By Marcus Browne, 29 October 2007 08:50
NEWS
Following its release on Friday, Mac OS X Leopard users have been encountering the dreaded "blue screen" error when trying to install the operating system.
Some Mac users upgrading to Mac OS X Leopard over the weekend have reported their systems becoming frozen on a blue screen while trying to reboot after the initial installation of the software and losing data, such as photos, stored on the machines as a result.
According to the Apple support site, the error may have been caused by a conflict with third party "enhancement" software for previous versions of OS X that some users had installed.
However, according to posts on discussion forums over the weekend, the problem is not confined to users with third party software installed on their systems.
Apple has since posted a fix for the problem on its support website, suggesting users perform an "archive and install" installation of the upgrade, which relocates all existing Mac OS X system files into a folder labelled "previous system".
The issue is currently the top search on Apple's support site, with a link being posted to the solution via its top 10 ranking.
Apple declined to comment on the issue.
Marcus Browne writes for ZDNet Australia
Comments
There are 3 comments. Join the discussion
1. David King
Apple are wanting to attract Windows users to defect to the Mac. This latest foul-up is very typical of Microsoft products and means that Apple are now following Microsoft more and more. Maybe Apple need to change direction and avoid being so much like their main rival.
2. Karen Challinor
lost data !
have people never considered the
possibility of making a backup or do macs never get hit by lightning or power surges or knocked off desks or have coffee spilled on them or any of a hundred and one accidental disasters that affect computer systems generally
do mac users never accidentally delete files they wanted to keep ?
one thing I learned very early on in my career, "if you are going to do anything major then make a backup first", the other was "never do anything that will 'just take a few minutes' on a friday afternoon, not if you don't want to work through the weekend"
and OS upgrades count as major
and I'm not just talking about PC's and windows, aix, solaris, beos, vms, hp-ux, *nix you name the OS or the architecture the same rule applies
so, sorry guys but if you lost data it's your own fault
3. Richard A
Upgrading without a backup - are they mad???
Yes, it's annoying and it shouldn't happen in an ideal world but, sadly, the affected users really only have themselves to blame.
Apple always advises users to back-up before applying System updates. Anybody who doesn't do this before installing a whole new OS is just asking for trouble.
Apple's fix - to run an "archive and install" - is absolutely standard practice for a major OS upgrade.
With external drives costing so little these days, there really is no excuse for being so stupid as to not have an up to date back-up at any time - triply so when installing a new iteration of the OS.
3rd party apps are liable to exhibit strange behaviour after an OS enhancement and need updating to play nicely with the new system. With so many variables between individual Macs in terms of applications, system enhancements, haxies etc Apple cannot (and do not) gurantee that every installation will be trouble free.
These early adopters really should know better, and have nobody to blame but themselves.
It's like driving a car without insurance. Sorry.