Home Forums Mac Software Mac Operating Systems Two combo 10.6.5 updaters

Okay, I "think" I've discovered the problem.

As of 8:30 -- 9:00 pm CST November 11/10, one can find on the Apple website, depending on whether you go there neat or via a second party link, two different combo 10.6.5 updaters. Both dated November 10/10.

One -- the bad one -- has download id 1324 and is 977.xx MBs. (I can't get this one to mount.) The good one has download id 1325 and is 644.xx MBs. This one mounts.

If the id numbers correspond to times, the 1325 was released after the 1324 -- and presumably represents a correction for the 1324.

The 1325 mounted on my Imac. But I'm not installing it yet. Google reveals some (not many) troubles with the combo 10.6.5. Maybe some of them occur even with the good one.

Note to Hal Itosis:

Your link on the OSX forums is to the bad one.

The 977MB is a Combo that contains all updates since the original 10.6 was released. It worked fine for me.

The 644MB version only contains the updates to get you from 10.6.4 to 10.6.5. You must have 10.6.4 installed before using this update.

I have had better luck using the Combo with each release.

So you are saying that the 644.xx MB is merely the delta. Okay.

Software Update on my iMac (now holding 10.6.4) shows the delta as 517.3 MB. So downloading a delta from Apple can be 644.xx and what you get by software update can be significantly less. I don't think that I've appreciated that from past experiences.

I tried to download the 977.xx again. At about 203MB, the Safari download quits with the words "failed to mount". This is my third try with the same result. The 644.xx MB downloaded with no problems, and I've never had problems downloading software update items or third party apps.

Console shows only a raft of lines all like this:

10-11-11 10:45:32 PM [0x0-0xc70c7].com.apple.Safari[1247] Canceleld; 0; Empty 1

The 977.xx MB download window by Safari has a question mark where usually there is specific number for the total download size.

I'm a little puzzled. But thanks for your comments. Google reveals that some others are having trouble downloading the 10.6.5 updater.

You have an issue that I did not encounter. I don't know why. Here's what I did to get a smooth upgrade to 10.6.5: Start up the iMac as usual and make a backup of your internal hard drive. Then put the iMac Snow Leopard install DVD into a tray-loading external CD/DVD drive (my iMac's built in drive trashes disks). The install DVD window opens on the desktop. Double click the "Install Mac OS X.app and reinstall the system on your internal hard drive. It will install the original 10.6 and leave your data untouched. One automatic restart and less than 40 minutes later, it will finish. Quit the installer. If you need Rosetta, open Optional Installs Folder on the Install DVD's desktop window and select Rosetta and install it. Then use Safari to go to the Apple Downloads page (http://support.apple.com/downloads/). Download the 977.xx Combo updater (Don't use Software Update and Don't select the Server version by mistake). Install the Combo update. Then double click the Install Mac OS X.app on the DVD's window, but this time click the Utilities button and restart from the DVD. Then click on the Utilities menu when it appears and select Disk Utility. Select your startup drive and click Repair Permissions. When that is finished restart from your normal hard drive. It worked for me. I hope it works for you. BTW, my equipment shown below is my main computer, but we also have an iMac i7 quadcore mentioned in this post.

OMG! Why would you reinstall 10.6 from the install disk? It sure works without it. On the other issue, I agree: the big update is a combo, the smaller one (600-odd MB) is an "update", presumably, the delta. There were sporadic messages that as of midday of Nov. 11, Apple has pulled out and then reposted the big update, allegedly, because of some downloading problems. Their site still lists the combo as of Nov. 10.
I installed it without much hassle except that my desktop picture was lost and I had to bring it back manually. Other than that, "all quiet on the Western front".

Of course it works without it, but if you've damaged any part of the operating system during the time you've been using Snow Leopard, the new installer allows you to go back and repair any damage that may have been done. I flog my machines pretty hard. I was unlucky enough to have two internal hard drive failures within a couple of months of each other. For me, the prospect of damaged system files was a real issue. I found that Apple's new installer allowed me to reinstall without damaging documents or changing any settings. ("See Mac OS X Snow Leopard, the missing manual" by David Pogue pg 816-817. In other words, Erase and Install is no longer necessary on a Mac where Snow Leopard has already been installed. The result of a new Automatic install followed by the 10.6.5 Combo updater is a clean version of system 10.6.5 where any previous damage has been repaired without messing up any of my precious data and settings.

I understand. Hopefully you have a stable system now.