Mac OS X 10.4.2 Special Report: Problems starting up/shutting down

Delayed startup -- try disabling network connections The first restart after installing Mac OS X 10.4.2 can be unusually long -- to the point where some users abort the startup process assuming the system has stalled permanently. In most cases, however, startup will proceed as normal after several minutes of waiting.

The cause for delay in some instances of this issue may be network related -- as Mac OS X tries unsuccessfully to ping an active connection. Temporarily disconnecting any ethernet cables -- then re-connecting them once Mac OS X has started up -- may resolve the delays.

One reader writes:

"If there's no cable plugged into the Ethernet port, it won't go through this process. If you find this happening even when there's no cable plugged into the Ethernet port, it could be because OS X is looking at your Airport connection, trying to establish a connection to a network. I don't know what the fix for that would be, other than to wait it out--the stall usually doesn't recur."

System fails to boot properly, possible solutions Problems where a system fails to startup properly can spontaneously occur with any incremental Mac OS X update, and usually involve problems with an incompatible third-party add-on loading at startup or damage done to the drive directory or permissions during installation. The problems usually manifest in an inability to move past the startup progress bar or an indefinite stall before the Desktop appears.

In the case of drive directory damage or problems with permissions, the solution is usually to use Apple's Disk Utility to repair the disk. Of course, you won't be able to perform this operation normally (simply launching the Disk Utility application, located in Applications/Utilities, and initiating a disk repair) if your system will not startup. So two options exist:

Insert your Mac OS X 10.4.x (Tiger) media (DVD or CD) and restart the computer while holding down the "C" key. Once the computer has booted from the installation disc, select "Utilities" from the menubar and open Disk Utility. Repair the disk, then quit Disk Utility and restart your system.

Alternatively, you can repair the disk while booted in single user mode if you do not have access to a retail Mac OS X 10.4.x (Tiger) DVD/CD. To startup in single user mode, hold down the "Command" and "S" keys simultaneously at startup. Once properly booted, type the command fsck at the prompt. Repeat these process until no errors appear.

Remove Adobe Version Cue to resolve some startup/shutdown issues As aforementioned, third party utilities can often play a role in startup/shutdown issues. It appears that in some cases, the Version Cue component of Adobe's CS (creative suite) 2 package interferes with startup and shutdown of Mac OS X 10.4.2 systems.

If you are experiencing these issues, you may want to try removing the Adobe Version Cue software.

Again, if the problem is so severe that you cannot properly startup your Mac normally, you may need to boot in Safe mode.

Once booted, the first choice for removing the Version Cue software is to use the Uninstaller application located in the Adobe Version Cue folder within your Applications folder. Failing that, you may need to manually remove Version Cue. In order to do so, delete the following files/folders:

• Adobe Version Cue folder from the Applications folder
• VersionCueCS2.prefPane folder from the Library/PreferencePanes folder.
• com.adobe.versioncueCS2.plist file from the Library/Preferences folder.
• AdobeVersionCueCS2 folder from the Library/StartupItems folder.

Norton Utilities components also causing startup/shutdown issue? We've also received reports that certain components of Symantec's Norton Utilities can cause startup issues under Mac OS X 10.4.2.

In particular two startup items: QuickBackStartupItem and SpeedToolsDTStartupItem (located in the Library/Startup Items folder) seem to be the primary culprits.

You can either disable these two files manually by removing them from the Library/Startup Items folder, or download the Norton Utilities uninstall tool and follow these instructions:

1. Double-click the NortonUninstall.sit file that you downloaded.
2. Open the NortonUninstall folder.
3. Double-click the NortonUninstall.command file.
4. Type your Mac OS X administrator password, and then press return. When you type your password, no characters will appear.
5. Do one of the following: To remove all Symantec files and folders, type 1; To quit NortonUninstall without removing any files, type 2
6. Press return.
7. After NortonUninstall finishes removing all of the Symantec files, on the Terminal menu, click Quit Terminal.

• New repair capabilities in Disk Utility
• Ethernet Connectivity Issues
• FireWire Drives spontaneously unmounting
• General-purpose workarounds (Try these first)
• iChat "Insufficient Bandwidth"
• Mail.app: Problems with IMAP, SMTP servers, sluggish performance
• User poll reveals increased stability in progressive Tiger releases
• Resolution/brightness issues for PowerBooks
• Problems starting up/shutting down
• Release Notes, Download Links, Installation recommendations
• Spotlight cannot find single asterisk filenames
• AirPort connectivity issues
• FireWire/USB volumes refusing to unmount
• iCal search no longer working -- solution
• Installation fails partway through
• Menu items disappearing
• More on malfunctioning network adapters -- ISDN modems
• Remember to repair permissions after performing some workarounds
• Safari conflict with old version of Saft
• Sleep Problems/Solutions (system re-awakens, blank screen on wake)
• "System does not meet requirements" error message
• Misc. third-party application issues
• Widget, TCP/IP security updates

Resources