Cube won't boot after 10.4.6 upgrade

[Zunoj]

Hi guys, long time reader, first time poster! I've learned a lot on this site but this one has me stumped, any help would be apreciated.


I Upgraded from 10.4.5 to 10.4.6 via the softwarte update app, after the second reboot the computer stalls (and keeps doing it) at the Starting Mac OS X page with the "progress bar" on full. I have tried logging in on Safe mode, but it does the same. I was able to log on in single user mode, I checked the disk with fsck, and disk utilitiy, both say the disk is ok. I also have repaired permissons and still nothing.

Logging in in single user mode I deleteded some of the preferences listed in this article this , and after reboot still nothing, so I deleted all the preferences there (/library/preferences) and tried again, still nothing.

I am able to start up the computer as a firewire disk, I can access it from my laptop and I also have tried booting up the laptop with that disk as startup volume but I still get the same.

The computer is:

G4 powermac cube
450mhz Processor
640MG RAM

Any help would be apreciated.

[ElDiabloConCaca]

The computer may appear to "hang" with the progress bar sitting there at full, but it's not hung. Mine stayed there with the progress bar seemingly at 100% for over 5 minutes -- how long did you let it sit there?

I would recommend re-installing the Mac OS X 10.4.6 combo updater, and letting the computer do it's thing. Walk away from the computer if you find yourself impatient and wanting to restart it, if that would help.

It's probably not really stuck there -- it's performing critical procedures that should not be interrupted. After system updates, startup times can be significantly longer than a normal boot, and you should not assume that the computer is stalled (unless it's been sitting there for hours or more).

How long did you let the computer sit there before you decided it was "stuck?"

[Zunoj]

I waited about 10 minutes, I know that after updates it takes a while, but 10 mins made me think it stalled.

I want to try to re install the update, but how can I do that if I can't even get to the desktop?

[ElDiabloConCaca]

10 minutes may not have been long enough... I can't remember the exact amount of time mine took, but it may have been up there around 10 or so minutes, and I actually did think it was stuck at one point -- but, patience prevailed and the exorbitant amount of time it took to proceed was just a result of Mac OS X updating itself (I could hear the hard drive clicking away if I put my ear real close to the machine).

Using previous Combo updater boot-up times to estimate the time it should take the 10.4.6 Combo updater to finish isn't wise... every updater is different, and every updater may update a different part of the system. Just because 10.4.x took x amount of minutes to finish doesn't mean that the 10.4.6 updater will act remotely similar to that.

I don't know if you can apply the Combo updater when the Cube is booted in FireWire Target Disk mode, but it may be worth a shot. Another option is to do an Archive & Install procedure, then update to 10.4.6 with the Combo updater to bring you up-to-date.

[Zunoj]

Thanks a lot for the advice Diablo.

I Dowloaded the combo updater to my powerbook and installed as Firewe Target disk to the cube. That fixed it right on. (but for some reason took less than 3 mins to restart, now that has me wondering what went on :P).

So I have my cube up and running again, thanks a lot again!

[larry98765]

(I could hear the hard drive clicking away if I put my ear real close to the machine).

So I had a similar problem today, and ended up reinstalling from the DVD, since 10.4.6 seemed to hang up on reboot (on the apple logo / spinner screen) indefinitely. The thing is -- there was *no* hard drive activity whatsoever for more than 5 minutes.

So my question is -- if there's no hard drive activity when Mac OS X seems to hang, is there something else it might be doing? Could it be busily *processing* for that length of time?

[nixgeek]

It would have to depend on the speed of the system I believe. My iMac G5 went through the instal really quick, but it's a 2.0 GHz G5 compared to an older G4 computer. And I'm sure one of the Core Duo iMacs would go through the upgrade even faster.

Fight the impatience...let it do its thing and you'll be pleasantly surprised.

[fryke]

So we again learned that the combo updater is not only ALWAYS the better way to go, but also a cure for failed delta-updates. Ha! Good.