Mac OS X 10.3.8 (#4): NetGear, possibly other routers cause Internet slow-down; Increased G5 fan activity; more
Mac OS X 10.3.8 (#4): NetGear, possibly other routers cause Internet slow-down; Increased G5 fan activity; more
NetGear, possibly other routers cause Internet slow-down A number of readers are reporting an issue where some routers -- particularly a handful of models manufactured by NetGear -- can cause a reduction in network performance.
MacFixIt reader Philip Chadwick writes:
"After updating to Mac OS X 10.3.8, internet speed is adversely affected while using DSL PPPoE with a Netgear MR814v2 router (wired & wireless mode). iTunes will not connect to the iTunes Music Store, webpages will load halfway and then stall badly. Images remain unloaded.
"Removing the router from the chain solves the problems. I have tried resetting modem and router, reconfiguring router, CRON scripts, MTU size, etc."
Another reader writes: "After going from 10.3.7 to 10.3.8, iChat AIM sessions wouldn't open automatically and iTunes was telling me it couldn't locate the server or there was a problem with the network, etc. [...] And, quite often, I'd go to send an Email and it would say port 25 wasn't working or something and would hold my Email in the Outbox. I user a Netgear router
"Going back to Mac OS X 10.3.7 fixes everything. If I install everything but Mac OS X 10.3.8, I'm fine."
So far the only apparent workaround, as noted by Phillip Chadwick, is removing the problematic router from the network set-up.
If you are experiencing this issue, please let us know what type of router you are using, and the name of your Internet service provider.
Creating a new network location for some instances of slowness Joe Boyer reports that his case of network slowness after updating to Mac OS X 10.3.8 was resolved by creating a new Network Location in the Network pane of System Preferences:
"I updated to 10.3.8 and my Internet DSL 1.5 Mbps download speed went to 1.3KB/sec, any slower and I would be traveling back in time. I installed the Mac OS X 10.3.8 combo updater to see if that cured it, it didn't. I e-mail my ISP but that will take forever for a reply. Then I remembered a little trick from MacFixIt. I put in a new location in the Network System {refs. That did the trick."
Increased G5 fan activity We continue to cover an issue where cooling fans are significantly more active on PowerMac G5s after Mac OS X 10.3.8 is installed.
It now appears that this may be an intentional modification intended to reduce the incidence of "thermal runaway" events (covered in previous MacFixIt articles 1 and 2) which can cause kernel panics and problems with sleep.
MacFixIt reader Ed Rashed writes:
"For me, the increased fan activity since downloading the 10.3.8 update seems to have resolved a much more serious issue: I am on a dual 2 GHz G5, 1.5 GB RAM, and for some time I have had an issue with the system just spontaneously dropping into sleep mode. The system.log showed a 'Thermal runaway' causing the system to put itself to sleep, although the tasks that the processor was being asked to perform should not have caused this by any stretch of the imagination - it happened when: opening a link or even just a menu in Firefox, and sometimes for no apparent reason at all. Once the computer went right back to sleep as I was trying to log in from sleep mode.
"I read reports elsewhere that others with similar problems had had their motherboards replaced with mixed results. Others reported that changing or eliminating external power strips helped, and actually, my situation improved somewhat when I plugged the computer directly into the wall. But still, off she went to sleep every so often. Now with this update my fans do engage more often, but the narcolepsy seems to be cured. Seems that one of the undocumented fixes in this update is that Apple has reset the software thresholds to engage the fans sooner and thus prevent these "thermal runaway" issues. Maybe those initial reports of how quiet this computer was supposed to be were based on a higher threshold setting that then allowed the thermal problem to surface. Anyway, I am glad to trade the fan revving for a computer that stays awake"
The increased fan activity, and consequential decrease in processor temperature, has also apparently resolved some other stability issues
MacFixIt reader James Taylor writes:
"I recently installed the 10.3.8 update on my Rev A. dual 2.0 G5, and I noticed the fans will rev a little bit when opening apps and the like. [...] When browsing a particularly large series of files (like my music directory) in detail mode, sometimes Finder would pause, hit 100% usage on the CPU, and sometimes crash (it would recover a good 2 out of 3 times, if I remember correctly.) The 10.3.8 Finder does not exhibit this behavior, even with huge directories of thumbnails.
