Re: G4 TiBook wrecked by 10.4.11 updater?
- From: dempson@xxxxxxxxxxxxx (David Empson)
- Date: Fri, 14 Dec 2007 12:44:01 +1300
Stan The Man <man@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On 2007-12-13 07:10:20 +0000, dempson@xxxxxxxxxxxxx (David Empson) said:
Stan The Man <man@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Probably not wrecked but I can't figure out what to do. I had been
happily running Os 10.4.9 on this machine and made the mistake of
accepting Software Update's invitation to move up to 10.4.11 and
Quicktime 7.3. The software duly came down and the background
installation seemed to be going ok - until I got a message saying that
the installation couldn't complete because of insufficient disk space
(there had been 1GB free)
That is not enough space for safe operation of Mac OS X under normal
circumstances, let alone while doing a system update.
Thank you for your comprehensive help. I have finally, after mny hours,
restored the 1GHz TiBook to full working order - including a fresh
update to 10.4.11 which I was able to do in Target Disk Mode from an
almost-forgotten 667MHz TiBook running Os 10.4.10. While free disk
space, or the lack of it, may well have been the cause of my meltdown,
it was not flagged up as an issue either the first time I tried it via
Software Update, or the second time when I ran the combo updater from
the host TiBook 667. The installer declared that the installation would
need 572MB and that I had 1.2GB free - even with the aborted installer
package still sitting in the Trash of the ailing TiBook. I know that my
original attempt would have meant having both the combo updater and its
disk image on the desktop but I don't think that alone would have been
enough to tip the balance. Perhaps it was the QuickTime 7.3 updater
(58MB) which I downloaded in the same process that made the difference,
but even so there should have been enough space for both updaters to
run according to my calculations.
Don't forget that the updaters are compressed, so in addition to the
downloaded file, it will need to expand it to the full size of the
contained files. I would have expected that Apple should have factored
this into the calculations for how much disk space is available.
The combination of doing a software update and needing more virtual
memory at the same time might be what triggered the problem. If there
isn't enough hard drive space to create another virtual memory swap
file, bad things can happen.
You may be able to get a working system by reinstalling the 10.4.11
update, but it will have to be done by downloading the update from
Apple's web site manually, as you can't boot the system and use Software
Update.
If that doesn't work, you will need to reinstall 10.4 from the original
DVD and then reapply all the system updates.
That did work, thankfully. But I was getting increasingly concerned as
even the Apple Hardware Test disc which came with the sick machine
wouldn't boot it (I still haven't found the full set of the original Os
installer discs but they will probably turn up now that I've stopped
looking for them: but I'm not certain that they would have booted the
TiBook, although logic says they would have done).
Apple have recently posted pages in their knowledge base containing
copies of the Apple Harware Test CDs for Mac models around the 2000-2002
era. If your computer originally came with an "Apple Hardware Test" CD
and you have lost it, you can download it from that page and burn it to
CD using another computer.
They haven't released copies of the hardware test for more recent
models, which were supplied as a second partition on the original "Mac
OS X Install" CD or DVD which came with the computer.
I tried a couple more times with the same result and then I tried to
boot from what I thought was my original Os 10.x install disk -- and
got the message to shut down the computer. Now I'm thinking this was my
son's install disk for his G5
Was it a DVD with a grey label? If so, it is model-specific and should
say on the label which model it belongs to.
It was grey so it was the wrong disc. But I know I have the original
discs for this 1GHz 15in G4 somewhere...
It only came with 10.2.x so it wouldn't have helped much in this case.
What else can I do? If I can boot into OsX I can at least trash some
files and reinstall the 10.4.11 updater. Can I do something in Target
Disk mode?
Yes, that might be enough. For best results you should be working with a
computer with a PowerPC processor, running 10.4. Is your son's G5 an
option?
He upgraded to Leopard before I did. He is the official tester for all
things new...
That's my job for quite a few of my friends, business clients and user
group members, at least for major things like system updates.
Doing this with an Intel Mac or a computer running Leopard might be
tricky - the system updater might not like running on the "wrong"
platform.
I found an Apple service note -
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303118 - which suggests
that I would have been able to Firewire mount the 10.4 TiBook on one of
the new Intel machines -- but whether I would have been able to install
the updater from Leopard is another matter.
Indeed. Firewire target mode is no problem. The 10.4.11 PowerPC updater
might refuse to run on an Intel Mac, and might refuse to run if the host
computer is not running some version of 10.4.
Thanks again for your help. FWIW, I was able to repair the sick
TiBook's broken volume structure using Disk Utility from the healthy
TiBook. And one final mystery: before carrying out the repairs, when
booted into Os 9 on the stricken TiBook without any problem, I noted
that Startup Disk control panel gave me the option to set the broken
OsX partition as the startup volume - and it listed the installed Os on
the volume as 10.4.11. Strange since the installation process had
obviously been interrupted and aborted.
It probably got as far as updating
/System/Library/CoreServices/SystemVersion.plist (or the low-level field
which is used by Startup Disk, if it doesn't use that file).
One final question before I forget it: when I booted up the TiBook 667,
I ran Disk Utility to verify its drive and it abandoned
theverification, declaring that there was an "error in an underlying
process".
I hate it when that happens. It might mean there was an error in the
data structures on the volume, or a bug in Disk Utility, or perhaps it
ran out of memory due to the volume being too complex.
I would like to know what that might have been. In the end I
was able to repair it from the other TiBook in Target Disk Mode, after
it had been resuscitated. I rebooted the TiBook 667 to make sure all
was well but found that the Verify function in Disk Utility was now
greyed out (I was expecting only Repair to be unavailable), which is a
new one on me.
The Verify option might be disabled if the system is in a state where it
is doing something active on the drive (perhaps a Spotlight index
update?).
Doing a "live verify" on the startup volume requires locking out all
other processes from accessing the hard drive. Booting from the OS
install CD/DVD doesn't have to worry about this issue.
--
David Empson
dempson@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
.
- References:
- G4 TiBook wrecked by 10.4.11 updater?
- From: Stan The Man
- Re: G4 TiBook wrecked by 10.4.11 updater?
- From: David Empson
- Re: G4 TiBook wrecked by 10.4.11 updater?
- From: Stan The Man
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