OS X 10.4.1 Now Available

[andysmith]

My issues have been with some live streams (see this thread):
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/124934/

Also some "WMV3" encoded videos. VLC gave me a message saying it couldn't read these, and no other programs (including MPlayer) will open them. I did a Google search and turned up a message board thread saying Macs weren't capable of decoding them.

But I'd say 95% of what I want works, and often looks much better on my Mac than my older PC laptop.

I use the Flip4Mac player - it's a quicktime plugin that decodes WM9/WMV3, and it works great.
The trial version only plays half the video, but the full version is only $10 (£5.80).

 

[Lara F]

Sounds promising - I'll give it a try once the next version (fully Tiger & QT7 compatible) comes out, which apparently should be soon.

 

[mickhyperion]

Well, after reading this entire thread, I'm no closer to answering the question "Should I install Tiger yet now that 10.4.1 is out?" The posts in here range from - installing it has been the biggest mistake people have ever made - to others having no problems whatsoever.

It sucks.
It's great.
It ruined my system.
I love it.
I want to go back to Panther.
This is the best thing that ever happened to me.
I hate Apple.
I want Jobs to father my next child...

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!

Is there anywhere where a person can get some sort of CONSENSUS on whether this OS and it's latest update are worth taking the risk of installing? Or is the answer so subjective and affected by so many millions and billions of factors that the only way to know is to just buy it, install it, and essentially jump off the cliff to see what happens?

 

[SteveC]

Well, after reading this entire thread, I'm no closer to answering the question "Should I install Tiger yet now that 10.4.1 is out?" The posts in here range from - installing it has been the biggest mistake people have ever made - to others having no problems whatsoever.

It sucks.
It's great.
It ruined my system.
I love it.
I want to go back to Panther.
This is the best thing that ever happened to me.
I hate Apple.
I want Jobs to father my next child...

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!

Is there anywhere where a person can get some sort of CONSENSUS on whether this OS and it's latest update are worth taking the risk of installing? Or is the answer so subjective and affected by so many millions and billions of factors that the only way to know is to just buy it, install it, and essentially jump off the cliff to see what happens?

Answer: Tiger is fine. I've been running it with no problems using all the iLife and Office apps, Spotlight, Dashboard, and so on...

Only issue I encountered was when I was copying a file from my laptop and the network connection died due to the laptop powering off. That caused the Tiger finder to give me the beach ball. No biggie though. I relaunched the finder and all was well again.

ZERO other problems... Most of the problems being reported are not common things you'd run into. Most common features work perfect.

 

[SweetFeet]

I'm PO'd!!!

I just installed 10.4.1, hit restart, and then the G5 just buzzes it's fans every 5 or 6 seconds. No HDD spinning, no power light, no nothing. This is on a 3-week old Dual 2.0.

VERY DISSAPOINTED!!! If I wanted this, I'd use a Gates machine.

 

[Mac_Freak]

I just installed 10.4.1, hit restart, and then the G5 just buzzes it's fans every 5 or 6 seconds. No HDD spinning, no power light, no nothing. This is on a 3-week old Dual 2.0.

VERY DISSAPOINTED!!! If I wanted this, I'd use a Gates machine.

You mean Gate's Dual G5s that run Xbox demos lol

 

[Dave Marsh]

Key Points to consider before upggrading...

First off, do you have a recent G3, G4, or G4 system with at least 512MB of memory and 3-5GB of free hard disk space? Are you running standard commercial applications, along with Apple's suite, or have you installed a bunch of system/finder modifying apps to customize your Mac in some non-standard way? Have you recently run Disk Utility to Repair Permissions to assure the upgrade will have complete access to all the files it needs to replace/patch?

I've installed Tiger on a new PowerBook, a five year old Sawtooth PowerMac G4 Tower running a Sonnet 1GHz accelerator, a two year old iMac G4 lampshade, and a recent model G4 iBook, with NO problems of any kind. However, before proceeding, I repaired permissions, ran Alsoft's Disk Warrior to assure the disk catalog was pristine, ran Norton Utilities (last time, since it's not being upgraded for Tiger) to check the directories and files, and Coriolis Systems iDefrag to assure Tiger writes to contiguous blocks (not skipping around writing partial files wherever it can). That's major anal and overkill, but I'm a conservative guy when it comes to my Macs...I want them running without a hitch, so that when something does go wrong I'll have a modicum of confidence it wasn't me outsmarting myself with some system haxies or corrupted files because I hadn't been doing routine system maintenance.

Most people won't go to this trouble, nor need to. Only you can answer the question about how standard your Mac system is. At the minimum, I'd suggest repairing permissions and uninstalling any system modifiers you may have installed. After the upgrade, you can attempt to reinstall them to see if they still work. I'd bet that 80% of the time, the user having a problem with the Tiger installation has either (a) never performed any system maintenance on his Mac, so his directory/file structure and permissions are not pristine, or (b) he has installed a bunch of system modifier goodies to add additional functionality that the previous system didn't have that conflict with the new operating system.

So that's it. Only you know whether you fall into any of these categories. Good luck when you take the plunge.

 

[mickhyperion]

First off, do you have a recent G3, G4, or G4 system with at least 512MB of memory and 3-5GB of free hard disk space? Are you running standard commercial applications, along with Apple's suite, or have you installed a bunch of system/finder modifying apps to customize your Mac in some non-standard way? Have you recently run Disk Utility to Repair Permissions to assure the upgrade will have complete access to all the files it needs to replace/patch?...

