Reader Feedback on OS X 10.4.8 Update
Reports last Updated: 11/7/2006
Last Security Update: 2/15/2007 (2007-002)
Last Component Update: 2/15/2007 (Java, DST and Webobjects)
This page has reader reports on specific improvements, problems or compatibility issues with the 10.4.8 update.
Here's the info on the changes. (See below for download links, including combo updates)
"
The 10.4.8 Update is recommended for all users and includes general
operating system fixes, as well as specific fixes for the following
applications and technologies:
- connecting to wireless networks using the EAP-FAST protocol
- Apple USB modem reliability
- using OpenType fonts in Microsoft Word
- compatibility with 3rd party USB hubs
- scanner performance
- RAW camera support
- printing documents with Asian language names
- performance of the Translation widget
- broadband network performance
- security updates"
For more specific details on the changes, see
About the Mac OS X 10.4.8 Update (delta) and
About the security content of the Mac OS X 10.4.8 Update.
Here's the download links (including Combo updates) for Intel, PPC and Server:
Other Apple Kbase docs on 10.4.8: (later added items first 0 see below for security updates)
Security Update 2007-002 (Feb. 15th, 2007) Security Update 2007-002 (Universal) and Security Update 2007-002 (PPC). The download pages note this improves security of the CoreServices, iChat, and UserNotificationCenter components, but for more details (including Finder fixes) see About Security Update 2007-002.
Java Update 5, DST and WebObjects Updates (Feb. 15th, 2007) Apple also released Java, DST and Webobjects updates today (Tiger versions listed here - there were also Panther versions)
Security Update 2007-001: (Jan 23rd, 2007) Apple has released Security Update 2007-001, available via software update or from the Security Update 2007-001 (Universal) page. The update is to address a QuickTime security issue mentioned on the web in early Jan. 2007. (Jan. 2nd news here had notes on this.) Here's a clip from the apple doc About Security Update 2007-001
"
Security Update 2007-001
CVE-ID: CVE-2007-0015
Available for: QuickTime 7.1.3 on Mac OS X v10.3.9, Mac OS X Server v10.3.9,
Mac OS X v10.4.8, Mac OS X Server v10.4.8, Windows XP/2000
Impact: Visiting malicious websites may lead to arbitrary code execution
Description: A buffer overflow exists in QuickTime's handling of RTSP URLs.
By enticing a user to access a maliciously-crafted RTSP URL, an attacker can
trigger the buffer overflow, which may lead to arbitrary code execution. A
QTL file that triggers this issue has been published on the Month of Apple
Bugs web site (MOAB-01-01-2007). This update addresses the issue by
performing additional validation of RTSP URLs."
iChat update 1.0 for Tiger (Jan 4th, 2007) Apple has released iChat Update 1.0 (PPC) and iChat Update 1.0 (Universal) for OS X Tiger:
"This update renews the .Mac certificate required by iChat for encrypting
text, audio and video conferences.
Requirements: OS X 10.4.8 or later...
For detailed information on this update, please visit this website:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304899"
"About the iChat 1.0 Update", which on the day of release had exactly the same info as above with a note "This document will be updated as more information becomes available"
Security Updates for 10.4.8
"Security Update 2006-008 is recommended for all users and improves the security of the following components: Quartz Composer, QuickTime for Java." For more details see About Security Update 2006-008.
See the linked pages for details (updates AirPort, ATS, CFNetwork, Finder, Font Book, Font Importer, Installer, OpenSSL, PHP, PPP, Samba, Security Framework, VPN, WebKit, ftpd, gnuzip and perl.)
Reader Reports on 10.4.8: (later posts first)
If you find any pros or cons with the 10.4.8 update, let me know. (Remember as with any OS X version update, check your 3rd party addons first for any updates or developer notes on 10.4.8 compatibility. If you see a problem, include the version(s) of any 3rd party software addons/drivers, startup/login items, etc. you're using. Thanks)
(added 11/7/2006)
"I upgraded my Apple G5 1.8GHz and Mac Book 2.0GHz to Mac OS X 10.4.8,
downloaded and installed M-Audio project mix IO Firewire OSX 1.7.4
drivers. The computers don't recognize the Project mix IO anymore!
The OS on both computers ask to check the connection between the
computer and the interface. Restart, shut down, permissions check
nothing would fix it.
-Lue
"
(added 11/7/2006)
"A positive: This may not be attributable to 10.4.8 per se --
but I've finally gotten the iMac and the iBook it connects with via
Airport to both print to a Brother 5070N, from both X and Classic
apps. Both are on 10.4.8 now, the iMac and printer are both connected
to the Airport Extreme, and Bonjour is finally doing what it's
supposed to.
So, if anyone else is still using a Bonjour-capable printer as a USB
printer because of Classic, you might want to switch the connection
from the local machine to your network, reboot the printer, and try
again.
-Laurie
"
(added 11/7/2006 from Oct. 17th mail)
"I had trouble with deep sleep in 10.4.8. Fan wouldn't turn off and
it wouldn't wake up, so forcing a restart was the only solution. I
took your advice and disconnected my USB storage device. Maybe not
the finest solution I could envision, but it has solved the sleep issue.
Regards, Ken
"
(added 11/7/2006, from Oct. 10th mail)
"Since upgrading to 10.4.8 on my powerbook G4, I've been unable to wake
the computer up from sleep and must perform a hard restart in order to
get working again. I've tried repairing permissions and reinstalling
the combo updater, and changing my energy saver settings, but no luck.
(Nothing connected to the USB or FW ports? Tried resetting the PMU?)
I just tried resetting the PMU, no dice. I'll try running Disk Utility
from the CD tonight. The only other thing I'm thinking is maybe it's a
problem with a widget or palm desktop, as that's the only software
that's running... The 'book seems to go to sleep okay, the little power
LED pulses appropriately, but when you lift the lid... nothing.
-Terry W.
"
Just guessing here but have you booted from the OS X Tiger install CD
and run Disk Utility to repair the disk? (not repair permissions, but repair
disk) You can only 'verify' the disk if DU run from the internal boot
drive but maybe even try that to see if it sees any problems.
