Award Sounds

I installed the latest java and security updates (2009-001 1.0) to my 10.4.11 MacBook a couple of nights ago. Even during the installation process, it was showing signs of problems. The updater failed to install the update several times. The Macbook wouldn't shut down despite leaving it for 15-20 minutes. Nor would it boot. The only way to get the machine up and running was to do an Archive and Install.

Symptoms

• The Macbook would start with the boot-up noise, but stop before the log-in page
• The screen displayed the Apple logo and the spinning gear.
• The fans would whirr and decrease in volume, then increase in volume.
• No progression beyond the spinning gear page.

Here are some of the things I tried

• Booting into safe mode. I couldn't get it to boot into safe mode. It didn't work
• Resetting the PRAM. Don't know if it did reset the PRAM, but there was no improvement.
• SMC reset. Don't know if it did reset the SMC, but there was no improvement.
• I also tried using the install disk's Disk Utility and repairing permissions, didn't work
• Tried the disk repair function on the install disk's Disk Utility. Also didn't work - the drive was fine.
• I then ran the extended test found in Apple Hardware Test - no issues, but still no starting Macbook
• Wondering if memory could be a problem , I took one of the chips out and ran the extended hardware test again. No better. So I tried with the other chip. Again no better.
• At this stage, I'm beginning to think it's software rather than hardware. I don't have a nightly back-up (I don't keep client files on this machine). otherwise a refresh from a superduper image would have worked nicely.

The solution

1. So back into the install disk's Disk Utility, I refreshed the image of the harddrive onto an external harddrive. I just wanted to make sure I had a new copy of all the data on the drive before I let more Apple software trash it further. (As it turns out, the Archive and Install software worked really well)
2. After the few hours of backing up the drive to the external USB drive, I ran the Archive and Install process (found in the options). There was very little space left on the MacBook's harddrive, so I cut down all the applications and left less than what I'd like, but enough to get it up and running.
3. Two install DVDs and an hour later and I have a working Macbook
4. Install the software updates one at a time, repairing permissions after each major update.
5. I'm typing this on the Macbook and have only had to install Adobe AIR so far, everything else seems to work fine.

Other Resources

The reason I started writing this article is that it seems a lot of others are having similar issues, with no resolutions. Fortunately it looks like news is spreading about how to fix it.

• Macbook will not boot up after running Software Update