Generally, when this happens, you can re-download and re-install the update over the top, and it'll fix whatever was the problem. This usually means having a somewhat working machine, but you *can* do it from another machine using Target Disk Mode with some work.
I've not heard of the target mode trick. How is that done?
In any case, the installer killed the machine. Apps would not launch, and Software Update was no where to be found on my system. Thats why I decided to try a reboot. But, this just made things worse.
well...after many years of prudent computing and i've been burned. note of caution, unmount any disk images before installing update...mine now thinks that i have the wrong password. great.
My 20" G5 iMac rebooted rather quickly, but the fan was set ON full blast. I repaired permissions and rebooted, and it seems to be stable now.
Unfortunately, my 12" G4 PB is still stuck in restart mode now some 5 minutes after. It got past the grey screen, and is now on the light blue screen with spinning ball. I'll let it go another 5 minutes before I hard-restart it.
I really wish Apple could design an update that works the first time. :-(
I've not heard of the target mode trick. How is that done?
In any case, the installer killed the machine. Apps would not launch, and Software Update was no where to be found on my system. Thats why I decided to try a reboot. But, this just made things worse.
If you boot any Mac* built in the past few years, and hold down Cmd-T, it doesn't actually boot, but just enters a mode determined by the motherboard - FireWire Target. You'll see a big FireWire logo appear on the screen, and that's it. At this point, your expensive computer is an expensive external hard drive - you can plug it into another Mac with a FireWire cable, and it acts just like an external hard drive. Which means you can muck with it, fix it, repair it, or erase it, whatever you want.
In this case, you'd delete /Library/Receipts/MacOSX10.4.7_Update.pkg, and then run the 10.4.7 updater (downloadable as a .pkg file from Apple Support), and tell it to install on the 'external' hard drive. It would then just reapply the update over the top of the borked install. Unmount the drive from the booted computer, disconnect the Target Mode Mac, and then reboot it with the power button. It should boot then.
*I think this is true... anyone want to confirm/deny? Long ago it was just the PowerBooks, but it was so bloody useful, they expanded it across the lines.
Unfortunately, my 12" G4 PB is still stuck in restart mode now some 5 minutes after. It got past the grey screen, and is now on the light blue screen with spinning ball. I'll let it go another 5 minutes before I hard-restart it.
Well, it didn't finish spinning, so I rebooted and it stalled on the same screen with no spinning indicator - but I could hear the HD working, so I waited. And it eventually started up. No other problems.
This has happened before with an update - but it shouldn't at all.
So what do I do? Update right now, or wait? It seems that I should wait, but then again this is a forum so people are here to complain about their problems. Since this is my first update what do I do? I don't want to risk losing all of my music, photos, and other files that I have. Do I need to back them up in someway?
If you boot any Mac* built in the past few years, and hold down Cmd-T, it doesn't actually boot, but just enters a mode determined by the motherboard - FireWire Target.
I thought it was hold down T, just like booting from CD is hold down C.
Quote:
*I think this is true... anyone want to confirm/deny? Long ago it was just the PowerBooks, but it was so bloody useful, they expanded it across the lines.
Here we go. A little outdated, but includes the earliest models featuring Firewire Target Disk Mode.
-PithHelmet disabled itself due to the Safari update. Now I have to wait a month for an update.
-The Go Go Redball widget was screwed up, graphics freaking out and I couldn't close it, not even by force quitting it in Activity Monior. Finally got it fixed by deleting the prefrences and restarting the dock. Works fine now. (Yay, now I can waste time bouncing a virtual ball again!)
-Didn't fix an issue I was having with my headphone jack / optical out always thinking an optical cable is plugged in. (Internal speakers don't work when it thinks something is plugged in). But hey, that's most likely a hardware issue and I wasn't expecting much.
Good:
-I was having massive performance issues with QuickTime and iTunes before. It would take 20 seconds to start playing an audio file in QT and I would often get beachballs in iTunes when doing something as simple as un-pausing a song. That seems to be fixed now. Very happy about that.
-Dashboard seems to start up much faster. Only takes a few seconds now with 15 widgets.
-Overall system performance seems slightly improved. May just be my perception due to the fixed QuickTime issue but maybe not.
-PithHelmet disabled itself due to the Safari update. Now I have to wait a month for an update.
Hey, now, cut out the exaggeration. Pithhelmet is usually updated to work with new versions of Safari within days, rarely longer than a week except after major upgrades (Jaguar to Tiger and the like). Mike's fast updates are one reason I happily paid my $10 shareware fee.
This update is SHIT! After an a reinstall (errr, Windows anyone!), I now have the iMac back. What a PITA! a complete waste of an evening for a frickin' software patch.
But wait....there's more.
I decided to take the risk and update my PowerBook. Well, after a reboot, Apple's lovely update has this Mac stuck on the grey screen. WTF! This is well below what I expect from Apple.
Also, FW mode is T on boot. I knew that part of the equation, but I've never heard of installing system updates from FW disk mode. Hell, when Apple F's it up this badly, I guess we've gotta get creative.
I'm also curious how many people had custom stuff running on their Mac before. Not like special widgets, but stuff that changes core system operation or functionality.
Comments
Originally posted by Kickaha
Generally, when this happens, you can re-download and re-install the update over the top, and it'll fix whatever was the problem. This usually means having a somewhat working machine, but you *can* do it from another machine using Target Disk Mode with some work.
I've not heard of the target mode trick. How is that done?
