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Special Report: Troubleshooting Mac OS X 10.3.6

Special Report: Troubleshooting Mac OS X 10.3.6

CNET staff
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CNET staff
26 min read

Release Notes

The Mac OS X 10.3.6 Update is for both the client and Server versions of OS X 10.3. There are both "Delta" (release-to-release, e.g. 10.3.5 to 10.3.6) and "Combo" versions (universal, e.g. 10.3.4 to 10.3.6):

According to Apple, the OS X client versions of the Update offers the following improvements:

    The 10.3.6 Update delivers enhanced functionality and improved reliability for Mac OS X v10.3 "Panther" and is recommended for all users. Key enhancements include:
    • improved file sharing for Mac (AFP), UNIX (NFS) and PC (SMB/CIFS) networks
    • more reliable network automounts and launch of network applications
    • improved OpenGL technology and updated ATI and NVIDIA graphic drivers
    • additional FireWire audio and USB device compatibility
    • updated Calculator, DVD Player, Image Capture, and Safari applications
    • improved compatibility for third party applications
    • previous standalone security updates

Detailed information on the client version of the Update can be found here.

The Server version of the update is described by the following:

    The 10.3.6 Server Update delivers enhanced functionality and improved reliability for Mac OS X Server v10.3 and is recommended for all systems. Key enhancements include:
    • improved performance and reliability of AFP, CIFS and NFS file services
    • more reliable network automounts and application launching from /Network/Applications/
    • improved interoperability with Active Directory and compatibility with the latest Windows clients
    • more reliable SMTP authentication when using CRAM-MD5
    • added Fibre Channel Utility application and improved Fibre Channel reliability and performance
    • additional support for third party Fibre Channel storage devices
    • previous standalone security updates.

Detailed information on the Server version of the Update can be found here.

Here is a list of the changes noted:

Internet and .Mac

  • Resovles an issue in which Safari might not load webpages correctly when the hard drive name included a non-ASCII character such as a symbol, diacritical, or two-byte character.
  • Safari no longer times out after 60 seconds when attempting to connect to a webpage or to submit form data. With this update, Safari will keep trying indefinitely (or until you cancel the attempt).
  • With this update, a synchronized iDisk correctly resizes .Mac storage after its allocation changes.
  • Addresses a kernel panic issue that could occur when using an external, wireless USB broadband modem with Mac OS X 10.3.5.

Networking

  • Improves AFP service performance.
  • Addresses a situation in which a file name change that occurred on a server while a client was running Terminal resulted in the client Terminal's failure to recognize the change.
  • Addresses an issue that could prevent login via a network user account.
  • Resolves an issue for Mac OS X 10.3.5 in which, sometimes, network-based applications could not open an application from an automounted AFP volume, such as /Network/Applications/.
  • SMB/CIFS servers in /Network no longer suddenly disappear and reappear after the network changes.

Applications

  • Addresses an issue that could occur when using some scholastic information management applications with Mac OS X 10.3.5; this alert could appear: "Another module has 'locked' the MS Tx file. You will gain access when their task is completed."
  • Addresses an issue in which "zooming" in Halo 1.0.5 could lead to blurry video when using certain Nvidia video cards.
  • Many calculating and conversion features within Calculator are improved by this update.
  • Addresses an issue in which TextEdit could unexpectedly quit when changing text from Euphermia regular to italic.
  • Addresses an issue for Mac OS X 10.3.5 in which Final Cut Pro HD 4.5 could unexpectedly quit.