Since it's only sleep related, it may not find any problems but
worth a try. (I like to do that after any freeze/hard reset)
(added 11/7/2006, from Oct. 10th mail)
"Entourage (Office 2004) now freezes after waking from sleep after 10.4.8
update. This was never a problem with any other 10.4 version. I now have
to quit & re-launch Entourage. This is on my G3 900 iBook. I've carried
out all the usual maintenance/repairs.
-Fred R.
"
(added 11/7/2006 from Oct. 3rd mail)
" I've had several weird things go wrong with my Gigabit Ethernet G4 since
upgrading to 10.4.8. Mainly, my external USB drive stopped working with
Carbon Copy Cloner. I reinstalled 10.4.7 and it worked again, but took about
24 hours to clone 55GB' worth of data. Also several kernel panics in various
situations. I have since erased the main drive and put 10.4.8 on again, but
have yet to really test it in a clean installation. Has Apple addressed any
of this? I've never had this much trouble with an OS X update before. Scary.
-Jeff R.
"
I don't know of anyone else having a problem with a USB drive in 10.4.8 (maybe some odd issue with your USB case's
bridge board and 10.4.8?) I've seen some OS X updates have problems with some FW bridge boards in the past (sometimes a firmware update to the bridge board helped).
(added 10/5/2006)
"
Just installed the new CPU Director 2.3b5 update (see below) on both (B&W G3) machines mentioned earlier. Both are now testing almost 10% faster at the same speed settings as before the new
update. This update has improved integer performance somewhat. Super.
Just using a very simple utility, SpeedX, to determine CPU speed by
comparision. Noticed the speed increase with the upgrade. Did not expect it.
Not sophisticated, but repeatable results.
-Garth M.
"
His B&W G3 machines had Powerlogix G3 750FX/GX CPU Upgrades (800MHz and up models). Due to an issue (IIRC)
of booting in OS 9 if the ZIF's jumpers were set to higher than 8x (800MHz) CPU Director, the ZIFs were set to
lower than the CPU speed's rating and CPU Director was used to
set the CPU speed higher after booting. (I think this was only an OS 9 issue with a firewire extension and didn't affect booting in OS X)
10.4.8 (Manual DVD Player patch) (patch for external drive DVD playback if there's no internal
DVD rom compatible drive - copy of post from 10/4/2006 news page. The offsets below are from the PPC code, but all Intel macs come with at least an internal combo drive. )
"Clive E. was wondering about the DVD User Op patch (Clive had no internal DVD drive and was using a DVD player patch for external drives that was broken by the 10.4.8 update. If your internal drive is DVD-ROM compatible, you -do not- need any patches to play dvds from an external drive. Patch also has user controls override.-Mike) not working any more after the 10.4.8 update. I found out the same issue, and as there will no more be updated patches (the guy releasing the patches has "retired"), I figured out what the patch was actually doing with 10.4.7.
It changes the binary code at two offsets of the "DVDPlayback" file.
I found the corresponding code bits at the DVDPlayback v4.6.9 coming with the 10.4.8 (this time at different offset
locations), and made the changes with an hex editor.
This seems to work. I don't have an external DVD drive but at least the DVD Player control buttons honor
again the user actions.
The file to be changed is: (backup before editing)
/System/Library/Frameworks/DVDPlayback.framework/Versions/A/DVDPlayback
and the changes are:
Offset 669CC: 4082 0020 80A1 0040 3860 0000 7CA4 F430
-> 4082 0020 38A0 0000 3860 0000 7CA4 F430
Offset 9D7E8: 4E80 0020 7C48 02A6 429F 0005 BE01 FFC0 7FE8 02A6
-> 4E80 0020 3860 0000 4E80 0020 BE01 FFC0 7FE8 02A6
Editing the file needs naturally Admin rights.
(name withheld by request)
"
Again the patch is only needed if there is no DVD rom compatible internal drive in your Mac. (There's an old FAQ (DVD section) note from the Jaguar (10.2) era with tips for those that installed OS X originally on a Mac w/o any internal DVD compatible drive (DVD pkg is not installed then), where Pacifist was used to install the DVD pkg from the OS X install disc.)
Update: a reader replied this patch does work:
"
I can verify that this works on an iMac G3 700 with an internal cd/
rw. I have an external firewire Pioneer DVR-109 and it will play
movies now - it did not work for playback prior to patching.
(I asked to confirm he was running 10.4.8-Mike)
Yes. I'm 100% up to date.
-Shon H.
"
(added 10/4/2006)
I got 26% faster times with Doom 3 at 640x480 High Quality on a 17"
MacBook Pro. I tested just before and right after the 10.4.8 upgrade.
At 1024x768 Medium (no Shadows), I saw a 13% increase. As the rez
goes up, the increase goes down. At 1280x800 High, for example, I got
only a fractional gain.
Glenda Adams of Aspyr confirmed that the Doom 3 implemented MT OpenGL
some time ago but it's only now officially supported by OS X
(10.4.8). (As I mentioned earlier, Doom3 doesn't need an update
for MT Opengl, it's a special case (OS 'looks' for it running basically since it
was a benchmark used in apple's new product pages.)-Mike) One reliable source indicated that certain builds of 10.4.7 done for the Core 2 Duo iMac supported MT OpenGL. Now it's available
for all users. I understand that developers are experimenting with MT OpenGL code in
other game titles to see what gains there are to be had.
Someone asked me run some tests to see if apps running under Rosetta
had any gains from 10.4.8.
When I ran our "MP aware" action file on a 17" MacBook Pro just
before and right after the 10.4.8 upgrade, we saw an 11% gain. I also
ran the new RetouchArtists.com PS test and saw no gains.
-Rob"
CPU Director Update for OS X 10.4.8 (10/3/2006) Jamie at OWC sent a note a CPU Director update compatible with OS X 10.4.8/10.4.7 is available now at www.powerlogix.com/products/cpudirector/ (2 versions there - CPU Director 2.3b5 for OS X 10.4-10.4.8 and v2.3b4 for Mac OS 9/Mac OS X 10.3.9 and prior.)
