OnyX updated today

I get the following error:

Error: No valid packages

I think I know what this means (I've only had this wonderful machine for about 2 weeks)... and I recall reading in the forum somewhere about a "receipts" folder and packages...

However, my macbook is running great but is this an issue and if so how do I resolve it?

My version of OnyX is working just fine thank you.

For now, if it ain't broke I'm not fixing it.

cwa107 said:

My guess is a corrupted directory structure or file name. Do you run Parallels? Just a guess (shot in the dark really), but it might be that you transfered a Windows directory structure or name that doesn't meet the HFS standards (although why it wouldn't fail upon transfer is beyond me). I often have the opposite problem transferring files from the Mac side over to Windows, but it fails to transfer them.

Either way, doesn't sound like a physical drive failure and as such, I'd just go ahead and click that repair button.

Click to expand...

When the directory is at fault, DiskWarrior 4 is the best tool to use IMO.

GulfVetSAF said:

I get the following error:

Error: No valid packages

I think I know what this means (I've only had this wonderful machine for about 2 weeks)... and I recall reading in the forum somewhere about a "receipts" folder and packages...

However, my macbook is running great but is this an issue and if so how do I resolve it?

Click to expand...

Mac OS X 10.3, 10.4: Disk Utility shows a "No Valid Packages" alert.

The solution is far fetched for me though. No reinstall is necessary. Just use Pacifist to reinstall the missing package from your install CD/DVD that came with your Mac, if that is really the problem.

Report back on this workaround.

Or tell us a bit about that error message if you haven't deleted or moved that file Apple's Knowledge Base Article talks about.

cwa107 said:

My guess is a corrupted directory structure or file name. Do you run Parallels? Just a guess (shot in the dark really), but it might be that you transfered a Windows directory structure or name that doesn't meet the HFS standards (although why it wouldn't fail upon transfer is beyond me). I often have the opposite problem transferring files from the Mac side over to Windows, but it fails to transfer them.

Either way, doesn't sound like a physical drive failure and as such, I'd just go ahead and click that repair button.

Click to expand...

Thanks cwa107. I don't run anything but Mac OS X on my Mac. Never have!

...and much as I would like to just click the Repair button, you will note that it is greyed out! Thanks to the oddball error that terminates the whole thing ("underlying task reports...."), I am not offered the option of fixing it.

I do take comfort from the fact that it is not a logical structure or physical integrity issue - just a malformed filename somewhere (it is annoying that it doesn't provide ANY more details, so that I could do something about it!).

mac57 said:

Thanks cwa107. I don't run anything but Mac OS X on my Mac. Never have!

...and much as I would like to just click the Repair button, you will note that it is greyed out! Thanks to the oddball error that terminates the whole thing ("underlying task reports...."), I am not offered the option of fixing it.

I do take comfort from the fact that it is not a logical structure or physical integrity issue - just a malformed filename somewhere (it is annoying that it doesn't provide ANY more details, so that I could do something about it!).

Click to expand...

I agree with MHC then, definitely sounds like a job for Disk Warrior. Do you have a copy? I know it's salty, but it looks like an awesome program.

MHC I, being the entirely way too anal individual deleted the contents of the receipts folder... thinking like a PC user, I thought it was merely leftover installation files. I truly wish I had a time machine (for a lot of reasons, lol) b/c I would go back to 1995 when I bought my first PC and buy a mac instead... I sincerely have so much to learn. MacHead... I downloaded Pacifist... but to make sure I don't screw up again, which packages do I "install" and by saying install do you mean simply dragging them into the receipts folder (b/c it doesn't tell me which ones)? I've only been on a mac now for about 2 weeks. THANKS!

It doesn't need Disk Warrior. The button's greyed out because that Disk Utility is on the same drive it was checking.

Restart the machine while holding down Cmd-S, then run fsck -fy.

GulfVetSAF, the Receipts folder acts as a reminder to Apple's Software Update and other applications checking to see which version was installed last by installing packages in that folder. That way Software Update (or any other application looking for updates) will check in that folder, sees which package is the last one installed and either calls for a download or says to the Software Update checker, All is cool and up-to-date, move along, nothing to see here! You get the picture... ;^)

Thinking a bit more on this problem you have, you might not have packages to install from the install disks... You'd have to check to see if you see any Receipts folder on it. But then again, this would bypass all the updates you have done so far in the OS updates and some Apple apps, for instance: this would trigger Software Update to download something that has already been installed!... So I was much too hasty in saying a re-install would not be necessary and I'm sorry for telling you wrong info.

Can you get hold of an external hard drive? I'd copy over all my personal files, including emails, and bookmarks and then would wipe the hard drive and re-install. You could also use the Archive and Install method which would store all your personal data in a folder called Previous System and you could get that data back by dragging it back into the new installation.

