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TICKET ARCHIVE -> Problems with Leopard... not responding!

nikeltje - Nov 24, 2007 - 11:59 am

Hi there,

I just updated from 10.3.9 to Leopard yesterday, and I've been having problems.

I tried using Software Update to get 10.5.1 and a newer QuickTime, but when I click on "Install", it does nothing and I end up having to force quit, where it says it's "not responding". The same thing happens when I download the update from the Apple site and try to install it: it gets as far as letting me select where I want to install it, but then the swirly rainbow thing shows up and keeps spinning until I force quit. Both times I tried waiting for about an hour for it to work, so I don't think it's just me being impatient.

I also noticed that my disk space had shrunken considerably; I had about 13GB free before the install; afterwards, it was only 2.5GB. When I tried to clear some space by getting rid of files, I had trouble sending things to the Trash--it would work once or twice, and then I would just get a message saying "Preparing to send items to Trash", which, like the install, would keep going on for hours until I force quit the Finder.

I tried rebooting several times, but nothing seemed to change this. What should I do??? I would appreciate any help and advice, but please keep in mind I'm not a computer whiz by any stretch of the imagination!

Thanks a bunch!

Serenak - Nov 24, 2007 - 7:15 pm

Hi there Nicole

Thanks for coming to macosx.com and I will try to assist you.

I suspect your problem is Hard Drive space.

Leopard is considerably larger than Panther (or Tiger for that matter - systems just keep getting bigger and bigger).

Once your HDD gets to less than 10% free all kinds of weird stuff can start to happen. Like your installs - you probably have enough space to install but probably not enough "scratch space" (temporary disk space). I usually work on needing at least 2x the space required for the install on the HDD - personally I try to keep a minimum of 15-20% of the disk total empty. Also by current standards 30Gb (your HDD) is pretty small.

Sending stuff to the trash is the right idea but being so full I think you will need to work a bit at a time.

First empty the Trash (if you can't empty the Trash right now take some stuff out of the Trash and put it in a folder on the desktop, emtpy the trash and try again), then send a few bits you can clear there and empty again. Strangely you may find it best to start with some of the smaller files you want to delete rather than finding the biggest one you can (which is obviously what you would normally do). Carry on like this if you can, trash and empty a few at time, working up to bigger and bigger files. As you clear space more normal behaviour should return. I would say try to get a good 5Gb free space...

Consider buying either an external HDD, or even just a couple of USB flash drives (you know the keyfob things) to take some load off the HDD (a couple of 2Gb ones won't set you back too much) or in the longer term getting the iBook hardrive upgraded...

Let me know if you have any joy - or if not come back and we will look at other options.

nikeltje - Nov 24, 2007 - 7:29 pm

Hi there,

Thanks for your quick response!

I managed to clear 8GB on my hard drive, but I'm still having the same problem.

Is there anything else I can try?

Thanks again,

Nicole

Serenak - Nov 24, 2007 - 7:48 pm

Thanks Nicole - but a quick response is luck of the draw really - I mean I am in the UK and off to bed soon, but if something comes in and I happen to see it and think I can help...

Right - you have freed up 8Gb, that is good going on a 30gb drive so you should now be well in the clear on that front.

Still can't update to 10.5.1? Something's a bit funky then... Start by using the Disk Utility in Applications/Utilities and running both verify/repair disk and repair permissions (which doesn't actually repair stuff just reset it to default...) But Leopard is very much stricter on permissions than Tiger and Tiger was stricter than Panther... so if you used the default upgrade method to install Leopard and your Panther install had any "custom" permissions (whether you knew it or not) something might not be right...

I will be up for a while yet , so try that and come back to me..

If the permissions repair seems to go absolutely berserk just let it get on with it - I had to totally brute force mine the other night (use a tool to set them to something very wrong and then get Disk Utility to set them "right" and it took a good two hours to do - extreme I know as I deliberately "broke" them first.

You may get some scary stuff about ACL found and not expected and SUID not modified - this is harmless if a bit freaky

If you can't run them from the iMac start from the Leopard disk and after choosing English as the language look in the menu for the Disk Utility and run it from there...

Come back and let me know

nikeltje - Nov 25, 2007 - 12:55 pm

Hey again,

I managed to verify the disk, but I had to repair it from the installation disk--that itself took a lot of time, because the stupid thing would NOT load until I held down the C key while starting it...

The verify/repair permissions thing didn't work at all--I kept getting the stripey bar (before it shows how much time is left).

Eventually I got really irritated and did a clean install, and wiped out the HD (everything was backed up already, so it wasn't a problem).

Everything seems to be working fine now! =D

Thanks for all your help ^_^

Serenak - Nov 25, 2007 - 3:11 pm

Sounds like something on the disk was (to put it politely) a bit stuffed up...

I think that if it wouldn't verify/repair I would have done exactly the same - at least now you know it is all clean and nicely installed and working ...

BTW for future reference the C key thing is normal - that is how the Mac knows you want to start up from the CD drive...