standard good advice...
Stay clear of all dot-zero releases, no matter who they come from.
Dreaded Blue Screen of Death mars some Leopard installs
This article was updated on Sunday 28th October 2007 00:33 GMT to reflect new information gleaned in user forums. Apple support drones are getting an earful from Mac users who are getting the dreaded Blue Screen of Death while trying to update to the latest and greatest version of OS X. A thread in Apple's official support …
This topic is closed for new posts.
@Anonymous Coward
"(FACTS != straight) == Windozer
True"
So are you saying that Windozer references the same value as the boolean true or the boolean false?
Surely
while ((FACTS !=straight)==true) Windozer
or shorter
while(Facts != straight)
Windozer
@anon
@anon suggest a bit more research is required
1/ McIntosh Red a tart flavour cultivar Apple first discovered in 1811 from a single tree in Dundas County Ontario Canada by one John McIntosh !
2/ Mackintosh a rubberized fabric invented by one Charles MacIntosh and sold commercially from 1824 as a waterproof raincoat onwards under the universal abbreviated nickname "Mac(k)"
3/ McIntosh Laboratory founded in 1949 by one Frank McIntosh for notable well designed high end audiophile equipment !
4/ Macintosh 128 originally released in 1984 by Apple Computer Inc. as a follow on to the Lisa debacle powered by the next generation Motorola 68XXX chip and the first public computer on offer to use the Xerox mouse interface rather then direct keyboard entry !
The name was reportedly a derivative of the slackers who could not speak English(Californian butchered American or real English) in US grocery stores misspelling the imported Canadian fruit and also to directly avoid paying the audiophile company from New York royalties for using their registered brand name(remember Apple at one time paid a one time fee to Apple Records PLC for the use of both it's brand name and logo ) !
Sadly the very wet behind the ears Apple fan boys unable or unwilling to pronounce the units correct name misappropriated the raincoat's short name !
The old story of whom pirated what and when which is essential that which was Apple Computer Inc. does so well for the least cost !
As for market penetration with sales of a computers numbering less then ten million new units in world wide sales of some 500 million units who really cares any way ?
@@Anonymous Coward
Its just ..
(FACTS != straight) == Windozer
which always equates to boolean TRUE.
The extra line "True." is a personal comment ... I guess I should have put in one of the following at the beginning:
% // # (* ; REM * ' or /*
It is definitely APE, although Apple not helping.
I hit this one. APE, as I recall, modifies the dynamic library loader somehow to allow code to be injected into applications. Older versions of APE didn't check for the version of the operating system, and users with those versions (including me) found that the application that brings up the login window wouldn't load. You were left looking at a plain blue screen.
Newer versions of APE do check for 10.5 and won't load if that's the case, which is why it works for some users. However this doesn't help you much if you didn't even realise it was installed. According to a slashdot thread there are some commercial apps out there that use this rather insidious little app to modify the OS, so it's not always the users fault it's there and many may not even realise it is.
Bottom line, if you're going to write code that modifies the dynamic library loader you damn well make it bulletproof - this is 100% Unsanity's fault, although Apple haven't been too forthcoming either. When I spoke to Apple Australia midday saturday and told the guy my mac was hanging on reboot, he said "so, do you have the blue screen and nothing else". It was the first call he'd taken but some of his colleagues had hit it, yet still nothing from Apple officially. The guy told me to archive and install, and didn't mention APE once.
Leopard also has an issue (still not fixed even with the update) with failing to open some FileVault drives which has hit my mate rather badly, and the missing Java 1.6 is a disaster. The 1.6beta that was running flawlessly under 10.4 is dumping core, and I'm midway through a pile of work using the javax.script package so this has really screwed me over. Looks like I'll be firing up Parallels.
Apple should have tested? Since when?
"From the sound of it, it is a very common app but they couldn't be bothered testing with it because it wasn't created by Apple."
This app hooks into many low level critical system processes. Apple themselves strongly recommend not installing it. Leopard had many many changes to these low level critical processes. Why should they have to work around some third party shareware developer? It's like (if we must use the expected car analogies) the manufacturer being responsible if the wiring layout changes between models and someone rewiring it breaks something.
Mr. Walter Brown...
