Security Update 2004-09-30 (#4): Safari connectivity; Mail; printing; general instability

We continue to cover reports of problems with Security Update 2004-09-30. Interestingly, the vast majority of these reports continue to be Safari-related, even though the Update did not update or replace any files related to Safari. (As we noted on Monday, the Update affects AFP Server, CUPS, NetInfo Manager, postfix, QuickTime, and ServerAdmin.)

Safari connectivity; solutions Readers continue to report issues with Safari being unable to connect to sites since installing the Update. Specifically, Safari will "time out" when trying to connect to a site. Often simply trying to connect to the site again will result in success. Whether or not these issues are directly related to Security Update 2004-09-30 or just coincidental, they seem to be affecting a good number of users. Yesterday we provided a list of techniques that some user have found useful in "fixing" Safari time out/reconnect issues; a number of readers responded with additional suggestions:

• In a similar vein as renewing DHCP leases (noted yesterday), several readers have found success in switching to a different Network Location and then back, or -- on step further -- deleting the current Network Location and then recreating it.
• J. Ronchetto found that the Web Proxy option was enabled in the Proxies tab of his active Network Port Configuration in Network preferences. Disabling it fixed the problem.
• Jamie Peloquin found that after installing the update, the "DHCP with Manual IP" option in the TCP/IP tab of Network preferences didn't work. Switching to Manual and then entering the router's IP address (and the appropriate IP address for the computer itself) fixed the problem.
• John Strayhorn, who access the Internet via AirPort, fixed the problem by turning AirPort off and then on again.
• Sean Popke found a solution, via the Apple Discussions forums, involving the lookupd cache:
  "I cleared the cache and so far I haven't had the problem since. Here's the text from the discussion that states how to clear the cache:

  To cut a long explanation short, the problem maybe with DNS resolution. I would like to go into details of testing, and isolating the problem but that will take too long. If you are comfortable with Terminal then...flush the lookupd cache The lookupd daemon maintains a cache on your hard drive of recently accessed information of all sorts (not just for domain names). If the cache becomes corrupt, this can cause DNS-related symptoms. The solution here is to flush the cache. To do so, launch Terminal and type the following: lookupd -flushcache

  "Note: The lookupd -statistics command provides a summary of lookupd information. Use this command before and after a flushcache command to confirm that the cache has actually been emptied. If the cache did empty, the number in the Total Memory line of the output (for example, # Total Memory: 57884) should be substantially lower."

• Ken Hoyle simply urges people to try an alternate browser, such as Firefox: "I abandoned Safari a long time ago and have never had a problem with Firefox It is lean, fast and very compatible with all sites including financial institutions and NetBank."

Issues with Safari and routers Reader Tom Ferrell reports a more general issue with Safari (and Camino) and Internet routers:

"I don't know which users with connectivity problems are behind a router, but both Safari and Camino often take out my router's IP upon trying to access web pages with links to various servers that are called by either a cgi script or JavaScript. I cannot even access my router (MacSense MIH-130) with a browser using the usual 192.168.1.1 address and have to cycle the router's power in order for it to obtain a WAN IP address from the cable modem and make the router accessible by the LAN IP address. I have tried all the fixes and looked at the Activity log under the Window menu in Safari and checked the Console utility, looked at the cable modem log (192.168.100.1 brings up my cable modem page) and find nothing very informative other than failure to access some file called by a script on the targeted web page. The problem is most readily seen on certain complex eBay web pages. I am starting to wonder if it is related to Apple's Java updates as well as the security updates as both Camino and Safari cause the problem and they use different rendering engines. I have also used Preferential Treatment to verify all my prefs and I've repaired permissions regularly, run the CRON scripts, used both Disk Utility and Norton to check my disk, and have seen the problem on several different Mac G4 desktops all with OS 10.3.5 with all the updates and plenty of good solid working RAM intensively tested."

Problems existed before the update? Appearing to support our suspicion that these problems may be only coincidentally related to the Security Update is the fact that we've covered similar reports on various occasions (especially after previous updates). In addition, a number of readers have written to tell us that they were having these problems long before the recent Update. Ron Myers writes: "I've had that problem [Safari connectivity issue] sporadically for months, long before the 9/2004 security updates." And Chris Halaska notes:

"The Safari connectivity problems obviously go beyond the recent Security Updates, as I regularly (a few times a day) see the 'Safari can't open the page xxxx because it could not connect to the server xxxx' error message, even though I have yet to install 10.3.5 or either of the September 2004 Security Updates. I'm still using 10.3.4. The error pops up whether I've been using Safari for weeks or whether I've just restarted."

Affecting other browsers Yesterday we noted that some other Internet clients were also exhibiting problematic behavior similar to Safari's; Robert Lazzarini writes: "At first I had no problems with either this [1.85a, build 2004-07-05] or previous builds of Mozilla. Now, for some inexplicable reason, sites which I could connect to immediately, now require 2 and sometimes 5 attempts before connecting. Attempting to connect to sites from links are taking more tries prior to connecting."

Mail issues A number of readers have also reported problems with Mail, even though -- like Safari -- no components of Mail were affected by the Update (at least according to Apple). Bruce Baker writes:

"Since I have upgraded with the latest security upgrade, I have been unable to send mail via my DSL account. My secretary can send mail so I know that the issue isn't with the mail server. But Microsoft Entourage keeps giving me a message that the server is busy. This doesn't happen all the time, but more often than not."

And reader Surya reports that after installing the update, Mail started duplicating messages that were supposed to be deleted:

"First a small proliferation of 11 messages in the Inbox but on trying to delete and/or move to Junk they reappear. I don't need to be connected for the proliferation to go quite haywire with thousands of copies being made which on delete just reappear again and again. I have done virus scans on the Mail data with nothing found."

Miscellaneous instability and crashes As normally happens after an update is released, we've also been receiving a few reports of general instability. Fore example, Andrew Bulthaupt writes:

"Ever since I downloaded and installed the Security Update 2004-09-30, my computer has been constantly crashing. Sometimes it boots and then freezes. Other times it turns on but the screen stays black. And still other times (sometimes during start-up, sometimes after it has booted) [a kernal panic occurs]. Not fun."

Similarly, Jim Parker reports application issues: "We have updated several of our G4 and G5 Macs with Security Update 2004-09-30 and we are now experiencing OSX applications that unexpectedly quit while in use."

We suspect that for many individuals, these problems are caused by issues separate from the Update itself -- disk or file corruption, permissions problems, and the like. We urge readers to check their hard drives for directory damage prior to installing any update (and after, if problems occur). We also routinely recommend that users repair disk permissions when installing Updates. Some people don't feel this is necessary, but the number of MacFixIt readers who have reported that doing so fixes problems they had with an installation tells us otherwise.

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

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