Other

  • Improves ColorSync calibrating for Apple Cinema HD Display (23-inch DVI) displays.
  • Resolves an issue in which the display could sometimes remain dark when waking from display sleep (the mouse pointer might appear, but normal function could not be restored) if using Screen Saver password on a portable computer.
  • Adds WMC connectivity capability for Nokia 7610 phones.
  • Addresses an issue for Mac OS X 10.3.5 in which some glyph fonts, certain "Expert" or "dingbat" fonts, would no longer appear in some applications.
  • Resolves a situation in which incorrect characters could show up for some fonts.
  • Addresses some issues that could cause Classic to unexpectedly quit when starting up.
  • This update makes it easier to scroll through a long list of user names in the login window.
  • Includes recent Security Updates.
We recommend users take appropriate precautions before installing the update by making sure your boot volume is in good condition and backing up any important files. To increase your chances of a smooth update process, follow these instructions:
  1. Boot from the OS X Install CD and run Disk Utility's Repair Disk function (or use a third-party drive utility such as DiskWarrior or TechTool Pro).
  2. When booted from the volume containing Mac OS X, run Disk Utility's Repair Disk Permissions function.
  3. Install the update.
  4. After rebooting, again run Repair Disk Permissions.
Slow Startup: Causes, solutions

Some users experience unusually long startup times after updating to Mac OS X 10.3.6.

The startup process, for afflicted users, seems to stall right after login. If automatic login is enabled, the stall occurs at the point right after the Mac OS X desktop appears, but before any icons or menubar items appear.

Typical cases include:

Paul Gary, who writes: "I have a Powerbook G4 17" 1Ghz with 1GB of RAM. Under 10.3.5, the startup time was usually between 30 to 45 seconds. Under Mac OS X 10.3.6, the startup time is well over two minutes. Despite repairing permissions and removing startup items, the system continued to load slowly, with the beach ball spinning for a long time. Reverting to Mac OS X 10.3.5 returned boot times around 30 seconds."

Robert Weaver, who writes: "I am experiencing much slower startup times after updating my 12" 1Ghz, 768 RAM Powerbook to Mac OS X 10.3.6. The longest delay is after the desktop picture appears, then it slowly ads icons to the main menu one at a time and finally finishes. It used to start in less than 1 minute, now is more than two minutes."

Adam Ismail adds: "There is no delay loading up to the login screen - however once my username and password has been typed in - it takes around about 2 - 2.5 minutes to load compared to about 10 - 15 seconds before the update."

Lous Larouche saw this problem duplicated across an array of more than 100 Macs upgraded to Mac OS X 10.3.6:

"I'm a Computer Technology Teacher in a Canadian High School. We have about 160 Macs running OS 10.3.x. [...] The Macs are eMacs for the most part, iMacs, and iBooks. The point is, I'm running the exact same model on all of them, using tools like ASR, CCC, NetRestore, and Remote Desktop for mass deployment and maintenance.

"After upgrading 2 labs to 10.3.6 using the Remote Desktop's package installer feature with the smallest 10.3.6 upgrade package, all the Macs in those two labs are now plagued by slow startup times. In between the login window, and the desktop appearing you can see the beach ball for up to 2 minutes while you can hear the hard drive rumbling away."

Workarounds

Disable network volume automounts Some users have been able to resolve slow login times by disabling automounting of networked volumes.

Fonts Others users have experienced success cleaning font caches with Font Finagler, though for most, it doesn't seem to provide a significant reduction of startup time:

Some have been able to eliminate the startup lag by simply removing extraneous, non-native fonts from their system using Apple's Font Book (located in the "Applications" folder on a standard Mac OS X installation):

Tom Hughes writes "I also noticed significantly slower startup times after the log-in on my G4 iMac after updating to 10.3.6.

"I was able to bring that start-up time from 2 minutes back to 15 seconds by cleaning out 'Font Book' back to its default fonts.

"Create a new user, determine the 'Font Book' default fonts, then go back to the original user and clean out 'Font Book' using that list as a guide. Be careful not to toss any of the default fonts since the system needs some of them to run properly.

Fonts can be removed using the "Remove Font" menu item inside Font Book. Also, make sure all default fonts are all reactivated or you will not be able to activate "Accounts" in "System preferences".

