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Special Report: Troubleshooting Mac OS X 10.3.7

Special Report: Troubleshooting Mac OS X 10.3.7

CNET staff
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CNET staff
40 min read

The Mac OS X 10.3.7 Special Report contains completely revised descriptions of and solutions for the most common problems associated with the incremental update.

Note: If you're having problems with FireWire drives, look at both the "Secondary volume booting problems" and "FireWire issues" sections. They contain information that is somewhat intertwined. Likewise, if you are having network-related issues, read both the "General Network slowness" and "Slow network application launch" sections.

Release Notes/Update Recommendations

Mac OS X, 10.3.7, available in both client and server versions, carries the following enhancements over previous releases:

  • improved AFP support for saving documents with long file names
  • improved OpenGL technology and updated ATI and NVIDIA graphics drivers
  • improved FireWire device compatibility
  • updated Preview application
  • improved compatibility for third party
    • applications
  • previous standalone security updates

The update is available through Software Update, and as a series of Web downloads, listed below (Delta downloads are version to version, i.e. 10.3.6 to 10.3.7; Combined downloads update any version of Mac OS X 10.3.x to Mac OS X 10.3.7):

As usual, we recommend users take appropriate precautions before installing the update by making sure the target 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.

Secondary volume booting problems

Mac OS X 10.3.7 may not properly boot when it is installed on a drive that is secondary at the time of installation. In other words, for some users, when Mac OS X 10.3.7 is installed to a volume other than the current boot volume, the secondary drive will be non-bootable.

The most typical instances of this issue involve external FireWire drives that are used as backup or auxiliary boot volumes. When such drives receive an update to Mac OS X 10.3.7 while the user is booted from another volume -- such as the Mac's internal hard drive -- they may fail as boot volumes.

One intriguing theory on what might be causing the issue to occur is the presence of a script in MacOSXUpdateCombo10.3.7.pkg/Contents/Resources (also contained in the "delta" version of the Mac OS X 10.3.7 updater) called 'RunAtStartupm' which refers to a folder in /System called 'InstallAtStartup.'

Based on reports from MacFixIt reader Mike Barron and others, it appears that this script does as its name implies: installs additional items on the boot drive during that drive's startup process.

Thus it follows that the Mac OS X 10.3.7 updater fails when installed to a secondary drive, because the 'InstallAtStartup' items would be placed on the wrong drive and would never get installed.

Many users have had success working around this issue by first installing Mac OS X 10.3.7 on their currently active boot drive, then using a utility like Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper to replicate the initial installation on the secondary drive.

For some users, holding down the "option" key at startup and selecting the desired drive as the startup volume allows successful booting.

MacFixIt reader Gerben writes:

"I did see the same issue of not being able to boot form an external FW disk after having updated Mac OS X from 10.3.5 to 10.3.7 with the combo updater.

"But what I noticed is that restarting and keeping the "option" key depressed will bring up the choice of boot volumes and booting thereafter worked fine. I could not do a cold boot from the external FW disk but I could do a restart and then boot."

In a prima facie odd workaround, MacFixIt reader Steve Regian reports that temporarily disconnecting the Fibre Channel connection cables from his Apple-branded Fibre Channel PCI card allowed proper secondary boot drive operation.

He writes:

"My dual G5 2 GHz. refuses to boot from any external FireWire drive, even though it is selected as startup disk and no other bootable drive is connected, until I unplug the Fibre Channel Cables from the Apple Fibre Channel PCI card. Then, after a few seconds, it locates the system software on the FireWire and boots. Then I can re-attach the fibre channel cables to the switch and my Xserve Raid promptly mounts and operates... seemingly properly. Perplexing and inconvenient."

Meanwhile, Sari Kadison writes that in at least one case, the cause of the problem is a drive having the "Ignore ownership on this volume" setting enabled in the volume's Get Info window in the Finder:

"I was having the same problem that several readers mentioned. I have a LaCie 160 GB external drive that was partitioned in four parts. The main part had OS 10.3.7 on it and I was not able to boot from it after installing the 10.3.7 update on my internal drive. I tried several things [that didn't work] .But then, I fixed it! I did a 'Get Info' on the partition of the drive I wanted to boot from and UNchecked the 'ignore ownership' [option]...after that I was able to run Disk Utility and select 'Repair Permissions.' When it repaired the permissions, it repaired about a zillion of them...seriously, there were a ton and it took a long time. After that, I was able to boot up from 10.3.7 on my Firewire drive, and I did not need to do a new install."

The most obvious and straightforward workaround, of course, is simply to boot from the secondary drive and update it while it provides the actively running installation of Mac OS X.

FireWire issues

Issues concerning the disconnection of FireWire drives during the update process

Disconnect all FireWire devices before installing It's a procedure we've recommended several times in the past, and now it's now appearing in Apple's Mac OS X release notes.

Prior to installing Mac OS X 10.3.7, Apple suggests:

"If you have a third-party FireWire hard drive connected, turn it off and disconnect it before installing this update. Reconnect it and turn it back on after installation is complete and you've restarted."

This includes iPods, as the iPod is indeed a FireWire hard drive. Reader Bill Kempthorne discovered the possible consequences of not heeding Apple's advice:

"I saw the note about 'third-party' firewire drives [but] it didn't really register that my [40GB 3G] iPod would be one of them...[After installing the update] I went to grab my iPod and found a CD with a check-mark on the screen. Upon restarting the iPod had no music. I plugged it back into my G5 and iTunes complained that it was unreadable. While the iPod mounted all the other data on the drive was also gone. I have run the restore from the iPod updater and I am now re-syncing my iPod."

