X

Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) #9: How to get AFP working: Mac OS X 10.4 no longer supports AFP over AppleTalk, use TCP/IP instead; more

Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) #9: How to get AFP working: Mac OS X 10.4 no longer supports AFP over AppleTalk, use TCP/IP instead; more

CNET staff
8 min read

How to get AFP working: Mac OS X 10.4 no longer supports AFP over AppleTalk, use TCP/IP instead For the past few days we've been reporting on problems with AFP (Apple filesharing protocol) access under Mac OS X 10.4, particularly when attempting to access Mac OS 8 or Mac OS 9 systems via AFP.

Apple has now acknowledged that Mac OS X 10.4 does not support Personal File Sharing (or other AFP) over AppleTalk.

However, users can still achieve an IP connection from a Mac 9 computer to a sharing Mac OS X computer by initiating it from the other direction. Hence, users with Mac OS 9 AFP servers must turn on File Sharing over TCP/IP in order to enable networking.

As noted by MacFixIt reader Michael Lettini:

"On the OS 9 server, go to the File Sharing Control Panel and turn on File Sharing with TCP/IP. Just click the box and Tiger will connect with it. It's that simple."

Chris Wiley adds:

"Just thought I'd mention that according to my tests here, If your client computer is running Tiger and you want to connect to a pre-Mac OS X file server, on the file server you'll need turn on the option in the File Sharing control panel which says, 'Enable File Sharing clients to connect over TCP/IP.' If the version of the classic Mac OS you are running as a file server doesn't support the TCP/IP option -- previous to Mac OS 9 I believe -- than you may need to upgrade the file server's OS."

SMB connection problems: Confirmation for fix Yesterday we reported that re-establishing keychain passwords (deleting then re-entering them) can resolve some SMB networking issues introduced by Mac OS X 10.4. We've since received several notes of confirmation for the fix.

MacFixIt reader Stewart writes:

"I could connect to other Windows machines successfully under Tiger, however, with one particular Windows machine, I get the following error:  'The finder cannot complete the operation because some data in 'smb://(windows machine' could not be read or written  Error Code -36 )'."

"It was Keychain. I reset my keychain and everything worked. I can now logon to a share in that windows machine. I had copied the keychain from Panther to Tiger installation for my main user. I found this by logging into another user on my Mac and found that I could connect to a share ( and this one had the default tiger keychain ). I found the keychain item that was problematic, removed it and now everything is fine."

Mail.app 2.0

Signatures not working, solution Several readers have reported that they are no longer able to use signatures in Mail.app 2.0.

As one MacFixIt reader explains:

"You cannot select a signature for IMAP accounts as they are not listed in the signature preference window. I even tried copying an entry in the plist file and editing the account information, it was deleted on launch."

It appears that in many cases this issue can be resolved by entering Mail.app 2.0's preferences, going to the "Advanced" tab, and unchecking the "Include when automatically checking for new mail" option, then turning the option back on.

Confirmation: Deleting Services folder for various issues We previously reported that deleting third-party Mail.app services from the ~/Library/Services folder (or deleting the folder itself entirely) can solve a variety of issues with Mail.app 2.0.

We've now received notes from readers indicating that this procedure is successful for sluggish performance when typing and other problems.

MacFixIt reader Trip Mitchell, for instance, writes:

"I was having the strangest typing problems in Mail 2.0. I could create a new message and address it and type the subject with no problems, but typing within the body was impossible. As soon as a space or any punctuation was typed, the cursor would disappear and no further characters could be typed. I also was unable to use the 'reply' button or menu item.

"After much trial and error, I discovered that deleting the entire 'services' folder (not just the contents, which was a single SpellCatcher item leftover from long ago ) was necessary, and I had to restart OS X as opposed to merely restarting Mail.app.

"I also deleted the '~/Library/Mail/Envelope Index' (also as noted in the MacFixIt article) and allowed Mail to reimport my messages - but I am not convinced that that was part of the problem."

Removable media devices not mounting: Resetting NVRAM Over the past few days we've been covering problems with recognition of a removable media devices (particularly CD and DVD optical drives) under Mac OS X 10.4.

It now appears that in some cases, resetting NVRAM can resolve this issue. This is accomplished via the following procedure:

Start up into Open Firmware by pressing and holding the Command, Option, O and F keys simultaneously combination during startup.

At the prompt, type the following commands, one by one, pressing the return key after each (your system will automatically restart after pressing return the last time):

  • reset-nvram
  • set-defaults
  • reset-all

MacFixIt reader M. Shon Hall writes:

"I was having this same issue (SuperDrive in my iBook not a recognized drive)?

"I just tried doing the 'Resetting NVRAM' procedure, and while I don?' have any of my DVD-R discs here to test officially, my drive is recognizing a CD-R I just inserted."