(added 10/3/2006)
"Update on FrontRow Enabler 1.3 crashing OS X 10.4.8 disks... (mentioned earlier)
From the developers website it seems the problem is related to
bezel.framework files being replaced by 10.4.8 Updater. If you check the
developers "User Comments" pages, a user has fixed the problem for the
developer Andrew Escobar, and the working version for 10.4.8 is now
FrontRow Enabler 1.3.1 . This is not supported by FrontRow Enabler
Developer A. Escobar, but I tried it and it does work. Google it and you
might find a mirror site with the download.
-Dennis"
(added 10/2/2006)
"Just a note that I updated my Powerlogix accelerated (750FX CPU) 900 MHz Pismo G3 laptop
to 10.4.8, and it still reports running at 900 MHz. Furthermore, iChat video
still works too.
I also have many B&W G3's accelerated to 1 GHz under CPU director, but am
afraid to try upgrade to 10.4.8 yet. Any recent word from these guys on
running the old CPU director under 10.4.8?
-Garth M.
"
CPU Director (OS X version) has been broken by every OS X Tiger update so far (10.4.7 broke the last
release). A 10.4.7 compatible version was in progress but it still wasn't released when 10.4.8 came out. (Update - see above, on Oct. 3rd a 10.4.8/10.4.7 compatible CPU Director update was released.)
(added 10/2/2006)
"10.4.8 breaks aticcellerator
My screen went totally wonky after updating. I removed aticcelerator from my startup items in safe mode, rebooted, all is well. To confirm my hypothesis, I opened aticcelerator and had the same problem.
(I asked for info on his Mac/ati graphics card)
I am using ATIcellerator 1.06b (latest as of 10/2/2006). I wasn't able to find the prefs file. (to see if the app would run in 10.4.8 without overclocking the card/not using previous OC settings) I'm using a flashed PC Radeon 9800xt running 412/365 in a Digital Audio dual 533mhz. I know, the card is a little overkill, but I got it cheap. I didn't have any problems in 10.4.7. After upgrading to 10.4.8 I could boot in safe mode, but if I opened the ATIcellerator preference pane the screen would go crazy just like when I booted in normal mode.
(he later wrote)
Quick update. I uninstalled ATIccelerator, removed the preferences, and alas, no luck. It reports the core speed as 260. ItÕs set at 412. Graphiccelerator reports the speed correctly. Also, monkeying with speed setting FREEZES the computer. No way back without a hard reboot. I never saw this behavior with ATIccelerator in earlier OS versions Ð even with my franken-card.
-Joshua
"
I wrote the author of ATICellerator II about this and he replied.
"This is surprising, but I'll test tomorrow. (Time to go to bed here!)
-Thomas P.
"
If anyone else has seen this problem in 10.4.8, let me know (an iBook G4 owner later wrote he's not had any problems with ATIcellerator II in 10.4.8.)
Problem w/Front Row Enabler 1.3.0 (See above for later follow-up posted Oct. 3rd.)
(added 10/2/2006)
"PB G4 15" 1.67Ghz, 2GB RAM with 10.4.7 running FrontRow Enabler fine,
up until I tried to re-enable FrontRow after doing the 10.4.8 update.
Apparently, you should not risk using FrontRow Enabler 1.3 if running
10.4.8, it extremely corrupted the file tables of my hard disk, and
after much googleing last night found that other people had the same
problem, the fix at this time being to re-format the hard drive. I am
sitting in my office right now, doing a restore of my documents and
applications.
If you use FrontRow Enabler, sit tight till the developer releases an
update.
-Dennis G.
"
(added 10/2/2006)
"One strange glitch with System Preferences. The whole app.
unexpectedly quits when I try to use the Keyboard and Mouse prefs pane.
I use a Wacom Intuos Art Pad for mouse input. I have tried all of the
usual fixes. Disconnected the Wacom Pad, disconnected all USB devices
except a standard Apple KB and mouse. Rebooted, repaired permissions,
run disk first aid from another start up drive and run Disk Warrior.
The Wacom Pad preference pane loads correctly and will allow me to
modify both pen and mouse settings. I only wanted to see if Apple
had anything new, one of the things I always do is sift through all
of the System Pref Panes to check out for any changes.
The new scroll wheel magnify works fine with the Wacom mouse.
(You might have a corrupted file. Try creating a test user acct and login as that
test user to see if the problem happens again. (if so try trashing the related prefs in
your original acct.) There was a "Preferential Treatment" utility that would scan for
corrupted prefs but not sure if it's 10.4.8 compatible.-Mike)
Thanx Mike, It works fine with another user (acct/login), now the hunt to find the culprit in
my stuff. Deleting System Preferences plist did not help.
-Richard D.
"
(added 10/2/2006)
"Audio output now about 2/3Êas loud through the internal speakers as it was prior to the update. Use the F3 key to reduce the volume (from full-on) and the audio in iTunes goes totally silent by the 1/3 point. Tried all of the alert sounds and it's consistently silent by the 1/2 point.
Zapped the PRAM, finished with all the rest of the updates (as of 10/1/06), and still have the issue. Tried launching Garageband and Audio MIDI Setup (as this has fixed some audio issues in the past) but still have the issue.
-Barry
"
(added 10/2/2006)
"I am running a Mac G4 (Digital Audio) with an Encore/ST G4 at 1.8GHz
processor upgrade installed. I have 1 gig of ram. I had problems
installing 10.4.7 where the installer got to the end of the
installation process and then never completed the installation. I
waited for two hours for it to complete the installation but all it
did was give me the beach ball. When I tried to re-boot, I had a
kernal panic. I could not boot the drive. I had a back - up of my
previous system and had to re-install it.
Now I tried to go to up-grade to 10.4.8 (using combo updater I assume) and I got the same results.
Could not boot. Had a copy of my 10.4.6 so I re-installed it. I
don't know if I will ever be able to up-grade any higher than where
I'm at!
