[NPMUG] Mac OS X 10.5.6: failed installation, mail quits, more - MacFixIt

Wed Dec 17 04:33:27 MST 2008

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  Late-Breakers
Tuesday, December 16 2008 @ 05:15 AM PST
Mac OS X 10.5.6: failed installation, mail quits, more

Failed installation (stuck on configuration installation) By far the  
most widely reported issue with Mac OS X 10.5.6 invovles failed  
installation, specifically stalls that occur during the "configuring  
installation" phase. Sample reports from MacFixIt readers include:

"The installation configuration phase stalls almost immediately with  
10.5.6 on my MacBook.
"Twice I've tried to install the latest OS X update. The Finder quits  
and the Configuration Installation screen hangs with just a hint of  
blue on the progress bar. Dual 2.3 GHz PowerPC G5. Had to force  
shutdowns."
"I have a PowerBook g4 1.33 aluminum and I have just downloaded the  
update. I rebooted and now I have been on the "configuring  
installation" screen for at least 2 hrs. I have 2 gigs of ram and at  
least 20 gigs free. I have never had a problem with an installation  
before. I googles around and haven't seen any mention of anyone having  
this problem."
If you are experiencing a similar issue, first try downloading (or re- 
downloading) the appropriate standalone update from Apple's download  
page and reapplying it.

Failing that, restart into Safe mode, by holding down the Shift key  
from the moment you hear the startup "bong" to the moment the  
"spinning gear" appears. Expect this startup to take longer than  
usual. Don't be alarmed if the fans whir loudly during the "spinning  
gear" display. Eventually you will be presented with the Safe Boot  
login screen. Log in as the administrator and reattempt the update.

Remember to avoid performing any other processes while the Mac OS X  
10.5.6 update is taking place in order to lessen the chances of this  
issue.

Mail quits after launching, crashes Several users have reported  
repeated Mail.app crashes or quits on launch after the Mac OS X 10.5.6  
update. Reports include:

"I updated to 10.5.6 and launched Mail. It quits right after showing  
the Inbox. Wish I knew how to fix this."
"Since updating, Mail crashes EVERY TIME I try to open an email with  
an attachment."
"After installing 10.5.6 my Mail application crashed repeatedly , even  
after rebooting."
If you are experiencing similar issues, try uninstalling PGP software  
and other third-party Mail.app add-ons. Failing that, try the  
following fixes:
Remove ToDo itemsUsers might check the console application for the  
Mail crash log (listed under "CrashReporter" in the Console  
application) if the problem occurs. If the crash log lists something  
such as "trying to set a non-ToDo MailboxUid for a ToDo", then users  
might try removing accumulated ToDo items. These items are available  
both in Mail as well as iCal, so users can remove them by opening iCal  
and deleting them from that application. It's recommended to list all  
ToDo items and then cut them using the "Edit" menu instead of outright  
deleting them. Then quit iCal and attempt to open Mail again. If this  
does not fix the problem, users can then open iCal and paste the  
previously cut ToDos back into the application.
Troubleshoot messages loaded at startup If a message contains corrupt  
content (pictures or attachments) that are causing problems, users can  
prevent the messages from loading at application launch by holding the  
shift key directly after launching Mail. From here users can  
troubleshoot mail messages to see if any cause the program to hang or  
crash, and remove any problematic messages causing such behavior.

Remove preference files and troubleshoot accounts If the first two  
fixes do not address the problem, users can try removing the Mail  
application preferences, called com.apple.Mail.plist and located in  
the ~/Library/Preferences/ folder. Doing this will require mail  
account information to be reentered, but all previous messages and  
mailbox setups will remain and be visible again after account  
information has been supplied. In addition, Mail setup can be compared  
against that for a fresh account by creating a new user account and  
logging into that one. Then users can set up Mail and see if the  
problem persists. If it does not, then users know the problem has to  
do with their account and can troubleshoot the problem, targeting  
items in the ~/Library/Mail/ folder, or removing the contents of the ~/ 
Library/Caches/Mail/ folder.