Third-party applications

Entourage 2004: Attachment corruption An issue we've been dealing with in-house has now been confirmed by a handful of MacFixIt readers.

It appears that on some Mac OS X 10.4 installations, Microsoft's Entourage 2004 is no longer able to properly handle some incoming attachments. When the user attempts to download the attachment, or open it from within Entourage, they are provided with a message by the host application (the application opening the attachment) that the file is not recognized or is not in a valid format.

MacFixIt reader Richard Pockat writes:

"On two different machines (old flat screen iMac and rev. a dual) with Tiger easy install, PDF documents sent as attachments arrive damaged. Acrobat and Preview both refuse to open them. Looking at the files in a text editor, for instance, shows a significant difference in the code near the end."

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

StuffIt Deluxe 9.0.1: Re-installing may fix Yesterday we noted that several readers report issues launching StuffIt Deluxe 9.0.1 under Mac OS X 10.4.

Now MacFixIt reader Peter Hillman notes that re-installing the application may provide relief in some cases.

Peter writes:

"After upgrading to Tiger with the Archive and Install option, Stuffit no longer worked properly. The software would launch and quit. The Magic Menu was no longer in the menu bar after the Tiger install, so I knew there was a problem. Deleting the software and re-installing 9.0 and then the 9.0.1 update solved the problem. This may not be a Tiger issue. I have seen this happen in Panther, and the solution is to re-install."

Tiger-compatible Retrospect released EMC/Dantz has released Mac OS X 10.4-compliant versions of the various Retrospect product offerings:

However, several limitations are noted:

Metadata Mac OS X Tiger introduces support for a new file system feature called metadata. Metadata is used by Spotlight to enable fast searching for files based on user-defined tags on those files. Retrospect cannot back up or restore the Tiger specific metadata, though the contents of the files are backed up.

ACLs Mac OS X Server 10.4 (Tiger Server) adds support for Access Control Lists (ACLs). ACLs allow for finer grained control of the permissions set on files and folders. Retrospect cannot back up or restore ACLs. If you use ACLs, you will need to reset them manually after restoring a Tiger server with Retrospect.

Retrospect CD/DVDs Do Not Mount in the Finder When Inserted Retrospect includes a File System Plug-in that is used to mount Retrospect CD/DVDs in the Finder. Apple changed the requirements for File System Plug-ins in Tiger so the Retrospect Plug-in no longer is supported. This problem is only cosmetic. Although Retrospect CD/DVDs no longer mount in the Finder, Retrospect will correctly recognize Retrospect CD/DVDs when running, so immediate and unattended backups will work as expected.

Also, Retrospect can't erase volumes/subvolumes on a Mac OS X Client in Configure > Volumes Retrospect's Volumes Database (Configure>Volumes) provides the ability to erase and rename volumes (disks or partitions) and subvolumes (folders). Erasing volumes or subvolumes on a Mac OS X Client running Tiger will fail with error -519 (network communication failed).

Office 2004 and font corruption MacFixIt reader Philip De Simone reports an issue with Office 2004 and font corruption, apparently confirmed by Microsoft.

The issue can be worked around via the tedious process of uninstalling Microsoft Office 2004 before Mac OS X 10.4 installation, then re-installing the suite after updating is complete.

Philip writes:

"When I first installed Mac OS X 10.4 and started Microsoft Word, Word reported that almost all the fonts were corrupted. Other programs, however, did not report that that these same fonts were corrupted. My system then became corrupt and crashed repeatedly. I contacted Microsoft tech support, but they were unfamiliar with the problem. I erased my hard disk, copied my bootable backup onto it with 10.3.9 installed, and reinstalled 10.4. This resolved the issue. A few days later Microsoft called back and said that they had confirmed the problem. They recommend that Microsoft Office be uninstalled before updating to OS 10.4 and then reinstalled since they claim this prevents the problem form occurring."

SAP MacFixIt reader Luke reports that the current version of SAP is incompatible with Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger).

Luke writes:

"I have just discovered that Tiger has an incompatibility with the java version of the business software SAP (version 1.3.1). Some modules produce a runtime error causing a 'termination with a short dump". I am using a dual 2.5 GHz G5. Since our Research Institutes (>4000 employees) depend heavily on this financial software package, we won't be able to upgrade unless a patch is imminent."

Previous Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) Coverage:

Resources

  • let us know
  • Retrospect 6.0.212 Installer [39MB]
  • Retrospect 6.0.110 Client Installer [3.2MB]
  • Express 6.0.212 Installer [14.8MB]
  • Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) #8: ...
  • Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) #7: ...
  • Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) #6: ...
  • Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) #5: ...
  • Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) #4: ...
  • Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) #3: ...
  • Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) #2: Retail Build number; Apple Remote Desktop problems; Radeon X800XT compatibility; more
  • Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) arriving in users' hands
  • More from Late-Breakers