Thanks, Ray
"
(added 10/2/2006)
"I'm running a Mac Mini intel 1GB RAM and up to the update i had no probs
at all, after the update my mac refused to recognise it had
a superdrive or any "burning device" for that matter. After going onto
the apple forum i repaired permissions but no different, so next day i
started the mac and it recognised the superdrive so i rebooted and it
forgot again!! I reset the PRAM and all went ok and now its been
three restarts and all still ok. went into Apple today and waited my
turn (loads of people there with probs due to update) and told them
if it does this again they are getting it back and i will want a new
mac as mine is only three months old. Will see how it goes but not
impressed.
-David H
"
(added 10/2/2006)
"my Power Mac G4 MDD 1,25 GHz (single processor) sleeps and wakes up, even with the USB-2 card from Belkin (F5U005) installed. This was broken under 10.4.7 so I did a reinstall of 10.4.6. I have a hub (built into the monitor) and a scanner connected to the card.ÊWhat isÊstillÊa problem is any mass storage device connected to the card, like my iPod Shuffle. (this is very common as mentioned in the past here on the FW/USB card reports page.-Mike) Then the PowerMac does not sleep correctly (fans are still running) and does not wake up, so I have to do a hard reset.
Best regards, Thomas
"
Multi-Threaded OpenGL in 10.4.8:
(added 10/2/2006)
"I've done deep testings on my 2.0 GHz MacBook/2GB RAM OpenGL in
10.4.8 vs 10.4.7 OpenGL as I was expecting that Multi Threaded OpenGL
could be implemented as happened in MacPro's recently (and
considering also that "Mr. LLVM" is now in apple). Unfortunately all
test where negative for increased performance, both in benchmarks
(XBench 1.3) and real world tests (X-Plane and Cinebench 9.5) but we
also do know that apps need to be tweaked in order to benefit from MT
OpenGL and I currently don't know if X.Plane 8.40 and Cinebench 9.5
are. I'll be looking forward for next releases for further tests.
(The app or game has to request MT GL mode, except for Doom3 which
is a 'special case'. Xbench to date hasn't been a good graphics card/3d benchmark
though, with only a simple spinning squares test-Mike)
Meanwhile I can certainly state that:
- while 10.4.8's Intel GMA 950 renderer is still only OpenGL 1.2 100%
compliant (because of the poor GPU, I believe), is now 88% 2.0
compliant (8/9 extensions) vs. 10.4.7's 77% compliant (7/9 extensions)
- 10.4.8's Apple Software Renderer is now 1.5 and 2.0 100% compliant
(3/3 and 9/9 vs 1/3 and 5/9 extensions into 10.4.7's implementation) .
This is a good news as those new supported extensions can be
processed by the CPU and hopely by (actually or in the future) MT
OpenGL on more than 1 CPU paving down the way to an highly animated
graphics in Leopard also on older machines.
The strange thing about XBench running faster in User Interface test
with 1 core enabled vs. 2 cores is still a nightmare...
:-)
If I'll have news on the overall matter in the future I'll let you
know..
BTW: bluish interfaces on some MacBooks can be fixed replacing the
Color LCD Profile with the older one from 10.4.7 in /"BootHD"/Lybrary/
Colorsync/Profiles/Displays
Regards, Simon
"
Note: 10.4.8 has multi-threaded OpenGL support but the app or game must request
that mode (except for Doom3 which is a 'special case'). Quake 4's multithreading
already uses multiple CPUs, so it won't show the gain that say Doom3 will due to
its use of MP already and overhead I'm told. Other than Doom3, apps/games will need updates to use (request) multi-threaded
OpenGL mode.
If anyone tries Doom3 (at lower res, below 1024x768) in 10.4.8 with
a dedicated GPU, let me know what performance differences you see. (I had a
first gen Intel iMac owner say he saw appx 25% higher FPS in Doom3 in 10.4.8 than
in 10.4.7 at lower res like 640x480 (not at 1024x768 and up).
(added 10/2/2006)
"I've got a problem with 10.4.8
I first saw this problem with the leopard beta. And now it's appeared
since 10.4.8. (machine is a MacBook Pro 15")
What happens is that after booting the machine, the computer thinks
there is a second screen attached. VGA screen to be specific.
Simple fix was to go into Display Preferences and hit the Detect
Displays button. However the problem is there again after rebooting.
Any Ideas?
-Ben
"
Anyone else see this?
(added 10/2/2006)
"After installing 10.4.8 on my 1.8GHz G5 (single processor) - 2.5GB
RAM, X800 ATI card I started getting a weird fault, my computer would
freeze up. If I was typing (mid word) during the freeze the keyboard
would act up as though I was holding down a key. The mouse and
keyboard would render useless for about 10 secs although the
computers operations would be running in the background.
After reading the Support forums at the Apple website I followed some
advice RE Installing 10.4.8 via the Combo Installer...
unfortunately, it didn't change a thing. (did you also check for
any 3rd party addons/startup/login items, etc.? I updated a dual G5 (2003)
w/X800 XT card to 10.4.8 without any problems-Mike)
As of now, no one has been able to help me solve this problem so I
started investigating the cause. I don't believe it has anything to
do with any applications since the stalling exists even with just the
Finder running. I then stated paying attention to the Activity
Monitor and noticed that it seems to have something to do with the
pmTool. (attached screengrab) I maybe wrong, as I'm not computer
scientist, but the number of faults (12830371) seem alarmingly high.
Anyway,.. thats my problem and from what I have been told my only
hope is to rebuild tiger. I REALLY don't want to do that... do you
think there's an easier way?
(See above notes on checking 3rd party software/addons, etc. and if you can without the system freezing, also check the system log for
any messages that may be useful in identifying the source of the problem.-Mike)
I found out what the problem was. After some trial and error,... the
scanner was the cause. Once removing my AGFA Snapscan (version?) the problem no
longer exists. I posted my results on the Apple Support webpage and
it seemed as though I was not the only one. Another guy also had an
AGFA scanner and once disconnected it was all good.
thanks for the email
Cheers, Antony B.
"
3rd party addons/drivers/login/startup items are often a cause of problems. (first thing
to check, even *before* you update. And if you have a FW or USB HD, making a backup before updating
is also recommended just in case.)
