[Quagmire]

Now in software update. Both for Intel and PPC.

Now in Software Update: Java 2 Standard Edition (J2SE) 5.0 Release 4 delivers improved reliability and compatibility for Java 2 Platform Standard Edition 5.0 on Mac OS X v10.4.5 and later. This release includes J2SE version 1.5.0_06. With this update J2SE 5.0 becomes the preferred Java version, superseding Java 1.4.2. Additional information can be found in the Apple Knowledge Base. Java-based applications will run with J2SE 5.0 unless they specifically request Java 1.4.2. To change the default back to version 1.4.2 on a system-wide basis, see the instructions here. The update can be downloaded via Software Update or directly for Intel or PPC systems.

EDIT: With this thread, I here by claim, that I am coming back for my crown! So watch out!

[Frank777]

I've updated, and ThinkFree Office just became usable for me.

On a Sawtooth G4 upgraded to 1GHZ, there's no noticeable lag when typing or slowdowns on launching.

Mind you, I haven't run ThinkFree for awhile, but the program definitely seems snappier.

I guess I can stop harping about the need for a spreadsheet in iWork now!

[gsxrboy]

Is there anyway to haxxor this to work with a 10.3.x machine??.. I have one machine I cant upgrade but would like the goodness this gives my 10.4 pb.

[dfiler]

I installed and haven't discerned any difference.

Any Java heads want to weigh in on the nitty-gritty of this update? How is Apple doing in their Java support?

*runs for cover*

[jsk173]

I installed this last night and just encountered a massive system crash that required unplugging the power cord and pulling the battery. (And yes, I know how bad that is, but 30 minutes of frozen Safari, no cursor, frozen Apple menu and then, to top it off, a blank screen were enough for me.)

I first suspected a problem when, in Safari and even in the Finder, my PowerBook started chirping at me, followed by the spinning beachball. These episodes became more and more frequent, so I started to quit some app's to prepare for a restart. Got as far as Safari, which crashed, and then trying to Force-Quit failed (the force-quit menu didn't even appear), then the cursor/spinning beachball disappeared, and then the screen went blank.

Ended up pulling the power cord and battery and restarted, which resulted in the gray status screen for about 15 minutes, which led me to pull power cord and battery a second time. Restarted again, which was successful.

I suppose this could be a coincidence, but this is the first crash I've had like this in at least a year and it immediately followed installation of this update. I only had 3-4 apps open and only had about 1 hour of post-update uptime when the problems started.

Curious if anyone else has had issues and/or if anyone has suggestions. Thanks.

[chucker]

Originally Posted by jsk173 I installed this last night and just encountered a massive system crash that required unplugging the power cord and pulling the battery.

Um. What? Just ctrl-cmd-power didn't help?

That doesn't sound like something this update would cause.

[jsk173]

No, nothing worked except pulling the cord and battery. First tried to force-quit Safari, which failed to even bring up the force-quit menu; then Apple menu froze with the menu open; followed by spinning beachball, which suddenly disappeared; followed by screen going black; followed by attempts to shut down via the power button, ctrl-cmd-power, etc.

I don't necessarily see the connection either, but the problem arose immediately after installing this update, with less than 1 hour of post-update uptime and with only Safari, Mail and TextEdit open.

[Kickaha]

'Chirping'?

Could be a hard drive issue?

[jsk173]

Not sure, but the noise was clearly coming from the speakers (sounded like several system sounds mixed together) and not noise resulting from the machine's operation.

Whatever the problem is, Safari seems much more unstable than it was last night pre-update. One minute it's faster than yesterday, the next it keeps resulting in the hard drive spinning up, spinning beachball, etc.

[Robo]

There are way too many numbers in that name. 2! 5.0! 4!

"3, Sir!"

"3!"

[jsk173]

Originally Posted by Kickaha 'Chirping'? Could be a hard drive issue?

The chirping was not from the hard drive but rather garbled system sounds, but I just had to restart yet again (but not by pulling cord and battery) and it took forever. I also noticed the hard drive is spinning up and then down, up and then down about every 5 seconds.

My 17" PB G4 is about 18 months old. Sure hope it's not dying on me already.

All feedback appreciated.

[Kickaha]

So you *have* checked the drive, right? That much disk access tells me its either a VM issue or disk issue.

[jsk173]

Originally Posted by Kickaha So you *have* checked the drive, right? That much disk access tells me its either a VM issue or disk issue.

I ran Disk Utility, verified the disk and it came out okay. Is that what you mean?

I had a lot of problems this afternoon, including a sad Mac on a restart attempt (got the gray start-up screen for several minutes, then the sad Mac). After about 10 failed restart attempts, I simply gave up and let the PB sit for a couple hours. (I was convinced my PB was dead.)

After about 2 hours, I tried again and it restarted like normal. I haven't had any stability issues, or weird sounds, thru about 3 hours of up-time. (As soon as it restarted I backed up my entire 8 GB home folder to my iPod just in case.)

I'm traveling now and heading out of country soon, so hopefully this was just a fluke. Any further feedback/suggestions re: any possible problems, and diagnosis thereof, would be appreciated. Thanks ...

[TednDi]

my Powerbook 17" has expierienced 3 hard drive failures in about 22 months. Almost every 6 months or so. Try to back everything up if you can when you next start up your Pb. If it is the drive then, get another drive from a different mfr. I think that the old 60gb drives were the ones that hosed on me. I upgraded to 80 and it seems fine to me now.

[jsk173]

I backed up everything yesterday, as soon as I was able to get the PB restarted. (I certainly saw my life flash before my eyes in the 2 hours the PB was down. Very scary.)

Re: the HD, my PB is 20 months old and I have the 80 GB drive already.

[chucker]

I wonder how many people, if any, experience these same hard drive failures with the sudden motion sensor.

[jsk173]

Originally Posted by chucker I wonder how many people, if any, experience these same hard drive failures with the sudden motion sensor.

Could you expand on that thought?

Yesterday, I flipped over my PB to pull the battery (see above); could that have caused a problem with the motion sensor? (For that matter, I'm not even positive my 17" PB (Aug. 2004) has a motion sensor.)

[chucker]

Originally Posted by jsk173 Could you expand on that thought? Yesterday, I flipped over my PB to pull the battery (see above); could that have caused a problem with the motion sensor?

No, I'm saying that I wonder how many hard drive problems the sudden motion sensor actually avoids.

(For that matter, I'm not even positive my 17" PB (Aug. 2004) has a motion sensor.)

It doesn't. The feature was introduced for PowerBooks in January 2005 (and, for the iBooks, July 2005).