OSX 10.5.7 Update Issues

OSX 10.5.7 Update Issues

It’s comforting to know that when Apple screws up, they do it but good.

Not since the days of Tiger has a dot release from Apple done so much damage. On the surface, 10.5.7 is a very important update. A lists of fixes includes the usual round of security fixes, fixes for network performance, updates for Camera RAW support, among several other fixes. But, initially the Software Update version was throwing up errors “digital signature for the package is incorrect.” Apple rapidly fixed this but it underscores the importance of having good backups and a clean file system.

Afterwards, others started reporting BSOD or Blue Screens of Death after the update was done. Having originated on Windows, the BSOD is now available in Leopard, a nice, if unintended bonus from Apple.

Luckily this problem seems to be fairly easy to fix:

  • Wait for Hard drive access to stop
  • Hold Power button down until computer shuts off
  • Hold shift button down and power computer on to boot into safe mode
  • Use regular user name and password to login if asked
  • type reboot to reboot the computer
  • The next issue to commonly pop up is messed up display resolutions for non-Apple monitors. People are finding themselves stuck in 1920×1080! Resetting the PRAM (Hold down the Command, Option P and K keys while booting until it chimes three or four times) seems to fix for some.

    For some of us REALLY unluckily people, the update gets stuck part way. After letting it sit for an hour at 33% there was no choice but to reboot the computer. Upon booting back up, OS X is not able to fully boot up. In one machine I was able to fix by going into safe mode, then issuing the softwareupdate -l -a command to finish the download and install.

    On my Macbook, it was a full reinstall.

    Troubleshooting: Facebook constantly logs out in Safari

    **Update** Facebook made updates that fixes this problem.

    Troubleshooting: Facebook constantly logs out in Safari

    A recent problem has cropped up with the latest version of Safari, 3.2.1 and Leopard 10.5.6. When using Facebook (and possibly other websites such as Last.fm, Gmail, and Twitter, that require authentication to login,) users are finding that they constantly have to re-login again. Of course this gets annoying, and makes accessing those sites nearly impossible. This problem is bad enough that it could even be affecting Firefox users too.

    The culprit maybe partially on Facebook’s side as they attempt to combat the recent virus threats and the Leopard/Safari upgrade may be coincidence. Another guess is that Apple changed how multiple programs handle cookies and this is causing issues.

    In addition users of iPhones and Adium in conjunction with Facebook seem to have a high chance of having an issue. Using Facebook Chat in Adium and on the iPhone is one of the culprits.

    While not a guarantee, here are some possible fixes.

    iPhone Users: (may have to be jailbroken to work, I do not have an iPhone to confirm)
    1.) Download a terminal program for the iPhone
    2.) chown -R mobile /var/mobile/
    3.) Power Cycle the iPhone

    It seems that the /var/mobile directory is owned by the root user instead of mobile and is causing some of these problems problems.

    Adium Users:

  • Disconnect from Facebook or Google Chat before logging in to Facebook or GMail
  • Safari: One or all of these options may be needed to fix

  • Disable Private Browsing (Under Safari Menu, the Private Browsing)
  • Empty Safari Cache (Safari Menu, Empty Cache)
  • Clear Cookies (Safari Menu, Preferences, Security, Show Cookies, Remove All)
  • Reset Safari (Safari Menu, Reset Safari)
  • Reinstall Safari (Download from here)
  • Remove Autofill (Safari Menu, Preferences, Autofill, User Names and Passwords, Edit, remove the site that is having issues)
  • Remove Keychain Entry (Applications/Utilities/Keychain Access. Remove affected site, then go to Menu, Keychain First-Aid, then Repair.)
  • Delete cookie.plist file (/User Home Directory/Library/Cookies/Cookie.plist)
  • Advanced Safari Tip: Enable Developer menu using the command line: defaults write com.apple.Safari IncludeDebugMenu 1 or download Safari Enhancer and clear cookies from this menu.

    Dashboard:

  • Disable any Web Clippings
  • If any of these do work, or you have another solution (or a question about the above,) let me know in the comments and I’ll see what I can do.