Kernel Panic on Startup from RAID volume on Mac Pro (Update: On Oct. 5th, apple posted a kbase doc on this - see OS X 10.4.8: Mac Pro - kernel panic at startup after installing on a RAID volume.)
(added 10/2/2006)
"Mac Pro 3Ghz 2GB Ram, updated to 10.4.8 it goes in kernel panic at
startup
(he later wrote)
Is a problem with my 4 hard disk in raid 0. I installed the upgrade
10.4.8 on an external firewire hd and is all ok.
(he later wrote repairing permissions helped)
I tried again to install on the internal disk in raid0 and again I
got kernel panic. This time I rebooted from the system CD 10.4.7
instead and I repaired the permissions on the raid. I rebooted and
everything went smooth, I got no kernel panic and a successful reboot.
-Francesco
"
It's also good to run a verify/repair on the disk. (When disk utility is run from the
Tiger boot HD, you can only verify the disk, but that's still worth doing first to see
if it reports any errors.) In pre-Tiger OS X versions (i.e. 10.3.x and older) Verify is
disabled in Disk Utility if run from the boot drive. (In OS 9.x and before you could
run Disk First Aid from the boot disk to Repair it.)
(added 10/2/2006)
"WARNING to anyone in this situation ... as noted on LookSmart's Furl ... two pieces of software that apparently aren't playing well together: running Cisco VPN and Parallels Desktop (version 2.2.1922?-Mike) on 10.4.8 can make Mac OS X fall down and go boom (read: kernel panic). Guess what? This was expected to be fixed and it wasn't ... OS X still dies ...the only way out was to do an archive and install.
-Stephen S.
MacBook Pro 17" 2g RAM dual 2.16 ghz processors
"
(added 10/2/2006)
"Hi Mike, first time I send a report for an OS Update, and so far so
good... Never had a problem with any upgrade under any of my machines. This
was not the exception. The following received the Combo Update
installer, as it has been the best option for me:
Main Work Machine: Dual 2GHz AGP (Rev. C) G5 all stock except for 4GB
of RAM (Kingston).
Collateral Machine: Heavily-upgraded-non-stock-parts-but-the-
logicboard-and-PSU Gigabit Ethernet G4.
Personal Home Machine: iMac G5 20" Rev. C non-iSight with 2GB
Kingston RAM (Got them cheap by the bulk).
Sentimental Machine: B&W G3 Rev. A w/third party RAM(random sticks)/
120GB Drive/CD-RW
I'll try it on my office machines (that are not mine) eMac/Dual Core
PCIe G5/PPC Mac Mini. Don't own a laptop nor have one around to try
it... No Intels around me, don't like 'em in the meantime.
-Barton
"
(added 10/2/2006)
"This is minor thing but greatly appreciated: OSX/Safari Firefox etc have
never kept track of "My Ebay" login requiring me to log in every time to
access my current listings and things I am watching.
Well now it does, going directly to my page with listings and so on.
Hurray! A minor but significant change in the way the the OS works: it
does what its supposed to!
-Karl
"
(added 10/2/2006)
"I installed the 10.4.8 Combo Update to my G4 MDD (1.25 GHz single
processor / OS 9 Boot Model, with FW 400), which has a Radeon 9800
Pro AGP and an Adaptec USB 2.0 PCI card installed. After the
installation the deep sleep was not functioning (the fan was not
turned off), but after reconfiguring the Energy Saver prefs (moved the Sleep minute slider to another position)
rebooting, deep sleep was working again. Did not have to thrash plist
files, repair permissions or do any other tweaking.
Don't know whether it is actually important or not, but I always
install Combo Updates, as the incremental ones seem to cause more
problems. Everything else seems to be working just fine.
(name withheld by request)
"
The previous MDD owner w/Adaptec USB 2.0 card that originally mentioned sleep
problems (below) later replied it was due to a USB memory stick. (Connected
devices on USB cards, especially storage related ones, are often a cause of
sleep/wake problems.)
DVD Player Patch Broken by 10.4.8 (patch for external drive DVD playback when no
internal DVD drive is in the Mac)
(added 10/2/2006 - updated 10/5/2006)
"Hi Mike, I installed 10.4.8 and found that DVDs won't play on my external DVD
drive. I applied DVD User Op Patch 1.9, as I always have to after
DVD Player is updated, but it failed this time, stating that the
DVDPlayback Framework is probably too recent. I hope there will be a
new version out soon and I'll also try to find out out what the patch
actually does so maybe I can do it myself.
(Update: the Oct. 4th news page has a reader's 10.4.8 (Manual) Patch for external drive DVD Movie playback (w/no internal DVD drive) . Clive later wrote he applied this patch ok also.-Mike)
Thanks for having such a great site. My current Mac is a Sawtooth
upgraded with:
1. GigaDesigns 1.4GHz accelerator
2. ATI 9800 Pro
3. Sonnet Tempo ATA/133 card
4. Generic USB2 card
5. 1.5GB RAM
6. Pioneer DVR-109 DVD +/- RW Drive (external ... no room left for it
with 6 internal hard drives)
7. Netgear GA311 Gigabit Ethernet
8. 6 ATA/100 disks in RAID 0 and 1
9. Modified 350W ATX PSU
10. LogiTech MX1000
The upgrades went pretty much flawlessly and the system has been
running well for almost 18 months. It is totally thanks to your site
that I was able to do it. I work on PC software development and I am
always tearing apart and upgrading PCs, but the Mac is a very closed
system with limited upgrade options. From your site I could find out
what could be done, what had been done, and what worked well. The
PSU modification article was a godsend as I needed more power to cope
with all the changes I wanted to make and I gave away my PSU to a
friend whose Sawtooth PSU had died....
(Clive later wrote)
The patch looks good. (in Oct. 4th news)
I had figured out what file need patching, but didn't know what to do
next so I had reverted to the complete DVDPlayback.framework that
came with 10.4.7 and that allowed me to play DVDs in 10.4.8. When I
saw the patches you posted I just had to try them. I put back the 10.4.8
DvDplayback.framework, as I had saved it, and then applied the
patches. To be certain the
new framework was being used I rebooted after applying the patches
and successfully played a DVD in the external drive (no internal
drive) and a VIDEO_TS on my hard drive.
