Mac OS X 10.3.9 Update: Top or Flop?

[pipermalibu]

I let my system (Powerbook 17" 1Ghz) do the update to 10.3.9 tonight, now it is hosed. On mandatory reboot, It goes thru the typical starting internet services, etc. messages pretty fast, then freezes for some time at 'Starting Login Window' then after 2 -3 minutes, gives me a login window (I have automatic login to a user set). I tried to log in, but it never does. It basically gives me a beachball, then comes back to login again (after about a minute). I am not near a firewire cable now, so I will buy one in the morning. I will hook up to another Pbook, and try to fix permissions....any other ideas?

[ElDiabloConCaca]

Try restarting in single-user mode and running the fsck routine...

[pipermalibu]

ran fsck in single user mode. fsck -y told me it was journaled and to try fsck -f instead. I did. It found no problems. Still the same problem, a crazy slow system, and won't login.

[paulogdenfletcher]

Personally, I would boot your computer up using the 10.3 install disk. I would then run disk utility. I would repair the disk, and repair permissions. Then I would boot up Disk-Warrior and let that make a replacement directory... Just a thought...

Thanks,
Paul Fletcher

[nixgeek]

Wouldn't that change permissions on files that might have been added by 10.3.9, possibly making it worse?

[pipermalibu]

Added info:
I booted in single user mode, trashed the fontcache that was referenced in some other posts on Fireball. Not the problem. I then renamed the user file via:
# cd /var/db/netinfo
# mv local.nidb local.nidb.corrupted
# reboot
Which gave me the window as if I just purchased the mac. So I decided to creat a new user, and that would not complete either (at least timely). I got clear to the point of creating a password etc, clicked continue and thats it ....nothing.
When I do get a login window (prior to renaming the user list), and typed my password, it would just hang for a while, then return to ask for my password again.

[HateEternal]

You could try and create a new user in single user mode (if all the commands are avaliable) try this:

The quick way to add a user or a group is to feed a record in either the passwd or the group format into niload (commands you type are shown in bold; the ? is used by the here-document syntax that starts with <<EOF and ends with EOF):


% sudo niload passwd . <<EOF
? rothman:*:701:20::0:0:Ernest Rothman:/Users/rothman:/bin/tcsh
? EOF

After you've created the new user, you need to set the password, use the ditto command (a copy command that preserves HFS+ resource forks) to create the home directory, and set permissions correctly:


% sudo passwd rothman
Changing password for rothman.
New password: ********
Retype new password: ********

% sudo ditto -rsrc \
/System/Library/User\ Template/English.lproj \
/Users/rothman

% sudo chown -R rothman:staff /Users/rothman

This method does work from the normal terminal, if all the commands exist in single user you should be able to create a new user and try to login.

[vinko]

I now have a dead PB 12" that would not boot up.

This is after downloading the 10.3.9 update via Software Update and letting it install.

Just before it is restarted I went away from the PB, when I came back the screen was black but the power is still on; I can tell from the "Caps Lock" key light still working.

BTW: through out the installation the PB12" was on AC power.

So I press and hold the Power key to force it to reboot. At first it had a strange steady long tone after pressing the Power button.

So I press the Power button again, after a few long seconds of silence, the familiar chime was heard.

Thinking that I can at least get to the desktop to run Disk Utility, I was wrong. After the Apple logo shows up, the PB just stuck there loading and loading.

I then went to get my Panther Installation Disk and attempt to reboot the PB once again with the "C" key held down to boot from CD.

The Installation disk finally booted the PB, so I immediately went to start the Disk Utility.

Disk Utility started and it started to "Gather disk information", but it just keep gathering and gathering without ever returning.

I force restart, via the Power button, a few times more attempting to start Disk Utility from the Panther Installation CD ROM, but still no luck. It just get stuck at the same place every single time.

Does anyone else have similar problem or suggestions?

I will now go and try booting the PB with Diskwarrior. Will report back afterwards.

-- Vinko

[pipermalibu]

Can you give me the first commands again? Nothing was in bold. I am a little confused as to the upper commands in the last post

[pipermalibu]

However, the real problem is it won't let ANY user actually login. There is a corrupt file somewhere, and I am surprised I am the only one to have this problem. I don't run any crazy programs on the mac that would prevent an update from happening properly. However, this is like the third time I have done an update when first available and it has caused me problems. I have learned (or maybe not) to always backup first (in a hotel without my backup drive), and to always wait a few days after the update is out (I was bored), and to update via a 'superuser' account I have setup for this purpose, that has no programs running( too lazy to log out and back in)......will I ever learn?
Has no one else seen this before?

[bobw]

Think I'll wait for Tiger.

Talking to someone that did the 10.3.9 update, could no longer boot. Reset the PMU and it'll boot off the OS CD, but Disk Utility can't see his drive.

[mw84]

Everything seems to be working fine on the update for me? Guess I got lucky.

EDIT: Guess I'm not so lucky, on loading certain sites all that happens is the status bar goes mad and the site doesnt show.

[fryke]

All the messages about PowerBooks freaking out, harddrives dying on users and other stuff (although I don't count the Safari plugin issues, since users of those should have been aware of that...) left me with a strange feeling: Did Apple really release such a *bad* system as the final update to Panther? So let's have a poll...

[vinko]

Update on the previous post.

DiskWarrior could not boot the PB for some reason.

I tried starting into Single User mode when booting from the Panther CD to run fsck, but this seem to be checking the CD ROM rather than the internal HD of the PB.

Also something very strange. While in Single User mode, the message "IOATAController blocking bus" keep coming up over the prompt.

Does anyone know what that message means?

I have tried booting from the Panther CD and starting the Installer, but after the initial screen it reached the "Welcome to the Mac OS X Installer" I could not click on the "Continue" button. Well I did, but nothing happen. The button did not even appear to have accepted my click.

The HD seems to be spinning over and over.

I will now try mounting the PB as Target Drive via Firewire with my G4.

[Convert]

I haven't downloaded it yet, too scared to.

I know that recently the updates haven't been that good, in terms of side effects. 10.3.8 was the worst generally, but 10.3.9 sounds really bad.

Would you recommend I, a Powerbook user, downloading it?

Thanks, won't vote yet.

EDIT: As I wrote this threads were merged, and an extra option was added in the Poll.
I will still wait though.