I personally don't like that method too much as it can carry over corruption that was there in the first place. But in your case, since the system seems to be going well (it is, right?) I would probably risk that method of reinstalling the OS.

No matter which method of reinstall you use, you will have to run all the Software Updates all over again, though. Just make sure, before you do that you unplug all peripherals (except keyboard and mouse if you have them) and let the updates run their course: don't launch any other apps while it is running. These precautions will ensure success in the OS updates.

You do understand why I changed my point of view, right, about the packages? I hope I am making myself clear.

MHC I am cringing now... shoot... I hate to even think about reinstalling the OS. Yes, everything is running perfectly. I FINALLY after two weeks have all the software installed I want, my desktop and all my settings, my email, and everything you can think of relating to personalizing my new macbook and now you're saying I should wipe it? I have two external harddrives actually... so that's not an issue. I just hate to have to wipe everything and then reinstall and redo all this stuff that's literally taken me this long to get it where I want it! Boo Hooo!

Well I guess I wasn't clear, then. :girl:

Ok, if you don't have any packages left in your Receipts folder, how can Software Update know what to install?

If you use Pacifist and install older packages in the Receipts folder this will do what? It'll tell Software Update to install what has already been installed (and that could mess up the system royally) or it could disable Software Update and from now on you'd have to do your Software Updates manually.

Of course, you could use that method: you'd just have your ear to the ground to keep your OS and the Apple apps up-to-date. Till, I guess there are enough packages in the Receipts folder so Software Update can pick up from there...

GulfVet, if you know which apps have the missing packages, use Pacifist to reload them from the DVD.

Don't drag anything with Pacifist — the "package" files on the DVD are not the same type of "package" files now missing on your computer. The DVD packages are packages of programs. The missing packages are different.

if you run another software update right now, and software update says you need to update, then update. Who cares? I don't think it woulddo any harm. I reinstall over stuff all the time.

Browny, don't you think reinstalling something again and again would fragment the directory? Reinstalling a Combo update isn't too bad it's a big chunk but little updates here and there?

Anyway, you could be right.

MacHeadCase said:

When the directory is at fault, DiskWarrior 4 is the best tool to use IMO.

Click to expand...

Does anyone else use DiskWarrior? I've looked it up through google and there seem to be mixed comments...

MHC, I don't think so, because if there's an installer package, then the app is part of the optimizing function. And Onyx optimizes.

MartinS said:

Does anyone else use DiskWarrior? I've looked it up through google and there seem to be mixed comments...

Click to expand...

I had my fill of the repair-utilities drama with systems 7 to 9. (I may have posted about this a while ago.) OS 9, though, needs the "heavyweight" utilities because Apple's pre-OS X Disk First Aid is a very bad joke. But the two heavyweights I have argue all the time.

I have Norton for 9 and DiskWarrior for 9, and if I run DiskWarrior after running Norton, it reports new problems. Then if I run Norton, it reports Warrior's fixes as needing repairs. Which do I believe?

OS X's Disk Utility is not the weak old First Aid of systems 7 to 9, and I resolved not to bother with the utilities' advertising hype. For five years I have used nothing but the built-in fsck -y, then fsck -fy, and the free fixer-uppers: Onyx, Applejack and what have you.

A Canadian Mac repair shop about 100 klicks from where I live and that has smallish Mac forum slams TechTool Pro; the guy running it says anyone who uses it is nuts. He says he's fed up fixing problems caused by it.

But some "experts" say he's crazy. Other "experts" say to use only DiskWarrior for OS X. Yet other "experts" say DiskWarrior is a turkey, so use TechTool Pro. Since they all claim to be experts, I figure I can, too, and I say a pox on all their houses.

All the free disk utilities use OS X's built-in repair program fsck -fy, and I have never crashed and burned like OS 9 could and would.

Neither have I ever defragged OS X's system, though I've reloaded it more than a few times when changing partition sizes. And I start from scratch when the systems take a big jump, from Jaguar to Panther to Tiger. If a program uses a package installer, I run Onyx's optimizer, which isn't a defragger.

I keep it simple, and it works. No more drama.

The irony is that OS X is so much more complicated than 9, but 9 needs the heavyweights.

If 9 screws up and Norton and Warrior scream at each other, I simply trash the thing and drag a new system folder over from a CD, all set up the way I want it. Can't do that with X, but I've never had to.

I have used DiskWarrior ever since my Mac OS 9 days I believe and upgraded when I moved on to Mac OS X. Over the years, it has proven itself to be part of my must have utilities and it has got me out of tight jams that nothing else short of a re-install would get me out of.

Maybe something from Terminal might have also done the trick but I don't like using Terminal at all.