[geeks] Weird MacOS issue

[Mark Benson]

On 23 Dec 2008, at 02:38, Lionel Peterson wrote:

> I recently upgraded to 10.5.6, and I *think* the install required a  
> couple boots, I heard the system start music a couple times before I  
> got a login prompt. Also, I think the update messed up safari web  
> browser... It started to seize up after two or three pages loaded. I  
> took it as a sign I ahold get to know firefox a little better by  
> using it.
>
> Anyone else notice bad behavior after a 10.5.6 update?

Okay I'll first of all spell this out to anyone who's listening. You  
should *never* install anything else at the same time as an OS X main  
update, particularly AFTER one. I always quit everything, install the  
update then reboot immediately. OS X updates *used* to lock you out  
from running any more apps after you ran them. I don't know if that's  
still the case. Still, they set up a lot of stuff, especially in  
10.5.x, that runs at reboot and if you run anything that disrupts that  
you can wave bye-bye to your OS working.

OS X 10.5.x updates do take 2 reboots. On the first reboot it'll sit  
at the white screen with the grey Apple for an long time as it boots,  
installs the upgrades to the system files, then it reboots before it  
even leaves that screen. It then boots a second time to return to the  
OS X desktop. I've never booted it in Verbose to see what it does  
during that process but I suspect it boots a minimal OS image and  
patches the OS's kernel and essential system files to the latest  
version, then resets the boot parameters to boot the full OS.

I don't know if that directly effects what happened to you, but it's  
worth knowing if you use OS X anyway.

I'd go with the FAT corruption being a definite issue too, you could  
also fix it by dropping it in a Windows box and putting a Windows MBR  
on it then dropping it back in the Mac and re-initializing it as a Mac  
disk.

-- 
Mark Benson

My Blog:
<http://markbenson.org/blog>
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"Never send a human to do a machine's job..."