"I think the fan differences might be an effort by Apple to keep the chips a little cooler. X-Resource Graph shows a difference of a few degrees since installing the update, possibly as a result of increased fan usage. It's not a huge drop in temperature, and praise goes to the Apple engineers for designing such a wonderful case."
Meanwhile, some cases of increased fan activity from PowerBook models may be the result of other issues, including the iShock incompatibility (see below and previous coverage) which can cause abnormally high processor and disk activity, triggering increased fan speed.
One reader writes:
"I previously reported constant fan activity on my 17" powerbook after installing the Mac OS X 10.3.8 update through Software Update. I have since isolated the problem to the iShock driver reported earlier. Removing the iShock driver has eliminated the problem."
Printer problems We've received a few reports of issues with printers after updating to Mac OS X 10.3.8, but no repeatable, widespread problems.
Mike Zalis writes:
"I've just upgraded my 20" G5 iMac to 10.3.8 and have suddenly lost the ability to print to my HP LaserJet 1012 via rendezvous. The printer is connected via USB to an airport extreme base station and is reached using the local network. All the other macs (3) on my network, all of which remain on 10.3.7 can print without difficulty to the printer--only the upgraded mac has lost this ability. This report comes to you after the usual cycles of powering down each piece of hardware, rebooting, reinstalling drivers, etc. When I try to print, the printer connection fails. After deleting the printer, when I try to add it back into the printer list, the device is no longer recognized."
MacFixIt reader Steve writes:
"I just discovered that ever since installing 10.3.8, I can no longer print using Safari on my HP 7410 wireless printer. My other applications still work, including Internet Explorer."
Other readers are reporting that printing jobs stall at the message "Waiting for Printer Services."
If you are having printer problems associated with Mac OS X 10.3.8, please let us know.
More on the iShock eating hard drive space, spiking processor usage We continue coverage of an issue where the presence of MacAlly's iShock driver under Mac OS X 10.3.8 results in increased disk activity and processor usage due to thousands of log error entries.
MacFixIt reader George Slusher offers notes that he was actually able to use the iShock under Mac OS X 10.3.8 (while the log files swelled in the background) with some serious drawbacks:
"I tried several games where I use the iShock II controller. I found three situations:
"Some worked OK with the driver off: WingNuts did. (It had become slow & jerky after 10.3.8, probably because of the driver using CPU time.)
"Some worked OK with the driver off after I set the profile. To do that, launch the iShockXManager (which starts up the iShock Driver), set the profile, quit iShockXManager. Launch Activity Monitor and quit the iShock Driver. Bugdom 2 worked well this way. It seems to require almost any profile OTHER than the Default profile.
"Alas, that didn't always work. In Otto Matic, I had to leave the iShock Driver running or the controller didn't work. The game was jerky and hard to use. However, I didn't notice any HD space being used up--File Buddy didn't find any system.log file after playing for 10+ minutes."
The only fix for this issue at the moment is to delete all iShockX driver files, and remove the driver from the "Startup Items" list in the Accounts pane of System Preferences.
iBook F12 key not working We've received several corroborating reports of the F12 key not working on some iBook models after updating to Mac OS X 10.3.8.
Kevin Smith writes:
"As others have reported, the F12 eject key on my iBook stopped working after installing OS X 10.3.8. I've got a 4x combo drive on my 1.07GHz G4. I've tried CDs and DVDs that all ejected fine in previous OS X 10.3.x versions using the F12 key. There don't seem to be any other problems with the combo drive besides this. All media is still operating fine. Furthermore, I can still eject from the finder window using the eject button that comes up next to the CD/DVD icon or by dragging the icon on my desktop to trash/eject in the dock."
If you are experiencing this issue, please let us know what type of iBook model you're using.
Fixed: PowerBook G4 screen remains blank after waking MacFixIt reader Leon Barzin reports that an issue where PowerBook G4 screens remain blank after startup (see previous coverage):
"For the past year this has been an annoying problem where about 40% of the time the screen blacks out and won't return even though the computer is still running. The newsgroups have proposed several fixes that haven't worked consistently. 10.3.8 appears to have completely repaired this problem.Since installing the update I have yet to experience this annoying problem."
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