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Software update tool hangs or fails

S

setasai

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 25, 2005
32
0
hey guys... for some reason software update tool doesnt seem to work anymore... i know the update isnt out yet but it should atleast get to the part that tells me there is no update or i'm already up to date.

so i tried the terminal and did "sudo softwareupdate -i -a" and it gave me this error...

Software Update Tool
Copyright 2002-2005 Apple

2005-05-12 01:12:46.348 softwareupdate[265] *** Uncaught exception: <NSRangeException> *** -[NSCFArray objectAtIndex:]: index (0) beyond bounds (0)
Trace/BPT trap

Any idea what it means?
or how to fix it?

this is in Tiger btw

Sai
 
setasai said:
hey guys... for some reason software update tool doesnt seem to work anymore... i know the update isnt out yet but it should atleast get to the part that tells me there is no update or i'm already up to date.

so i tried the terminal and did "sudo softwareupdate -i -a" and it gave me this error...

Software Update Tool
Copyright 2002-2005 Apple

2005-05-12 01:12:46.348 softwareupdate[265] *** Uncaught exception: <NSRangeException> *** -[NSCFArray objectAtIndex:]: index (0) beyond bounds (0)
Trace/BPT trap

Any idea what it means?
or how to fix it?

this is in Tiger btw

Sai
Click to expand...
The first thing I'd try is moving/trashing Software Update-related preferences and caches from your Library. Corrupt preferences and/or caches are a known cause of applications failing to work properly in all Mac OS versions.
 
wrldwzrd89 said:
The first thing I'd try is moving/trashing Software Update-related preferences and caches from your Library. Corrupt preferences and/or caches are a known cause of applications failing to work properly in all Mac OS versions.
Click to expand...

nope... i trashed the software update stuff in cache folder and also in preference folder... and it didnt work... still gave me the same error and still hangs when using the gui... any other ideas?

Sai
 
I just wanted to add that you don't seem to be the only user that has this.... I don't, but many others seem to.

I have a side question -- semi-OT. I don't think the terminal versions of these types of programs make use of the plist files, do they?

I wonder if there is another Unix-style rc / profile file somewhere, like in /etc, that software update uses.
 
I looked at the discussions in the Apple.com discussion section, and I found these comments, courtesy of someone there:

Delete the following files/folders from your system/user folders.

1. Home>Library>Caches>com.apple.SoftwareUpdate (folder)

2. Home>Library>Caches>SoftwareUpdate (folder - if it exists)

3. Home>Library>Preferences>com.apple.SoftwareUpdate.plist

4. Home>Library>Preferences>SoftwareUpdateCheck.plist

5. Macintosh HD>Library>Caches>com.apple.SoftwareUpdate (folder - if it exists)

6. Macintosh HD>Library>Caches>SoftwareUpdate (folder - if it exists)

...The first update will be SLOW and subsequent updates will need to go through the same process of deleting the files again.
Click to expand...

I presume you may not need to delete these files every single time you run S/U, but as a recourse if it fails to run.

And, by the way, Mein Gott in Himmel... the whining level at the Apple.com discussions boards is *insane*.
 
MongoTheGeek said:
I am not seeing any updates. I am not getting any errors either. I blew away all of the above to no avail.

There must be some file that says whats installed.

Any idea of how to find it?
Click to expand...

Are there updates you are expecting to see? Unless your computer needs the iPhoto or AIC, etc, updates, the rest (i.e. iTunes 4.8, the new DVD player, etc) have not been released to S/U for whatever reason....
 
MongoTheGeek said:
I am not seeing any updates. I am not getting any errors either. I blew away all of the above to no avail.

There must be some file that says whats installed.

Any idea of how to find it?
Click to expand...
Console (open application in Utilities folder)->Logs button->/Library/Logs (pull down)->Software Update.log
 
I had the problem of Software Update not running for the longest; tried all the usual things to get it back. Finally read that often it is a system cache problem. Not wanting to mess with something in terminal I didn't know much about I downloaded Panther Cache Cleaner (now Tiger Cache Cleaner) and let it do the "light" cleaning of the local cache. It got SWU running again and I happily paid the small registration fee.
 
Nope still doesnt work. I've tried deleting all files that have to do with cache in both home and /library and i have also tried using that Tiger Cache Cleaner program and it still does not work.

If other people are having this problem were they using Tiger? If so then this might be another bug in tiger. I've never had any problems with software update in panther but i'm fairly new to macs in general, only had my ibook for 6 months or so.

Anyway... more ideas? I dont mind goin into the terminal since i've used linux for a long time... even did LFS 3 or 4 times so i'm not afraid to mess with it.

Thanks

Sai
 
setasai said:
If other people are having this problem were they using Tiger? If so then this might be another bug in tiger. I've never had any problems with software update in panther but i'm fairly new to macs in general, only had my ibook for 6 months or so.
Click to expand...

It is a Tiger thing, I think, because you are not the only one to have this issue, but not everyone with Tiger seems to have it. Actually, as it happens, I just, out of curiosity, triied S/U again and iTunes 4.8 just showed up for me. It's a no-reset download, so I'm doing it now.
 
hmmm i guess i'll have to pray that the 10.4.1 update will fix it... I'll have to manually download and update it when it comes out i suppose... now to remember to check the apple website every other day.

alright... if anyone has any more ideas on how to fix it let me know... till then... i shall hang tight and wait for the update....

Thanks all

Sai
 
MongoTheGeek said:
Thats where it writes what it has installed. I was wondering what list it compares against.
Click to expand...
That list is not available to anyone outside of Apple, I'd think. I don't know of any way to 'sneak' a copy of it from the Software Update tool while it is checking for updates.

I've never been asked this question before - this is the best answer I can come up with.
 
hmmm yay 10.4.1 update is out... gonna give it a try and see if it fixes my softwareupdate tool... anybody finding they're update tool to work again? If not then what other ideas are there besides reinstalling tiger?

Sai
 
wrldwzrd89 said:
That list is not available to anyone outside of Apple, I'd think. I don't know of any way to 'sneak' a copy of it from the Software Update tool while it is checking for updates.

I've never been asked this question before - this is the best answer I can come up with.
Click to expand...

I wonder if it somehow has to do with the receipt packages in /library/receipts.... my impression is that those files essentially provide a trace on what was done by installer.app ... and there're receipts for things s/u did.
 
hmmm nope doesnt work still... i've updated to 10.4.1 manually by downloading the package and installing it. No programs were running at the time other than the installer but after the reboot i tried "sudo softwareupdate -i -a" and i got this as a result... seems to be the same issue as earlier.

Software Update Tool
Copyright 2002-2005 Apple

2005-05-16 20:11:41.771 softwareupdate[308] *** Uncaught exception: <NSRangeException> *** -[NSCFArray objectAtIndex:]: index (0) beyond bounds (0)
Trace/BPT trap


Any ideas?

Sai
 
hmmm if anybody is wondering i think i found the fix... it worked for me so u guys can try it unless u've already found this and it worked.

What i did was turn all network connections on. I previously had ethernet turned off since i figured i'd only use airport. That seems to be the problem... not sure why or how but it works when all network connections are on. It didnt even matter if its connected or not.

look here for more details:
http://discussions.info.apple.com/webx?128@589.78hFaPflQWz.0@.68adbf11

Sai
 
Thanks!

setasai said:
hmmm if anybody is wondering i think i found the fix... it worked for me so u guys can try it unless u've already found this and it worked.

What i did was turn all network connections on. I previously had ethernet turned off since i figured i'd only use airport. That seems to be the problem... not sure why or how but it works when all network connections are on. It didnt even matter if its connected or not.

look here for more details:
http://discussions.info.apple.com/webx?128@589.78hFaPflQWz.0@.68adbf11

Sai
Click to expand...

Thanks, I turned the eithernet port back on and all works fine now.
:)
 
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