Mac OS X 10.4.6 (#4): Solution for inability to write to server volumes; Printer issues -- try connecting directly to the Mac

Solution for inability to write to server volumes We previously noted an issue where, after updating to Mac OS X 10.4.6, volumes mounted remotely from Mac OS X 10.3.x servers are read-only.

The problem now appears to be that (on the client) the mount point of the server volume has the "User Immutable" flag set. This prevents the Finder and other applications from accessing the volume for writing.

MacFixIt reader WeirdOz has developed a solution, as follows:

• Mount the server volume as usual; it appears locked on the Desktop
• Open Terminal (located in Applications/Utilities)
• Clear the "User Immutable" flag of the server volume's mount point using this Terminal command: chflags nouchg /Volumes/(name_of_mounted_server_volume)
• The volume is now unlocked
• Repeat this procedure for every server volume (and on every client, too)

WeirdOz writes:

"Strangely, this workaround seems to permanently fix the problem. I expected the server volume to be locked again when unmounting and then remounting the volume. But when logging off from the server and logging in again later, the volume still keeps being unlocked. So this procedure just needs to be done once to get rid of the problem."

Meanwhile, MacFixIt reader Robb Gibson found that, in his case, the issue only affects folders that were created by Mac OS 9:

"I had the same problem after upgrading, but it wasn?t every folder on my shared volume. After some investigating it turns out that the folders that are locked were originally created in OS 9 (or older) and shared via ASIP 6.3. Folders that were created new within OS X 10.3 and shared with OS X Server (on an Xserve) are not locked."

Printer issues -- try connecting directly to the Mac If you are having printer problems after updating to Mac OS X 10.4.6 and are using an external USB hub, try connecting the printer directly to your Mac.

One reader who had success with this method writes:

"Unfortunately the update to Mac OS X 10.4.6 has eliminated the ability to use my Lexmark Z600 series USB printer on my iMac G5 20" iSight (rev C).

"I resolved the problem via the following: I unplugged my external USB hub and plugged the printer directly to my computer."

Third-party applications

Adobe Photoshop crashing on save -- explanation from ExtremeZ-IP We continue coverage of an issue where Photoshop CS2 crashes promptly after saving to remote volumes after under Mac OS X 10.4.6.

The head of technical support for ExtremeZ-IP (File Server software adds Macintosh file sharing [AppleShare] to Windows file servers) tells MacFixIt that this Photoshop crash problem appears to happen with all AFP (Apple Filesharing protocol) servers tested.

Geordie Korper writes:

"We have filed a bug report with both Apple and Adobe asking that this be resolved soon. The details of how to reproduce the problem are below:

"The Adobe Photoshop CS2 (Version 9.0) crash occurs only when using Mac OS X 10.4.6 when saving to an AFP server such as Mac OS X Server, Microsoft Services for Macintosh (SFM) or ExtremeZ-IP.  The problem doesn?t occur locally or on previous OS versions saving to these same servers.

 

• Steps to reproduce this problem:
• Connect to Server using afp://server name.
• Open a Photoshop file.
• Make a change.
• Click save.

"Result: Photoshop crashes with an error message saying that the application ended unexpectedly."

Acrobat Pro 7.0.7 crashing on launch -- possible solution We previously reported on problems launching Adobe Acrobat 7.0.7 after the update to Mac OS X 10.4.6.

MacFixIt reader Simon Kay writes:

"I too have Acrobat Pro 7.0.7 crashing on launch on my PowerBook G4 running 10.4.6. I've trashed .plist files, ran Cocktail to delete caches and also ran DiskWarrior but nothing is helping and it's driving me mad as it's an integral part of my work to send PDFs created from EPS files for proofing purposes. After some advice on the forums, I even created a new user and logged in as them but this doesn't work either."

MacFixIt reader Brett DeCarion reports a solution that involves deleting the following files then restarting:

• "Acrobat User Data" from ~/Library/
• "Adobe" from ~/Library/Application Support/
• "AdobeUM" from ~/Library/Preferences/
• "com.adobe.acrobat.sh.plist" from ~/Library/Preferences/
• "com.adobe.Reader7.0.plist" from ~/Library/Preferences/

QuarkXpress Some users are reporting issues with QuarkXpress 6.5 after the Mac OS X 10.4.6 update.

MacFixIt reader Thomas writes:

"Some of our users cannot print with QuarkXpress 6.5 anymore. Other users cannot use the 'Usage' function in quark to re-link images anymore. In both cases Quark X-Press unexpectedly quits."

If you are experiencing a similar issue, please let us know.

More on German Word 2004 crash We previously reported on problems with Word 2004 crashing repeatedly after the update to Mac OS X 10.4.6.

We also noted that users of the German edition have found that the file "German Hyphenation" is causing the problem, can can resolve the issue by removing the file remove "German Hyphenation" from Applications/Microsoft Office 2004/Gemeinsame Anwendungen/Korrekturhilfen.

Now MacFixIt reader Guenter Schwiebert reports that replacing this file with a copy from Microsoft Office v.X allows hyphenation to work correctly without the crash.

Guenter writes:

"If you remove the 3 files

• German Hyph Dict (post-reform)
• German Hyph Dict (pre-reform)
• German Hyphenation

"Word 2004 will not crash if you try to open a file which includes automatic hyphenation, but certainly the hyphenation will not work yet. But you can put the same files from the previous version Office v.X. Then Word 2004 will work with hyphenation without any crashes."

Improvements

Better SCSI support MacFixIt reader Mark Stern reports better support for his SCSI devices under Mac OS X 10.4.6:

"I've got a Quicksilver dual 1GHz mac with 2 Adaptec 2906 SCSI cards in it. I updated the OS from 10.4.5 to 10.4.6 using the combo updater. Not only don?t I have kernel panics (I didn?t before, either, after deleting the Adaptec extensions), but I have no trouble mounting and accessing the peripherals connected to the SCSI cards. These peripherals include APS SCSI hard drives and an Epson scanner. I did notice that the hard drives continued to make noise as if their partitions were being accessed for quite a while after being mounted, but I had no trouble using them or doing anything else on the machine."

iSync can see farther into the future Bob Weller notes that iSync 2.2 can synchronize events up to 1 year in the future, instead of 8 weeks as the previous iteration was capable of.

Bob writes:

"iSync 2.2, included with the 10.4.6 update, allows syncing events up to one-year in advance. Previously, it supported syncing only 8 weeks in advance. The Apple iSync discussion list has been complaining about that limitation for years, so this is a major improvement."

Feedback? Late-breakers@macfixit.com.

Previous coverage

• Mac OS X 10.4.6 (#2): Double restart; Dock Auto Hide/Show function broken; Font issues; Fixes in this release; more
• Apple releases Mac OS X 10.4.6

Resources