AppleScript Yvan Koenig, a poster to Apple's Discussion Boards, has submitted an AppleScript that deletes several files implicated in increased startup time. The script has been successful for a number of users, and is as follows:


property systemList : {¬
"com.apple.ATS.System.fcache", ¬
"com.apple.ATSServer.FODB_System", ¬
"fontTablesAnnex"}
property localList : {¬
"501:Classic.fcache", ¬
"501:Local.fcache", ¬
"User.fcache", ¬
"Classic.fodb", ¬
"Local.fodb", ¬
"User.fodb", ¬
"FondResourceCache"}
tell application "Finder"
set versionFinder to version as text
end tell
if versionFinder starts with "10.3" then
set localCaches to ((path to "cusr") as text) & "Library:Caches:com.apple.ATS:"
set systemCaches to ((path to "boot") as text) & "System:Library:Caches:"
tell application "Finder"
repeat with name in localList
try
delete file (localCaches & name)
end try
end repeat
repeat with name in systemList
try
delete file (systemCaches & name)
end try
end repeat
end tell
end if

In order to run this script, simply open the application Script Editor (located in Applications/AppleScript on a standard installation), create a new file, paste the above script, click "Compile" then click "Run." You will be asked for your administrator password several times.

USB Devices not recognized

Problems with USB devices For some users, USB devices become inoperable -- either not recognized or not functioning properly -- after the Mac OS X 10.3.6 upgrade.

MacFixIt reader Simon reports a problem with his external modem: "I have an old G3 Blue and White Server, with the apple Ultra Wide SCSI card and drives, and after updating to 10.3.6 my external usb Swann MacSurfer modem would fail to even manage to dial out. Permissions couldn?t be correctly repaired, booting off an install disc didn't help either. Going back to 10.3.5 seems to have fixed all these issues."

Verner Soler had problems with his Wacom tablet: "After installing the update, my Wacom Intuos 2(XD) stopped working. Tried switching USB cable from back of monitor to USB 2.0 card on computer with no success."

Reader Gary Ballard writes that the Update has adversely affected his USB microphone:

"After installing the 10.3.6 update on a Power Mac G5 dual 2.0 processor system, it now has an issue with OS X not always [recognizing] the MacMice USB MicFlex microphone at login. Current work around is unplugging microphone and plugging back in."

In some cases, routine cache cleaning can resolve USB connectivity issues. Try using a utility like Panther Cache Cleaner to do a deep clean of system caches, restart, and re-attach your USB device.

Sound quality degraded: Workarounds Changes in audio volume, quality

A few users have noted a change in audio volume and quality since applying the Mac OS X 10.3.6 update. MacFixIt reader Hanson Jiang's report is representative:

"I have just installed the OS X 10.3.6 update on a Dual 1 GHz MDD Power Mac G4. Before the install, I had my system volume at 50%, with iTunes at 100%. After restarting, I noticed that iTunes seemed to be playing considerably louder, even though the volume settings were the same. I tried playing around with the volume (both iTunes and system) but it still seems to be louder than before. (I didn't touch the speakers either.)

"I initially fixed the issue by unplugging and re-plugging my speakers from my G4's rear audio port. Immediately, my volume set itself to 10/16 (up from 8/16 before) and the volume levels seem to have corrected themselves. I later discovered that it was only temporary. After restarting, the volume returns to its louder-than-normal level. Ways of temporarily fixing this (until the next restart/boot) include unplugging and then re-plugging your speakers from the back of the machine, and sleeping and then waking. This issue always returns after the machine is shut down or restarted. I've tried zapping PRAM and going through open firmware [reset-nvram, reset-all], nothing seems to help."

Workaround

Temporarily disconnecting speakers In addition, some users report that audio is distorted external speakers are unplugged, then reconnected.

Adjusting the equalizer Others, like MacFixIt reader Loell, have found that simply adjusting the equalizer in applications like iTunes can alleviate some level of distortion:

"After applying the 10.3.6 update, I also noticed a definite sound distortion, both from external speakers and my slot-load iMac's built-in speakers. It turned out that a customized iTunes equalizer setting no longer produced the same output experienced before the latest update. Changing the settings helped quite a bit."

Replacement of Apple02Audio.kext The most consistent workaround, however, involves replacing the file "Apple02Audio.kext" which is located in /System/Library/Extensions/ with a version of the kernel extension that is from Mac OS X 10.3.5.

The easiest way to replace this file is to simply copy it from a Mac that has not been upgraded to Mac OS X 10.3.6 and use it to replace the same file on the afflicted Mac OS X 10.3.6 system.

