April 22, 2005 7:30 AM PDT

Mac OS X 10.3.9 (#7): Apple posts software fix for Java issues; Mail.app problems; Confirmation for Classic fix; more

by CNET staff

Font size
Print
E-mail
Share
5 comments

Safari 1.3

Apple posts software fix for Java issues Since the release of Mac OS X 10.3.9, we've been covering significant issues with Java -- both in Safari and in Java applications -- caused by the update. After our initial coverage and posting of some successful workarounds, Apple acknowledged the issue with a Knowledge Base article that offers some limited fixes, including those published here. Yesterday we posted a Terminal-based workaround for the issue.

Now, Apple has released a software download that will resolve this issue on most afflicted systems.

In a description of the issue, and subsequent fix, Apple says:

"To reduce the memory footprint of Java applications, the HotSpot Java Virtual Machine (JVM) in Mac OS X makes use of a Java Shared Archive (JSA). The JSA contains the preprocessed internal HotSpot JVM representations of common standard Java classes that would otherwise be found and processed from the standard classes.jar file. Mac OS X 10.3.9 has exposed an issue in the use of the JSA, by which the virtual memory location of libhotspot.dylib can become incompatible with the current JSA. This can result in Java crashing on every execution.

"The Java Update for Mac OS X 10.3.9 addresses this issue.

"After installing the automatic software update and fixing the issue, Java no longer has a Java Shared Archive (hence the optional steps above). Users that run a large number of Java applications simultaneously will see an increase in memory pressure (usually 3Mb per application), because there is no Java Shared Archive."

Apple's Knowledge Base article on the subject also includes the Terminal-based workaround we published yesterday.

The Apple Java Update for Mac OS X 10.3.9 is available as a 1 MB download, or through Software Update.

Safari being updated outside of Applications folder? We normally recommend that users keep any Apple applications inside the default "Applications" folder so they can be properly recognized by Software Update and other processes.

However, some readers are noting that the Mac OS X 10.3.9 installer updates copies of Safari that are not in the default location.

Don Card writes:

"I had an odd experience updating to Mac OS X 10.3.9. Due to the problems reported with Safari, I saved a copy of Safari in a subfolder of my user folder. The updater updated this copy to 1.3 instead of the copy in the Applications Folder! I switched the two, and seem to be doing okay."

If you are experiencing similar behavior, please let us know.

Mail.app issues Users continue to report significantly degraded performance, and problems with rules in Mail.app under Mac OS X 10.3.9.

MacFixIt reader Peter Hughes writes

"I have been having the same problems - Mail app seems to stall when trying to access mail. The message in the status bar is 'comparing notes with server' and that message can remain for hours."

Chuck Alexander adds:

"I too have experienced problems using Apple's Mail since updating to 10.3.9. It takes forever to retrieve my mail, and even then it may not be readable. (eMac, 1 ghz, 768 MB RAM)."

Gretchen Hayman offers a slightly more detailed account:

"After applying the update, Mail.app has had issues filtering my e-mail, even after I manually and repeatedly selected the mail and then 'Apply filters.' Only after repeated restarts (or force quits, see below) of Mail, will it filter properly.

"It has also become glacially slow in mail checking; it will just sit there for minutes on end while checking. I am on IMAP, connecting to a cyrus IMAP server on our LAN. Nothing on our mail server side or network side has changed; I'm the Network Administrator, so I know this for a fact. It also incorrectly reports the mail. For the entirety of yesterday afternoon and night, it continued to "check" e-mail and when I came in this morning, I had no new e-mail. After (force) quitting Mail and restarting it, it correctly found my e-mail. So, I have taken to manually checking for mail from time to time, and to (force) quitting Mail several times a day, just in case it is not correctly reporting/gathering my mail.

"Last, but not least, Mail also now has problems quitting. When I select Quit, it appears to quit, but doesn't (the Dock indictor still shows it open). An inspection of the Activity Monitor shows the Mail process as hung and I have to force quit the application, losing any changes I may have made."

Some users are simply switching to an alternative mail client, such as the excellent Mozilla Thunderbird, in the wake of these issues.

MacFixIt reader Richard Eppert writes:

"I'm seeing the same things as David Miller. Connecting to our campus Exchange server has become painfully slow (and sometimes requiring a restart of Mail to even work) under 10.39. Never had this issue with any previous OS X updates. Installed Thunderbird, just for testing and it works fine."

If you are having problems with Mail.app under Mac OS X 10.3.9, please let us know.

Confirmation for Classic fix Yesterday we noted a fix for a problem where users are unable to launch Classic under Mac OS X 10.3.9.

The fix involves first starting up Classic with the "Shift" key held down to turn off all extensions. Then, once in the Classic environment, using the Extensions Manager to turn off the "Apple Menu Options" extension, then restarting Classic.

We've now received several notes from readers who have successfully applied this workaround.

I had been able to get Classic to start by turning off extensions since the 10.3.9 update, but I was not satisfied with that solution.

MacFixIt reader Karl Brooks writes "I tried Don Seher's suggestion and disabled the Apple Menu Options. It worked. Classic started - although, still very slowly - and so far has functioned without any problems."

As previously noted, some users are able to resolve his issue by simply installing the Mac OS X 10.3.9 combo updater.

Virtual PC problems A number of readers have begun reporting issues with Virtual PC 7.0 under Mac OS X 10.3.9.

MacFixIt reader Eric writes:

"Since updating my wife's dual 2.5GHz G5 to 10.3.9 she cannot run Virtual PC. We have the latest version, but two weird things happen: starting the start menu kills access to the dock. When we stop the start menu, the dock returns. Also, Virtual PC is not recognizing keyboard input."

Previous Mac OS X 10.3.9 coverage

Resources

coverage and posting of so...

acknowledged the issue

Knowledge Base article

Mac OS X 10.3.9 combo upda...

Mac OS X 10.3.9 (#6): Term...

Mac OS X 10.3.9 (#5): Fire...