MacFixIt readers report: Mac OS X 10.5.7 update issues (2)

In our second installment of readers report, MacFixIt followers find Bluetooth, X11, mdworker, and third party applications all having issues related to updating Mac OS X Leopard to 10.5.7. iPhoto Libraries are not appearing, sleep mode is not keeping an iMac asleep, and network issues abound. These issues do not appear to be widely applicable, though if you had a similar issue and found a solution, leave a comment on this article or contact us.

As always, we strongly recommend backing up your system before doing any updates, especially operating system updates. If you would like to recap what our readers reported from the first article, click here.

Camera card not able to be ejected from card reader
MacFixIt reader "Bruce W." reports:

"When I take movies/pictures with my camera I remove the card and then insert it into a card reader for downloading the files into iPhoto 09. Since I upgraded to 10.5.7 I can't eject the card no matter whether I use the Finder Menu, using Disk Utility or cmd e. Anyone have any suggestions?"

Cannot open movies taken for digital camera in iPhoto
MacFixIt reader "Donald M." writes:

"Since upgrading to 10.5.7 I cannot open any small movie files taken digital camera and stored in IPhoto.  These previously worked perfectly. Says it's .mov file a warning message comes up in Quicktime saying; "The movie file can not be opened, a necessary data reference could not be resolved."

Possible fix
Try dragging the offending movies to the desktop. Double-click the movie file from there. Does it play in Quicktime now? If it does, delete the movie file in iPhoto and re-import the video on the Desktop to iPhoto (drag the video to the iPhoto dock icon and release).

Graphics issues
MacFixIt reader "David B." reports:

"Since updating to 10.5.7, patterns of square blotches (mostly blue, yellow, & purple) appear when I open jpeg files. Dragging the window around the desktop increases the blotches. It happens in multiple applications, and the blotches often will show up on the desktop. I've tried a number of things to no avail.

20" iMac with ATI x1600 radeon chipset, Intel core duo processor."

Time Machine backups no longer support increased sparsebundle sizes
MacFixIt reader "Harry G." writes:

"There are several web sites that recommend increasing the bundle sizes of OSX sparsebundles used for Time Machine backups.  This used to speed up backups.  Unfortunately, support for this disappeared in 10.5.7, leaving me, at least, without backup capabilities.

My only choice seems to be deleting months of backups and starting over, with significantly slower backups, (several hours per backup vs. 10 minutes)."

iMac wakes up from sleep unexpectedly
MacFixIt reader "Kenneth" reports:

"After updating to 10.5.7 my iMac starts up for itself automatically from sleep  mode after aprx. 7-9 minutes. If it goes to sleep mode automatically or I select it from the menu, it´s the same. The update and install worked perfect, and I haven´t got any errors. Everything works perfect."

iPhoto Libraries not displaying
MacFixIt reader "Bil L." writes:

"After running the 10.5.7 update... my iPhoto Libraries will not display.  I downloaded the combined update with no luck.  Everything else seems fine.  iPhoto Libraries open but the photos will not display.  Weird.  Anyone else see this?"

Possible fix
1. Hold (Command + Option) and click to open iPhoto.
2. In the "Rebuild Photo Library" dialogue window check the boxes for:

- Examine and repair iPhoto Library file permissions
- Rebuild the iPhoto Library Database from automatic backup

3. Click "Rebuild".

If the issue persists:
1. Hold (Command + Option) and click to open iPhoto.
2. In the "Rebuild Photo Library" dialogue window check the boxes for:

- Rebuild all of the photos' thumbnails (this may take a while)
- Recover ophaned photos in the iPhoto Library folder

3. Click "Rebuild".

MacBook Pro lockups and freezes
MacFixIt reader "PMc" reports:

"Upgraded to 10.5.7 on my unibody MBP (two months old).  System locks up when multiple windows open wether or not internet is used.  I have tried a different wireless system with same results also with different browsers.  Also locks when not on the internet but with multiple applications open.  Seems to go to sleep and doesn't wake up, however not related to sleep settings.  Also locks up when in safe mode.  Also locks up upon restarting using the power button and will boot the second time this is tried.  Reinstalled 10.5.6 and no problems."

Possible fix
Try downloading and installing the Combo Update from Apple.

Third-party application, Application Enhancer, causing corruption
MacFixIt reader "Stephen G." writes in with an issue and a solution:

"After installing 10.5.7 and restarting, I could not open files nor any applications.  The screen just cycled and cycled. I found that the problem was a third party application, "Application Enhancer" from Unsanity. After removing Application Enhancer, OS 10.5.7 worked as advertised."

Time Machine hangs caused by mdworker crashing
MacFixIt reader "Robert H." reports the issue and a workaround:

"I have a MacBook C2Duo (black 2008) customer who has upgraded to 10.5.7 with a new internal and external hard disk and a fresh install of the OS. After doing this, Time Machine constantly stalled at 12.55 GB when backing up to an external disk (USB2). After a lot of reading on the net, I think the problem marks the re emergence of an old bug where the mdworker task used by Spotlight to index drives is crashing and starting to take up to 99% of the CPUs. At this point, TM simply does not have enough CPU time to work and crawls almost to a halt.

I messed around for a while with Activity Monitor watching the mdworker crash and it is very predictable. Time Machine buddy does not pick it up because of course TM is still working albeit at a snail's pace.

Since mdworker is very associated with Spotlight, I tried setting Spotlight to not index any folders?same problem. Finally, I set the TM destination drive to be a Private drive in the Spotlight Preferences and as of this writing TM has reached 35 GB of 40 GB and looks like finishing without an mdworker crash. It might be a temporary workaround or it might be coincidence that TM worked this time, so YMMV but Apple should be notified."

X11 hangs
MacFixIt reader "Steve B." writes in about his issue and a workaround:

"The first time I ran X11 after updating to 10.5.7, X11 took over all three of my screens with the gray background and I was unable to access any mac windows or menus.  Not remembering what to do I killed X11 remotely.

I opened ~/Library/Preferences/org.x.X11.plist and saw that the "rootless" key was unchecked.  I checked it and saved the .plist file and the problem went away.  It seemed that the 10.5.7 update reset this value.

Then I recalled that in X11 root mode, command-shift-a toggles between root and rootless modes.  If anyone else sees this problem it's helpful to remember this key command, because there is no other way to gracefully exit the X11 root window.

Thanks for your great web site!"

Bluetooth shows active connections yet nothing works
MacFixIt reader "Dale E." reports:

"My new uni-body 13 MacBook has had bluetooth issues following the 10.5.7 upgrade - without warning all connections are severed and can not be re-connected without a reboot.

The bluetooth devices list still show all connections active.

I haven't been able to find any mention of this on the apple support discussions."

Update reminders
Updates for Apple products are recommended for all users. Staying current on your operating system ensures that bugs and fixes from previous systems are up-to-date. However, these updates can cause new issues. Many of these issues may be related directly to the updates, however many solutions involve updating or removing third-party applications which are no longer compatible with the operating system or doing some simple troubleshooting steps like repairing permissions or reinstalling the combo updaters from Apple. As we stated earlier, it's always recommended to have a recent backup of your system before installing major updates. 

Resources
If you are still having issues with 10.5.7, check out this MacFixIt article about reverting back to 10.5.6.

Experiencing problems? Have feedback? Let us know!

Resources

click here

MacFixIt article

Let us know!

More from Late-Breakers