Mac OS X 10.3.7 Update (#10): App performance; DiskWarrior; CD/DVD mounting; Safari/Java

We continue to cover reports of issues with Apple's recently released Mac OS X 10.3.7 Update.

Slow application performance We've previously covered reports of both slow application performance and slow startup. A significant number of readers have found a link between having an active network connection and slow startup, but reader John Rawnsley reports that his network connection also appears to affect how quickly Mail launches:

"Mail still refuses to open under 1.5 minutes, whereas [under] 10.3.6 it opened in about 3 seconds. On the other hand, if I first turn AirPort off and then open Mail it opens in 2 seconds! I then have to turn AirPort on, of course, in order to send and receive mail and to connect to the 'net, which is a bit of a pain considering that Safari still opens up in about 3 seconds (as it did in 10.3.6) and loads my home page more or less immediately with AirPort on. I am at the moment using Entourage which opens up in about 5 seconds whilst connected to the 'net via AirPort.

"[I have the] same problems on my iMac: Mail slow to open up (1.6 minutes) [whereas] Entourage [is fast] (4 seconds), as is Safari (2 seconds), and this with an Ethernet connection, not wireless."

DiskWarrior/10.3.7 conflict? Yesterday we covered reports of DiskWarrior apparently causing connected FireWire drives to unmount. Reader Stuart Hillyer reports similar behavior with another partition of an internal drive:

"I am having this issue as well, intermittently...only it is happening to another partition of my internal drive since 10.3.7 with DiskWarrior. No problems following the warning and it doesn't always happen, and it only happens on the partition without an OS that I use for video storage."

Another reader confirms yesterday's report from Gabriel Dorado, but notes that DiskWarrior was still able to do its job:

"I got back from seeing a client today whose external LaCie FireWire hard drive failed to appear on her desktop. She was using a PowerMac G4 running 9.2.2. I connected her drive to may iBook running 10.3.7; the drive icon failed to appear on my Desktop (as I expected) and the OS reported the drive needed to be reformatted, but I chose to ignore that warning. I cranked up DiskWarrior 3.02, which couldn't preview the drive since it didn't appear on the desktop, and used it to rebuild the LaCie disk's directory. While in the process of doing that, the warning that reader Gabriel Dorado reported came up for me. I read it, figured there was nothing I could do about it, clicked the OK button and DiskWarrior continued to rebuild the directory. After replacing the LaCie's directory, the drive icon appeared and all data was preserved. DiskWarrior did its job."

CDs/DVDs not mounting: A workaround? We've been covering reports of CDs and DVDs not mounting after installing the update. Reader Greg Hiner reports a possible workaround:

"Like others, I continue to have problems with CD and DVDs mounting [since] I upgraded to 10.3.7. Curiously, I just tried logging out of my account and in to an account I had set up for guest use. When I put in my DVD it mounted immediately. I logged back out and back in to my account and the DVD mounted again. I ejected and tried again and it mounted. Strange. Not sure how long this will last."

Safari/Java issue Reader CB reports an issue with Safari since installing 10.3.7 that was fixed by reinstalling Java 1.4.2:

"Opening or navigating within certain sites would cause Safari to simply quit, no warning. 10.3.7 was installed in accordance with all instructions. I performed all the checks suggested by Apple, all to no avail. I reinstalled Safari, again to no avail. I repaired permissions with Disk Utility, did a thorough house-cleaning with Onyx, [but] no change in Safari?s behavior. Then I recalled that on Sunday I upgraded a friend's machine and installed Java 1.4.2 subsequent to 10.3.7 and [saw] no problems whatsoever on her machine. So I decided to reinstall Java 1.4.2 on my PowerBook and, lo and behold, Safari is back to normal with no more inexplainable quits.

Drop us an email with your 10.3.7 reports at Late-breakers@macfixit.com.

Resources