Troubleshooting Mac OS X 10.0.4: No TCP/IP from Classic; more

We continue to receive reports of problems with the new Mac OS X 10.0.4 update (see previous coverage). In fact, this is the first OS X update where the new problems it causes may outnumber the benefits it offers - which is all the more reason why we need more documentation on these updates. For that matter, why is it that Mac OS 9.2 has been in development for months, with numerous beta and final candidate versions seeded to developers - yet OS X updates come out with virtually no advance seeding or developer testing at all?

Anyway, here's today's list of issues. Note especially the first item:

No TCP/IP from Classic? We have received numerous reports of what appears to be one of the most serious problems resulting from the 10.0.4 update: TCP/IP connections no longer work from Classic. You cannot even ping an IP address successfully. This may not affect all those who update, but it does appear to be common. Even worse, some users report that, after quitting Classic and shutting down or restarting the Mac, a kernel panic occurs. (Thanks, Craig Stein, Brian Kendig, Anthony O'Connell and others.)

Brian Hill adds: "If you have the natd server running on OS X 10.0.4, and you launch Classic, Classic will be unable to access the internet. If you then stop the natd server, you will get a kernel panic." Brian notes that a similar problem also existed in the Public Beta. It was due to the SharedIP.kext kernel extension."

Update: A few readers wanted to make sure we knew that not everyone has this problem:

Courtney Wright writes: "I have had a (pleasant) contrary experience. Before updating to 10.0.4 I had been unable to access my club's 'FirstClass' BBS (v3.5.1, which only works in Classic) via TCP/IP from a dialup connection to the Net from OS X. Now I can."

Scott Boettcher states: "I have updated a number of Macs from the new iBooks to the G4/733/DVD and I have had no problems with IP loss in Classic - even using AirPort! I have had zero kernel panics."

Patrick Chinn adds: "It's a bummer these folks are having a problem, but from my experience it is not widespread."

No Classic? Two readers (Greg Davidson and Martin Claesson) report that they can no longer launch Classic after updating to 10.0.4. Obviously, given the previous report, not all users have this symptom.

USB and startup problems We continue to get reports of failures to startup from Mac OS X 10.0.4 when certain USB devices are attached. The latest example: Brian Cipresse could not start up his Mac until he disconnected a USB Hammerhead FX Joystick. The problem did not occur with 10.0.3. Joshua Pechter had to remove all USB devices except his mouse and keyboard, in order to boot up from 10.0.4. Even so, his MS Intellimouse no longer worked.

Palm HotSync We received several confirmations of yesterday's item on a failure of Pam's HotSync after updating to Mac OS X 10.0.4. Bob Eller offers a potential solution: "I modified the Serial setting from 'As Fast as Possible' to the highest possible numerical setting of 115,200. HotSync now works." Note: At least one user claims not to have a problem here at all.

No Canon 8200 support yet David Bean writes: "With all the mention of 'USB under Classic' improvements, I hoped that I might at last be able to print to my Canon BJC-8200, as promised on the Canon web site. No such luck."

PPP disconnects and dual-processor G4s: the symptom remains We previously covered the issue of kernel panics when making PPP connections from dual processor G4 Macs. While we noted a patch that fixed the panics, Ira Victor notes that there is still a lingering problem - and it has not been fixed in the 10.0.4 update: the PPP connection is unreliable and subject to frequent disconnects.

Update: See also this Apple Discussions page for more posts on this PPP "264 error."

Countdown stopped When we installed OS X 10.0.4, after the installation successfully completed, the Installer started a countdown to an automatic restart. However, when it reached one second left, it halted. We tried to click the Restart button, but it did nothing. Eventually, we restarted via the command in the Apple menu. A few other readers have reported this as well. In our case, we did not notice any ill effect of this. But it did raise our anxiety level a bit.

Update: Numerous users pointed out that this problem occurred in previous updates as well - but only when you use the stand-alone installer.