Alternatively, you can download the Mac OS X 10.3.5 combo updater, and use a tool like Pacifist to browse through its contents, locate the old version of Apple02Audio.kext and use it to replace the version installed by Mac OS X 10.3.6.

Paul Ingraham writes "Audio is back to normal after replacing Apple02audio.kext.

MacFixIt reader Hanson adds: "I have confirmed that the audio problem fix works on my Power Mac G4 dual 1 GHz MDD. Thank you very much for reporting on it. I hope Apple offers a more permanent bug fix in Mac OS X 10.3.7."

A word about replacing kernel extensions: Replacing kernel extensions, like the Apple02audio.kext file mentioned above, with earlier versions can cause unintended problems or a loss of some functionality included with an incremental Mac OS X update, and this method should only be used when no other workarounds are available. Make sure to keep a copy of the replaced file locally so it can be switched back in should problems arise.

File name truncation: When saving to servers, other locations; solutions

Several readers have experienced a bug where file names are truncated when items are copied either locally or to a remote machine. There does not seem to be any specific criteria for when the bug occurs.

Some users receive an error message stating that the file name already exists when attempting to re-apply the original, extended name to a truncated file.

Patrick Horn writes "I also got the truncated folder names (with folders on the XServe!), and when trying to rename them manually, you got a message that this is not possible and sometimes it changes back to the full name after a small period of time."

Brion McCarthy writes "I, too am experiencing the file name truncation problem. In fact, I believe that it caused a strange file copying error yesterday. I move a group of files from a networked device to my local machine and they copied with the original names intact. I then trashed them from the source but somewhere in the process a small set of these files truncated and did not trash. I believe it is because the name had changed. So, I ended up with a bunch of duplicate files. Very odd."

In some cases the issue seems to be application-specific. MacFixIt reader Jamie writes "Just reading about the long file name issues. I am experiencing the same issue, except it is only happening when saving from BBEdit to OS X Server 10.3.6 (client also running 10.3.6). Saving files from TextEdit or copying from the Finder to the Server does not encode the names."

One of the most common occurrences of the problem is when using AFP (Apple file-sharing protocol) to open files stored on other systems. MacFixIt reader Stephen Kirkham writes:

Whenever I have a remote volume mounted, I can select files (sometimes) completely fine. As soon as I open a file greater than 31-characters, the file opens with the shortened filename, and the file in the finder changes to that shortened filename. Whenever I copy a file, boom, changes to the shortened filename.

A primary problem posed by this issue is that, in some cases, the file is duplicated when its name is truncated, which can cause serious storage issues for media firms other work environments that use large files:

MacFixIt reader Mikey writes "I, too, have experienced the truncated filename issue, just today. I updated all 10 of our G4s to 10.3.6, and upon creating a PDF from InDesign CS (with a long filename), I saved it to our G4 server. When I realized I had to re-make the PDF due to an error, I navigated to the directory so that I could overwrite the file, only to discover that its filename was truncated as described earlier. So, I re-typed the filename as it was perviously, saved the file, and did NOT receive a "file exists..." error. When I went to the directory where the file(s) were saved, I noticed that the new file as well was truncated, but with the last couple of characters different still! For instance, instead of the last 5 letters being '...DJ689,' the new one was '...DJ69A.' This is causing me concern now, since both files opened correctly to the same PDF, and they were the same size; 2 MB. If this theory is correct, then all of our designers who have saved work to the server today may be creating duplicate files without knowing it. Further, a vast majority of our files are quite sizable graphic and motion files, which will eat up disk space quickly. Not to mention the filenames creating broken links because of the name changes!"

Brion McCarthy corroborates "I believe that (this bug) caused a strange file copying error yesterday. I move a group of files from a networked device to my local machine and they copied with the original names intact. I then trashed them from the source but somewhere in the process a small set of these files truncated and did not trash. I believe it is because the name had changed. So, I ended up with a bunch of duplicate files. Very odd."