"I call any and everyone to the mat, show me proof of concept why Vista is such trash, and dont point me to articles written by people who just like to hear themselves bitch, list out, in bullet points, issues that you have personally had / discovered with Vista. hardware issues, anything...
or are you too full of hot and taking swipes at someone just to make yourself look and feel cool?
bring it!"
....bring it? Are we in a nerd cheerleading movie now? Where should I begin... how about what I do. I'm a LAN admin/help desk/answer your retarded windows vista questions 9 hours a day, who works for the US Government. I'm a 14 year mac user, but I do own a wintel box, and my wife owns a laptop with vista. So you want proof of concept... maybe some... personal experiences. Well, I step to the mat to your challenge. Oh, and before you start with the mac fanboy shit. Yeah I'm a mac fan, big fan honestly, but I still respect Windows XP. It has its goods and bads, no different from OS X. Vista on the other hand, has its bads.
Here's your much begged for list:
My wife bought a laptop about 3-4 months ago, maybe a little longer. Since then, she has begged me to buy a macbook so that she can get rid of it and use the macbook. For the last 2 weeks I've heard the laptop hit the living room couch with a thud that rivals a gunshot. Why you ask? Well let me begin...
1. She didn't take the advice of the "salesman" and buy the 1GB of RAM. Yes, true, her fault as much as Micro$ofts. But, can you tell me why, EVEN, after going back and ordering a 1GB stick of RAM that our Mac Mini G4 1.5GHz does the following:
Boots up faster.
Loads photoshop faster.
Loads itunes faster.
Can run more then 3 programs at once. (And I'm being serious! It is
nothing short of hell when you try to run IE7 with Windows mail and
itunes running).
The list could go on and if you wish it you'll receive. I'll let her type
it all if that tickles your fancy.
Why does it seem like the mac mini is out running the vista laptop? Oh, and by the way, before you even consider typing it. I didn't know about the above, until my wife pointed out after testing it out one day when I was at work.
2. Now here's a really annoying problem. For some reason... maybe my iBook spoiled her... upon opening the laptop it takes anywhere from 15-20 seconds for the screen to go from black to having either the login screen or the desktop. If this weren't bad enough, when it does finally turn on it does 3 black screen flashes that last about 3 seconds a piece. After you login, BOOM, 3 more black screen flashes. Updated Drivers? Hardware? What could it be? Let's see, 2 commanders where I work came in last week and asked if we could make it not do that anymore. One had a laptop, one had a desktop. My mother (who just switched back to a mac, because of Vista) had the exact same problem with her new laptop. And one of my closest friends has the exact same problem (keep in mind that he's also in the IT field). So may I ask? Hardware???? All are different computers. Drivers? All updated drivers (one even installed a new graphics card). Vista? You're call, not mine. I'm sure you'll mark me as a fanboy with exaggerated opinions anyways.
3. If I have to see one more pop up windows I'm going to hang myself. Are you sure? Are you really sure? IE7 is about to go to the following web page, for some reason or another you need to click here so that you can go? Really wanna go? You can't access this application because your not an admin and don't have access privileges. Hold shift + right click, login as admin. You do not have access because you are not an admin. Well... I kinda own the computer and I have admin rights. Should make me an admin right? Apparently not. File can not be run: application missing XXXXXASDFA12412XXXX. What did you do to make it stop working? I locked the computer and went out for a smoke. Came back and it wouldn't work. Well log me in so that we can run it again and I can get the exact error. Huh?? It's working now??? How??? I dunno. 30 minutes later, rinse and repeat. I'll be the first to say that I enjoy security, whether or not it's on a mac or a pc. But, can you classify it as security when you can't do anything at all? Or should we put that one under the non-productivity category?
4. Wireless internet, what an amazing thing!!! Absolutely perfect for laptops!!! Upon opening the laptop lid, after the usual 6 blinks (3 to start with, and 3 after login), clicking on internet explorer, firefox, or safari is something that I wouldn't recommend. Why? Because your internet connection hasn't been established yet. 1 minute rolls by, (Insert computer name) is connected to the following network: local access. 2 minutes roll by, (insert computer name) is connected to the following network: internet & local access. 3 minutes roll by, HURRAYYYY we're on the internet!!!! Who would've thought it could be so easy!!! Oh wait... open lid to iBook (insert your mac laptop) click on (insert browser of choice) and TA DAH the internet!!! Timing = 10-15 seconds max. Now I suppose this is just the wireless card, or the hardware? Honestly, that's what I thought. Apparently not. I've touched multiple vista laptops that do the same thing. Only difference, is the name that is on the computer. Which means that, they are different, yet have something in common. Vista.