AirPort Utility problems A handful of users have reported that AirPort  
Utility is broken after the Mac OS X 10.5.6 update. One reader writes:

"MBP 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo. Installed 10.5.6 using combo updater in  
safe mode. After update, "Airport Utility was unable to find any Apple  
wireless devices." Airport connection is fine, though. I reapplied the  
combo updater, repaired permissions, ran DiskWarrior 4.1.1, and  
Airport Utility still doesn't see any of my routers. Please advise."

This issue can generally be resolved by downloading and reinstalling  
AirPort Utility.

Swollen RAM usage Some users have reported dramatically increased idle  
RAM usage under Mac OS X 10.5.6. One reader writes:

"First impressions are that I regret applying it to my MacBook Air,  
which of course has only 2GB of RAM in it. This update consumes almost  
1 GB of that without any running apps besides the usual background  
daemons. That means there is just one Gig of RAM left for my apps. A  
reboot does not change this behavior."

If you are experiencing a similar issue, please let us know.

Mac OS X 10.5.6: failed installation, mail quits, more | 15 comments |
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The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. This site is  
not responsible for what they say.
Mac OS X 10.5.6: failed installation, mail quits, more
Authored by: DougScripts on Tuesday, December 16 2008 @ 05:54 AM PST
My Combo installer wouldn't let me select a drive to install it on,  
saying none of them meet the requirements. Also, when trying to  
download via Software Update, I get the message that there are no new  
updates. Perhaps this is because it is not available via SU? Did Apple  
pull it? (Dec 16, 9AM EDT)
[ Reply to This ]

Mac OS X 10.5.6: failed installation, mail quits, more - Authored by:  
johnlove on Tuesday, December 16 2008 @ 05:58 AM PST
Mac OS X 10.5.6: failed installation, mail quits, more - Authored by:  
DougScripts on Tuesday, December 16 2008 @ 06:04 AM PST
Fixed: Mac OS X 10.5.6: failed installation, mail quits, more -  
Authored by: DougScripts on Tuesday, December 16 2008 @ 09:46 AM PST
Mac OS X 10.5.6: Mail crashing fix
Authored by: jgott on Tuesday, December 16 2008 @ 07:33 AM PST
For those people having Mail crash repeatedly, do you have Letter  
Opener installed as a Mail Bundle? If so, you need to uninstall it,  
and then update to the latest version (2.07). Solved my crashing  
problems.
[ Reply to This ]

Mac OS X 10.5.6: Mail crashing fix - Authored by: qlite on Tuesday,  
December 16 2008 @ 08:19 AM PST
Mac OS X 10.5.6: failed installation, mail quits, more
Authored by: anthonyrc on Tuesday, December 16 2008 @ 07:40 AM PST
I was excited to see that finally, contacts/calendars would sync  
"Automatically," so I quickly installed 10.5.6 on both my machine & my  
Fiancé's.

I'm starting to regret it. Now, iCal will eventually hog ALL available  
RAM and become unresponsive, requiring a force quit. This is on either  
machine.

Even more, while the automatic syncing feature sounds nice, it's not  
implemented very well: it starts to sync TOO QUICK, like in the middle  
of creating something. So iCal slows terribly while i"m typing the  
title of a newly-added To Do, for example, because it's actively  
trying to sync it while I'm actually making it.

Dammit!
[ Reply to This ]

Mac OS X 10.5.6: failed installation, mail quits, more
Authored by: Daniel Staal on Tuesday, December 16 2008 @ 09:22 AM PST
On RAM usage: This may or may not be a problem, depending on what's  
going on. For the example given, for instance, if it means less swap  
is being used it will increase both battery life and performance.

