Troubleshooting Mac OS X 10.2.3: CD-RW failure; startup problems; more

Apple's latest incremental Mac OS X update, like its predecessors, carries an impressive array of enhancements and bug fixes - but also like previous updates, it ushers in a host of new problems. Mac OS X 10.2.3, posted to Apple's Software Update servers yesterday afternoon, has already spawned a number of troubleshooting issues, with accompanying workarounds.

As usual, repairing permissions using Apple's Disk Utility after applying the update solves several of the minor, application-specific issues affecting Mac OS X 10.2.3.

Failure to recognize internal CD-RW drive As we initially reported yesterday, Mac OS X 10.2.3 completely disabled the internal CD-RW/DVD combo drive on our in-house Power Macintosh G4/733. Not only is the drive not recognized in iTunes and Toast - delivering the message "CD burner or software not found" - but the drive refuses to respond to the keyboard eject button, rendering it useless.

Several MacFixIt readers, including John, confirmed the issue:

"I have a Power Macintosh G4/933 with a SuperDrive and a 500 MHz iBook Combo drive. The eject button will not even work. I had to boot into Mac OS 9 to get things working."

Thomas Emmerich experienced similar with Toast and iTunes, but retained the ability to open his CD-RW/DVD drive. After inserting a pre-recorded disc (not blank) into his system and then ejecting it, Toast and iTunes regained their ability to recognize blank CD-Rs. So at least in some cases, it appears inserting a pre-recorded CD can "wake up" improperly functioning drives.

iApps outside of "Applications" folder not updated It should be noted that Apple's iApps (iSync, iPhoto, etc.) and other software components found in the "Applications" folder by default will not be modified by the Mac OS X 10.2.3 updater. So if you have moved some items out of this folder for organizational purposes, it is a good idea to move them back before applying the updater.

Those who have already applied Mac OS X 10.2.3 and had items outside the "Applications" folder will have to wait for Apple's standalone download, which should be available shortly from the Software Updates page.

Startup problems A number of readers report that their systems will simply not complete the startup process after applying the Mac OS X 10.2.3 upgrade and restarting. Chip Grabow writes:

"On my Power Macintosh G3/400 Blue and White tower, after installation of the update and restarting, I got stuck at gray screen. I thought it was my third party processor upgrade so I put the original CPU back in. That didn't help -- still got the gray screen."

Joe Crobak offers another sequence of startup events, corroborated by a number of other readers:

"When I try to startup, the normal light grey screen with the darker grey Apple Logo in the middle has 'inverted' itself somewhat. The light grey background becomes an ugly blue, the same blue seen on the Windows 'Blue Screen of Death' and the Apple becomes the lighter grey of the former background. The system is then stuck and refuses to proceed with starting up."

The startup problems affect a broad range of system configurations based on reader reports. Users experiencing this problem may want to startup from their original Mac OS X 10.2 CD-ROM, and perform a reversion to Mac OS X 10.2.2, or a prior release. See our Mac OS X 10.2.2 report under the heading "Reverting to Mac OS X 10.2.1" for instructions.

UPDATE: Some users have reported success using an SSH client to log in to their malfunctioning Mac OS X 10.2.3 system and using the command "reboot." In many cases, the system will restart properly and resume normal operation.

Virtual PC 5.x crashes, workaround Several readers have now confirmed that under some configurations, Virtual PC 5.x crashes upon quit under Mac OS X 10.2.3. Dale Richards reports a potential cause of the problem and a workaround:

"According to a discussion thread at Connectix, it appears that they have identified a bug with saving and closing down Virtual PC in Full screen mode. For the time being they suggest putting it back into the windowed mode until they can find a fix to this."

The problem seems to primarily affect Windows 98, as users have reported sucess shutting down Windows 95 running in Virtual PC.

USB/FireWire devices As with Mac OS X 10.2.2, Mac OS X 10.2.3 seems to break connections with a sundry of USB and FireWire devices. Among the devices readers report affected:

• Palm Tungsten T - synchronization fails
• Harman Multimedia SoundSticks - all sound output is re-routed through the built-in speaker(s)
• Logitech Wireless Mouse - not recognized
• Wacom Intous Tablet - not recognized

Unconfirmed issues We are working to confirm the following reported issues:

• Scott Kroeger reports that he installed his cursor freezes and disappears regularly after applying the update.

Interface change If you take a close look, you will notice that the window controls some applications, such as iChat, now look "embedded" in the window. So far, it seems that Carbon applications (such as iTunes), do not display the interface change, while Cocoa apps (like the shareware application Jotz) do.

Feedback on any of these issues? Drop us a line at late-breakers@macfixit.com.

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