Disconnection of FireWire devices during the update process was also an issue with the Mac OS X 10.3.6 updater. For that release, a number of users have reported data loss or drive corruption, both of which were avoided by properly unmounting then disconnecting your FireWire drive prior to beginning the update process.

What to do if you left a FireWire drive connected during the update and had problems Unfortunately, a number of readers were not aware of the aforementioned warning (disconnect all FireWire drives while installing Mac OS X 10.3.7), and as a result have either lost data or found their drives unable to mount.

Some users have been able to solve this problem by re-applying the most recent firmware update for their FireWire drive (check your drive manufacturer's Web site for the latest release).

One MacFixIt reader writes:

"Forgot to disconnect my LaCie FireWire (Porsche Design) 160 GB drive during 10.3.6- 10.3.7 update and it appears that I scrambled the up-to-date firmware that I had recently installed on, and which was working fine with, 10.3.6. DiskWarrior (DW) was initially used to clear up things (several runs) but had only one successful mounting of the LaCie at start-up. After that, only dialogue screens informing me of the 'unknown' status of the LaCie. I then re-installed the firmware update (which the LaCie readily accepted!) erased and zeroed out the LaCie, and then restored my files in a cloning fashion using SD. So far so good as I write this from a LaCie boot. With the one good mount after using DW, one might want to rescue files before erasing the drive, or simply try the firmware update and then use DW. 2004 PM 2G Dual, 2.5 G RAM, OS 10.3.7, current versions of SD, DW and LaCie firmware.

Others have found that this problem affects FireWIre devices other than hard drives. In some cases, the problem can be resolved simply by using Apple's Disk Utility to repair permissions.

One reader writes:

"I didn't think/realize that 'external hard drive' would mean my FireWire Que CD/RW, so I left it attached (and a CD presumably mounted) on a 10.3.5 -> 10.3.7 upgrade.

"On reboot, no mount.

"Repair Permissions on the drive found /System/Library/Filesystems/cd9660.fs/cd9660.util with missing setuid perms (was 0755, s/b 4755), and fixed it. [...] All good after the reboot."

So, how does one update a FireWire drive boot volume to Mac OS X 10.3.7 if it must be disconnected at the time of installation? The warning that users should disconnect all FireWire devices during installation of Mac OS X 10.3.7 has left a number of readers asking "If we have to disconnect external FireWire drives before installing the update, how do we update external FireWire boot drives to 10.3.7?"

There are a couple of ways you can deal with this dilemma.

First, if you have an internal volume, you can apply Mac OS X 10.3.7 to it and then use a tool like Carbon Copy Cloner to mirror the installation on your FireWire drive.

Alternatively, you can bite the bullet and boot from the external drive then upgrade it. Make sure you perform a full backup first, however.

Resolving issues with FireWire devices not mounting, disappearing, etc.

Temporarily Disconnecting drives Joe Winogradof confirms that temporarily disconnecting power from FireWire drives can, in some cases, restore proper operation:

"After updating to 10.3.7, I tried to mount two FireWire drives - no go. Restarting didn't work. Then I restarted, and removed the power cords from both drives, waiting at least 10 seconds before trying to mount the drives again. That worked. Since then, no sudden unmounting from the Tekserve drive. So, unplugging the power cable from the drive and waiting 10 seconds before plugging it back in helps with these problems."

Re-applying the combo updater Re-applying the Mac OS X 10.3.7 combo updater may help restore connectivity to FireWire devices that were made unrecognizable after the first attempt at updating:

MacFixIt reader Hal Stoen writes:

"I installed the Mac OS X 10.3.7 update from the 'Software update' link. Of course, as already mentioned, there was no warning when using this method about disconnecting any firewire drives. Before doing the download I started up off of the OSX install disc and ran permissions repair and disc repair. Did the download and then ran the repairs again off of the install disc. My firewire components, a Que firewire CD burner and an Epson scanner were gone, not even showing up in the "About this Mac" as being on the buss. I downloaded the 'combo updater' from Apple's site (great fun what with the files large size on a dial-up connection). Did the OSX permissions and repair thing before and after the install and now my firewire devices are back. Don't think that I'll ever use the 'Software Update' link again unless Apple starts issuing warnings on the link.

FireWire drive disconnection issues MacFixIt reader Gloria Baciewicz writes "I too have had Fire Wire external hard drive problems since upgrading to 10.3.7. I am using a G4 powerbook and Maxtor 160 Gb FireWire drive. My problem is mostly with ejecting the drive when i wish to take my computer to another room. Either the drive will not eject properly or it looks like it has ejected properly but I still get the 'device disconnected improperly' message. If I try to reconnect the drive it will not mount, though it generally mounts on restart.

"My iPod is connected to the Maxtor Drive. It will show up at restart but disappears after a few hours, even though the Maxtor drive is still visible."

Switch to USB port for problematic FireWire devices Though it may seem like a common sense workaround, it's worth mentioning that devices with both FireWire and USB connectivity can sometimes provide more reliable functionality with the USB connection when FireWire issues arise with an incremental Mac OS X update, like 10.3.7.

For instance, MacFixIt reader Dick Jacobs writes:

"We upgraded to iMac G-5 in September and loaded Mac OS X 10.3.7 when it became available. All worked well until this week when our external firewire drive disappeared from the screen; we went online for a work around and Apple reports this is most frequent with the on-line update, so we downloaded the 10.3.7. and reloaded. It brought up the external disk, but froze the computer and then disappeared. So we hooked the drive to USB port and it works fine."

Another reader, Charles Alexander, adds:

"After the update my Mac would not recognize an old 20 gig 2nd generation iPod and new 20 gig Mac/PC model; both of which can't be seen through the Firewire ports. But, my new iPod can be seen through the USB port!"

Make sure your firmware is up-to-date Make sure your FireWire drive's firmware is up-to-date (check the manufacturer's Web site) if you are experiencing any issues under a newly released incremental Mac OS X update.

Time and again, users have found that non-mounting, or constantly disappearing FireWire drives are problem-free after applying the latest firmware. Case in point, MacFixIt reader Ricardo:

"After upgrading to 10.3.7 our external Firewire drive on a G4 iMac started to get disconnected all on its own. I could turn the drive off, then on again and the drive would mount. But a few minutes later it would disappear. This was very frustrating specially since we have our iTunes collection (with TiVo Desktop) on that drive. Eventually I found a firmware update from the vendor, and installing that brought back the drive to it?s normal healthy status. If Apple really wants people to unmount Firewire drives before software updates they should make that very clear, up-front on the install screen."

Extra FireWire adapter also does not function properly In a number of previous FireWire problem scenarios, we've recommended a separate FireWire bridge in the form of a PCI FireWire adapter.

As evidenced by MacFixIt reader Bart Viaene, however, adding a separate FireWire bridge will not -- in most cases -- resolve software related issues like those introduced by Mac OS X 10.3.7:

"I own a blue and white G3, 350MHz. It was running Mac OS X 10.3.6 happily.

"After using Software Upgrade to automatically install to 10.3.7 (flawlessly), I noticed that the FireWire connections were down. Suspecting a hardware malfunction, I opened the G3 and checked the plugs : all OK there.

"I went to the store and bought a Keyspan PCI FireWire 400 card, which I installed in under 1 minute, no software installer needed. But no go : these 3 new FireWire ports did not function either. Now, I suspect a software problem, related to the 10.3.7 upgrade."

FireWire drives causing kernel panics if connected at startup MacFixIt reader Emyr Williams reports that, in some cases, having a FireWire drive attached at startup under Mac OS X 10.3.7 can cause kernel panics. As such, we recommended that when experiencing problems with the devices, users wait to connect FireWire drives until their Mac OS X system has completed startup.

Williams writes:

"I have an external LaCie 40gb drive attached to my Pismo. Since installing 10.3.7 when I start the computer with the drive switched on I get a grey screen telling me to hold down the power button to re boot the computer. If I boot the computer with hard drive switched off the computer starts up and I can then switch on the drive with no problems."

FireWire ports non-functional Paul Vitello reports that his FireWire ports are not functional at all, and not recognized by System Profiler after the Mac OS X 10.3.7 -- likely an isolated and extremely rare incident:

"Sometime after I ran the Mac OS X 10.3.7 update I could not connect my sony dv camcorder and after some digging I realized that the system is not seeing the FW400 ports on my 1ghz MDD mac at least not in the system profiler. The FW800 bus is showing up though. I checked my 17AL book (also on 10.3.7) in the sys prof and they both showed up. (the FW400 ports seem to be working on the PB)."

SATA drives unmounting

Several readers have reported an issue with SATA drives spontaneously unmounting under Mac OS X 10.3.7.

One user writes: "I have a second internal SATA hard drive installed in a dual 1.8 G5 that refuses to mount on the first boot with 10.3.7. If I startup from a shutdown the drive won't mount, the mac doesn't even acknowledge that it is installed. A restart fixes the problem. This is not a hardware issue (at least as far as the drive is concerned) because this problem only started with 10.3.6 and if I boot with any earlier version the drive mounts every time. I tried an archive an install and then using the combo updater and that seemed to fix it for a few days but then it would not mount on the cold start."

MacFixIt reader Mike reports that the issue may only occur after a kernel panic in some cases:

"I had the same problem with my second SATA in my first generation dual 2 G5. The only time I noticed that it would happen was after a kernel panic. When the computer would reboot no second drive. I had to shut down and reboot to get it back, just rebooting did not work.

"I did not know if it was the drive or the computer so I swap out the drive with Maxtor for a new one. After rebooting I had two drive. No kernel panics as of yet with the new drive."

Daryl Klein adds:

"I recently added a Seagate 120GB SATA drive into my G5 dual-2Ghz three months ago. I had at that time OSX 10.3.6, and noticed that copying massive amounts of files was transferring a tad slower than usual. After installing OSX 10.3.7 through the Software Update...while trying to [copy] 1-5MB files off the drive, it started having a massive coronary trying to copy. The copying of about 200 files took 9 hours, after freezing and rebooting 45 times. The files would start to transfer, hesitate, transfer extremely slow again, then freeze. Hard rebooting each time allowed me to get most of it. I checked the disk with Disk Utility, and it said the drive was fine. But Apple Diagnostics [CD] stated there was some sort of I/O problem. As time went on and my hair got grayer, eventually it got to where I couldn't even open the disk icon without it freezing the finder. So, my only solution was to re-install [Panther] and re-format the drive. No such luck, so I downloaded and re-installed 10.3.7, and here I sit today with a 3 month old drive that is now unplugged.

Sleep Issues: More sensitive to external devices?

MacFixIt reader Bill Gibbon reports an odd situation where his PowerBook G4 12" has apparently been made more sensitive to externally attached devices switching power -- causing the machine to wake up from sleep where it previously would not:

"Having just upgraded my 12" powerbook to 10.3.7 I'm getting a strange effect when sending it to sleep.

"It's my main Mac. During the day it's always attached to a Bookendz dock, and thence to a large monitor, keyboard and copious other devices. Most nights I disconnect and take it home, but I often just put it to sleep and leave it. When I do, I leave it powered, but switch off the power to the rest of the devices. Never any problem before, but now that I've upgraded, the action of switching off the power to the other devices wakes it up so I have to power them all up to set it to sleep again. After trying a few times, I gave up and just left them all powered too. Not very energy efficient."

