Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) #4: Disk utilities (DiskWarrior, etc.) caution; Not re-connecting to network after sleep; more

Disk utilities (DiskWarrior, etc.) caution You may want to hold off on running any of the popular disk directory repair/optimization utilities until further word is released by their developers.

Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) makes some changes to the HFS+ file system that can cause these utilities to incorrectly report errors, and cause damage while attempting to fix non-existent problems.

MacFixIt reader Adam Williams writes:

"Even if you boot from a Mac OS X 10.3 volume, Mac OS X 10.4 seems to have new file flags that disk utilities don't understand. I did a disk repair with diskwarrior 3.0.2 and it found tons of errors i let it fix, Tiger was not happy about it."

We'll be posting updated information from the developers of DiskWarrior and other utilities as it is released.

Not automatically re-connecting to network after sleep Several readers have no corroborated an issue where Macs connected to AirPort networks refuse to automatically re-join the network after waking from sleep subsequent to installation of Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger).

One reader writes:

"I too have experienced the connection issues when waking from sleep. My 12" 1GHz will occasionally not reconnect to the airport network. Simple enough to connect... with the menubar... but it ends up being an issue when the widgets (konfab and dash) want to use the network immediately upon waking."

In some cases, this issue can be resolved by opening the Network Pane of System Preferences, clicking the "AirPort" tab, then selecting "Automatic" from the "By Default Join:" menu (rather than selecting a specific AirPort network). Oddly, in some cases, the opposite set-up allows for proper operation (i.e. selecting a specific AirPort network rather than using the automatic setting.)

Note that this problem is not relegated to Mac OS X 10.4, it is merely more frequent after the update. The issue has been reported under Mac OS X 10.3.x as well.

Printers accessed via AirPort networks: Resetting base stations Several readers have reported issues with access to printers connected to AirPort networks under Mac OS X 10.4.

In some cases, these issues can be resolved by resetting your AirPort or AirPort Express base station. For instructions, see the following Knowledge Base articles:

• Resetting AirPort Express
• Resetting the AirPort Base Station (Dual Ethernet)
• Resetting the AirPort Extreme Base Station
• Resetting the AirPort Base Station (Graphite)

iChat AV forgetting settings A few readers have reported an issue where iChat AV does not correctly remember user preferences from launch to launch.

MacFixIt reader Josh Pike writes:

"Occasionally (maybe 30% of the time) when opening up the iChat app, it asks me if I want to open up a Bonjour connection. I've told it numerous times, and checked in the prefs, unchecking the bonjour option, and it still doesn't always get the picture."

In some cases, this issue is caused by a corrupt .plist file. Try deleting the following files:

• com.apple.iChat.AIM.plist
• com.apple.iChat.Jabber.plist
• com.apple.iChat.plist
• com.apple.iChat.SubNet.plist

from the folder ~/Library/Preferences (note that you will need to re-enter chat service login information). Check to see if the problem persists.

TiVo Desktop problems Several readers report that the retail version of Mac OS X 10.4 is incompatible with the latest version of TiVo Desktop v1.9.1.

Feedback? Late-breakers@macfixit.com.

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