Workaround

This workaround, submitted by MacFixIt reader Stuart Ramdeen, has been verified by a number of independent users. Ramdeen writes:

"I have found that the kext /System/Library/Filesystems/AppleShare/afpfs.kext appears to be the culprit.

"The version that ships with 10.3.6 is 6.5.7, which I guess amongst other things, was supposed to improve afp performance and reliability with network home dirs (although that's for another discussion....). The version it replaces in 10.3.5 is 6.5.6. I have found that if you put version 6.5.6 back, the truncation problem goes away."

The easiest way to perform this workaround is to copy the aforementioned afpfs.kext file from a Mac that has not been upgraded to Mac OS X 10.3.6 and use it to replace the same file on the afflicted Mac OS X 10.3.6 system.

Alternatively, you can download the Mac OS X 10.3.5 combo updater, and use a tool like Pacifist to browse through its contents, locate version 6.5.6 of afpfs.kext and use it to replace the version installed by Mac OS X 10.3.6.

Installer package appears as a normal folder

Some readers report that after installing Mac OS X 10.3.6 (or one of the recently released security updates), all .pkg files appear as folders, without the usual package icon. Attempting to open the .pkg, in this situation, opens the package as a folder rather than launching the Installer application.

In some cases, this issue is caused by a problem with the Installer application -- which is located in Applications/Utilities on a normal Mac OS X installation. Check to see if this application exists in the proper folder, and make sure it opens correctly.

If the Installer application is missing, or does not properly open, copy it from another machine or use Pacifist to extract it from your original Mac OS X 10.3.x disc and place it in the Applications/Utilities folder.

FireWire Issues: Drives disappearing or unmountable, corrupt volumes; solutions The most widely reported problem with Mac OS X 10.3.6, and perhaps the most serious, is a loss of FireWire drive functionality -- an issue that appeared in previous incremental Mac OS X updates, including 10.3.5, 10.3.4, 10.3.3, and even the original Mac OS X 10.3 Panther release.

In previous cases, one viable workaround was to replace the IOFireWireFamily.kext (located in System/Library/Extensions) introduced by the incremental update with a version of the kernel extension from a system that had not been updated, or from an earlier update package. Unfortunately, the same workaround does not apply to Mac OS X 10.3.6, as the IOFireWireFamily.kext is not updated by the release.

MacFixIt reader Steve Smith is among the many users reporting this problem. He writes "After upgrading, I can no longer mount my Crossfire 160 GB firewire hard drive. The OS eventually gave me a dialogue box about a drive that was not recognizable by the OS and I selected the Eject button in the dialog. A Que QPS drive daisy chained on the same firewire port mounts just fine."

Issues are not restricted to mounting -- many users are finding that they can no longer boot from previously working FireWire drives. Gabriel Dorado writes "After updating external, booting FireWire disks from several manufacturers from Mac OS X 10.3.5 to 10.3.6 (booting from them when applying the standalone combo updater), it is not possible to boot from such disks any more. Even worse: the data inside some of such disks is totally or partially lost!"

Not all drives are affected by the Mac OS X 10.3.6 issue -- manifestation of the problem appears dependent on the chipset being used by the drive mechanism, though we've been unable (as of yet) to pinpoint a specific set or manufacturer.

There are a few ways to approach this problem.

First, make sure your FireWire drive's firmware is up to date. In response to the last major FireWire failure episode, Apple recommended that users check with their drive manufacturers for possible firmware revisions and some users who are experiencing the current problem found resolve in the same manner.

a number of drive manufacturers have posted firmware updates that purport to resolve these issues. Among them are Initio , MacAlly and SmartDisk (At left, choose Portable Hard Drives, then Firelite Firewire. In the list, article #1141 is near the top.).

Initio's firmware ReadMe states:

"Apple made a change in their Mac OS 10.3.6 FireWire driver and now requests a very big packet and when we try and send a large packet back it won?t accept it so Apple keeps re-trying until Apple timeouts. Sometimes after a few minutes and Apple timing out, the hard drive will then appear on the Mac OS desktop, but not always, depending on what previous Initio firmware is on the FireWire 400 bridge you have. So what we did is break up the larger packet into smaller packets so Apple can accept it. [...]"