5. Why does the recycle bin keep disappearing? Is it afraid of Vista also? Now I understand that it's just a right click away, but should I really have to deal with this every time I or my wife log in? Had an officer at work the other day with the same problem. I'm sure there's an answer, but I just flat out refuse to look that one up.
6. Now here is what has pissed me off the most. Due to the fact that my wife calls me into the living room every time something doesn't go right or work, I decided on Remote Desktop. Yeah, I know I'm lazy! But, for what it's worth, she unfortunately has to call me in there a lot! So simple fix let's use remote desktop. What? I don't have the right version of windows vista? Not true. At first this is what I was seeing everywhere, but it's not right. You still can, at least I think, I've still yet to do it. Why? Won't let me connect from the macmini, the ibook, or the XP box. Put all the computers outside of the firewall, tried vnc, apple remote desktop, chicken of the vnc, blah blah blah. Still no luck. I gave up and called tech support, which is like getting kicked in the nuts for me. Tech support guy walks me through it..... still no remote desktop. Walks me through it again... still no remote desktop. Tells me "Oh!!! You're version of Vista doesn't support remote desktop", I laugh, and hang up the phone. So I said "F" it, and chalked it up as a waste of many hours of my life.
7. Now, I guess this could have went in at #6 also, but it seemed to be getting long. File sharing! Considering that my wife and I just started a web design business file sharing was a no brainer. So i thought. Mac can't connect to the PC, PC can't connect to the Mac. Fix? Go into WIndows Vista's registry and change a 1 to a 0, or a 0 to a 1. Can't remember. After that it let the mac connect to the windows machine. But not Vice Versa, or so I thought. Apparently, I was wrong, and just needed to understand that I would connect to the Mac machine.... when it felt like it. Some days it connects w/out a hitch. Other days we just laugh, and she burns me a cd, which is then followed by her saying.... Should've got a mac, will you please install XP for me.
P.S. - This may have gotten better with Leopard, in fact I may check that tonight. Maybe apple fixed microsofts problem. <--- Sure that's gonna piss some people off.
With all of that said, I'm gonna stop there... for now. I may fell froggy and come back with some more. Also, before you say well number blah blah is trivial please bite your tongue. I use computers to, you ready?, make my life easier. I don't care that you can build a computer with this much ram and this big a hard drive and it'll be cheaper then a mac, or cheaper then a store bought computer. I have a life, I'm sorry. I enjoy my wife, friends, family, and my guitar. I also enjoy Crown Royal every once in awhile! From experience alcohol and computers just don't seem to mix that well. Last but not least if I wanna play games I'll play them while I'm laying in bed with my PS3 on the 60 inch. No, I don't care if you can hook it up to a projector, or that the "graphics are better", or that you have WoW. Congratulations! I hope that is treating you spectacular, but oddly enough if you would do a sample of who uses computers, I'm willing to bet that most of them are non-gamers. So please, for the sake of sanity, leave games out of this. And finally, just to trump your "....bring it on"..........
You just got served!
Have a nice day, and remember, when your reading this all you have to do is click ok 5 times and Vista will allow it!
Java 6 dead, now this...
That's it! The Mac is not ready for the desktop! Command line, gee... :-)
"and multiple desktops (i forget what they are called!)"
Depends on the distro, I guess... On mine I think it's been called virtual desktops for, uh, something like four or five years... :-)
"These days it seems like they really don't care any more. Just push out any old crap, preferably reskinning or changing it in some non-standard way."
Well, if it worked so marvelously for the other guys further up North, why not give it a try?
@Thynis
1: You may be right - hard to tell - no comparison here - tho PS has always really been better on a mac...
2: Try this from http://www.winvistaclub.com/t22.html
If you find that your screen resolution keeps changing, on every re-start or re-boot of your computer, here are a few suggestions you can try :
1) Ensure that your Drivers are up-to-date.
2) Disable the screen saver and see if it helps.
