June 12, 2007 3:00 AM PDT

Safari 3.0 public beta (#2): What gets installed; Widgets not working; Input managers can cause problems; more

by CNET staff

[Published Tuesday, June 12th]

What gets installed by the Safari 3 Beta package Installing Safari 3.0 does much more than simply replace the Safari application (in /Applications) with a newer copy. It also does a transplant of the WebKit framework (relied upon by Safari and other applications to render page HTML content), the JavaScript framework, and -- surprisingly -- replaces the Dock with a new version. As such, you may experience problems with applications other than Safari after installing this beta release. One particular area (as noted below) concerns the operation of Widgets, which are rendered by WebKit.

Fortunately, Apple has included an uninstaller (Safari3BetaUninstall.pkg) that will revert all components replaced by the Safari 3.0 beta installer with the Safari 2.x associated versions.

Widgets not working Because Safari 3.0 beta modifies the WebKit framework and other files, some Widgets may not work properly after installation.

MacFixIt reader Phil Geller writes:

"I found numerous widgets not functioning after loading the Safari 3.0 beta:

Wikipedia

Package Tracker

AirTraffic Control

Gas

"Restoring Safari 2.0.4 (via the uninstaller) brought them back to life. Looks like widget writers have some work to do before Leopard ships."

Input managers can cause problems, may break Input managers can cause problems for various applications, including Safari 3.0 beta. The new version of Safari can also cause some Input Managers -- like PithHelmet -- to no longer function. Check the following directories:

/Library/Application Support/SIMBL/Plugins/
Library/InputManagers
~/Library/InputManagers

and remove potentially problematic items. In fact, we recommend that users delete or temporarily remove all Input Managers before attempting to install and use Safari 3.0 beta.

Among the items identified as causing various problems so far are 1Passwd and AcidSearch -- remove them and check for persistence of the issues.

Incompatible plug-ins Check the plug-ins directories:

~/Library/Internet Plug-Ins
/Library/Internet Plug-Ins

for potentially incompatible items that could be causing various problems with Safari 3.0 beta. Quit Safari and temporarily move them to a different location, then launch Safari and check for persistence of the problem. You can then move items back in batches or one by one (repeating the quit and relaunch process each time) to isolate the problematic plug-in.

Flash not working -- fix Embedded Flash media may not work properly after updating to Safari 3.0 beta. In some cases, the problem is soluble through re-installation of Flash.

First, go to this page to check what version Flash you currently have installed.

If the installed version is 8.0.17.0, you have an older version of the Flash Player 8 preview release.

If the installed version is 8.0.22.0, or 8.0.24.0, you have the PowerPC version of Flash Player 8 installed. This version can only be used when your browser is run in Rosetta mode on Intel-based Macs.

Regardless, you should install the current version of the Flash player preview, 9.0.45.0 in order to avoid problems viewing Flash content under Universal browsers.

Unfortunately, the above procedure does not work for some readers. In fact, some readers report that even reverting to Safari 2.0.4 via the included installer does not restore Flash functionality.

MacFixIt reader Eric Milligan writes:

"Flash doesn't work anymore. The browser just displays the quicktime "Q" icon image. Reinstalled flash but it didn't make a difference. Running OS X 1.4.9 on a Powerbook G4 17". Just ran the uninstaller. Reverted back to Safari 2.0.4. Still no flash."

Failing the above solutions, quit Safari and look in the following folder:

/Library/Internet Plug-Ins (this is the Library folder at the root level of your hard drive, not the one inside your home user directory).

Try removing the following file from that directory:

VLC Plugin.plugin

Restart your browser and check for persistence of the issue.

If the problem is not resolved, a different plug-in may be causing the issue. Keep removing files from this directory (start with any third-party plug-ins present) until the issue disappears.

Fails to install Some users have reported that Safari 3.0 beta fails to install on their systems, despite meeting the Mac OS X 10.4.9 requirement. Users experiencing this issue may see the following error message:

"You cannot install Safari 3 Beta on this volume. This volume does not meet the requirements for this update."

In other cases, the installer erroneously claims that there is not enough hard drive space.

This issue can sometimes (inexplicably) be resolved by re-downloading the Safari 3.0 beta installer and re-attempting installation.

Also, make sure that Safari is in the /Applications folder before attempting installation.

Does not load pages, crashes when loading pages Some users have reported problems loading pages, or crashes that occur when loading pages.

MacFixIt reader JL writes:

"New Safari 3.0-beta downloads and installs beautifully, but fails to load ANY pages. Fortunately 'Uninstall' works well and restored the old version to perfection.

Another reader adds:

"Type in a url, hit return, nothing happens, i.e. page does not load."

Norman Burns writes:

"I installed it last night but it crashed before the home page had loaded. This happened on 4 separate occasions, so it is now uninstalled."

Many of these issues may be due to errant plug-ins and/or Input Managers as described above.

Fails to launch -- fix If Safari 3.0 beta will not launch, make sure that an errant plug-in or (more likely) input manager isn't causing the problem.

Navigate to the directory /Library/Application Support/SIMBL/Plugins/ and remove any items installed there that affect Safari. One such file directly implicated with failure to launch Safari 3.0 is named AcidSearch.bundle. In fact, you should consider removing the entire /Library/InputManagers/SIMBL directory to prevent future issues.

Also check the plug-ins directories:

~/Library/Internet Plug-Ins
/Library/Internet Plug-Ins

as mentioned above in the Incompatible plug-ins section.

And remember, you can always use the uninstaller to revert.

MacFixIt reader Thomas Moreland writes:

"After downloading and install, application does not launch, even after Disk Repair performed. But, to the credit of Apple, the 'uninstall' program returns the original version of Safari."

Odd Yahoo Messenger problems Some users are reporting strange problems with Yahoo! Messenger after applying the Safari 3.0 beta update, including an issue where the chat window resets after each message is sent.

Tiffany Jackson writes:

"I downloaded Safari 3 this afternoon and ever since, my Yahoo Messenger 3.0 (beta 1) for OSX has been acting up. It doesn't display emoticons properly and the most annoying problem is that the window gets reset to the top every time someone sends an instant message. So when I get a message, instead automatically scrolling down, it sends you to the top of the conversation window and you have to scroll down. I uninstalled Safari 3 and everything works fine now with Yahoo Messenger."

Feedback? Late-breakers@macfixit.com.

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