Troubleshooting Mac OS X 10.2.2: Norton Disk Doctor; Repair Permissions; more

Yesterday we noted Apple's release of Mac OS X 10.2.2, which delivers a journalling filesystem and other fairly significant enhancements. While most users experienced a smooth upgrade and immediately began enjoying some performance boosts and bug eradication, others ran into trouble.

Processor Usage We have sporadic reports of dramatically slower system operation after applying the 10.2.2 update, with one user noting extremely high processor usage numbers:

"I updated to Mac OS X 10.2.2 and left my Power Mac G4 Cube running overnight with the following applications open: OmniWeb (no windows open), iTunes (paused), and Ircle (active). I had the screensaver turned on. This morning, system and mouse response time were very sluggish. I was able to force-quit the open applications and restart Finder. Each force-quit took over a minute. After force-quitting everything, the system was still slow but responsive enough to open Terminal and run top. I got the following load averages:2.82, 4.68, 5.73 CPU usage: 3.6% user, 95.6% sys, 0.7% idle.

"Even after I killed what I thought was the offending application, kernel_task CPU use still jumped to over 100 percent if the mouse was moved and held steady around 70 percent otherwise."

Several other users simply report significantly longer start times and other general delays after applying the update. Candice Pratt's experience typifies a number of corroborating reports:

"After applying the Mac OS X 10.2.2 update, startup took over 20 minutes, all applicatons opened extremely slowly, there was no sound input device found, and shut down took over 15 minutes."

Repair Permissions It is prudent to repair disk permissions (using Apple's included Disk Utility application) after installing Mac OS X 10.2.2, as at least one permissions failure seems to be common across a variety of configurations. Even with a fresh permission fix right before the update, several users' experiences and our in-house testing constantly returned the following error fix message:

"We are using special permissions for the file or directory ./System/Library/Filesystems/hfs.fs/hfs.util. New permissions are 33261"

Print Center In multiple printer set-ups, Mac OS X 10.2.2 appears to consistently reset the default printer to whichever imaging device printed last, effectively nulling the ability set a default printer.

Norton Disk Doctor The Disk Doctor component of Norton Utilities is no longer able to see mounted volumes after applying the Mac OS X 10.2.2. We are awaiting word from Symantec regarding the cause of this problem, but initial reports suggest the new journalling file system.

"Unreadable Disk" message We have confirmed reports of users receiving multiple error messages stating that disks are unreadable after restarting a system with Mac OS X 10.2.2 freshly installed. Joseph Hough's problem mirror other reports:

"Right after the Mac OS X splash screen, I get multiple cascading windows saying "You have inserted a disk that is unreadable by Mac OS X," even though no disks other than the main volume are mounted. There are two button choices: Ignore or Eject. Either one closes the window, but multiple new identical windows then appear."

Seeing Mac OS X 10.2.2 in Software Update Similar to previous Mac OS X updates available via Software Update, Mac OS X 10.2.2 cannot be "seen" by the automatic updating component if a pre-release build of the new version is installed. Users can alleviate this problem by removing the the file "MacOSXUpdate10.2.2.pkg" from the /Library/Receipts directory.

Disk Image Mounting We have isolated, but confirmed reports of problems mounting disk images after installing Mac OS X 10.2.2. Some users report that Disk Copy fails to launch alltogether, while others report the application simply stalls in mid-mount.

Third-Party Quartz Extreme Disabling MacFixIt reader Jason reports that the Mac OS X 10.2.2 update turned off a third party enabler's Quartz Extreme rendering on his upgraded Beige Power Macintosh G3:

"After updating my beige G3 (upgraded to G4/500) to 10.2.2, iMovie would crash whenever I tried importing video via Firewire.After basic troubleshooting, I found the cause. I have a Radeon 7000 and have used utility PCI Extreme! to enable Quartz Extreme. The 10.2.2 update disabled the Quartz Extreme. Once I re-ran the PCI Extreme installer, I had no problems with iMovie."

Holdover bugs There are a number of bugs held over from Mac OS X 10.2.1 that users hoped would be resolved in Mac OS X 10.2.2. Among them is a problem with UDF file reading that causes incompatibility with some Panasonic DVD-R drives. Frank Bry writes:

"Just updated to OS X 10.2.2 from 10.2.1 on my PB G4/800 DVI and My DVD-Rs made with a Panasonic DMR-E20 DVD-R recorder still do not play. The disc appears on the desktop as 'DVD Video_Recorder.' The finder shows zero data and no visible files. The DVD data is unrecognized by either the DVD Player or other apps such as VideoLanClient."

Standalone Downloads Apple has posted two Knowledge Base articles offering standalone downloads of both the normal Mac OS X 10.2.2 updater (which updates from Mac OS X 10.2.1), the Combined updater (which updates from Mac OS X 10.2), and a similar set of downloads for Mac OS X 10.2.2 Server:

(#120162) Mac OS X Server Update 10.2.2
• (#120163) Mac OS X Server Update Combined 10.2.2
• (#120164) Mac OS X 10.2.2 Update (Combo)
• (#120165) Mac OS X 10.2.2 Update

Unconfirmed Issues As with all incremental revisions to Mac OS X, a number of problems are isolated to individual configurations, or are resolved with simple procedures like permissions repair or re-installation. A few of the unconfirmed reports we are working with so far:

• Isolated instances of AirPort network failure with inability to recognize the base station
• Problems copying files from Mac OS 9.2.2 machines using AppleShare
• Disabling of the IntelliMouse Explorer and IntelliMouse 5-button
• A "Segmentation Fault" message when installing Mac OS X 10.2.2 on Xserve systems through the Console

If you're experiencing similar problems, or have insight on one of the bugs affecting Mac OS X 10.2.2, please drop us a line at late-breakers@macfixit.com.

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