In any case, the installer killed the machine. Apps would not launch, and Software Update was no where to be found on my system. Thats why I decided to try a reboot. But, this just made things worse.
Originally posted by Kickaha
No, you misread it. FTP has been in there since 10.0, five years ago, this was just giving it a tweak.
I've never been able to make uploads over FTP. Instead, I've always had to use CyberDuck. Am I doing something wrong?
Unfortunately, my 12" G4 PB is still stuck in restart mode now some 5 minutes after. It got past the grey screen, and is now on the light blue screen with spinning ball. I'll let it go another 5 minutes before I hard-restart it.
I really wish Apple could design an update that works the first time. :-(
Well this is far from encouraging:
"Important:If you forget the password, the data stored in the encrypted disk image will be irretrievably lost..."
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107333
Originally posted by jdbartlett
I've never been able to make uploads over FTP. Instead, I've always had to use CyberDuck. Am I doing something wrong?
Sadly, no. Finder does not support FTP upload. Terminal does.
*shrug* I don't think we're going to see Finder-upload-FTP until we see a new Finder.
Originally posted by Keda
I've not heard of the target mode trick. How is that done?
In any case, the installer killed the machine. Apps would not launch, and Software Update was no where to be found on my system. Thats why I decided to try a reboot. But, this just made things worse.
If you boot any Mac* built in the past few years, and hold down Cmd-T, it doesn't actually boot, but just enters a mode determined by the motherboard - FireWire Target. You'll see a big FireWire logo appear on the screen, and that's it. At this point, your expensive computer is an expensive external hard drive - you can plug it into another Mac with a FireWire cable, and it acts just like an external hard drive. Which means you can muck with it, fix it, repair it, or erase it, whatever you want.
In this case, you'd delete /Library/Receipts/MacOSX10.4.7_Update.pkg, and then run the 10.4.7 updater (downloadable as a .pkg file from Apple Support), and tell it to install on the 'external' hard drive. It would then just reapply the update over the top of the borked install. Unmount the drive from the booted computer, disconnect the Target Mode Mac, and then reboot it with the power button. It should boot then.
*I think this is true... anyone want to confirm/deny? Long ago it was just the PowerBooks, but it was so bloody useful, they expanded it across the lines.
Originally posted by umijin
Unfortunately, my 12" G4 PB is still stuck in restart mode now some 5 minutes after. It got past the grey screen, and is now on the light blue screen with spinning ball. I'll let it go another 5 minutes before I hard-restart it.
Well, it didn't finish spinning, so I rebooted and it stalled on the same screen with no spinning indicator - but I could hear the HD working, so I waited. And it eventually started up. No other problems.
This has happened before with an update - but it shouldn't at all.
And you are correct in observing that the only folks who are going to speak up, in general, are those having problems.
I usually download the .pkg file and install manually, just because it cuts down on networking errors and such causing problems. *shrug*
Originally posted by Kickaha
If you boot any Mac* built in the past few years, and hold down Cmd-T, it doesn't actually boot, but just enters a mode determined by the motherboard - FireWire Target.
I thought it was hold down T, just like booting from CD is hold down C.
*I think this is true... anyone want to confirm/deny? Long ago it was just the PowerBooks, but it was so bloody useful, they expanded it across the lines.
Here we go. A little outdated, but includes the earliest models featuring Firewire Target Disk Mode.
Bad:
-PithHelmet disabled itself due to the Safari update. Now I have to wait a month for an update.
-The Go Go Redball widget was screwed up, graphics freaking out and I couldn't close it, not even by force quitting it in Activity Monior. Finally got it fixed by deleting the prefrences and restarting the dock. Works fine now. (Yay, now I can waste time bouncing a virtual ball again!)
-Didn't fix an issue I was having with my headphone jack / optical out always thinking an optical cable is plugged in. (Internal speakers don't work when it thinks something is plugged in). But hey, that's most likely a hardware issue and I wasn't expecting much.
Good:
-I was having massive performance issues with QuickTime and iTunes before. It would take 20 seconds to start playing an audio file in QT and I would often get beachballs in iTunes when doing something as simple as un-pausing a song. That seems to be fixed now. Very happy about that.
-Dashboard seems to start up much faster. Only takes a few seconds now with 15 widgets.
-Overall system performance seems slightly improved. May just be my perception due to the fixed QuickTime issue but maybe not.
Originally posted by Zweben
-PithHelmet disabled itself due to the Safari update. Now I have to wait a month for an update.
Hey, now, cut out the exaggeration. Pithhelmet is usually updated to work with new versions of Safari within days, rarely longer than a week except after major upgrades (Jaguar to Tiger and the like). Mike's fast updates are one reason I happily paid my $10 shareware fee.
Originally posted by Kolchak
I thought it was hold down T, just like booting from CD is hold down C.
It may be, it's changed a couple of times over the years.
But wait....there's more.
I decided to take the risk and update my PowerBook. Well, after a reboot, Apple's lovely update has this Mac stuck on the grey screen. WTF! This is well below what I expect from Apple.
Also, FW mode is T on boot. I knew that part of the equation, but I've never heard of installing system updates from FW disk mode. Hell, when Apple F's it up this badly, I guess we've gotta get creative.
Originally posted by Keda
This update is SHIT! After an a reinstall (errr, Windows anyone!), I now have the iMac back. What a PITA!_
I like pita bread also.
And just out of curiosity, how many people here having problems DIDN'T install the Combo Update?
It's not an intel thing, my MBP works just great! better than great! Like a brand new Operating System great!