Do Not Download 10.4.9 Update!

Downloaded the new OS10 update for my G5 PowerMac as soon as it appeared on my screen. What a nightmare! Upon rebooting, I lost my two WD firewire external hard drives, plus my firewire scanner and Epson printer. Spent four hours on the phone yesterday morning with Apple tech support, Adobe, Extensis, local techie, etc. Apple's advice was to reinstall the original operating system, which played havoc with all preferences, etc. for Adobe CS2 and Acrobat, Quark, Suitcase Fusion -- just everything. A day later, I am still not back to normal. BEWARE! I had a perfectly fine working machine until I downloaded the 10.4.9 update!

i have just done the upgrade and not had any issues so far - but dont have loads of stuff connected or software like the OP.

Sorry to hear about your issues with 10.4.9.

I ran the upgrade on my MacBook and three iBooks without a problem.

Spent four hours on the phone yesterday morning with Apple tech support,

Click to expand...

4 hours to tell 3 companies your printers weren't being recognised?

Reinstalling is a last resort. What else did you try first?

Most of the problems I have heard with 10.4.9 involve installing the update with other programs running. It has also been strongly suggested to fire up Disk Utility and run Repair Permissions first.

Another tip MHC came up with was to remove all peripherals before upgrading too

For the first time ever with my Mac did I have a problem and it was with this update. (see other 10.4.9 post) The end result was a clean install, and I still have 6-8 hours of reinstall work to do.

This is bad, very bad. I may sit this one out. I have a perfectly functioning Mac at this point and don't want to mess it up. Bad on you Apple! Not at all like your usual performance!

I just did a SuperDuper! backup, cleaned out caches and other MainMenu stuff, restarted with peripherals unplugged, installed the three updates that were ready for me via Softwate Update, restarted and here I am! No problems whatsoever. :girl:

i have not had any problems with installing the 10.4.9 update. i even had all my programs opened that i usually run while doing the update.

Except for a little issue with my widgets, I had no problems. Restart took a long time, though and I was very tempted to turn off the computer. Sounds like a bunch of people did exactly that ... which might have contributed to their troubles.

Nonetheless, there are quite a few people who seem to be having enough trouble with the update that I'd hold off for a bit unless one of the fixes affects you directly in a major way.

>> Restart took a long time

had exactly the same on an intel macbook, I would add that is was LONG*LONG not just long time.

The second restart also took a while to load the OS, the 3rd restart was shorted than the secobd, the 4th shorter than the 3rd. On 5th or 6th everything was back to normal, the speed to boot was as before the update.

Everything else seems to work as did till the update.

BTW, I don't know if you all saw it but Apple has released today iTunes 7.1.1 (also an iTunes 7.1.1 update for Windoze) and it was in one of the three installs I earlier posted about.

nicu said:

>> Restart took a long time

The second restart also took a while to load the OS, the 3rd restart was shorted than the second, the 4th shorter than the 3rd. On 5th or 6th everything was back to normal, the speed to boot was as before the update.

Click to expand...

I would say that my 3rd restart took longer than my 6th, or maybe it was the 7th restart. No, now that I think about it the 4th restart was in fact longer than the 15th restart. Anyway, Who's on third?

You're supposed to disconnect all firewire devices when installing an update. Not sure about USB.

it sounds like you didnt exactly update your computer properly man. i have my g5 powermac sitting right here 100% healthy after the update.

best practice is to close out all programs and disconnect everything but ethernet and keyboard/mouse....i have never had a problem updating while doing this
-chris

Funny, I have always done all my updates with my Firewire iSight plugged in, with no issues.

There does seem to be an emerging consensus here though:
1/ Unplug everything except keyboard and mouse
2/ Close all open programs
3/ Run the update and then restart
4/ Go get several coffees while you wait for the restart to finish. DO NOT turn off the computer at this stage!!
5/ Optionally, restart again. This one should be shorter than the first one - perhaps only one coffee while you wait.
6/ After that, all is well?

Besides unplugging accessories and closing all apps before installing updates installing the Combo updater for 4.9 rather than just the point release might sort out a few problems. No problems here either.
Best.

I just installed it with Apps running then closed everything then restarted and no problems. I think though I am going to come a cropper soon as I never back up work, photo's, and I never take "precautions" such as those mentioned in this.

Although I wouldn't suggest anyone follow my Computer Practices, Shame some people have had such trouble with it though.

I guess I will wait before I download this update, the last thing I want is a clean re install and loosing everything.
I few have called apple tech with their issues, and hopefully they might find something in 10.4.9 to fix(although members installed without a glitch)
After all is well then I will give it a try. So far 10.4.8 is runnig perfect for me.