We've also received confirmation from Other World Computing that their drives are unaffected by the FireWire issues reported with the OS X 10.3.6 Update and thus need no firmware update.

Second, if your drive enclosure also offers USB 1.1 or USB 2.0 connectivity, attempt the connection via the alternate port. A number of users report that while drives cannot mount or boot properly when connected via FireWire, they can do so without issue when connected via USB.

MacFixIt reader Ken Watters writes "I have a G5 iMac and a 160 GB Acomdata firewire/USB external drive. Following the installation of the 10.3.6 update, the external drive could not be recognized when connected by firewire. It would neither mount nor be recognized by Disk Utility. Hooking it up via USB 2.0 solved the problem immediately."

Third, if access to your FireWire-only drives is critical, you can perform a reversion to Mac OS X 10.3.5.

Fourth, make sure no FireWire drives are connected to your system while you apply the Mac OS X 10.3.6 updater. A number of users have reported data loss or drive corruption, both of which may be avoided by properly unmounting then disconnecting your FireWire drive prior to beginning the update process.

Finally, it appears that a permissions flaw may be the problem in some cases.

Calvin Van Ourkerk writes:

"I found a surprisingly simple fix to the non-booting Firewire drive problem.

"I clicked on the drive icon, did a Get Info, and found that the permissions had been set to 'Ignore ownership on this volume.' I unchecked the box, and voila!, I could then use the Disk Utility to repair the permissions and make the disk bootable again."

Battery indicator still shows remaining time but PowerBook/iBook sleeps

There is a highly varied issue where PowerBooks and iBooks will spontaneously fall asleep, without any sort of low-battery warning and with OS X reporting various levels of charge remaining on their batteries. Some users are only beginning to experience this problem after updating to Mac OS X 10.3.6 -- though we cannot state with certainty that there is a causal link.

MacFixIt reader Bobby Jones writes: "Since installing the latest upgrade, I've been having problems with the battery life on my 12" G4 Powerbook. When the battery indicator says I have 60 minutes of life left, my laptop goes into sleep mode and will only become active after I've plugged the adapted in to charge."

The most successful workaround we've been able to determine for this issue -- though clumsy -- is not allowing the battery to fully charge. For some users, when the battery is allowed to reach a a 100% full charge, the PowerBook falls asleep while still indicating a remaining charge. If the affected PowerBook is unplugged when it registers 98% or less, it will sometimes run properly through the full charge.

Other workarounds that have worked for some readers include:

  • Calibrating the battery Knowledge Base article #86284 explains the PowerBook/iBook re-calibration process, which may work to correct this problem in some instances: "The Lithium Ion battery of an iBook or PowerBook computer has an internal microprocessor that provides an estimate of the amount of energy in the battery during charging and discharging. The battery needs to be re-calibrated from time to time to keep the on screen battery time and percent display accurate. You should perform this procedure when you first use your computer and then every few months thereafter." Damien Andrews confirms this workaround: "I too have experienced this problem. I was on a camping trip with limited access to mains power and needed to use my computer for business related work. I was conserving battery power by turning off the screen and using the computer in direct sunlight. Though the battery level was at 33 % the computer suddenly went to sleep. This was very frustrating as I had to return to civilization to be able to use it again. Once back in town I reset the PMU and then returned to my camp site but I experienced the problem again. On my next visit to town I re-calibrated the battery and that seemed to do the trick."
  • Resetting the PMU Some users have reported that resetting their portables' PMU solved this issue. Apple provides details for performing the reset procedure for a number of portable models in Knowledge Base article #14449.
  • Using "SlimBatteryMonitor" One solution that has proved successful for some readers is the usage of a third-party battery monitoring utility, such as SlimBatteryMonitor.
  • Using a power adapter In-house, the method we most often use for solving this problem is the simple connection of a power adapter. Doing so usually allows the PowerBook to wake up properly (restoring interrupted open projects) and usually allows several more minutes of charge time even if temporarily connected to the external power source.

Font problems: Garbled text and more

Some users experience garbled fonts in various applications after the Mac OS X 10.3.6 update.