Paul Bradforth adds:

"Thought you'd like to know I've seen the same thing: I have a new 1.8GHz DP Power Mac and if I put it to sleep, then switch off a light which is plugged into the same strip, the machine will wake again. I can only sleep the machine after I've turned every external device off first. This doesn't happen with a Power Mac G4 which is plugged into the same strip. The difference here is that, having read of the various problems with the latest system update and the Firmware update, I've installed neither of them, preferring to wait until the problem is sorted. So, my G5 is running OS 10.3.6 and I still see this problem."

Ron Blanchard echoes reports of lights waking up Macs: "I have run into this strange phenomenon in that when I come into the room with my eMac sleeping and I turn on a light my Mac sometimes wakes up."

[We should note that Macs/PowerBooks/iBooks generally wake from sleep when they detect some sort of electrical activity from a peripheral (such as a keyboard or mouse); this explains the numerous reports from readers of printers and other USB devices waking their Mac.]

Printing Problems; workarounds

A handful of readers have reported problems with print and fax functionality after upgrading to Mac OS X 10.3.7. One reader writes:

"The upgrade to 10.3.7 (using all recommended procedures) broke my print and fax preference pane. Clicking on the icon results in hang at "loading print and fax..." message at top of preference pane window. Various general and specific permissions repair utilities don't fix. It is user specific - normal behavior using my troubleshooting account. Printing itself seems unaffected, just access to the print center from the preference pane in a specific user account."

Reader Joshua Towle notes an inability to disable fax answering:

"Currently I own a 1Ghz Dual Processor Desktop G4 running 10.3.7. The 'receive' option on Print/Fax System Preferences is set to off; however, when I dial my home phone number, the fax software answers the line after 2 rings. I cannot shut off the fax answering service."

Several MacFixIt readers have been unable to properly print to their Hewlett-Packard branded devices after applying the Mac OS X 10.3.7 updater.

MacFixIt reader Michael Diehr reports a five-step solution that may work in similar situations:

  1. Use the HP Uninstaller (located in the HP folder). Diehr writes "It seemed to hang, but I let it run for over an hour, then finally chose 'Quit' from the dock menu (hold down the mouse button). It then popped up a window claiming success."
  2. Re-download the driver specific to your printer from HP's Web site.
  3. Download Pseudo.
  4. Mount the HP installer image, then Drag and drop the Installer program onto Pseudo -- this will launch the installer with admin privs.
  5. Follow the installer.

This fix has been confirmed for the HP OfficeJet D series and other printers.

MacFixIt reader Matt reports that he was able to resolve a specific printing issue under Mac OS X 10.3.7 by performing a PMU reset:

"I seem to have stumbled on a fix for my printing issues that developed after upgrading to 10.3.7. My wife had the same issues on her iBook G3, that I had on my Powerbook G4.

"We both did a PMU reset (shift+control+option+power with computer off... Wait some seconds then power on) and now we can print fine.

"It was quite odd. I tried to print a text file after the update and it just hung at the 'printing screen.' After I did a PMU reset and logged back into the PBG4 for the first time after the PMU reset, my networked printer fired up and printed the item I sent from 2 days ago!"

Slow startup; solutions

One of the most notorious issues occurring under Mac OS X 10.3.6 resurfaced under Mac OS X 10.3.7: longer-than-normal startup times or a completely stalled startup process.

This problem caused many of those who updated to Mac OS X 10.3.6 to revert to Mac OS X 10.3.5 -- and has caused a number of Mac OS X 10.3.7 adopters to do the same.

Typical reader reports include:

MacFixIt reader Brendan writes "Have just installed the 10.3.7 update via Software Update. I forgot to run repair permissions prior to installation unfortunately. Ran update OK, rebooted. Booted to log on screen at normal speed, but upon logging in, it took about 2 to 3 minutes for the top menu bar to load, and to open a finder window. So I ran repair permissions, rebooted, and the same thing happened."

Ken Marks corroborates "Following all the usual rules, repair permissions etc., I updated a G4 dual 1.25 MHz MDD from 10.3.6 to 10.3.7 using the combo updater. All went well, with one exception. My startup time increased an additional 38 seconds, most of which was represented by a menu bar normal in every way except for its color. It was blue. Upon completion of startup the menu-bar turned white and everything appeared to function normally. I have since returned to 10.3.6 from my backup with the exception that I used the ATI extensions from 10.3.7. My startup is now back to normal."

Philip Byrne writes "The long delay after log-in has returned directly after installing the update (run DiskWarrior - Onyx repair permissions - install update - Onyx repair permissions). I had eliminated (or shortened) the delay by applying your cache-cleaning solution for the 10.3.6 delay but it's back, consistently, with a vengeance."

MacFixIt reader Christopher Brentano describes an instance (noted by other readers) where the Mac OS X startup process stalls completely, necessitating startup in single user mode or from a separate boot volume. He writes:

"After applying (the Mac OS X 10.3.7) update, (my Mac) hangs at 'Login Window starting.' Booted with Safe Boot (Shift-key) same deal.

"Booted in single-user mode successfully, moved all items from /Library/StartupItems to a temp directory in /Users/Shared, no go. Moved one 3rd party kext from /System/Library/Extensions to a temp dir too. Still no go.

"Unplugged all peripherals, nope.

"Booted from Panther CD, ran disk repair and permissions repair. It corrected some permissions on /Library/Internet Plug-Ins/flashplayer.xpt, /System/Library/Filesystems/cd9660.fs/cd9660.util, /private/etc/mach_init_per_user.d, /private/var/log/install.log, /private/var/log/wtmp, and /usr/libexec/httpd/libphp4.so -- they all seem inconsequential though.

"Still hangs at 'Login Window starting.'"

