Posted on 05/12/2009 2:14:04 PM PDT by Swordmaker
Mac OS X 10.5.7 is available via Software Update and also via standalone installers.
OS X.5 Leopard users may update by selecting "Software Update..." under the Black Apple Menu in the upper left corner of your screen and following the prompts.
I’ve got a brother who has used Macs for almost as long as I have. I guess I got him started way back in the 80s. But, he got going on Mac OS X, version 10.1, a number of years back — and I can’t get him to update or upgrade to the current one... LOL...
I don’t know how he can keep using that older system... :-)
I got the standalone updater downloaded, I have 3 Macs that need the update, and the first one up is a MacPro.
It went through its paces fine, until the prompt came to restart and finish the update. It has since taken down the dock, kept my background, and every second or so it tickles the hard disk (Raid-1).
There’s been no change for a half hour now. The keyboard power button causes a little disk grinding, then nothing. In an hour I’ll be back home, and
If I don’t see any change, I’ll pull the power plug from the back and try to reboot.
Are there any other options?
That doesn't sound good.
Don't pull the power plug unless absolutely necessary. You can hold in the power button for ten seconds to force a shut down. Then try rebooting. If that still fails, use your install disks to re-install OS X—use Archive and install so that you don't erase your apps or your data.
An hour has passed; I did the power plug pull and powered up from the cold state; it went through 3 cycles of starting up, and on the third try it came up under 10.5.7. Software update indicated nothing else to add. Whatever indeterminate state it was left in, was covered by some facet of the update.
My hat is off to the guys at Apple; that was a good automatic recovery.
Of course I had my data backed up, but I’m considering next time booting on a disk that has 10.4, and upgrading the raid with 10.5, then rebooting to 10.5.
Is this free rescue kit for Mac of any use to the Mac guys?
http://www.paragon-software.com/home/rk-mac/free_download.html
Thanks for the link.
I am trying to figure out exactly how this kit would be of any use to a Mac user. I really can't come up with one.
Every Mac comes with a bootable DVD installer and if the drive is still working, you can do an archive and install to protect your data. If the drive is dead, a bootable DVD or CD is still useless for getting your data back. If the machine and HD are working you can access it in target disk mode by merely holding down the T key on start up and access your files from another Mac over Firewire.
Either of these approaches will allow you to rescue your files. If the computer's logic board is hosed, no LINUX boot disk is going to work any better than the DVD that came with your Mac. With the Mac's OS X install disk, even if the HD has no room to place a new OS installation, you can connect an external drive via Firewire, install the OS to the external drive and boot from that... voila, access to your files.
Enable "Remote Login" in the System Preferences Sharing panel. If the problem occurs again, you may be able to access the locked-up system from another computer via Terminal.app and ssh, then try some commands like top, kill and shutdown. If that works, it's better than pulling the plug. The shutdown command should help to ensure that file buffers are flushed and files are closed properly before switching off.
If you must "pull the plug", the best way to do it is to press the power button for several seconds until the hardware switches off.
Thanks for the tip.
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