-Clive E.
"
(added 10/2/2006)
"Hi there! On my iMac G5 1.8Ghz with 2GB ram,
my keyspan remote and my griffintechnology Powermate have stoped
responding after installing 10.4.8 combo updater PPC.
As always after i installed from the combo installer, i corrected
permissions and passed tech tool pro. Fixed all stuff there was to fix.
When i pluged those two peripherals, nothing happened!
On my macbook intel 1.83GHz powermate is fully funcional but keyspan
remote is still dead.
(I asked for version numbers of the keyspan and griffin software
(as requested in the email links, -please- include versions of software
you have problems with, as there could be an update tomorrow, next week, etc.-Mike)
i got all the latest versions! ('WHAT VERSION NUMBERS?' - when someone
reads this later the 'latest version' could be different/updated.)
i uninstalled all powermate related files and installed again! now
powermate works on both my imacg5 and macbook
Tried to do that regarding keyspan, but nothing seemed to help.
my keyspan remote is running but when i press the remote buttons the
infrared light on the remote works but nothing happens in the OS
-Paulo L.
"
I wrote Paulo -again- to ask about specific versions used but got a bounce back.
(added 10/2/2006)
"I've compared rosetta speed with xbench in my mini 1.66 2 Gb and the
main difference was in floating point library: 2.89 in 10.4.7 vs 8.17
in 10.4.8.
(Since Xbench later versions are Univ. I asked if he selected to run
it under Rosetta)
I'm using xbench 1.3 (I think this is the latest version) and, to run
the test, I selected the option "run using Rosetta" in get info.
I noticed another interesting result comparing xbench using rosetta
vs native code for "floating point library" test. Natively, my mini
got 9.91 and under Rosetta 8.23, so I guess that apple is doing some
kind of bypass the access the floating point units of core duo...
Yesterday I compared the results of Cinebench (cpu render) of 10.4.8
vs 10.4.7 using rosetta, and now it finishes the render about 9%
faster. The results now are 85 (1 cpu) and 153.
Regards, Carlos
"
(added 10/2/2006)
"Installed on a G4 QuickSilver (2001) with dual 1.8 gig cpu upgrade.
Screen saver and sleep settings were broken (unable to set sleep
preferences, and no graphics displayed in menu for screen saver,
unable to quite apps, had to force them to quit).
I did my normal repair permissions after an upgrade, and that took care of the
problems. System appears to be operating normally with no other
problems noticed at this time.
-Thomcarl
"
"
Good day. Thanks as always for a great web site and resource. I installed the incremental update to my two home Macs, a PPC Mini and a
MDD dual 867 (firewire 400).
All is fine with the mini, so far so good.
Alas the MDD didn't fare as well. The machine starts and runs fine but
when it goes to sleep it doesn't go into deep sleep any longer and
worse, will not wake. I have to do a hard restart (hold the power button
in for 8 secs etc).
I have two cards installed, a Buffalo Turbo G PCI wireless card (which is working fine) and a (USB) 2.0 card by Adaptec. I am
also using a Kensington Multi Media keyboard and its associated software
as well as Wacom Graphire, Contour Shuttle and an HP 7360.
No kernal panics or other behavior, just hard restart from sleep. Very
frustrating. I will be removing the two cards and then deleting or
chasing other 3rd party software products over the coming days.
Many thanks and have a great day.
-Karl M
"
Looking at the system's logs can sometimes give you an insight into what is causing the problem. (And as you mentioned, check the sites of your 3rd party software addons/drivers/haxies/login items, etc. for any updates or notes on 10.4.8.) Assuming the Adaptec USB 2.0 card was natively supported (no USB drivers added), although sometimes even connected
devices (especially storage types) can cause sleep related problems. (Disconnecting/reconnecting USB devices is an old tip also for
USB device related problems, but won't help if it's a driver
issue.) Creating a new 'test' user acct and logging in as that
user also can test for problems related to your original
user folder prefs, addons, etc. (The other usual tips like cache clearing, reinstalling combo update, etc. may help also but first I'd do what you had planned regarding addons.)
Karl later wrote:
"
Thanks for the follow up note.
So after some trouble shooting: removing ram, cleaning contacts,
dusting, pulling the USB 2.0 card and resetting the machine to no avail,
I have found the issue.
This mac has always reacted poorly to having any (USB) external memory
stick/card or card reader connected to it when put to sleep. This
includes printers, scanners or anything else that includes a card reader
or RAM in it (so if I leave my printer on when it goes to sleep, my
computer would go into a unrecoverable shallow sleep cycle requiring a
hard restart).
When I installed my new printer yesterday I did so through a Belkin USB
hub in hopes of insulating the computer from such items. At the time I
put a Sandisk MobileMate MS+ Sony memory stick reader in the hub as
well. I assumed this wouldn't be a problem as it was in the hub. BZZZT
Wrong!
So I have removed the memory stick reader and the machine behaves just
fine. I have never understood this issue with this machine, but will
continue to adjust my behavior to compensate for it.
Thanks again for being such a great resource and for responding with
suggestions for tracking it down.
Have a great day.
-Karl
"
"
Hi Mike, I repaired permissions, ran all cron scripts and installed the 10.4.8 combo update (148mb) for PPC over a 10.4.6 installation to my Rev B '04 dual 2Ghz G5.
Rebooted, the initial chime was truncated, seemed to actually boot
faster but from there I guess that a lot of stuff had to be
reorganised so the entire bootup to desktop was longer than usual.
So far the only problem I can find is the same trivial one that was
in 10.4.7 - IOUSBFamily.kext still doesn't allow printing to my Canon
laser printer under Classic.
I use Pagestream a DTP program that is crucial to my work ( paid for
the OSX update 2 1/2 years ago, still waiting ).
I have no idea yet whether this problem is related to this program
only or all OS9 / Classic printing.
