Mac OS X 10.5.3: systems not shutting off; DNS issues solved; misc. third-party application problems

External devices or third-party helper software may be to blame for startup/shutdown issues.

CNET staff

Sept. 2, 2009 2:37 a.m. PT

6 min read

Systems not shutting off For some users, after a seemingly successful update to 10.5.3, upon attempting to shut down the system, the spinning "loop" wheel (grey lines) appears and stlls. The only way to get the computer to shut off is to hold the power button down. Additionally, for some users with external devices connected, the system hangs at bootup with the same spinning wheel.

As described by MacFixIt reader Michael D. Mortilla:

"Applied 10.5.3 via software update to my Mac Mini (1.4 PPC). All fine EXCEPT I cannot shut down, restart, etc. - except with power button hold down. eapplied combo update; still no shut down. Repaired Disk from install DVD; Repaired permissions; ran daily, weekly & monthly scripts, and cleared (cleaned) all cache. Deleted: com.apple.loginwindowlist.plist. Still no shut down. Restart - shut down from DVD fine, so clearly it is the update that caused the problem.

"Symptom: On shut down or restart, Finder quits, wallpaper remains and the spinning clock (not the color wheel) starts and never stops. After each of these, restart was accomplished by holding the power button (force shut down) and startup from power button.

While the shutdown problems could be from problematic USB and FireWire devices, for most users this problem appears to have been from problematic third-party helper software.

Fixes
Remove "Qmaster services" From console logs of some affected users, it appears the "Qmaster services" get started right before the computer hangs. The Qmaster services are included with Apple's Pro applications and are responsible for distributing projects to multiple computers (outlined in this manual). If you do not use any distributed processing then these services can be removed by moving the qmaster folder out of the /library/startupitems/ folder (the one at the root of the drive, not in your home folder).

Remove ClamXav Sentry (or other antivirus entries) from login items For others who do not have qmaster services installed, ClamXav antivirus software was to blame. Go to the Accounts system preferences and in the "Login Items" tab remove the ClamXav Sentry from the list of items.

Other things to try:

Fix permissions on the boot drive Using Disk Utility to run a permissions fix and verify/repair the hard drive may help clear up file access and disk errors that could contribute to this problem.

Remove any suspicious items from the login items list for your account

Do a web search on any unrecognized entries in your "login items" list. If you do not recognize (or do not need) an item that's listed there, then removing it may prevent odd behavior if the program conflicts with your operating system. Common items to have in the login items include: iTunes Helper, AdobeResourceSynchronizer, iCalAlarmScheduler, mouse and keyboard drivers, and perhaps some common utilities such as "Quicksilver".

Launch "Activity Monitor" to see if any processes match processes listed in the system logs during the hang. This might take a bit of thumbing through files, but if there is a driver or other software referenced then perhaps removing or reinstalling it would help.

Troubleshoot individual USB/FireWire devices by systematically unplugging them before shutdown to isolate any which may be contributing to the system hangs.

Solves DNS issues We've reported extensively on DNS issues plaguing previous iterations of Leopard (Mac OS X 10.5.x). These problems generally manifested as an inability to load pages in Safari or retrieve other network data.

Users now indicate that Mac OS X 10.5.3 has resolved many of these frustrating issues.

MacFixit reader Craig Hunter writes:

"In OS X 10.4 and earlier, lookups requested a very simple "A" (address) record from a domain name system (DNS) server. [...] In early versions of 10.5, name lookups were changed to request an "SRV" (service locator) record. This is a more comprehensive type of record that not only maps IP addresses to names, but can also map IP addresses to various "services" within a domain [...] Though the SRV record makes a lot of sense and has been a recommended standard for over 8 years, there are still DNS servers on the internet that don't support it"

"10.5.3 shows up last week, and I get an e-mail from a user who claimed it miraculously solved all his DNS problems. I scoured the release notes and developer notes, but no mention of name lookup changes was made. So I updated one of my systems to 10.5.3 and did some snooping with "tcpdump" on port 53. Lo and behold, OS X is now starting off name lookups with A record requests again, just like it did in 10.4 and earlier! I'd like to think that 10.5.3 fixed the DNS issue, but what it really did was revert to the old behavior. Maybe Apple can take another shot at SRV requests in 8 more years; perhaps by then, DNS servers will more widely support this standard."

Solves iSub problems In previous iterations of Mac OS X 10.5 users of the popular Harman/Kardon iSub have found that the speaker system worked poorly at best, if at all. The speakers would cut out intermittently as if the audio was coming from a skipping CD. As one user put it:

"Installed Leopard last night and found that when the iSub is attached, sound output from the computer will be intermittent at best. It will sound like a skipping CD - audio will play in half-second increments with half-second blocks of silence interspersed."

Users found that if they unplugged the device from their systems, audio quality returned to normal, indicating a clear incompatibility with Leopard through 10.5.2. Apple has provided some noncommittal feedback, indicating that the support for third-party devices is up to the manufacturer.

The update to 10.5.3 has fixed this problem for most affected users. If you are running 10.5.2 or earlier and are experiencing choppy audio with your iSub system, updating to 10.5.3 should fix the problem.

NOTE: This may not fix the problem right away. Some users have found that the issue resolves itself after rebooting and cycling the iSub's power several times. In addition, resetting the PRAM on the computer after updating, as well as fixing permissions on the hard drive may help.

You may also need to trash the file com.apple.systemsound.plist located in ~/Library/Preferences/. The file will be recreated by the system, and hopefully be error free. While a permissions fix might correct this problem for some users, if the contents of the file are incorrect then replacing it is the only solution. For one user this fix worked for his 10.5.2 installation, so for those still wary of the 10.5.3 update, removing the preferences file may be the first option to try.

Misc. third-party software issues

httpmail plugin The httpmail plugin -- which allows access to Hotmail accounts within Mail.app -- appears to be broken under Mac OS X 10.5.3, with users of the add-on able to send but unable to receive mail.

MacFixIt reader Bruce Bugajski writes:

"I downloaded the OS X 10.5.3 combo update and all went well. I have been using mac mail with no problems up to this time. I used the http plugin for leopard 1.51 and it always worked. Now I can send mail but can not receive it via mac mail. It seems that this update messed up my http plugin? My mail works via Entourage, but the mac mail is useless now. Any ideas or updates for the 1.51 plugin would be very helpful."

Conflict Resolver A reader writes:

"Installed 10.5.3 and Conflict Resolver now pops up at every boot / sleep cycle indicating ALL my calendar items are in conflict. Conflict Resolver then crashes and must be Force Quitted. This happens every time... Powerbook 17" G4 1GHz, 2GB RAM, 160GB HD. MS Office 2004.

Maya performance Some users have reported sluggish performance from Maya after the update:

"Maya is extremely slow after installing OS X 10.5.3. ( 2 x 2,5 GHz 4GB PowerPC G5 / NVIDIA GeForce 6800 Ultra DDL Besides the screen seems corrupted, with broken images."