in which Safari, Mail, and other networking applications that use DNS lookups could experience intermittent connectivity issues with Security Update 2004-09-30 and Mac OS X 10.3.5 or later installed.

Addresses an issue with Blizzard World of Warcraft in which the game's frame rate could drop considerably when in "Ghost mode," if the computer uses an nVidia graphics card.

Resolves an issue in which enabling Vertex Shaders in World of Warcraft could lead to unexpected graphics issues when using an nVidia graphics card.

Addresses an issue with World of Warcraft in which incorrect colors or unexpectedly flashing objects could appear when using an ATI Radeon 9600 graphics card, making gameplay difficult.

Improves compatibility for Pacific Tech's Graphing Calculator 3.5—some 3D surfaces might not render in Mac OS X 10.3.6.

Other

Addresses an issue in which a brief "flash of lines" may appear on the screen when waking the computer from sleep after the "Flurry" Screen Saver has run, if the computer uses an ATI Radeon 8500, 9000, 9200, 9600, or M9 graphics chip.

Improves compatibility for FireWire-based audio interfaces, including the Edirol FA-101 FireWire audio interface.

Enables E*TRADE PDF account statements to be viewed in Preview.

An Apple Cinema 22" ADC display, when connected to certain PowerBook computers, no longer shows random "stuttering" or other graphics anomalies in the Finder and DVD Player.

Addresses an issue in which shadowed text in a PDF file may print differently than it appears on the screen when printing to a raster printer.

Filenames longer than 31 characters are no longer shortened when the file is saved on a server via Apple File Sharing.

Resolves an issue with Mac OS X 10.3.6 in which some FireWire hard drives would not appear ("mount") on the desktop.

Addresses an issue with Mac OS X 10.3.6 in which DVD Player might not open on some Power Mac G4 computers that use an ATI Radeon 9800 AGP video card.

Resolves an issue that prevented printing to some Windows-based print servers.

 

[gopher]

The 10.3.7 Update delivers enhanced functionality and improved reliability for Mac OS X v10.3 "Panther" and is recommended for all users.

Key enhancements include:
improved AFP support for saving documents with long file names
improved OpenGL technology and updated ATI and NVIDIA graphics drivers
improved FireWire device compatibility

snip....

Yes but they still haven't addressed the issue which required this warning on

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=300385:

Important: Please read before installing

If you have a third-party FireWire hard drive connected, turn it off and
disconnect it before installing this update. Reconnect it and turn it back
on after installation is complete and you've restarted.

These instructions were necessary to avoid the Firewire compatibility
problems with 10.3.6 as well.

 

[Rod Rod]

Yes but they still haven't addressed the issue which required this warning on

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=300385:

These instructions were necessary to avoid the Firewire compatibility
problems with 10.3.6 as well.

Thanks. I'll follow that advice and disconnect all my FireWire cables before updating to 10.3.7.

The FireWire problem I've had is that even when my LaCie 1TB is switched "off" and I've ejected it, System Profiler takes a few minutes to report my FireWire devices, and Disk Utility all but remounts the LaCie. I've had to physically unplug the LaCie to make things tolerable.

 

[aswitcher]

The FireWire problem I've had is that even when my LaCie 1TB is switched "off" and I've ejected it, System Profiler takes a few minutes to report my FireWire devices, and Disk Utility all but remounts the LaCie. I've had to physically unplug the LaCie to make things tolerable.

Mmm. I'll update and check my 250gig and see if there are problems...

 

[bankshot]

Yes but they still haven't addressed the issue which required this warning on

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=300385:



These instructions were necessary to avoid the Firewire compatibility
problems with 10.3.6 as well.

This is just a thought, but perhaps they put in the warning simply because the problem exists in 10.3.6? If you're applying the update, they you are shutting down from 10.3.6 before booting up into (possibly fixed) 10.3.7. Thus the warning may be only to cover that period of shutdown from 10.3.6.

Then again, maybe not. Just saying I wouldn't necessarily jump to the conclusion you have based on that evidence alone. It may well be that the issue is still there, but the comment in the upgrade article does not necessarily mean it's true.