There is a way to keep 10.4.8 and still print from Classic. I put up
a page regarding this after 10.4.7 was released. readers can ignore
the part referring to "kernel panics" as I isolated the cause of
these - bad blocks on a hard drive. The page is here
http://www.hatsuon.net/macstuff/kernel-panic.html
After I completed the replacement of the 10.4.6 IOUSBFamily.kext I
could once more print from Pagestream for OS9 under Classic.
Everything else seems to work as promised for me in 10.4.8 and if the
time comes when I don't need to use Classic I will re-install the
10.4.8 IOUSBFamily.kext
-Michael, JAPAN.
"
"
After updating to 10.4.8, I checked the "Tweak Test" on
DSLreports.com. Now, instead of suggesting an MTU of 1492, it
suggests an MTU of 1500. In addition, for the first time the test
reports that "Selective Acks" is now active. This is a feature not
previously available. An iBook running 10.3.9 still gets a report
that Selective Acks is not turned on, so it doesn't seem likely that
this is a test thing - the 10.4.8 installation passed twice.
-Clarke
"
"
Just updated my iMac (20" Intel 2GHz) and the update has virtually
killed my Belkin wireless setup. (I asked for more details on
his wireless network setup/hardware-Mike)
It's a Belkin wireless router. In terms of software stuff I'm only using the
Apple firewall with no other add ons. The router is still working perfectly
with my PC laptop (has Belkin pc card wireless adapter).
It's now so slow it may as well be 28.8 dialup!! It also drops the
wireless connection frequently, despite
being located in the same room (about 15 feet away). If you've got
wireless I'd tread carefully.
Cheers, Sean
"
"
I just updated to 10.4.8 on my G5 Quad
Here is the error I get in running several apps, most notably Director MX2004, Adobe After Effects 6and Adobe Premiere 6.5....Photoshop CS2 and After Effects 7.0 seem unaffected...
The application "Director" could not be launched because of a shared library error: "'<Director MX><CarbonLib><CFMPriv_ATS><>"
System/library/CFMsupport/CarbonLibÊ
I am gonna try to reapply theÊCombo Update to see if that helps.
(he later wrote)
Re-applying COMBO update fixed this issue...thankfully!
-Jim
"
"
Hi Mike, I just installed the 10.4.8 Combo Update on my eMac/G4/1.42/1.5GB RAM.
I got the dual boot, with the second one being way slower.
Both times I used Verbose mode when booting, and the 1st time it was different in that it had something about deleting/making a new VM file, as well as something like rearranging Devices.
The second Boot took much longer, almost identical to when I use Applejack to clear Caches and trash the VM file. I think the Disk Thrasing I hear about is really fragmented HDs making a new VM file myself, but I religiously Defrag and otherwise maintain my HDs... journalling is OFF on everthing too.
A third boot was faster than the second, but seemed slower than a regular 10.4.7 reboot.
Everything seems fine with the Combo Update... didn't get any of that Box thing at all.
Only 3rd party HW is #1... Zyxel AG-225H USB/Wireless which works fine still, and #2 a Ximeta NetDisk, which has always been Flakey/Slow, (possibly due to Possums chewing on Electrical cords though)... funny thing is though... it'd only work on 10BaseT/Half Duplex before, but worked with 100BaseT/Full Duplex after the upgrade, though it was still about 9-10MB/Sec. Ended up using it's USB2 port for 15MB/Sce! :-(
I think the most exciting thing about this upgrade is that it's supposed to fix many SMB/AD problems, but I can't test it as I "lent" my PCs to Employees to play Games at Home!
And Fixing Permissions seems a bit improved over the years, now only...
"Permissions differ on ./Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/Frameworks/InternetUtilities.bundle/Contents/MacOS/InternetUtilities, should be -rw-rw-r-- , they are -rwxrwxr-x
Owner and group corrected on ./Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/Frameworks/InternetUtilities.bundle/Contents/MacOS/InternetUtilities
Permissions corrected on ./Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/Frameworks/InternetUtilities.bundle/Contents/MacOS/InternetUtilities
Permissions differ on ./private/var/log/secure.log, should be -rw------- , they are -rw-r-----
Owner and group corrected on ./private/var/log/secure.log
Permissions corrected on ./private/var/log/secure.log"
-BDAqua
"
"
No problems noticed yet on a MacBook Pro. As others have noticed
there was the long period of disk activity at the grey boot screen
b=followed by a second reboot. Rosetta applications seem to launch
much faster especially Office 2004 apps - PhotoshopCS2 is also quicker.
-Nigel
"
The Intel Mac update was huge (200+MB even for the 'delta' update) so there were hopes for improved performance in many areas.
Keyspan USB Networked Print Server Driver (v1.33b2) (Update: There's no change info but MU now lists Keyspan USB Server 1.3.4b4 that hopefully is 10.4.8 compatible.)
"
Hello. I just upgraded to 10.4.8 on two power mac systems, and a macbook
pro laptop, and it went fine. I went to do my wife's intel iMac, and
I get kernel panics after 10.4.8 was installed. Doesn't even make it
past the white boot screen. Holding down shift key to boot in safe
mode worked.
After poking around, it looks like the Keyspan USB drivers are the
cause of the problem. The package I originally installed them from is
the KeyspanUS4A.pkg, also labeled as KeyspanUS4A_133b2.zip (v1.33b2?-Mike) at their
website. I couldn't find their uninstall program, so I manually removed:
/Library/StartupItems/NHCI
/System/Library/Extensions/KeyspanNHCI-T.kext
And rebooted without holding down the shift key and everything
started fine.
(I asked what version of the drivers he was using and what
Keyspan adapter they were used for-Mike)
The drivers are for this:
The US-4A USB Networked Print Server.
The drivers are here:
USB Server Software for Mac OS X v1.3.2b2 for Mac OS X 10.3 or greater (Universal Binary - Works Intel Macs)
If you actually follow the link to http://www.keyspan.com/download/,
you'll find v1.3.3b2, which was crashing the system.
-Roland"
The reason why I ask for versions of any 3rd party addons that you have a problem with is there could
be an updated version of them tomorrow, next week, etc.
