Lingering system update (Mac OS X 10.4.10, QuickTime 7.2, etc.) issues

Now that some time has elapsed since the initial flurry of responses to the recent spate of Apple system updates - the Mac OS X 10.4.10 system update, QuickTime 7.2, iTunes 7.3 and 7.3.1, and the MacBook Pro Firmware and now-withdrawn SuperDrive updates - and users have had a chance to attempt various solutions, what are the main residual issues for which no satisfactory solution has been found? There are many little problems that people have been able to solve by various metaphorical equivalents of jiggling the wires; but what about the situations where an update has introduced an outright bug, to which no solution seems to be forthcoming?

Judging from our email, as well as research on the Internet (such as watching the activity on Apple's discussion boards and elsewhere), there may be two large outstanding unsolved issues. One has to do with AirPort wireless problems: connectivity is spotty, and there can be kernel panics. The trouble seems largely confined to MacBook and MacBook Pro models, perhaps to particularly recent models. This recent email from reader James suggests remarkable specificity as to the circumstances:

I have a MacBook that worked flawlessly before the 10.4.10 update. After the update I had wireless disconnects and kernel panics. After weeks of troubleshooting and trying everything under the sun, I discovered that I only get wireless disconnects and kernel panics when the a/c power is not plugged in AND I'm using wireless without ethernet being active. All I have to do it disconnect the a/c and ethernet cables while using wireless and the WiFi will begin to flicker on and off and eventually I'll get a kernel panic. I get the exact same kernel panic every time. I never get a kernel panic when the a/c is plugged in. (I am using an AT&T 2Wire wireless router with authentication.)

There is a massive thread on Apple's discussion boards about this, and another shorter thread as well. Suggestions include changing channels, changing authentication, trying a different router, downgrading IO80211Family.kext, and so forth, but there appears to be no ready solution short of "Don't Do That" (i.e. whatever triggers the problem, such as using AirPort under battery power) or downgrading the system to eliminate the 10.4.10 update.

The other persistent effect negative effect of the 10.4.10 update seems to be that troubles with USB devices remain. We noted, for instance, that users of the Alesis iO|2 USB audio device could no longer input sound to their computers through the device. As far as we know, no solution short of downgrading the system has been proposed.

If you can come up with any other wide-spread, long-term, unsolved problems that are clearly the result of these recent system updates, we'd like to know. Thanks!

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