Nokia phones only from AT&T
September 15, 2008 1:15 PM PDT
Mac OS X 10.5.5 released: MobileMe, Time Machine, Spotlight, iPhone, graphics fixes
Apple has released Mac OS X 10.5.5, the latest incremental OS update. The new version is currently available only through Software Update. Enhancements include:
General- Includes recent Apple security updates.
- Addresses stability issues with video playback, processor core idling, and remote disc sharing for MacBook Air.
- Addresses an issue in which some Macs could unexpectedly power on at the same time each day.
- Resolves a stability issue in TextEdit that could be found when accessing the color palette.
- Improves Spotlight indexing performance.
- Fixes an issue in which contacts might not sync properly with PalmOS-based devices.
- Improves iPhone sync reliability with iCal and Address Book.
- Includes improvements to Active Directory (see this article for more information).
- Improves Speech Dictionary.
- Fixes Kerberos authentication issues for Mac OS X 10.5 clients that connect to certain Samba servers, such as Mac OS X Server version 10.4.
- Includes extensive graphics enhancements.
- Addresses stability issues that may occur when creating a Smart Group.
- Resolves a printing issue with address cards containing information that spans more than one page.
- Improves reliability when rebuilding a software mirror RAID volume in Disk Utility.
- Improves reliability of server status displayed in Directory Utility.
- Updates iCal to more accurately handle repeating events.
- Improves performance when choosing meeting attendees.
- Resolves an issue in which the "Refresh All" option may be dimmed ("grayed out") in the contextual menu for certain calendars.
- Fixes issues with read-only calendars.
- Addresses an issue that prevents an invitee from moving an event to a different calendar.
- Resolves an issue with syncing published calendars.
- Addresses performance issues related to displaying IMAP messages.
- Resolves an issue with SMTP settings for AIM, Compuserve, Hanmail, Yahoo!, and Time Warner Road Runner email accounts.
- Addresses stability issues that may occur when dragging a file to the Mail icon in the Dock.
- Addresses an issue with the "Organized by Thread" view in which the date does not appear when the thread is collapsed.
- Resolves an issue in which RSS feeds could temporarily disappear from the sidebar.
- Improves Mail robustness when sending messages.
- Improves reliability when saving drafts that have attachments.
- Improves overall sync reliability.
- Improves Back to My Mac reliability.
- Improves Time Machine reliability with Time Capsule.
- Addresses performance issues that may affect initial and in-progress backups.
- Fixes an issue in which an incorrect alert message could appear stating that a backup volume does not have enough free space.
- Time Machine can now back up iPhone backups that are on your Mac, as well as other items in (~/Library/Application Support).
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Update procedure recommendation
- General principles.
- Leave all Apple-installed components where they are. Don't, for example, move Safari out of /Applications, or move your user Home folder.
- In System Preferences > Software Update, make certain that "Download important updates in the background" is not checked. If your computer has multiple users, do this for every user. It might also be wise to uncheck "Check for updates"; one user, the administrator, should then be responsible for checking manually for updates from time to time. (To do so, choose Apple > Software Update.)
- When an update is available in Software Update, do not press the Install button in the Software Update window. Instead, download any desired update packages individually and without actually performing the installation. Software Update allows you to do so, but this feature is not at all obvious, so here are instructions:
- Make sure there is a checkmark at the left of all and only the packages you want to download.
- Choose Update > Download Only. After performing the download(s), note the location, on your hard drive, of the downloaded material.
- Restart into Safe mode, by holding down the Shift key from the moment you hear the startup "bong" to the moment the "spinning gear" appears. Expect this startup to take longer than usual. Don't be alarmed if the fans whir loudly during the "spinning gear" display. Eventually you will be presented with the Safe Boot login screen. Log in as the administrator.
- Without launching any other applications, double-click one installer package and perform the installation. Do nothing else; just sit there and wait until the installation is complete.
- Repeat step 3 after every installation. Finally, restart normally. This, too, may take longer than usual, and you may experience a "double-restart." Be patient!
You forgot rubbing blue mud into your navel and waving a dead chicken over your head.
Sheesh. 99% of users who haven't screwed around with their system can just click "Install" in Software Update without difficulties. If you're that worried, back up your system drive first (which you should be doing anyway).
Before you all jump on me, consider this: Which update method do you suppose Apple has tested more: MacFixit's method, or the standard Software update method?
Oh hear my plea, ye Gods of irony, let the scoffer rsfinn's fatuous update protocols hose his/her machine in the near future! ;0)
<i>Sheesh. 99% of users who haven't screwed around with their system can just click "Install" in Software Update without difficulties.</i>
Do some math. There are millions of Mac OS X 10.5 users; 1% of them is thousands of people. That's a lot of people having problems with the update.