Potential workarounds

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

This involves opening System Preferences, clicking on the "Accounts" pane, then selecting the "Startup Items" tab. Remove any networked volumes from this section using the subtract ("-") button below the list.

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):

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.

Delete loginwindow.plist, com.apple.loginwindow.plist Since the startup process on the problematic Mac OS X installation is stuck, you will need to boot your Mac from another source -- either the Mac OS X CD/DVD or an extra boot volume.

Once your machine has booted, navigate to the /Library/Preferences/ directory on the volume that contains the afflicted Mac OS X installation, and drag the "loginwindow.plist" and "com.apple.loginwindow.plist" files to the Desktop or another location outside of their original parent folder.

Restart your Mac from the original Mac OS X installation and check for elimination of the startup stall.

Replace "loginwindow" Core Service If the aforementioned solution is not successful, this, more tedious solution might. As above, start the Mac from an alternative boot volume. Navigate to the folder /System/Library/CoreServices/loginwindow.app/Contents/MacOS/ on the afflicted Mac OS X installation, and look for the file "loginwindow."

According to scattered reader reports, including one from MacFixIt reader Tom Cheney, replacing this file with one from a Mac OS X installation that did not receive Security Update 2004-12-02 eliminates the startup stall.

Since you will want the versions of this file to match, you will need to actually get the file from another Mac OS X system (or backed up installation) running the same incremental release of 10.2.x or 10.3.x. Disconnecting drives Some readers have reported that disconnecting external volumes while booting can significantly reduce startup time lag:

"I've been following your story on slow startup, and I have the same issue on my G5. Just hit today's posting about Airport, and thought I'd add that the slow startup on my G5 is on a machine that's hooked to Gigabit Ethernet, and has its Airport card disabled.

"Interestingly, during a slow-boot cycle I decided to pull the FW800 cable on an external drive (since the Mac tends to hang on bad disk issues) and it finished the boot cycle instantly."

Disabling all extraneous ports A workaround previously reported for other network problems has proved successful for Mac OS X 10.3.7-related networking issues: Disabling any network ports that are not being used. This is accomplished by selecting "Network Port Configurations" from the "Show:" pull-down menu in the Network pane of System Preferences and unchecking any ports not in use.

George Regan confirms "I ran the update on two Macs: An iMac DV+, and a 12" G-4 Powerbook. Powerbook - no problem. My iMac however suffered significant delay at startup. In 'Network Port Configurations' I had Airport, Ethernet, and Modem all enabled. I turned off all BUT Airport (which is the only connection I use regularly.) Now My iMac starts up faster than before the update."

Changing router settings In Ken Marks' case, the issue was resolved by switching his system's IP address to the one assigned by his router:

"Apparently those experiencing the problem are using a some sort of router. In TCP/IP settings change from DHCP to Manual and enter the IP address assigned to your computer by the router. All other settings that need to be entered should appear when you switch. Note that DHCP with manual address does not work as the router address is not entered."

Deleting automatic network mount links Removing automatically mounting network links (in the left-hand column of a standard Finder window) can, in some cases, resolve issues with slow or stalled startup.

David Luckhardt confirms this workaround, and notes that users can delete the com.apple.sidebarlists.plist file, located in ~/Library/Preferences, if problems get too bad:

"I've seen this problem over and over in corporate settings -- the only solution is to delete ALL links to anything network-based in the sidebar. The Apple "Add to Sidebar" command in Finder's File menu can be a real mistake if network resources get moved or renamed. Safest to make aliases of network resources and leave them on the Desktop.

"If the problems get bad enough, users often can't open any Finder windows or sometimes even view the Desktop at startup. Then the only fix is to start up the Terminal / Console and delete the user's com.apple.sidebarlists.plist preference file."

Apple Pro Speakers In the case of MacFixIt reader Tim Westen, the presence of Apple Pro speakers was the primary cause of slow-down. He was able to temporarily resolve the issue by removing a specific kernel extension, AppleDallasDriver.kext, from his System/Library/Extensions/ folder.

Westen writes:

"I have experienced a particular start-up delay problem with 10.3.7 and some prior updates. In my case it relates to a long standing problem that I have with my Apple Pro Speakers where the OS insists that I unplug and re-plug the speakers as they 'are not recognized'. Needless to say no amount of unplugging and re-plugging makes any difference. The speakers themselves seem to function perfectly normally; to my ears at least.

"One side effect of this problem is a longer start-up time while the system tries repeatedly to initialize the unrecognized hardware. The fix in my case is to move the AppleDallasDriver.kext out of the Extensions folder. Result: No warning messages and no start-up delays [...] In my case the problem will generally reappear each time Apple releases a new version of the AppleDallasDriver.kext in one of the incremental Mac OS X updates."

Launching an application spurs startup? MacFixIt reader Mike reports an odd situation where launching an application after the Dock loads, but before other interface components such as the menu-bar appear (a point in the startup process where many users experience a stall), spurs the startup process to continue more quickly.

He writes:

"My start-up screen has gone from 3 minutes max to about 15 minutes plus. I found if I open an application from the dock which is accessible despite no menu bar showing at the top of the screen, it seems to have a "kick-start" function."

Slow startup/login with AirPort enabled; Fixed IP workaround Slow startup/login can sometimes be "fixed" by disabling AirPort before shutdown/restart. For example, James Weymouth writes, "With the slow start up I have solved that by turning off Airport before shut down and then I get a normal start up."