MacFixIt reader Phil writes "I also had font problems in Mail which I resolved in Mail by highlighting the offending text, going to Format > Show Fonts in Mail looking to see what the offending font was. In 10.3.6 it was a fractions font (in 10.3.5 it was a cyrillic font). Then going into the font folder and disabling the font."

Matt Bodkin adds "I've resolved this issue several times by removing 'helvetica fractions' from my system entirely."

Several readers also report that using the utility Font Finagler (formerly Font Cache Cleaner) will temporarily resolve this issue, though it may re-appear after subsequent startups or even a period of usage without a restart.

Modem connectivity issues

Errol Larkan has had modem connectivity issues that were fixed by reverting to an older version of OS X 10.3:

"After upgrading to 10.3.6 on my B&W G3 with a 500MHZ Sonnet G4 Zif I am unable to make a net connection I get connecting then disconnecting really quickly and an error message saying to check my modem settings. Only reinstalling Panther up to 10.3,4 got all back to normal. Have a second hard drive that I can test stuff out on so all works fine upgrade to 10.3.6 and no connection"

Calculator Bug

An apparent bug as appeared in Mac OS X's calculator with the arrival of 10.3.6.

First, when users attempt to use certain Calculator plug-ins (Expression Sheet, Graphing or Hex), they are presented with a blank brushed-metal window with no ability to proceed.

Deleting Calculator's .plist files and other standard workarounds have not proved successful.

Note about different software update sizes

Several readers have noted that the Mac OS X 10.3.6 package obtained through Software Update is different sizes on different machines.

As detailed here on MacFixIt, this is due to a change in Apple's distribution scheme, where three different sizes of updaters are available -- and Software Update automatically picks the version required by each Mac OS X installation. As explained by Apple:

"Not every computer that has Mac OS X 10.3.4 or later can benefit from smaller Software Updates. Why? Sometimes, modifications made to Mac OS X system files, including ones made by third-party products, may require the installation of a full sized version of a Mac OS X software update. Again, you don't have to worry about figuring out which kind of update is best for you, just let Software Update preferences do the work."

This provides for some potential confusion with regard to updating multiple Macs and installing individual files from update packages, discussed in a previous article.

Java problems

Re-installation of the Java 1.4.2 update 2 may be necessary on some systems experiencing Web content issues with Mac OS X 10.3.6.

One reader writes "I was having trouble with a java program failing to run after running the 10.3.6 combo updater on a 10.3.5 installation. It turned out the java 1.4.2 installation was now messed up somehow. I reinstalled java (using both the 1.4.2 base install plus the 1.4.2 Update 2 update), and java then worked fine. After hunting around, I have found discussions where people who have had the same problem claim that simply running the Java 1.4.2 Update 2 alone will solve the problem."

A handful of other readers corroborate.

The Java 1.4.2 update 2 can be downloaded from Apple's Web site and easily installed over a standard Mac OS X 10.3.6 installation.

Avoid performing other operations during the update process

Several users have found problems occur if they are performing other system-intensive operations while applying the Mac OS X 10.3.6 -- not recommended.

One user writes "I started installing the update. It looked like it would take a while. at the 'optimizing' phase. I started browsing the web. My girlfriend wanted me to play a DVD, so I started the dvd player and connected the s-video cable. I had to "detect displays" for the TV to display the movie. That crashed the system. The mouse froze. SSHd was down. Nothing worked. I waited a while and rebooted. The system now gets as far as "Starting Login Window" but then it just sits there."

Another reader writes: "My Mac crashed during the update with the "you need to restart" screen when I plugged in a USB stick. Luckily, this happened during the optimization phase, so everything was installed already. You may want to avoid messing with USB devices during this update."

Quitting all open applications and disconnecting all external peripherals during the update process can, in some situations, prevent serious issues.