3) Else, 'Run' msconfig. Then, on the Boot Tab, ensure that the BaseVideo option is un-checked. Re-start.
4) Try changing the Power Settings, to allow for Sleep Mode, when sharing media.
Then from an administrative command prompt, 'Run'
powercfg -h on
3, turn off UAC (see http://www.petri.co.il/disable_uac_in_windows_vista.htm if you've never done it before)
4: Not seen that behaviour before - are your wireless drivers up to date - my vista laptop connects as soon as logged in. Areyou changing access points between starts?
5: Recycle bin is more convenient than the "Delete" key?? never use it... I spent all my time trying to hack it away in XP! :)
6: "Home" versions don't support RDP 'in' - there are hacks out there though ... google "Termsrv.dll "
7: Again .. not seen too many reall problems - only ones I've seen all ended up with someone forgetting to allow/modify/turn off windows firewall - maybe your issues lie here...
Good Luck!!!!!
Steve
Thyis...
I know SteveNZ has answered your questions but I would like to help and add to his post.
1. Try upgrading to these patches: KB938979 and KB938194. Both are available through Microsoft’s download site or Windows Update. They’ve been around for a while and plenty of people have said they have experienced much better performance afterwards.
Still there are a lot of things that can be happening. I have 2 GB in my system and I can run Photoshop, surf the web, listen to iTunes (which doesn’t behave properly in Vista and is more Apple’s fault than Microsoft’s), and work on a Word document as well.
I knew one person who had problems with running Vista and it was all the extra crap installed from the manufacturer. After cleaning up his system, it performed rather well and the guy was happy with the result.
2. What kind of video card are you using? My laptop and desktop both come out of standby instantly. My wife’s computer had an issue but a BIOS update fixed a problem with power state modes. None of the computers in my house have had issues with blinking screens or waking up for that matter.
3. Not once has IE7 stopped me to go to a website unless it fell in one of two categories: The phising filter has the site on a blacklist or the site has an expired certificate. Reading error messages will tell you that.
If UAC is your issue, like SteveNZ said, you can turn it off. I like to keep it on (well, I do turn off the secure desktop part) because it keeps me from having one of those “Oh S***” moments. Other operating systems require credentials to elevate privileges, including OS X. I mean, once I get a system to the way I like it, I hardly every see it.
4. XP has given me issues when there are multiple APs in an area or a poorly implemented as will Vista. However, my Vista based laptop connects to wireless networks with ease and have never had a problem. As a matter of fact, it will do one thing that XP had’t done for me in the past: Log onto a computer with a domain account for the first time. XP never did because the wireless connection was never made. My Vista laptop did it after I joined it to a domain I run at home because it connected wirelessly before logging on.
If you are still having problems, check out MS KB article 928152.
5. I never once have seen the recycle bin disappear on any desktop or any version of Windows. I mean, you can purposely delete it or remove it through the Personalization control. Perhaps it was moved to a part of the screen and you didn’t see it? You could fix that by, oh I don’t know, resorting icons. It’s not even necessary to have on your desktop as you can access it from any Explorer window.
6. For someone who claims to do IT work, you didn’t know that home versions don’t include Remote Desktop? It was the same deal with XP. You could have worked around that by using something like VNC or Dameware. Yes, both work in Vista.
7. These changes can be made in the Network and Sharing center (right mouse click Network and click Properties). You don’t have to tweak the registry or anything. Sharing files in Vista isn’t very hard.
The idea I get is that you’re not very good at troubleshooting problems for someone that does it for a living. Then again, as someone who’s also done tech support in the US Army, I've learned there are plenty of people who work IT for the government and aren’t very good at what they do either.
I’ve been in IT for 10 years and while I’ve had an occasional issue with Vista, I knew how to fix it. I didn’t jump on 50 message boards claiming that it was a failure or ranted like a spaz. You claim that you’re not a fanboy but you really come off as one.
To be honest, most of the people doing the bitching are a bunch of “wannabe” techies who give us real IT professionals and enthusiasts a bad name. Vista isn’t perfect but it’s not a steaming pile that a lot of whiners claim it to be.
@Thynis
3rd party app: Dell.
@Anonymous Coward 1
"(FACTS != straight) == Windozer"
If FACTS != straight you'll get a boolean true out of the first evaluation, otherwise a boolean false, which means that Windozer must == true.