The question is if it is just caching more (and better, hopefully), or  
if it is actual 'needed' program memory that will need to be swapped  
in and out as you are using things.
[ Reply to This ]

Mac OS X 10.5.6: failed installation, mail quits, more - Authored by:  
anthonyrc on Tuesday, December 16 2008 @ 12:31 PM PST
Mac OS X 10.5.6: failed installation, mail quits, more - Authored by:  
Daniel Staal on Tuesday, December 16 2008 @ 06:00 PM PST
Mac OS X 10.5.6: failed installation, mail quits, more
Authored by: Gennx30 on Tuesday, December 16 2008 @ 11:14 AM PST
I always FSCK -y, Repair Permissions, then install in "Safe Mode"

1. restart Mac, holding down the Cmd -S key
You will get a single user screen with scrolling lines of code
2. when you have a Root$: (or whatever prompt )type FSCK -FY
IF no problems proceed.
I you see a
SYSTEM FILE WAS MODIFIED
then redo your FSCK -FY if all ok.
3. reboot
holding down SHIFT key
Keep holding it until you see a login screen that says "Safe Boot"
Login-when desktop appears,
REPAIR PERMISSIONS (While waiting, go out to dinner-a movie-mow the  
lawn- fix your transmission. When you return Permissions should be  
repaired.)
If not, Go get some coffee and a book

When RP does finish, and if all OK proceed; if not RE DO
4. When all OK,Download and Install the standalone COMBO INSTALLER- 
total ignore SU install-the source of many problems-ALWAYS the better  
route.
wait-let it install and finish (it will do a reboot and black screen - 
dont panic
When you get you final desktop[, reboot-do the FSCK -FY
reboot, Repair Permissions
Go visit a friend-when you return you should have a stable, fresh  
install of OS 10.x.x
ALL SHOULD BE well unless your previous system was really messed up
In that case, back up your important things, WIPE disc clean (zero  
out)ALWAYS THE BETTER ROUTE and re-install OS 10 from the reetail disc  
and rebuild your system
Tedious, but its like rebuilding your house with fresh lumber rather  
than sticks

[ Reply to This ]

Mac OS X 10.5.6: failed installation, mail quits, more
Authored by: baddawg65 on Tuesday, December 16 2008 @ 03:05 PM PST
I installed 10.5.6 on my MacBookPro last night with no problems. The  
new feature I see now is they separated the "Keyboard & Mouse" and  
have an separate "Trackpad" function in System Preferences".
Didn't try Mail since I don't use that mail client so I can't give any  
feedback on that issue per se. I did open the Mail client as an test  
but didn't configure anything but it didn't crash but again this is  
not a real world test.
[ Reply to This ]

Mac OS X 10.5.6: failed installation, mail quits, more
Authored by: kucharsk on Tuesday, December 16 2008 @ 04:20 PM PST
Updated both a Quad G5 and MacBook Pro with no problems whatsoever.

As usual, the Mail crashes are almost exclusively caused by people  
who've installed third-party hacks and have forgotten they've done so.
[ Reply to This ]

Mac OS X 10.5.6: failed installation, mail quits, more
Authored by: julianlim on Tuesday, December 16 2008 @ 08:09 PM PST
Installed Mac OS X 10.5.6 update on an iBook G4 (1.2 GHz) w. 1.25 GB  
of memory via Software Update last night (against most people's  
suggestion of installing using the stand-alone combo updater).  
Repaired permissions using Disk Utility and verified disk, and  
restarted prior to updating. The update process went smoothly. Ran  
another permissions repair after the update.

So far so good. Everything seems to be faster compared to Mac OS X  
10.5.5 (launching applications, switching user using fast user  
switching, browsing using Safari, etc.) Mail works as expected, and  
AirPort Utility opens without a hitch. In fact, using Spaces with 8  
open applications do not cause any slowdown whatsoever. I love this  
update! In fact, knowing this, I will now looking forward to upgrading  
my Intel MacBook that is still running Mac OS X 10.4.11.
[ Reply to This ]

Mac OS X 10.5.6: Mail quits
Authored by: domo on Tuesday, December 16 2008 @ 11:23 PM PST
I too had the Mail crashing issue after upgrading an iMac G5 using the  
combo updater. (I had no problems upgrading a unibody MacBook Pro in  
the same way.) Turned out that the issue was a Mail bundle, although  
not the Letter Opener that has caused others' problems: I had GPGmail  
installed on the iMac, but had not got around to putting it on the  
MacBook. Moving the bundle from Library/Mail/Bundles to ../Bundles  
(Disabled), then restarting Mail, solved my problem. Although I hope  
GPGmail is updated soon: when I need it, I need it bad.
[ Reply to This ]

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