Troubleshooting Mac OS X 10.2.8: Update pulled; Ethernet connections; Dual Display configuration; more
Troubleshooting Mac OS X 10.2.8: Update pulled; Ethernet connections; Dual Display configuration; more
Published Yesterday, September 23
Mac OS X 10.2.8 apparently pulled Mac OS X 10.2.8 has disappeared from Apple's Web Servers, and is no longer available via the automatic Software Update function.
We are awaiting further word from Apple on the subject.
UPDATE: Apple has now restored the Knowledge Base articles for Mac OS X 10.2.8 with the message "This update is temporarily unavailable. Please check back later."
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Ethernet connections Perhaps the most widely reported problem reported after updating to Mac OS X 10.2.8 is loss of network access. It appears that in most cases, the failure is happening because DHCP self-assigns an IP address.
In some cases, 100 Mbps Ethernet continues to work, but the 10 Mbps mode is disabled. George Warner writes "The Mac OS X 10.2.8 update installed fine but I lost networking including ability to talk to my Apple Airport Extreme. After some experimenting, I was able to determine that my Mac (Dual-500 G4) was not able to talk to my 10 Base-T network. 10 Base-T is the least common denominator on my LAN. I require it for some other devices. Apparently, my updated Mac is stuck at 100 Base-T. A hub which provides a 10 to 100 bridge was able to band-aid my problem."
The solution is to revert the AppleGMACEthernet.kext from the new version (1.3.0) to the 10.2.6 version (1.2.4) and reboot. This file is located in System/Library/Extensions. You can pull this file from an older Mac OS X system that has not yet been updated, then replace it by booting into Mac OS 9 and overwriting the old file (which you should back up, just in case).
Alternatively, a poster on Apple's Discussion boards has uploaded the old .kext file to his Web server.
Of course, the main problem is that many readers who need this fix are not able to access the Internet after performing the Mac OS X 10.2.8 update. If you know some fellow Mac users who might be experiencing the issue, you may want to bring them the old AppleGMACEthernet.kext file on a CD.
You can also use the program Pacifist to view the package contents of the Mac OS X 10.2.6 updater, and extract the AppleGMACEthernet.kext.
Also, it is not yet known what other problems might be caused by using the old .kext file with the new version of Mac OS X.
System modifications/haxies Several readers report problems with haxies and other system modifications. The shareware utility Transparent Dock, in particular, no longer works for some readers.
FireWalk X2 also apparently seems to be losing functionality for some readers after the update.
UPDATE: Pliris Software, creator of FireWalk X2, told us "Apple removed a function from the kernel that we used to detect the current processor capabilities which is why our KEXT doesn't load on Mac OS X 10.2.7 or later. Yesterday we released Firewalk X 2 2.2.8 which corrects this problem, among others."
Dual Display configuration MacFixIt reader Graham Jones, along with a handful of other readers report that they had to reset their monitor preferences after installing Mac OS X 10.2.8. "My Dual G4/1.25 with Mac OS X 10.2.8 forgets screen sizes and reverses the arrangement of the two monitors."
Permissions problems One MacFixIt reader writes "After updating to Mac OS X 10.2.8, I am unable to use Disk Utility to repair permissions. About a minute after starting repair permissions, the screen goes black and the system is completely locked up. I've been troubleshooting this for about four hours with no luck."
Several other readers have since corroborated this issue.
The solution is to boot from the Mac OS X 10.2 CD (or another, sans-Mac OS X 10.2.8 volume) and then run repair permissions.
I can repair permissions by booting from the Jaguar CD.
Keyboard/mouse problems MacFixIt reader Ben Rosenthal writes:
"Keyboard and Mouse preference panes have been combined in Mac OS X 10.2.8, as in Panther. And, I seem to have lost trackpad support on my Lombard 400. I ran the update late last night, but only noticed the loss this morning, as my occasion to use the trackpad is minimized by my Apple Pro Mouse. However, I have occasion, e.g., to option click a link in Safari to download, and I use the trackpad button for this action."