@Anonymous Coward 2
You shouldn't use loops and ifs without braces, see Scott Meyers.
Apple problem= MS bashing
I am still waiting to see all these problems that people keep mentioning. I have been running Vista business x64 for over 6months evaluating it to see if it is worth migrating from XP. As of yet I can't say it has any distinct advantage for us to do so, but I am more than happy with it's performance on my machine with a measly 1Gb memory. I have had no stability issues, all my hardware is recognized, no slowdown even when running multiple programs and this is on a custom built box, not an OEM one that would have had any issues dealt with by the manufacturer. So far it has never crashed once. The only annoyance is that they still not brought out a completely working adminpak so I can manage network settings from my PC, but it's easy enough to rdp to the server and that doesn't count as a problem with the OS.
@David Pechon
"To be honest, most of the people doing the bitching are a bunch of “wannabe” techies who give us real IT professionals and enthusiasts a bad name. Vista isn’t perfect but it’s not a steaming pile that a lot of whiners claim it to be."
I couldn't agree more. I like Macs, but Vista's OK too. Who the hell cares anyway? If there are people out there who like running Lotus 1-2-3 on DOS, good luck to them, it isn't hurting me.
I can't see what the big deal is.
@Thynis
1. No idea what the hell your talking about. My 4 year old Athlon 1.8Ghz with 512Mb RAM runs fine with IE7, Outlook 2007 and a media converter application running. Was Vista pre-installed? If so it's almost certiantly got a crap load of apps also installed such as AV/Firewall/AS/IDS, Messenger apps, 3rd party network apps, updater apps etc. These all take up memory and to be honest if I get a box from anywhere now I wipe and reinstall. I don't want your hog of an AV or Google Desktop installed thanks. I suggest checking for these apps as Vista seems to run better than XP did on my old hardware.
2. This is two different issues. Speed will be down to the number of applications set to load on that users (or all users) desktop session. Again, I would see what applications are pre-installed and hook into the system on load.
Regarding the black screen flashes - this is almost certiantly a problem with the graphics drivers rather than hardware. Check for the latest drivers. I suggest Windows Update first but if not then direct to the hardware manufacturers website. P.S. If it's nVidia then FYI - they suck for Vista drivers.
3. I agree with you on this on - UAC is an annoyance. I have it disabled on my work machine. However I leave it on for my home PC. At work I'm the Network Admin and as such run various tools and command prompts than need admin rights. However at home there are very few occasions where I need to run as an administrator, and to be fair to MS there's not much within Windows itself that requires admin rights. The majority of the time is poorly written applications that use direct paths rather than environmental variables that cause UAC prompts. That and installing apps including ActiveX (which you can disable too by installing the first option from the Windows Components windows). Generally UAC is a good thing as most people with properly written apps will hardly see it - just us hacks that need admin rights more than most and use legacy or slightly dodgey apps that will get annoyed. If you REALLY want to MS provide the option to turn UAC off - but it's hardly good practice for any OS to allow your users to run with root permissions is it?
4. I'm with SteveNZ above - never seen that before. (We use wireless and about 80 Vista laptops at the moment - and knowing the commerical team they'd be screaming at me by now!)
5. Huh? Um, it's there on the desktop...?! Not sure what the problem is here, cause I can assure that a standard Vista install just has the recycle bin on the desktop as normal...
6. http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/editions/choose.mspx
Try reading. You can still do remote support - just not propper RDP in. Suggest editing your firewall (which is actually done automatically if your wife sends a remote assistance request to you).
7. Try the propper Mac services for Windows rather than some hack from years ago. Got a couple of old Mac's at work we use for testing and I Vista, XP and Win2k3 Server all connect fine and vice-versa.
McEneaney
"Is there a reason why this story isn't being covered by the above reporter who was espousing how wonderful Leopard would be only yesterday?"
Yes, David. I was asleep.
Here's a lovely map of the world's Time Zones:
http://aa.usno.navy.mil/faq/docs/world_tzones.php
Speaking of BSODs
did nobody else see this cunningly designed windows server icon?
http://www.qdh.org.uk/wordpress/?p=185
All in all leopard has gone pretty smoothly for all the machines I've upgraded, its a shame people are having troubles but please don't play this as a major incident. MS screwed up more users than this with vista, and with larger problems in general, and don't get me started on gutsy gibbon, compositing by default? Yeah right only for new installs and with a piss poor default configuration.
Apple has a support page here...
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=306857
If Apple's are so great...
As the fanbois keep telling us, why do they need something called "Application Enhancer" ?
OS X
When i was installing my copy it did come up with, what i can only describe as designer blue background, which might have been the BSOD. it was present for about 15-20 seconds. this could have been when it was checking the computers drivers. After that the screen changed to show the progress of the installation and then rebooted and it was fine.
So my conclusion is while in the BSOD the installation comes across a driver or drivers it does not understand it falls over. Its strange that if that the case why didn't it get picked up and fixed.
I did find the installation instruction a little thin in the book. i know apple is promoting a minimalist approach to how much information they should provide, but this is a major upgrade we are talking here.
Regards
Bob
what I don't understand
Is why so many people are willing to throw their money away on a service pack. Yes it adds a few bells and whistles, looks a bit shinier but it still does not qualify as a whole new OS. £85 for a service pack, - and they say MS is expensive. MS release packs containing just as many tweaks, updates and improvements and at least you get their service packs free for the life of the product.
Must be the Paris Hilton angle - it's shiny, designer, new and costs far more than it should like all of Apples products making it the new must have for IT girls.
NO Problems Whatsoever!
I have installed the new OS on two macs so far!
My trusty old G4 867mhz machine (sadly due for hard earned retirement in the new year!) and a current but white 20" iMac!
The G4, my home machine, had all of its documents/music/pictures/movies removed and recorded to DVD and had the 'erase & install' option applied to the install operation.
The iMac, which had only recently been set-up from scratch with two accounts, but had had no software installed - had the 'Upgrade' option applied. (This is a path I never ever take myself - but I was curious!!!)
The net result of both - NO PROBLEMS WHATSOEVER!
Both machine are running fine, smoothly, slickly and efficiently! I was quite worried that the G4 would stutter - after all it is the absolute minimum requirement for Leopard - but no it is fine! Two long evening work have passed by without ANY incident!
Congratulations to all those engineers at Apple whose 'long evenings & days' over the past months have paid off handsomely for those mere mortals like myself who use their wares daily!
Adobe's CS3 suite also performs flawlessly for me on both machines too!
The more I delve into it and the more in-depth reviews of not-so-apparent features I read about Leopard, the more I am looking forward to upgrading my suite of 20 iMacs at college as soon as I get half a chance!
Best wishes Apple!!
It's never Apple's fault, Aple is faultless!
Definition of Fanboys: Persons who feel the urge to promote the interests of a commercial entity for no direct tangible remuneration.
Souds familiar, iLemmings?
@Thynis
You're obviously not a very good sysadmin, mate. A chimp with a couple of hours' training could tune Vista.
Turn on Windows Update, turn off indexing and auto-defrag. There's your starter for 10.
And for God's sake, even at rip-off UK prices, laptop memory is £17GBP for 1GB. Go get some.
Get some for your Mac Mini too, although that might cost you more... ;-)
All I know. . .
I have so far installed Leopard on 7 systems. 3 clean installs one Archive & install, and 3 upgrades. The three upgrades were on a 1.25 GHz eMac, a White G5 iMac, and a 20" New iMac. The three upgrades were to fairly standard machines with no hacks, but lots of varying types of software installed. All flawlessy installed in an hourish in most cases. The one A&I was a Mac Mini, after installing, then using migration assistant, everything worked fine. The three Clean installs were on a Powerbook G4, a G5 Tower, and a Mac Pro, the Powerbook took under an hour, the G5 about 30 minutes, and the Mac Pro, this is the first gen Mac Pro mind you, 13 minutes to install Leopard. So far I've had no problems with any of the installs.
This topic is closed for new posts.
Popular Whitepapers
- Linux on the Desktop
Lessons from mainstream business adoption - The Register Guide to iSCSI
A primer on Internet SCSI, a protocol to transport SCSI commands over IP - The BI Inflexion Point
Information is a right, not a privilege - The Evolving Security Landscape
Reg Webinar - The Register Guide to email security
A primer on the challenges of securing email and approaches to resolving them - The Register's Green Computing Debate
An on-demand webcast
