Mac OS X 10.3.7 (#16): Secondary volume booting problems: Not be relegated to FireWire drives, possible explanation; more

Secondary volume booting problems: Not relegated to FireWire drives, possible explanation Yesterday we reported on an issue where Mac OS X 10.3.7 may not properly boot when it is installed on a secondary drive -- i.e. a secondary drive that does not contain the actively booted installation of Mac OS X.

We previously reported this as a FireWire-related issue, but it now appears that the problem affects all secondary, "non-booted" drives receiving an installation of the Mac OS X 10.3.7 update.

MacFixIt reader Tatsu Ikeda, for instance, describes a situation where the problem affected an internal IDE volume that received a Mac OS X installation through a cloning process:

"I ran into the booting problem when I updated an old G4 to Mac OS X 10.3.7 with 2 internal IDE drives. My plan was to update the original boot drive to 10.3.7 from 10.3.5, then clone it to the brand-new IDE drive.

"While I updated the old drive to Mac OS X 10.3.7, the new drive was plugged in. [...] I partitioned/formatted the new drive, cloned from the updated 10.3.7. [...] Then I installed the new drive as master on the primary IDE chain, and tried to boot.

"Like so many others with FireWire drives, I got the dreaded 'prohibited' sign from the new system."

However, we've also received reports indicating successful cloning of boot drives.

One reader writes: "I have two external La Cie drives which are clones of my internal HD. (Clones made using Synchronize! Pro X). My internal HD was updated using the usual precautions and then the Software Update panel in System Preferences. The clones (now 10.3.7) boot perfectly."

Meanwhile, MacFixIt reader Mike Barron has an intriguing theory on what might be causing the issue to occur:

"I seem to remember noticing that the Mac OS X 10.3.7 installer (I used the combo) installed an apparently temporary folder called something like 'InstallAtStartup,' or something to that effect. The folder was not readable by me (admin). It was, I believe, installed in /System. It is now gone.

"And, actually, I just popped open the installer package and looked inside. Sure enough, there is a little script in MacOSXUpdateCombo10.3.7.pkg/Contents/Resources called 'RunAtStartup' which refers to a folder in /System called 'InstallAtStartup.' If this folder does what it sounds like it does (install items on the boot drive at startup) it would make sense that the 10.3.7 updater would fail on a non-boot drive as the 'InstallAtStartup' items would be on the wrong drive and would never get installed. Looks to me like this installer must be run on the currently running system only, as per MacFixit's advice."

Adding to the laundry list of FireWire issues associated with Mac OS X 10.3.7, a handful of readers are reporting that FireWire devices are being recognized by Mac OS X as CDs or DVDs after applying the update.

Another reader, Paul Vitello, reports that his FireWire ports are not functional at all, and not recognized by System Profiler after the Mac OS X 10.3.7 -- likely an isolated and extremely rare incident:

"Sometime after I ran the Mac OS X 10.3.7 update I could not connect my sony dv camcorder and after some digging I realized that the system is not seeing the FW400 ports on my 1ghz MDD mac at least not in the system profiler. The FW800 bus is showing up though. I checked my 17AL book (also on 10.3.7) in the sys prof and they both showed up. (the FW400 ports seem to be working on the PB)."

More on SATA drives unmounting We continue to receive reports of failure mounting SATA drives after the Mac OS X 10.3.7 update. MacFixIt reader Mike reports that the issue may only occur after a kernel panic in some cases:

"I had the same problem with my second SATA in my first generation dual 2 G5. The only time I noticed that it would happen was after a kernel panic. When the computer would reboot no second drive. I had to shut down and reboot to get it back, just rebooting did not work.

"I did not know if it was the drive or the computer so I swap out the drive with Maxtor for a new one. After rebooting I had two drive. No kernel panics as of yet with the new drive."

Sleep oddities: More sensitive to external devices? MacFixIt reader Bill Gibbon reports an odd situation where his PowerBook G4 12" has apparently been made more sensitive to externally attached devices switching power -- causing the machine to wake up from sleep where it previously would not:

"Having just upgraded my 12" powerbook to 10.3.7 I'm getting a strange effect when sending it to sleep.

"It's my main Mac. During the day it's always attached to a Bookendz dock, and thence to a large monitor, keyboard and copious other devices. Most nights I disconnect and take it home, but I often just put it to sleep and leave it. When I do, I leave it powered, but switch off the power to the rest of the devices. Never any problem before, but now that I've upgraded, the action of switching off the power to the other devices wakes it up so I have to power them all up to set it to sleep again. After trying a few times, I gave up and just left them all powered too. Not very energy efficient."

If you're experiencing a similar issue, please let us know at late-breakers@macfixit.com.

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