You can call MacFixIt's instructions overly cautious, but I'd rather not be in that 1%, thank you very much. Yes, I have backups, but even with a perfect backup, a system hosed by an update is at best a lot of time lost. Taking a few extra minutes to reboot into Safe Mode and apply the update manually is not a lot of effort.
<i>consider this: Which update method do you suppose Apple has tested more: MacFixit's method, or the standard Software update method?</i>
I think that Apple <b>never</b> systematically tests the real world situation of using a Mac for days doing real-world, real people stuff, and then installing the update when System Update happens to pop up in front of them. Since the advent of Mac OS X, I reboot once or twice a week, at most. It's <i>impossible</i> for Apple to predict what the state of my system is going to be after several days of use, even if I haven't installed <i>anything</i> besides the basic operating system. The only way to "test" this situation is to release the update to the public, and wait to see if people complain.
Rebooting into Safe Mode puts your system into a consistent and reasonably predictable state. And (having spent three months working in Apple QA, some years back) I'm quite certain that that condition is tested by Apple. Doing an update when freshly booted into Safe Mode is definitely more safe.
Jumping to the end though -- attempting a second install from Software Update went off without a hitch.
Basically, 10.5.5 downloaded and started to install just fine. Went through the script(s) in user space and then requested a reboot. During the shutdown, but after logging out the user and killing the Finder, another script ran to install something. That script failed and I was presented with a less than useful message about a failure occurring. Offered me a Restart button, which I hit. Came back okay in 10.5.4. Attempted it one more time from Software Update. Worked like a charm that time.
I haven't checked my system logs for more details about the failure. If anyone is interested and can suggest which log to look in, I'll see if any other information is available.
MBP 2.33 GHz 3 GB
10.5.4 -> 10.5.5
I had a similar experience but when the system restarted, the system was scrambled to the point where the computer could not find an acceptable system. I ended up using Time Machine and the install disk to recover to 10.5.4.
I went to bed shortly after finishing the process, so I'm still waiting for problems.
Of course, I am now afraid to install 10.5.5.
"Safe Mode" for most of its critical updates, and then reboots twice.
I always boot in verbose mode (boot-args = "-v") so I see what's going on.
I updated my iMac following your "Safe-Mode" approach and my MacBook
running Software Update. Both worked equally well.
The advantage of having the Combo-Updater on an external disk is that you save on download time and can use it on several machines.
That is the most overly paranoid and convoluted set of suggested steps I've ever seen.
Rube Goldberg would be proud.
They hate that.
I doubt there is anything to worry about. If you are worried, grab the combo update, and run through that. Then you will be sure it got applied correctly.
SadSackSuperman, I had the same problem. I guess the installer gets impatient for a restart. Anyway, because I didn't know what had really happened in my absence, I ran the Combo update again and watched till it finished and restarted promptly.
All is well so far.
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Don't anthropomorphize computers.
They hate that.
I also install Security Update 2008-006 on these 10.4.11 systems:
iMac G5 = no problem
PowerMac G5 = no problem
PowerBook G4 = no problem
I'll run through my normal test and update this list what I see.
Ran Parallels and most of my applications & functions without any problems after the 10.5.5 update.
I did noticed that browsing my workplace network for shared drives did take much longer than normal (normally it takes about 10 seconds) but it took over 30 seconds today. I don't know this only will happen once after update or will this be normal length of time to search my network.
Tried to view shared drives on my workplace network and I had no problems today.
The only quirk I could see now is when I print it does spool slower than normal.
Software Update works as expected, it always has. Download, do not install, boot in safe mode...what a load of BS!
They also forgot the simplest and trouble-free steps. Download the Combo Update and run that instead!
Of course there are some that will believe the BS dished out by CrapFixit. Time to delete this page from the bookmarks. None of the info they recommend is useful.
- by WhiteDog September 15, 2008 11:25 PM PDT
- <class="merchant"><span>></span><div class="datestamp"><i>This is a reply to a previous comment by Hillstones</i></div></class><br />
- Like this Reply to this comment
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Showing 1 of 2 pages (40 Comments)Hillstones, you won't be missed. One less "the world revolves around me" poster to worry about.
While I have few of the problems reported on MacFixIt, it's an invaluable resource when I do - or when my clients do. Though none of their reports will be useful to everybody, all of their reports are useful to somebody. This seems obvious to me but clearly some people miss the point.
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Don't anthropomorphize computers.
They hate that.