EZ Jim Pages at Ralph Johns UK

If Useful Please Donate

iSight : How I Update My Mac OS X

As mentioned in the Title box - there are pages that were written a little while ago by EZ Jim, a poster on the Apple Discussions, who contributes to iSight and iChat Discussions. The words the following pages are EZ Jim's

Use the the Information Column Menu for EZ Jim's pages


How I Update My Mac OS X

Here are a couple more ideas for your consideration if you are having unsolvable problems after updating. Before you go see your local Apple Service Tech, you might want to try the following....


  1. When you update your OS, do you disconnect all external Firewire devices? If not, you may want to run the Combo Updater as explained in (2) below.

    For those using Panther, About the Mac OS X 10.3.9 Update (Combo) says to disconnect only third-party "FireWire" hard drives.

    For Tiger users, About the Mac OS X 10.4.10 Update (combo) or the (10.4.10v1 INTEL version) doesn't actually say anything about disconnecting at all, but I don't want to take chances, so I disconnect ALL external Firewire.

    Apple includes caveats regarding third-party software patches and update interruptions here. You might want to consider the tips in Macintosh System Stability.


  2. When notified of an Apple "Software Update..." to OS X, do you quit "Software Update..." and run permissions repair before installing the update?

Some users have problems after updating OS X by just clicking "Install" after receiving Apple's Software Update... notification. For some, reinstalling (after a permissions repair) using the Combo version of the same update (followed, of course, by another permissions repair) corrects their problem. Users have reported fixes to a variety of audio, video, connectivity, and software conflicts and unreliability issues after properly applying the Combo updates.

Apple makes Combo versions of OS updates available in their download site. I have been using the Combo Updaters exclusively since 10.3.5, and it is working for me. When notified of an Apple "Software Update...", I always quit the Software Update and use the Combo version instead. If you want to try this now, proceed as follows:

  1. Download the Combo Updater from the Apple Download site.


  2. As of the date of this post, the most current Panther (OS X 10.3.x) updater is the 117 MB Mac OS X 10.3.9 Update (Combo)

    If you are using Tiger on a PPC Mac, the most current OS X 10.4.x Combo updater is the 165MB Mac OS X Update 10.4.10 Combo for PPC.
    I am using it, and it is giving me good results. NOTE: Users of Intel Macs must use the 297.2MB Mac OS X 10.4.10 Combo for Intel.

    At an attempt at future proffing, between updates to these pages, I have conducted this Search at Apple Dowloads. I put in 10.4. in the search field. It will include anything that has 10.4. in the title. The main Updates Download page is here where you could use a more refined Search. It is a lot more visual since the most recent Apple update to the style of their pages.



  3. Disconnect all Firewire devices, including iSight and iPod.


  4. Repair permissions (Mac OS X 10.3/10.4: System maintenance for why)


  5. Run the Combo Installer. Restart (if required).


  6. Finish the update with another Permissions Repair.


When I get an OS X update notification, I always quit, use the above procedures for the OS X part, and then go back to "Software Update..." after my permissions repair to install any updates reported after the OS Combo Updater has been applied. I finish the process with one more permissions repair.

This page was updated with some links 25/08/2007


Writen By EZ Jim


Made on Mac
Made on a Mac®

© 2005, 2006 EZ Jim
Updated September 2006


© 2005 Ralph Johns: Edited 24/9/2005, 5/5/2006
Updated September 2006. Moved to Gargoyles Mar 2007


Other Pages within this Site

Links to Other Sites