October 17, 2006 9:06 AM PDT

Mac OS X 10.4.8 Special Report: External devices (USB/FireWire): Not recognized; can cause issues after system updates

by CNET staff

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For a multitude of reasons, external devices are a point of contention for incremental Mac OS X updates. The updates generally make significant modifications to USB I/O components (largely for the better), so it's no surprise that a few issues with previously properly functioning devices appear post-update.

Problems involving external devices usually fall into one or both of two categories: inability to recognize or properly interact with the device (will not mount, transfer data, etc.); or interference with startup/shutdown routines and other system processes.

If you're having problems with FireWire or USB devices not being recognized or interacting properly with the system, you may want to try cleaning caches with a utility like Cocktail, Mac Pilot or Tiger Cache Cleaner.

You can also try re-running the current combination updater (PowerPC or Intel). Doing so overwrites potentially problem-causing files that were not replaced by the "Delta" (adjacent version-to-version) update.

Also, as mentioned in the "Update procedures" section, make sure to disconnect external devices while you are applying the update (except for mice and keyboards, of course), then re-connect them one by one .

Reader reports

MacFixIt reader Craig Stevenson reports an issue transferring files to a Sansa e260 music player:

"Since upgrading to 10.4.8 via Software Update, my MP3 player, a Sansa e260, no longer mounts to the desktop and I apparently can't add MP3s to the player via drag and drop like I used to. [...] Upon connecting the USB cable to my hub, the player's screen used to show "Connected", shortly followed by 'Writing' as the disk actually mounted (appeared on the desktop). After making my changes I would drag the e260 disk icon to the trash and then the player's screen would change back to 'Connected'. Since applying 10.4.8 update, the player's screen shows 'Connected' for a couple of seconds, quickly followed by 'Disconnected.' I can't get the screen to show 'Writing' anymore."

MacFixIt reader Salvatore P. Miccicke writes:

"After installing Mac OS X 10.4.8 update on my PowerMac G4 MDD 1.25 GHz DP, all firewire drives no longer work. Including a G4 iPod. Same drives can be seen if connected to USB. Launching System Profiler and clicking FireWire yields a beach ball for some time and no firewire information displayed. Reapplied the update from jumbo patch, same results."

Another reader adds:

"I'm getting a kernel panic when I plug my IOGEAR USBII card into my Powerbook G4 running 10.4.8. Everything worked fine on previous Tiger updates. Haven't heard anything from IOGEAR tech support yet."

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