"After updating to Mac OS X 10.4.8 on a Mac Pro via Software Update,
my Avocent SwitchView DVI is no longer functioning properly. Video
output is not affected, but keyboard and mouse functionality are gone
entirely. I'm thinking of reverting back to 10.4.7. Very annoying.
(I asked if he tried disconnecting/reconnecting the USB devices on the
KVM and cycled power on the KVM.-Mike)
Corresponding with you helped me get my brain working. It's been a
long week. :) The USB connections on the KVM are system connections
(squarish connector). The ones on the computers are, of course,
device connectors (flat). The KVM was getting power from the
computers, and was thus not restarted when I removed the power
cable. Because I am severely visually impaired, I overlooked this.
I also failed to take the hint implied by the connectors.
Bottom line: removing all cables and allowing the KVM to totally power down
did the trick. After powering the KVM back up, I reconnected
everything to the Mac Pro and Mac mini, and I'm back in business.
-Jake
"
"Hi Mike, I downloaded the Combo updater (as usual) and installed on my Digi.
Audio G4 (upgraded with OWC 1.33 Ghz single G4), 1.5 RAM, single 120
GB HD, flashed ATI 9800 Pro 128MB card, SIIG ATA/133, and a OWC
special 2 firewire/4 USB port card).
No issues thus far; rock solid - all apps fire up fine.
Only nuance after install: I got the double-boot. I had noticed
someone else with a PPC Mini got it too (in the forums). It was about
2 minutes of disk crunching after the initial restart and I thought
it'd just go to the login window...but no...another automatic
restart. I have to say there was a LOT of disk activity during that
initial start.
All apps and utilities seem OK.
-D
"
"Installed on a dual 2.5GHz G5, 4GB ram, two drive RAID 0 array to boot.
No issues found.
-Jon
"
Improved Comcast Cable Modem Performance:
"
Just updated to 10.4.8 I am on comcast with a 8 megabit connection.
With my Mac Pro I have only been getting between 2 and 3 megabits.
Now after the update, DSLreports (benchmark test) is reporting a connection speed of
between 7 to 8+ megabits. This is more like it.
(Apple's page with Details on the 10.4.8 update has in the networking changes section that it "Resolves performance issues that could occur when connecting to a Comcast network."
There was also a thread in Apple's forums about a month or so ago about some cable modems (Broadcom based IIRC) having performance issues with Macs.-Mike)
Only other thing I
have noticed in the first half hour of use is, that on restart there
is now a low frequency hum that ramps up in volume every 30 seconds
or so. Not sure if this is fans or what, but it is noticeable. Never
had it before and was evident on restart. It has been so quiet that
it is kind of bothersome.
-Ron
"
Nobody else that has written so far mentioned that. (Unless they didn't notice it.)
"
I've got a Gigabit Dual 450mhz (Upgraded to a Powerlogix Dual
1GHz/2MB L3 cache Processor) w/2GB of ram / 2-80GB WD hard drives. Just
installed the 10.4.8 Update and as usual no issues. This has got to be
the most rock solid machine I have ever come across.
-Robert
"
"
No problems here so far...on a Mac Pro. I did get the double boot like
everyone else with an Intel system.
I just switched from Entourage to Mail since I don't like having memory
hungry rosetta apps running all the time. I must say, Mail is much much
faster than I remember it and is pretty slick overall. The smart mailboxes
did wonders for me sorting out where to put my several thousand imported
messages. The searching seems more powerful and faster than Entourage ever
has been...
-Ozzy
"
"
No problems here, so far, on a Mac Pro with dual displays and a Mac Book
Pro. I also did the double restart.
-Milhouse
"
A Mac Pro/7300GT w/Dual Displays originally thought the update had disabled one of his DVI ports, but later found the problem seemed to be related to one of the display/cables.
The Black Box (Due to Universal Access Zoom Setting) (Update - Apple now has a kbase doc on this - OS X 10.4.8: Black rectangle may appear after installing Mac OS X 10.4.8 update)
"
I've just installed 10.4.8, (iMac G4) and it's caused an odd box to appear and
not go away. Read the Apple Discussion board thread I made on it here (it will hopefully get some replies soon).
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=667997
(some others replied they saw the same thing )
-Michael M.
"
Note: A later post there said this is Universal Access related - in the Universal Access prefs for Zoom options, uncheck "show preview rectangle when zoomed out". (Another reader saw the same thing/same fix.)
"
On first reboot after rebooting, lost network connections, Net
Monitor gave an error. Rebooted and all was fine.
Mac Pro Quad 3.0 GHz, 6 GB Ram, Ethernet to Cable Modem (No Airport)
ATI XT1900, 2 X Raptor X 150 RAID 0 boot
Once I rebooted, all networking returned to normal.
BTW Aperture 1.5 takes a long time to at first convert the libray then
generate previews (about 38000 images in database). Will be a while until I
can tell any performance change from earlier versions.
-Michael
"
After the initial reboot (2003 G5 tower) here, it didn't auto-connect to the Airport network but I've seen that before at times. (Usually turning Airport off/back on from the menu bar reconnects.)
"
Pop art for Photo booth is still broken in 10.4.8. I have a G5 2.1GHz
20" iMac with built in iSight.
If I remember correctly when 10.4.7 was released it broke Pop Art in
Photo Booth. I contacted Apple Care and they told me that I needed
to wait for 10.4.8 for a fix or revert back to 10.4.6 version.
However there are some standalone updates (Russian version) to Photo
Booth that fixes it. But if you put it on an English version of the
OS it breaks a whole bunch of things.
-Dan
"
I've just installed 10.4.8 on a 2003 Dual G5/X800 XT system here but it's not been used for much so far (it's not the main work machine here).
If you find any pros or cons with 10.4.8, let me know the details (include mac model, info on any addons/upgrades, etc.) Remember as with any OS X version update, check your 3rd party addons/login items, etc. first for any updates or developer notes on 10.4.8 compatibility. If you see a problem include the version of any 3rd party software addons you're using. Thanks.
|