However, Matt Petrowsky reports that configuring your AirPort connection with a static IP address -- if possible -- is an effective workaround:

"Shortly after installing 10.3.7 via Software Update, my iBook G4 1.2GHz was booting VERY slowly. At first I thought it was a conflict with sshLogin and the bootup [but] after hours of testing, I found that the startup was hinged to whether AirPort was turned on or not. The computer would boot quickly if Airport was off and take forever if it was on...I ran through the standard process of permissions, combined updater, permissions and found (when downloading the 10.3.7 combined updater) that when Ethernet was used, the boot time had no problem and was faster. Without Ethernet and using Airport, Safari was also having problems connecting to websites. It would take many minutes where it should be seconds or less.

"The solution to my problem was a fixed IP. Previously, I had Airport set to use DHCP with my home network. (I'm running an older 802.11b Snow-colored Airport and my new iBook has Airport Extreme.)...After setting TCP/IP to a static IP on my home network the issue went away."

Safari: Slow, non-functioning Java; more

Several readers report broken Java functionality in Safari under Mac OS X 10.3.7. This has caused an inability to access a variety of Web sites, including Yahoo's chat rooms and others.

Some users, experiencing this problem in Safari, have been able to resolve it by using the "Reset Safari" option located in the Safari application menu.

Others reported that re-installing the Java 1.4.2 Update 2 does the trick.

Michael Alford, for instance, writes:

"Just thought I'd confirm what I've been reading from other Mac users regarding the slowness of Safari after the 10.3.7 update. I downloaded and installed the 10.3.7 Combo Update on my 1.8ghz dual processor G5 tower. I noticed that both Safari and Firefox were slow to connect to some sites. Safari would refuse to connect to some sites, and crash upon connecting to other sites, even after I cleaned the caches. After reading the experiences of other users posted to MacFixIt, I, too, reinstalled the Java 1.4.2 Update2, and both browsers are performing much better than they were before the reinstall."

Another reader, Bob, adds: "After updating to 10.3.7 using SW update, I started having printing problems with Safari. I then ran the 10.3.7 combo updater and the printing problems were fixed. But, some of my local Java applications stopped working after the 10.3.7 combo updater. Reinstalling the Java 1.4.2 Update #2 fixed this. Everything seems fine now."

By far the most successful workaround, however, is clearing Java caches.

In order to perform this procedure, go to the /Applications/Utilities/Java folder. You will notice Java 1.4.2 Plugin Settings and Java 1.3.1 Plugin Settings. Launch both of these applications, select the cache tab in each, and click "clear". Attempt to access problematic sites again.

CDs/DVDs not recognized or not mounting; Fixes

Some users are unable to mount CDs and DVDs after applying the Mac OS X 10.3.7 update. Two typical reports of the problem:

  • "After installing the upgrade to 10.3.7, suddenly my internal Pioneer DVD/CD player stopped working. It won't even recognize any CD or DVD that is put into the drive. I still haven't found a solution but thought I would warn others about this occurrence."
  • "I just installed OS X 10.3.7 update and now neither my DVD nor CD player will recognize anything that is put into the drive."
Potential Solutions

If you are having problems removing media from your Mac after the update, you may want to try some of the suggestions contained in our mini-tutorial "Ejecting media in Mac OS X: Removing 'stuck' CDs/DVDs." These include holding down the mouse/trackpad button at startup, and a couple of Terminal commands.

If you are having problems mounting media, you may want to try repeatedly ejecting and re-inserting the disc until it mounts. Readers also report that having the Finder as the foremost application during media insertion more often results in a successful mount. Finally, logging out of the current user account, then logging back in has been reported to temporarily resolve the issue in some instances.

If you are only having problems with DVDs not automatically playing in DVD Player, you might want to try using the "Open VIDEO_TS folder" option located under the "File" menu in DVD Player. If DVD Player crashes repeatedly after the Mac OS X 10.3.7 (as reported by a handful of readers), you may want to try an alternative player like VLC media player.

Meanwhile, MacFixIt reader "WBF" notes that deleting kernel extension caches worked for him:

"Go to /System/Library/ and delete Extensions.kextcache and Extensions.mkext" [You'll need to then restart; OS X will recreate these files at startup. -Ed]

And Paul Keller found that a setting in the CDs & DVDs pane of System Preferences fixed the problem for him:

"I checked the CDs & DVDs preference pane. The standard behaviour for blank CDs was set to ignore. I changed it to 'Ask what to do' and tried mounting the CD again which worked just fine."

For some users, it appears that the option to show removable devices in the Finder sidebar or on the desktop has been inexplicably turned off during the update to Mac OS X 10.3.7. This is an issue that has occurred with previous incremental Mac OS X updates. MacFixIt reader Philippe Simon writes:

"Recently (certainly since update 10.3.7, but i did not check immediately), an external firewire hard drive is not recognized on my PowerBook. I tried different solutions and noticed in general preferences of the finder 'show these options on the desktop' that the option 'CD, DVD and iPod' was unselected. I am sure that i did not unselect it myself and that the modification was introduced by the update; this could eventually explain why certain users don't see their CD and DVD on the desktop."

In order to turn check whether or not this option is turned off, open the Finder's preferences (located under its Application menu) and click "General." Look to see if the options under "Show these Items on the Desktop" are active. Then click "Sidebar," and make sure the items you'd like to appear on the desktop are selected.

Meanwhile, MacFixIt reader Steve was able to get proper operation with an alternative drive:

"Since the upgrade I get constant 'hangs' when using Dvd player and or Itunes. I am unable to eject the disc and the beachball of death becomes a regular feature, the only solution has been to shut down using the power button as normal shut down stopped working. I am using a 1.6 G5 with an internal LaCie dvd burner(Itunes supported) that worked great until this upgrade.

"I have solved the problem to a point by removing the LaCie and putting in a Sony 710A dvd drive which is not supported by iTunes but seems fine with everything else including ejecting and shut down, plus no beach-balls. This may be because there is no software on the system relating to this particular drive that can be stuffed by the new upgrade. I can now only burn using a third party program i.e. Roxio Toast but can't burn my iTunes purchased music for playing in standard CD players (car)."

