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Mac OS X Update 10.2.4 Resets

Oculus Habent writes "It may just be me, but 10.2.4 reset a number of settings on my computer, including icon sizes, window positions, and dock size and contents. Minor annoyances, but completely unnecessary. Is anyone else experiencing this?" As for me, Apple re-added some apps to my Dock and overwrote all my changes to httpd.conf (though it did back it up first) to add mod_rendezvous_apple. But those problems pale in comparison to some others: Anonymous Coward writes "If you upgraded your Mac desktop to 10.2.4 last weekend, check your date and time. Many users have suddenly found it to be 4:00 PM, December 31, 1969 again. Apparently, this happens whenever they are shut down or restarted, and resetting the motherboard and/or the PRAM doesn't fix it. Complaints have been piling up at Apple.com and prices for batteries have been skyrocketing - but relax. It's not your battery!"

11 of 135 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Works for Me by cyb97 · · Score: 4, Funny
    even before it was mentioned on Slashdot! I have not seen any of the problems mentioned.

    So now it's proven, Slashdot is the cause of all problems!

  2. Re:No such panic for me...sky is still up by Mononoke · · Score: 4, Funny
    If the goddamn OS *lets* me move things around, then it bloody well better recognize that I've done so, and honor those changes.
    You're one of those that used to move vital things out of the System Folder in the pre-OSX days, aren't you.

    If so, thank you. I made quite a bit of money cleaning up other people's silly messes back then.

    --
    NetInfo connection failed for server 127.0.0.1/local
  3. Re:No such panic for me...sky is still up by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Hell, that's nothing. I typed "sudo rm -rf /" in my terminal window and this piece of shit "Mac" OS didn't boot at all the next day!

    What a waste of money! It's MY computer, I should be able to do whatever I like to the hard drive and it should continue to function!!

  4. good one...I forgot about all those rescues by djupedal · · Score: 2, Funny

    My brother used to put the system file out on the desktop....and I never asked why. He also insisted on formatting otherwise left over HD space...and every time his house of cards fell, I'd have to grinnbearit.

    silly messes...that's funny...like a stain on the carpet, only it doesn't smell.

  5. Re:Oddly enough by King+Babar · · Score: 3, Funny
    A doddle to put right, but rather worrying nonetheless.

    So, am I the only one who thinks that some people in the UK must spend altogether too much time sitting around in club chairs drinking and inventing new words and idiomatic expressions that mean nothing but *sound* extremely British, and are thus adopted by the pretentious?

    --

    Babar

  6. Re:several machines, no problem by Oculus+Habent · · Score: 3, Funny

    No hacks, no unpublished APIs. The only beta SW running in OS X I have is Navigator (Chimera), Safari, and X11. I leave nearly everything where Apple put it, because it doesn't bother me to do so.

    I'm connecting with an AirPort card. I have Atlanta as the closest city. I have Time Sync and Software Update's Auto-Check disabled. I have one user, who logs in automatically. The user icon is the half of an orange. I had no Sharing services running at the time. I have a single LaserJet 4 specified in my Print Center. I have my root user enabled.

    I use Mail for mail. Address Book for addresses. iCal for a calendar. iTunes for music. Safari for web, with Chimera s backup. Sherlock for some searches, and Text Edit for most of my simple writing. I use Terminla to connect to an HP-UX box at work. I use a VPN connection with Internet Connect sometimes, but not during the update. I have primarily generic US settings.

    My Trash was empty. My battery indicator is set to Percent. I have the Day of Week showing in the Menu Clock. My sound was on. I have the Developer Tools installed, but don't really use them.

    Does it bother me that something changed? Yes. Am I worried about hosing my machine with the next update? No. Have I sworn of Macs forever? Much to Microsoft's dismay, no.

    Why me, then? I don't know. Maybe I wasn't holding my mouth right.

    --
    That what was all this school was for... to teach us how to solve our own problems. -- janeowit
  7. Re:No such panic for me...sky is still up by Twirlip+of+the+Mists · · Score: 3, Funny

    The point is, if it shouldn't be done, don't allow it to be done. Duh.

    # mv /boot/vmlinuz /vmlinuz
    # reboot


    Ooooops.

    --

    I write in my journal
  8. It's like the Y2K bug... by wirelessbuzzers · · Score: 5, Funny

    The cause of all these problems is simple, and I'm amazed that Apple overlooked it. The new version number, 10.2.4, overruns the 11-bit signed integer field that Apple devotes to the version numbers for their operating systems. This causes the system to think it's version -10.2.4, and extrapolating on the rate of Apple software releases allows one to easily calculate the date that this release should have taken place: Version 1.0.0 in 1984 and Version 10.2.3 in 2003 gives version -10.2.4 to be precisely January 1, 1970. The 1969 dates are due to a roundoff error, and only occur in G3s without Altivec support.

    As no version earlier than OS 8 has network time support, the new "old" system does not attempt to update from a network time server. The reverted files and dock icons are simply the computer's attempt to show the files as they exist at the "current" time.

    A patch may take awhile, due to the difficulty of updating all the old system routines that use the 11-bit signed int format.

    --
    I hereby place the above post in the public domain.
  9. Re:Oddly enough by Slur · · Score: 3, Funny

    Quite so. In fact one might say it's a rather unfortunate side-effect of being British. I would venture to say that within that milieu there are shades of subtlety that would be lost on the typical brash overstimulated American, who for the most part has no appreciation for understatement, having beaten his head against life for so long.

    --
    -- thinkyhead software and media
  10. Re:Don't they fucking test these things? by Slur · · Score: 2, Funny

    Of course they tested it, don't have a cow. I've updated several computers over the past couple of weeks and have had absolutely no problems. I took the cautious step of running disk repair on each system before upgrading and then I used the Archive-and-Install method.

    Every upgrade, no matter how trivial, can bring complications. One must be prepared for such an eventuality, and hopefully face inevitable problems with a bit of grace.... or in your case a bit of fucking grace.

    --
    -- thinkyhead software and media
  11. Re:Oddly enough by gidds · · Score: 3, Funny
    [fx: Stares hard at parent message for a while]

    You're complaining about `doddle', right? (Process of elimination.) Okay, it means `something easily done or achieved'. It's a perfectly common* word round our way. Everyone happy now?

    (* in both senses)

    I tell you what: I'll start worrying about writing so that even the simplest Yank can understand me if you Yanks start writing so we can understand, all right?! (I wonder who will have to change the most there...)

    [fx: wanders off muttering about who invented the bloody language in the first place...]

    --

    Ceterum censeo subscriptionem esse delendam.