DVD player fails with ATI Radeon 9800

MacFixIt reader Aaron Smith reports that after updating to Mac OS X 10.3.6, DVD player no longer worked. When trying to play DVDs, Apple DVD Player displayed the following error:

"The current machine or system configuration is not supported. [-70013]"

Smith offers the following, fairly involved workaround: "I checked the version of the Apple ATI Drivers installed, and noticed they had been updated from 1.3.28.6 to 1.3.34.7 since the last OS update. Suspecting this version change to be the source of the problem, I first pulled the following files from another Macintosh that had yet to be updated:

  • /System/Library/Extensions/ATIRadeon9700.kext
  • /System/Library/Extensions/ATIRadeon9700DVDDriver.bundle
  • /System/Library/Extensions/ATIRadeon9700GA.plugin
  • /System/Library/Extensions/ATIRadeon9700GLDriver.bundle

"Note: Radeon 9700 drivers support (at least) the 9700 and 9800 graphics cards.

"I then opened Terminal on the affected 10.3.6 Macintosh, and executed the following command, which moved all ATI Radeon 9800 driver files to my home directory:

  • sudo mv /System/Library/Extensions/ATIRadeon9700* ~/

"I checked the files that had been moved, which included an extra file from the previous Mac OS version:

  • ATIRadeon9700VADriver.bundle

"Other systems may or may not have this file (I have yet to update our other Macintosh systems).

"Next, I did a drag-n-drop style move of the 4 older ATI driver files into the /System/Library/Extensions/ folder via the Finder. I was required to authenticate this action by entering my administrative password.

"Finally, to complete the manual downgrade, I ran the following command in Terminal to transfer ownership of the ATI drivers to the root user:

  • sudo chown -R root:wheel /System/Library/Extensions/ATIRadeon9700*

"Finally, I rebooted the machine and retested, finding the issue to be resolved for me.""

"While the solution I presented works, it causes another problem with iDVD 4.0 or 4.0.1. While trying to open an iDVD project after downgrading the drivers, I noticed iDVD acted as if nothing happened: the project did not open, and no error messages were displayed. Checking the Console application to check the system logs, I found iDVD was throwing exceptions that were getting ignored. Once I restored the newer Radeon 9700/9800 graphic drivers and rebooted, iDVD worked normally again. However now Apple DVD Player is broken. So users who use both applications will have to pick their poison until Apple comes up with a cure."

Problems with networked Windows printers, workaround

MacFixIt reader Michael Durbin is among the many users reporting problems recognizing networked Windows printers (printers on the network attached to Windows systems) after the Mac OS X 10.3.6 update:

"We have encountered with the install of 10.3.6 that windows printing doesn't work. We have at our school a Windows 2003 server with 30 or so shared printers. In 10.3.5 we could select windows printing / Network Neighborhood / select our server and all printers would show up. Now we can go through all of the steps but no printers appear."

Apple Discussions poster Tom Whitmore has found a workaround that involves adding the problematic printer with a SAMBA address:

"I've found a temporary work-around to the problem of not being able to detect a shared Windows printer.

"In Printer Setup Utility, Option-Click the 'Add' button - this will give you an extra printer option - 'Advanced'.

"Set Device to Windows Printer via SAMBA, Printer Model to the correct driver, and Device URI to the complete smb:// address of your printer, i.e.:

  • smb://user:password@WORKGROUP/HOST/PRINTER
Sleeping problems: Apply Combo updater

MacFixIt reader James reports that he was able to overcome newly introduced sleep problems by re-applying the Mac OS X 10.3.6 combination updater:

"I found that my PowerBook and a flat-panel iMac G4 wouldn?t automatically sleep until I installed the 10.3.6. Combo update. That seems to have fixed it in both cases now."

Diablo 2 performance extremely slow, workaround

Several users report that the game Diablo 2 operates extremely slowly after applying the Mac OS X 10.3.6 update.

Matthew Hoekstra writes:

"For the most part installation went smooth. The only thing i had a problem with was system slowdown. Playing Diablo 2 on line the game slowed down and hard to control character. I downgraded back to Mac OS X 10.3.5 and game works like a charm."

Short of reverting to Mac OS X 10.3.5, some users have found that switching to "software rendering" rather than "OpenGL rendering" provides a substantial speed boost for Diablo 2 under Mac OS X 10.3.6. You can access this preference by holding down the option key while Diablo 2 is starting up.

Resources

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