Freakin' Mac Security Update Screwed Up Panther!!!

F

freaky

OSXer
I just installed the Security Update that came out today for Panther and after restarting my iMac it just kept loading and loading with the animated icon. Then after about 20 minutes I turned off the power and started it up. For some reason it keeps going to where it says "Login Window Starting" then it never loads (after 40 minutes).

Can somebody tell me what I need to do to get my computer working again???
 
I have the same Book and just did it with no trouble. Of course this is a fresh install today also though. I also use auto-login, I hate multiple user machines too much of a headache. Maybe you had some pre-exsisting problem that didn't show up until you did this update.
 
I put in the Install disk and ran the verify/repair permissions then when I tried verifying my main partition it said it could not unmount it so I went ahead and repaired the disc anyways. Unfortunately, it's still sticking when it gets to "Login Window Starting". Any other suggestions how to get past this???
 
freaky said:
I put in the Install disk and ran the verify/repair permissions then when I tried verifying my main partition it said it could not unmount it so I went ahead and repaired the disc anyways. Unfortunately, it's still sticking when it gets to "Login Window Starting". Any other suggestions how to get past this???
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Were you actually booted (i.e. started up) from the Install CD when you ran Disk Utility?

You can also try running fsck. Hold down apple-s at the startup chime and at the prompt type "fsck -yf" if you see the message "**FILE SYSTEM WAS MODIFIED**" repeat the above step. When you get the message that everything appears fine type "exit" to continue booting in verbose mode. Watch any messages during this phase to see if you get any repeated warnings.
 
Security updates tend to have unusually long optimization times. I hate to say it, but you shouldn't have pulled the plug on the computer, as I doubt the install was finished and I doubt it was locked up as well. OS X doesn't like being shut down abnormally.

When security updates (or ANY Software Update update) are installed, there is an "optimization" process that can take anywhere from a few minutes up to 45 minutes or more, depending on how much stuff you have on your hard drive. Don't ever interrupt this process, even if it seems like it's stuck, as it can take a long time. Sometimes it'll hang on "xx% done" but it's not actually hung, it's still chugging along -- it just takes a while.
 
He stated that he had rebooted the Mac _after_ applying the update. Nothing about the optimisation process.

If you have a firewire harddrive (or an iPod), I'd suggest installing Panther on an external drive. Then back up important stuff and reinstall the iMac. You might also want to check with the store you got the iMac from. Maybe they'll be kind enough to lend you a big FW harddrive you can use to do this.

Your other option is to archive & install a fresh version of Panther, apply all updates and then move the stuff to the right places.

With 10.1 I used to 'upgrade' the OS from 10.1.x down to 10.1.0, then reapply all updates. It kinda worked, felt strange and was certainly not healthy. I don't know if Panther still _allows_ such a dowwwwnupgrade. ;-)
 
dagaz said:
Were you actually booted (i.e. started up) from the Install CD when you ran Disk Utility?

You can also try running fsck. Hold down apple-s at the startup chime and at the prompt type "fsck -yf" if you see the message "**FILE SYSTEM WAS MODIFIED**" repeat the above step. When you get the message that everything appears fine type "exit" to continue booting in verbose mode. Watch any messages during this phase to see if you get any repeated warnings.
Click to expand...

Yes to the first question. I tried running fsck -yf and it said something had been modified, then I ran it again and it said everything was fine. I then typed exit and now it's stuck at the Login Window starting screen again. UHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

What ElDiablo said is what happened after applying the patch. It was taking a ridiculously long time (around 25 mins) to get back to the desktop that I figured it was locked up. I didn't know that it took this long after applying patches (i thought all the work was done before rebooting), so I guess that's why I'm having trouble.

I don't have anything plugged into it except an ethernet wire and keyboard/mouse. The hard drive is plugged directly into the ribbon cable inside the iMac.

If anybody has any other suggestions I'd appreciate it. I've got to get this thing started and I can't reformat because I have lots of important emails to get to. If I run Archive and Install will it remove all of my software I've installed and emails/fonts?
 
Well I finally got it to work again by running Archive and Install, then after running the Software Updater I had to download about 10 things, then when I restarted it said I needed to download another 6. After it installed the updates I hit Restart and walked away. I came back about 2 hours and guess what???? it's stuck and the damn Login Window starting message again!!!!!! I guess I'm going to have to run the Archive and Install again and this time I AM NOT going to install that POS security update that screws up Panther.
 
try repairing your permissions at some point. trying to install on a srewed up system is just asking for trouble. sounds more like you've got something screwed up than that the update is screwed up.
 
it's not a bad idea to run the repair permissions both BEFORE and AFTER the security updates. good luck..
 
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