Safari 3.1.1: more on slowness; DNS, iChat issues; crashes

Tips for speed, resolving post-update network issues.

CNET staff

Sept. 2, 2009 2:32 a.m. PT

4 min read

Continued slowness Users continue to report degraded performance under Safari 3.1.1. One reader, Soli Deo Gloria, writes:

"I am experiencing similar problems. Safari is painfully slow after this current fix. I'm not sure what they did, but it sure appears to be broken right now."

See our tutorial "Speeding up Safari" for potentially performance-enhancing procedures.

More problems updating Users also continue to report problems with applying the Safari 3.1.1 update. MacFixit reader Dan Kadel writes:

"I have experience problems with upgrading my MacBook Pro, OS 10.5.2, with the latest Safari application, 3.1.1. I ran the downloaded Safari updater and it appear that the updated ran successfully, or at least that what the software reported. I rebooted my system. I opened Safari normally to discover that the version was still 3.0.4. Now, here's the spooky event: I ran the Software Updater again and the Safari, version 3.1.1, updater did not appear in the updater list. Now, I don't know if Safari 3.0.4 or Safari 3.1.1 is installed on my platform. I have a hunch that it's 3.0.4, but that's a mystery."

The Safari 3.1.1 package updates system components other than the Safari application itself. As such, a failed update may result in the updating of some components (e.g. WebKit) but not others (e.g. the Safari application itself). The fix is to re-apply the standalone Safari download.

Bookmarks missing -- fix Some users have found their bookmarks missing, replaced by default Apple-supplied bookmarks, after the update to Safari 3.1.1. If you are experiencing this issue, navigate to ~/Library/Safari/ and inspect the files therein. If you have any files named something similar to "Bookmarks backup.plist" try importing them using the "Import Bookmarks" option under the "Safari" menu in Safari.

Alternatively, inspect the file Bookmarks.plist (in ~/Library/Safari/) with a tool like PlistEdit Pro. If it contains all of your bookmarks, try using the same "Import" option on this file.

DNS issues -- fix Some users are -- oddly -- reporting DNS issues after updating Safari. MacFixIt reader Jerry writes:

"After loading 3.1.1 on OSX Server 10.5.2 and rebooting DNS services didn't come up and everything that relies on DNS services. Repairing permissions didn't help."

If you are experiencing as similar issue, try manually starting the named process by opening the Terminal (located in /Applications/Utilities) and entering the command:

ndc start

If that fails, make sure that your DNS settings haven't been inadvertently deleted.

Go to the DNS Servers field of the TCP/IP tab of your Internet connection port in Network preferences and make sure the entries appear. If they don't you can usually obtain them from your ISP.

Some ISPs that use DHCP to distribute IP addresses to customers prefer not to provide DNS server addresses, with the argument being that DHCP is supposed to provide such information to connected computers automatically. However, in this situation, one solution is to enter them manually, so we encourage readers to be persistent with their ISPs. Apart from the fact that a DNS server address might change in the future, requiring the user to then manually enter the updated address, there are few technical reasons why an ISP shouldn't give its customers the IP addresses of their DNS servers if it's the best solution to a connectivity problem.

If you're using a DHCP connection and your ISP won't cooperate, you may be able to figure out your current DNS server(s) in one of two ways. Sometimes the server's address(es) will appear in the TCP/IP tab of your Internet connection port in Network preferences. If it doesn't, you may be able to determine its address by launching System Profiler, selecting the Network item in the Contents pane, selecting your current Internet connection type (Ethernet, AirPort, etc.) on the right, and then looking for the DNS Servers item in the details section at the bottom of the window.

iChat issues Some users are reporting problems with iChat after the Safari 3.1.1 update. The update package does modify iChat-related files, so such problems are not unexpected.

One reader writes:

"I installed the Safari 3.1.1 update on Tiger 10.4.11 today. After the reboot, iChat had lost it's GoogleTalk configuration. Easy enough to reconfigure, but weird."

Another reader writes:

"iChat seems to crash a lot after the Safari update. I haven't had time to restart and see if it's just an anomaly. But iChat hasn't crashed in months until today."

Java problems persist Java applet issues extant in Safari 3.1 persist in version 3.1.1. One reader writes:

"In spite of Apple's release of Safari 3.1.1, certain JAVA pages such as NOAA's ADDS pages still have problems with loading. The page icon with the red cross still appears in the upper left corner."

Crashes when displaying PDF files MacFixIt reader Gabriel Dorado reports repeatable crashes when accessing specific PDF files in Safari 3.1.1: