Oh, Software Update
A few minutes ago, I ran Software Update just to check and be sure that it was wanting me to restart. I was flying close to the Sun again yesterday, which means yesterday is hazy -- I have iTunes sitting on my Desktop, but can't recall if I'd tried Software Update which people said wasn't asking you to restart.
I got the above, where it's just sorta sitting there. It says it ran, yet the progress bar is still spinning... and actually it's saying "Last Check" which could mean it ran successfully, or it ran successfully last time. Checking top, the process is just sitting there doing nothing...
I could run a sample and try to see if that gives any clue, but this comes on the tail of seeing Software Update actually lock up the entire System in 10.4., and at some point it sucks to pay for something -- only to have to allocate time as a beta tester -- so I'm disinclined.
Posted by drunkenbatmanSeptember 08, 2005, at 05:08 PM
Comments (15)
Posted by: Rosyna at September 8, 2005 05:22 PM
That's what you get for integrating JavaScript into Software Update.
Posted by: Jay Contonio at September 8, 2005 05:25 PM
javawhat in software...wha?
Posted by: Colin Barrett at September 8, 2005 05:41 PM
If it's any help, try using the software update menu item in the Apple menu. Hasn't frozen for me.
Posted by: Matthew Fitzsimmons at September 8, 2005 06:32 PM
When I had to re-install iTunes 4.9 a couple of weeks ago, it asked me to restart. I went back and did a custom install, and one of the options was a phone driver. I did some testing and discovered that was what was causing the need for a restart. Installing iTunes without that didn't require a restart.
When I downloaded iTunes 5 yesterday, I checked the custom install first, and the phone driver was grayed out, because I must have already had it from iTunes 4.9. The iTunes 5 installer DID NOT require a restart.
My guess is they didn't know if they'd finish with 5 before the phone came out, so the lumped it into a later build of 4.9.
Posted by: Ben Reubenstein at September 8, 2005 06:38 PM
If I remember correctly, when I last software updated there was a Quicktime and the iTunes 5.0 updates. The Quicktime one required a restart and I don't believe that iTunes did...
Posted by: Michael Tobin at September 8, 2005 08:02 PM
Perhaps this is off topic, but isn't it easier to get to Software Update by using the second item in the Apple menu? Opening the System Preferences application just to check for software updates seems a bit wasteful.
Posted by: Twist at September 8, 2005 09:28 PM
I am with Colin and Michael, I just use the Apple Menu item and skip the lame PrefPane.
I would like to hear more of what you are talking about Rosyna. That sounds like something incredibly stupid too do, but it wouldn't be the first stupid thing Apple has done or the worst. I think we can all probably agree that we use javascript on the web because there isn't any better client side options that are supported even 1/4th as well as it is.
Posted by: drunkenbatman at September 8, 2005 10:00 PM
I am with Colin and Michael, I just use the Apple Menu item and skip the lame PrefPane.
That'd be fine, but I've found when I do that it seems to be when it's prone to starting to the downward spiral to a lockup. I make sure to quit Safari, and everything I'm using that I can and then leave it running via System Prefs.
Posted by: DWalla at September 9, 2005 02:53 AM
Hopefully the 400+ patches in 10.4.3 will fix the bulk of OS X's little annoyances. It seems like it takes Apple until a 10.x.3 or 10.x.4 update before the OS gets really stable. Remember 10.3.2?... gads... that was an awful update. That broke all of our SCSI cards... and the month or so of waiting was sheer hell trying to figure out what we were going to do with our SCSI drives that were now very expensive doorstops. With that said... what Apple REALLY needs to push to the front burner is the FINDER! Sheesh Apple... FIX THE FRIGGIN' FINDER!!! (and don't wait until 10.5 to do it!)
Posted by: Jonathan at September 9, 2005 11:18 AM
the restart is probably needed because of the itunes phone driver it installs.
Posted by: Mood: Perplexed at September 9, 2005 03:09 PM
An irrelevant data point:
I'm using OS X 10.3.7, QuickTime 6.4 and iTunes 4.2. Why? Because it all works.
I just fired up Software Update. It's offering me iTunes 5.0, with no restart required. iTunes Phone Driver 1.1 is listed separately and requires a restart.
(Also, iSight Update 1.0.2 and iSight Update 1.0.3. Decisions, decisions...)
Posted by: James Emerton at September 9, 2005 11:17 PM
I had a similar bug, except that I used the Apple Menu item to start Software Update. It proceeded to the same point in the progress bar and stopped, little CPU and no disk activity. I tried downloading iTunes to install it directly. The installer did essentially the same thing while 'inspecting' my system before it would normally allow me to select an install disk.
Going back a couple of days, Mail.app spazzed at me. I'm an IMAP user, and it's well known that IMAP in 10.4 just blows. (It was never real great anyways.) I tried to force quit, (and kill -9,) and ending up with a zombied Mail hanging around. Perhaps this is related to my update problem. The dock still thinks Mail is running.
I switched to Thunderbird in disgust. Thunderbird handles IMAP well, but it otherwise is quite a poor experience on OS X.
At any rate, it looks like I will be attempting a reboot. I may end up doing another after some update. When did I install Windows?
Posted by: Sam MacCutchan at September 10, 2005 07:41 PM
I realized this morning that Software Update hadn't bugged me recently to install anything. I have software update set to check weekly and download updates in the background.
When I opened the preferences pain it said it had last checked at 9pm last night. I decided to click the check now button and lo and behold there were about seven updates to be installed. Including iTunes 5, the Quicktime update and Security Update 2005-07.
Then I clicked to install the updates and it hadn't downloaded them yet.
Software Update is screwy I think.
Posted by: Carl at September 20, 2005 01:52 AM
Ran the 10.4 update a couple of weeks ago, then performed the iTunes 5, Quicktime, and Security update a few days back...
Ever since, Mail.app
1) will accept mail from but not forward to the workplace Exchange server (cert issue), and
2) once I've gotten past the salutation in the body of an email, no mo text. I can enter 100 'a's in a row, but once I enter a space or comma, etc, it's toast. I quickly installed Thunderbird to get mail out, but with something like four years of mail in Mail.app, it'll continue to receive until I figure this out.
Nice. Sounds like you've been hit by the wonder bug of beachballing/are you sure you haven't crashed... oh you have. glad I waited 5 mins to realise that.
OS X is lovely like that at the moment. I should stop poking it repeatedly, but its SO fun!