Mac OS X 10.3.7 (#7): CDs and DVDs not recognized, solutions; Software Update not working, solutions; more

CDs and DVDs not recognized Yesterday we reported on a problem where users are unable to mount CDs and DVDs after applying the Mac OS X 10.3.7 update.

We've since received reports of a variety of other problems involving removable media, including an inability to eject discs as well as problems playing commercial DVDs.

One reader writes: "After the latest update (Mac OS X 10.3.7), my 800MHz iBook's CD-ROM (combo) drive is acting REALLY strange: it will no longer eject with commands or keys -- it must now be manually tripped with a paper clip."

Peter de Groot adds "After installing the upgrade to 10.3.7, suddenly my internal Sony DVD RW DW-U10A (in iMac 17", 1G) player stopped recognizing DVD's (especially DVD-R's!)."

Martin Kempson writes "A DVD arrived from our house yesterday and I was unable to mount or read it; I had just updated to 10.3.7. My colleague running 10.3.5 was able to mount the disk straight away."

Finally, Marco Weber notes the problem on two separate drives: "I've got the same problem as described on your page: After updating to 10.3.7 my internal CD drive (matsushita) doesn't recognize any cds. Also my external cd writer (yamaha) doesn't recognize any CDs."

Potential Solutions If you are having problems removing media from your Mac after the update, you may want to try some of the suggestions contained in our mini-tutorial "Ejecting media in Mac OS X: Removing 'stuck' CDs/DVDs." These include holding down the mouse/trackpad button at startup, and a couple of Terminal commands.

If you are having problems mounting media, you may want to try repeatedly ejecting and re-inserting the disc until it mounts. Readers also report that having the Finder as the foremost application during media insertion more often results in a successful mount. Finally, logging out of the current user account, then logging back in has been reported to temporarily resolve the issue in some instances.

If you are only having problems with DVDs not automatically playing in DVD Player, you might want to try using the "Open VIDEO_TS folder" option located under the "File" menu in DVD Player. If DVD Player crashes repeatedly after the Mac OS X 10.3.7 (as reported by a handful of readers), you may want to try an alternative player like VLC media player.

Software Update not working; solutions Yesterday we also reported an issue where, after applying the Mac OS X 10.3.7 update, users are unable to access the "Software Update" function from the Apple menu. When this problem manifests, the menu-access cue is grey and cannot be selected.

MacFixIt reader David Taylor's case is typical:

"I have seen this problem on two different systems the nonfunctional Software Update and grayed out Software Update tab in the About This Mac panel. The Software Update in the system preference panel still works correctly. I tried Cocktail Combo 10.3.7 Updater repair permissions and the grayed Software Update remained."

MacFixIt reader Aaron tried accessing Software Update through the Terminal when he experienced this problem, with the following results:

"I've been doing things from within terminal, and the error returned when I run softwareupdate is 'Couldn't register server on this host.' Running ktrace then kdumping the output shows an incomplete trace, Which stops half way through the xml returned by apple as part of the first web request (this looks like it might have something to do with the list of apple software for which updates are available). The trace never gets far enough to show what the program is trying to do right before it spits out the server error, so that makes debugging it any further a little difficult."

Clearing Caches The most consistent workaround for this issue has been clearing of system caches -- a task easily accomplished with a tool like Panther Cache Cleaner.

MacFixIt reader Steve writes: "I also observed this problem. It was resolved by running Panther Cache Cleaner in its 'Deep clean all caches' mode. A less aggressive mode might have been effective, but this is what I did.

"Using Panther Cache Cleaner also fixed another problem at the same time: after the update a blank CD would not appear on the desktop, even after I'd responded to the dialog about a disc name and required action."

Print/Fax problems A handful of readers have reported problems with print and fax functionality after upgrading to Mac OS X 10.3.7. One reader writes:

"The upgrade to 10.3.7 (using all recommended procedures) broke my print and fax preference pane. Clicking on the icon results in hang at "loading print and fax..." message at top of preference pane window. Various general and specific permissions repair utilities don't fix. It is user specific - normal behavior using my troubleshooting account. Printing itself seems unaffected, just access to the print center from the preference pane in a specific user account."

If you are experiencing a similar problem, please let us know at late-breakers@macfixit.com.

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