We've also received some more reports of CD recording problems -- particularly with sessions burned under Mac OS X 10.3.7 not being recognized:

"After updating to 10.3.7 my G5's internal DVR-106D won't mount CD-Rs burned on it, although they open fine on my external CD drives. Sessions burned prior to the update open while sessions on the same disk burned after the date will not. Vexing indeed."

Root login problems: Workarounds for missing name/password dialog

After updating to Mac OS X 10.3.7, some users are no longer presented with the "Other" user that appears in the "list of users" version of the login screen if the root user is enabled.

Neal Skrenes, who manages about 60 eMacs, writes:

"About half of those exhibit the no 'Others' login if you log out of an automatic log in or if you have ["List of users" enabled]. I have no idea why this happens on only some machines as [ours] are all are built from a master image."

We should point out that we've received similar reports after a number of updates to Mac OS X. We're not sure why some updates introduce this bug, but here are a few workarounds to access the "Other" screen in order to log in as the root user:

  • Press option-return, release, and then click on any user in the list of users; this should display the Name/Password login dialog.
  • Download the free LoginWindow Manager, and use it to enable the "Show the 'Other...' user" option.
  • Disable the root user and then re-enable it.

Since we don't recommend logging in as root -- there are few reasons for the average user to ever do so, and doing so can be quite dangerous -- we're not going to go through all the steps necessary to enable the root account. If you need to log in as root, you'll know how to do so.

General Network slowness

Severe, overall network slow-downs for a number of systems upgraded to Mac OS X 10.3.7 can cause an array of other problems including slow startup for network-enabled applications and slow startup for Mac OS X itself.

MacFixIt reader Ulf Cronenberg found that changing the format of his local IP address assignment fixed the issue:

"My router - a Draytek Vigor 2900 - had the IP 192.168.1.1. You only have to change it e.g. into 10.0.1.1 and after that Mail, OmniWeb and iChat opens as quick as before. It seems that Mac OS X 10.3.7 has problems with routers using the IPs 192.168.1.x."

Jon confirms the previously reported workaround of manually entering DNS server addresses:

"Typically I left my Location set to 'Automatic' and things would just work between home and office with my AirPort card. After updating my 1.25GHz Aluminum PowerBook to 10.3.7, I experienced dreadful slowness on DNS lookups. But only in the office. While at work, connecting to a Buffalo wireless router, it would often take 5 seconds to do one DNS lookup. [...]I ended up creating a "Work" location and hard assigned the DNS numbers. This sped things up a bit but once I switched from DHCP to Manual and hard assigned all numbers, things are just a fast as they were before the upgrade."

Reader "Lyman's" experiences are actually the opposite of Joe's in terms of how he was able to improve Internet performance after installing the update:

"I discovered something useful that may work for others frustrated with slow online performance after upgrading to OS 10.3.7. If you also use a router, something seems to have changed regarding the use of manual DNS addresses. Prior to the upgrade, I had DNS Servers entered manually, per advice of my ISP, Earthlink, in both the router and in Network Preferences. (Configured IPv4 using DHCP). Now the reverse is true. As an experiment, I created a new Location in Network Prefs. All original settings were re-copied exactly, except that I did not enter anything in the DNS Servers box. (The DNS addresses were left unchanged in the router, however). Instantly Safari, Mail, and Firefox became plenty snappy. The solution was as simple as that. Now it appears having redundant addresses is a liability. Making a new Location alone may have done the trick, or just deleting DNS Servers may have provided the cure. Doing both certainly worked great."

Charles Elliott found that turning off all of his equipment, waiting a few minutes, then turning it all back on resulted in elimination of the network lag:

"Upgraded through Software Update. First couple of starts were very slow but this has improved. Had the same trouble many are having with slow internet apps- slow to launch, didn't seem to be working. I turned off Airport, shut the computer down, powered off my Airport Base Station (graphite), cable modem, and LinkSys router for a few minutes, restarted the modem, router and Airport, and rebooted the PowerBook. No more internet or network problems."

Slow network application activity

Many users have experienced a problem under Mac OS X 10.3.7 where network throughput seems normal, but individual Internet-enabled applications suffer a severe lag when starting up or when performing routine processes.

MacFixIt reader Jonathan writes "Did the 10.3.7 update (via Software update), and then repaired permissions. Restarted, but now Mail takes two minutes to load - was fine before.

"I've restarted a couple of times but still the same problem. Not sure what it is since there appears to be no hard disk activity during that time - so it's not obvious what it's doing."

Another reader named John adds "I have also updated and now, Ichat , omniweb, apple mail , seem to take on the average of 35 to 45 sec, to open!"

Tony McLean corroborates "Took all the usual precautions, downloaded the update and found that apple's mail application takes about 30 seconds to load. Ditched the preference files but no improvement."

Potential workarounds

Clearing caches Some users have been able to resolve this issue by running either the "medium" or "deep" cache cleaning routines offered by shareware utilities like Panther Cache Cleaner.

Re-install the application In other cases, simply re-installing an application from its original download source, CD/DVD, or another location can resolve the problem.

In the case of some Apple applications, however, you may need to use the shareware utility Pacifist to extract the files from your original Mac OS X installation disc.