UPDATE: Rosenthal now writes "I restarted into single user mode to run fsck (Ed.- hold down the Command-S keys at startup and type /sbin/fsck -y ). Repaired a handful of orphaned indirect nodes, in addition to two or three other problems. Restarted once more to login and the trackpad worked.
Updates: (9:30 AM PDT)
Icons not appearing Several readers have reported problems with icons not appearing properly. Repairing disk permissions with Apple's Disk Utility seems to fix most of the broken icons, while others can be manually restored via Mitch Wayne's method:
"I had to use the Get Info panel to tell the system what application to use to open the doc, and then perform a Change All to fix all similar docs."
Linksys Router needs new firmware It appears that Mac OS X 10.2.8 requires the the latest version of Linksys' router driver software for proper operation. Peter Hillman writes
"I updated my Linksys Router BEFSR41 with their latest firmware version, 1.45.7. (I had 1.45.6). The firmware version fixes the following:
- Supports multi-L2TP-pass-through
- Supports DHCP relay agent
- Fixed fragmented packets arriving out of order.
"After updating the router, I powered everything down. I powered up the router, did a reset by pushing the reset button until the red light came on. Then I powered up my cable modem and waited for a signal. After I had a signal, I reset the router again. Then I powered up my PowerBook and everything works again. I launched Explorer and my internet connection was alive again."
Update: (12:15 PM PDT)
Missing resolution Scott Rose reports a missing display resolution after upgrading to Mac OS X 10.2.8:
"After updating to Mac OS X 10.2.8, my Apple Cinema Display's resolution defaulted to 1600x1024 (it was previously 1600x1200), and the choice of 1600x1200 is no longer available at all within the Displays System Preference. The 1600x1200 option is just completely gone."
We previously noted a few workarounds for rescuing displays from incorrect resolution settings that can incapacitate any video throughput, which are also useful when a resolution is not accessible. One solution was to delete the file System/Library/Preferences/com.apple.windowserver.plist, which contains resolution and other display settings.
There are also a few applications that have been written that can change the screen resolution from the command line. CScreen for instance. Sometimes a resolution inaccessible from System Preferences can be used from the Terminal.
Update: (12:45 PM PDT)
Serious problems with Lombard PowerBooks Several Lombard (PowerBook G3) owners have now reported a serious problem when attempting to repair permissions with the Apple Disk Utility after updating to Mac OS X 10.2.8.
One poster in the MacFixIt forums writes:
"I installed the Mac OS X 10.2.8 update -- no issues noted until about halfway through the post-update preventative run through repair permissions (run from the hard drive using Disk Utility).
"The screen went from normal display to pure noise [...] Computer was non-responsive to keyboard inputs - forced restart to single user mode, fsck with repairs, normal restart to OS 9, ran Disk Repair Utility (found and repaired issues), DiskWarrior 2.11 (found and repaired issues), Norton SpeedDisk 6.03 to optimize/defrag (minimal file fragmentation / major free space fragmentation repaired from largest contiguous free space being 300mb back to 2gb contiguous free space) -- restarted into 10.2.8 through single user / fsck (no issues), then ran verify permissions using terminal cli (sudo diskutil verifyPermissions /)......and got about one third of the way into it when we went back to the kaleidoscopic video noise on the display."
Some readers have reported that removing one of their Lombard RAM modules made the problem temporarily disappear. If you are a Lombard owner who has updated to mac OS X 10.2.8, try removing one of the modules (leaving only one) and please send us your expereiences.
Others report that simply repairing permissions will do the trick, Robert Engstrom writes "I have a 400Mhz G3 Lombard and I also have problem with the screen turning black or screen turning into strange colours. The easiest way to get the problem is to use Disk Utility and repair permissions. After just a few minutes the screen turns into strange colours and the computer crashes. Removing one RAM module fixes the problem but makes the system slow."
Feedback? Late-breakers@macfixit.com.
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