...Good luck when you take the plunge.

Well, here's the result of my Tiger nosedive... "There were errors installing the software. Please try installing again."

From the log: "BomFatalError - cpio read error: bad file format".

10.3.9 was running perfectly...flawlessly...effortlessly (why wasn't I satisfied with this?)
Firmware up to date.
No system modifiers.
Verified and re-verified permissions and disks. Nothing to repair.
First tried upgrade, then archive & install, finally erase & install with AppleCare on the phone.
Been through 2 DVD's (bought from a third party store) and a 3rd DVD on the way from Apple.
Tried the iPod route.
Tried installing onto both hard drives, including the one which never had an OS on it previously.
Removed third-party RAM, no luck.
Removed original Apple RAM, switched with third-party... no luck.
Unplugged all unnecessary peripherals, no luck.
Tried installing about 20 times now.
Even re-installing Panther comes up with errors now, but it works (with weird anomalies).
iLife now also produces errors on installation (only in Garageband, though).

I really couldn't have been more careful about approaching the installation without being insanely anal, and if that's what it takes to get an error-free install then something is rotten in Cupertino.

I'm up and running in Panther, though things aren't right. Waiting for DVD number 3 from Apple now before I proceed.


PowerMac G4 Dual 1Ghz; Mac OS X (10.3.9); 1.25Gb RAM

 

[LaMerVipere]

I just installed Tiger today and immediately upgraded to 10.4.1 before I even had time to open an application for the first time.

Working great so far! No errors to report. Windows Media Player won't stream content off the interweb anymore, but that's no big deal. Well...would be nice, but who cares, into the trash it went.

 

[Dave Marsh]

Hi Mick, I'm sorry to hear you're having so much trouble. Have you run the hardware tools disk that came with your Mac? What especially troubles me is that you're continuing to have problems after returning to Panther. That suggests the problem lies elsewhere. The hardware configuration in your signature sounds just fine. Do you have Disk Warrior 3.0.3 or Tech Tools Pro 4.0.4 to run on your hard disk? Do NOT use Symantec's Norton Utilities anymore...it's incompatible with Tiger (it will damage the file structure if run from Panther, and will not run from Tiger at all).

During the installation process the installer runs a test of the DVD first thing. Don't skip this step. It's supposed to verify the disk was mastered correctly. If it passed this step, your DVD is probably OK. What about your DVD reader itself? Have you had any problems with it in the past? It really sounds as if some hardware is misbehaving. Either something's amiss with the file structure on your hard drive (which TTP or DW should fix), or something's amiss with the DVD code trying to be executed due to misreading the DVD. Apple's Disk Utility is fine for permissions repair and simple disk repair, but misses a lot of the more serious issues.

That read error you reported AFTER you finished the installation and were running from the hard drive is VERY troubling. If your DVD installation finished without errors, it's unlikely something is wrong with your DVD reader itself, which focuses my concern on the underlying file/catalog structure on your hard disk itself. Did Tiger startup without errors after the installation completed successfully (it takes a couple of minutes the first time, thereafter it's much faster) or was that when you got the error? You need to bring some serious utility software to bear if you believe your DVD reader itself is OK, especially since you said you did a complete erase and reinstall of everything. Something fundamental is amiss, since an erase and reinstall should normally fix all the usual file structure stuff.

Keep us informed as you work to a solution.

 

[mickhyperion]

Hi Mick, I'm sorry to hear you're having so much trouble...

Thanks Dave!

Others are having the same problem here: http://discussions.info.apple.com/webx?13@747.ss3iaYyHYBr.0@.68ae0327/16

No, I haven't run any hardware tools yet...

The problems I'm now having with Panther are subtle ones (fonts, etc) and are due to it's installation also being incomplete, ending in the same error message "errors installing software" (not sure what the log said on that one).

I don't have Disk Warrior 3.0.3 or Tech Tools Pro 4.0.4 or Norton Utilities.

The DVD check was allowed to run three times with the first DVD I had, then again with the second one. The DVD checks just fine but AppleCare says that it's inner hub number shows it to be on their bad batch list. They're sending me a third one in either 5-7 days or overnight (according to the conflicting info I was given). I have even attempted putting the DVD disk image on my iPod and performing the installation from there, but I get the same error in the same place (about two thirds of the way through).

No previous DVD trouble.

I have ruled out the hard drive as being the problem since I can't seem to install on my second hard drive either without receiving the same error and incomplete installation.

The Tiger installation has never finished successfully. It did have errors. That's the whole problem. The message "There were errors installing the software. Please try installing again." came DURING installation, not after a complete finish.

Interestingly after the first couple of "Upgrade" attempts, I was able to start up in Tiger without errors at startup despite the error message during installation. Even upgraded to 10.4.1. I even let Spotlight index for a few hours, added some widgets, opened iPhoto and iTunes... and all was well. (This was after the initial "Upgrade" installation attempts, before getting AppleCare involved or doing an "Erase and Install.") But I noticed that I couldn't send email (receive worked) and I couldn't log into any secure sites or access the Itunes Music Store. My entire Keychain utility app was missing. I decided that since the installation did not complete properly that I should attempt it again. When it failed again, I got AppleCare involved. Since then, after all the "Erase and Install" attempts, I am unable to restart in Tiger. It has been since giving up on Tiger that I've attempted to put Panther back. I received the same error during installation as with Tiger. Panther has started up however so I am limping through. iLife has now also given me an error during installation.