Launch Pacifist and insert your Mac OS X Installer Disk 1. Click "Open Mac OS X Install Packages" and you'll be prompted to insert the other install disks in order. Navigate to: OSInstall/EssentialSystemSoftware/Essentials/Applications then control-click on your desired application (Mail.app, etc.) to install to its default location. "

Entering anything (or real numbers) in the DNS field Some users have found that putting anything in the DNS field of the Network pane in System Preferences resolves the issue. Marcin Kotas "If you have DHCP chosen as method of TCP/IP config, you have to put anything in field Search Domains,virtually anything - in my case mistakingly putting DNS server helped, and when i corrected that all failed again. So i put something like 'aaaaaaa' and it works flawlessly right now."

Others have been able resolve the issue by entering real DNS numbers (as previously noted, a fix that also worked for many readers experiencing the Safari "multiple-try" bug we covered a few weeks ago).

Paul Hathcoat writes "After installing Mac OS X 10.3.7 on my G5 Tower, Mail was taking up to 2 minutes to launch. As Ray Landsiedel reported 12/18/04 that he fixed this issue by manually entering DNS server addresses in the Network prefs, I tried this after several other fix tries didn't help. Manually entering the DNS server addresses solved it for me. Mail now opens almost instantly."

Deleting DNS numbers For some readers, previously specified DNS numbers had to be deleted before normal network operation could take place. This is likely a result of Apple's attempt to fix significant DNS resolution issues that occurred under Mac OS X 10.3.6.

One reader writes

"After installing OS X 10.3.7 on one of my machines, I experienced extreme slow-down of network applications.

"Then I turned off the built-in internet (from the Network System Preference panel) and instantly all speeds were back to normal. Turning the built-in internet back on made the problem recur. Then I had the bright idea to delete the IP addresses of the two DNS servers I had put into the Network Pref panel to deal with the Safari problems of old. With no DNS servers named, Eudora works normally. Once again, putting explicit DNS server addresses in causes the mammoth slowdown. (My machine is one of three sitting behind an Airport Extreme router to the outside world, getting its IP address by DHCP.)

"So I now just let the system figure out DNS lookup however it wants to, and I am happy again (now that I have a usable mail client)."

Several permissions repairs For some users, performing not one, but several permissions repair routines, significantly speeds up launch times for network applications ,including Mail.app, Safari, and others.

MacFixIt reader Jerry writes: "I had the same slow startups on Mail and Safari and very slow shut downs on my iMac G5 20" after the initial update to Mac OS X 10.3.7 via software update. What brought it all back to normal was multiple rebuilding of permissions. The first rebuild took about 12 minutes to complete and the problems still existed. Two more rebuilds were much faster."

Audio distortion

There are scattered reports of distorted audio under Mac OS X 10.3.7. Most reports have indicated the contrary -- improved audio playback and clarity after the update.

One reader, however, writes:

"I have a constant problem with distortion and a significant increase in output volume caused by the 10.3.7 update. The volume is so loud it's deafening at 3/4 output. There is an enormous increase in the bass output as well as significant hissing and general distortion which makes listening to any music unbearable. If you restart in 10.2.8 from the other drive or 9.2.2 from the master drive the sound output is fine again.

"By disconnecting the audio output to the Altec Lansing 621 speakers and then reconnecting the line-out cable after a few seconds the distortion disappears and the output volume returns to normal.[...] I've also found that by running all the maintenance tasks (cache purging, etc.) in Cocktail and then doing a restart, that the distortion and the volume problems are fixed most of the time."

Software Update not working; solutions

Some readers are have experienced difficulty using Software Update after the upgrade. When this problem manifests, the menu-access cue is grey and cannot be selected. Richard Kennedy writes:

"After repairing disk permissions, I installed the Mac OS X 10.3.7 combo updater. After the reboot, selecting 'Software Update' from the Apple Menu does nothing. Also, when 'About This Mac' is selected from the Apple menu, the 'Software Update...' button is grayed-out."

MacFixIt reader David Taylor's case is typical:

"I have seen this problem on two different systems the nonfunctional Software Update and grayed out Software Update tab in the About This Mac panel. The Software Update in the system preference panel still works correctly. I tried Cocktail + Combo 10.3.7 Updater + repair permissions and the grayed Software Update remained."

MacFixIt reader Aaron tried accessing Software Update through the Terminal when he experienced this problem, with the following results:

"I've been doing things from within terminal, and the error returned when I run softwareupdate is 'Couldn't register server on this host.' Running ktrace then kdumping the output shows an incomplete trace, Which stops half way through the xml returned by apple as part of the first web request (this looks like it might have something to do with the list of apple software for which updates are available). The trace never gets far enough to show what the program is trying to do right before it spits out the server error, so that makes debugging it any further a little difficult."

Solutions

Clearing Caches The most consistent workaround for this issue has been clearing of system caches -- a task easily accomplished with a tool like Panther Cache Cleaner.

MacFixIt reader Steve writes: "I also observed this problem. It was resolved by running Panther Cache Cleaner in its 'Deep clean all caches' mode. A less aggressive mode might have been effective, but this is what I did.

"Using Panther Cache Cleaner also fixed another problem at the same time: after the update a blank CD would not appear on the desktop, even after I'd responded to the dialog about a disc name and required action."

Battery indicator problems

Like previous incremental Mac OS X 10.3.x updates, Mac OS X 10.3.7 is causing issues with battery capacity indication on some PowerBooks and iBooks.

MacFixIt reader Philip Lipetz writes "I have a 12" 1.3 G PB with 768 RAM (Crucial). Since installing 10.3.7 after permissions fix I have noticed a reoccurring, although not constant, problem. I will get a low battery shutdown notice when the battery is still over 50% charged. It closes down very quickly (within 10 seconds) and does not give you the few minutes time ordinarily alloted to plug in an external power supply. The only time that I checked had time to I check battery levels on the menu bar it will show conflicting results in the menu display and what shows when I check details. In the details it showed 87% battery levels left, but the menu bar battery showed only a few minutes time left."

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 ofte

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