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Apple releases Mac OS X 10.3.3 via Software Update

updated 05:00 pm EST, Mon March 15, 2004

Mac OS X 103.3 update

Apple has released on the Web.

by MacNN Staff

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Avenir
Mac Elite

Joined: Jan 2000

0

03/15, 05:12pm | report spam | close Reply |
hmmm

anyone try the install? maybe backup this baby first...

infiniverse
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Oct 2002

0

03/15, 05:12pm | report spam | close Reply |
Random Freezes

Does anyone know if this helps with the random freezes that many people have experienced with 10.3.2? (various reasons blamed, little seems to help)

Buran
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: May 2000

0

03/15, 05:14pm | report spam | close Reply |
To install or not?

In the past, how long has it generally taken for the combo updater to become available? I've got some odd problems that I want to try to resolve with the Combo version but can't find it on Apple's download site. In addition, if I install the 10.3.3 update that's on the site right now, will that prevent the installation of the Combo update later? (I think so, but want to be sure.)

Bonedaddy
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Mar 2004

0

03/15, 05:14pm | report spam | close Reply |
You know what this means

New Power macs on their way

jpollard
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Feb 2000

0

03/15, 05:18pm | report spam | close Reply |
Wow

Looks like there's tons of fixes in this update. Who wants to guinea pig it for us?

SavMan
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: May 2003

0

03/15, 05:21pm | report spam | close Reply |
I'll do it

I'm on Spring Break from the U anyways, I can afford to lose productivity if anything happens.

snapjack
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jan 2002

0

03/15, 05:25pm | report spam | close Reply |
Did it

I always do it, whenever I can...
Working great, had to reset monitor resolution is the only thing so far.

bkb
Dedicated MacNNer

Joined: Sep 2003

0

03/15, 05:35pm | report spam | close Reply |
Great

Snappier.

scotty321
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Nov 1999

0

03/15, 05:46pm | report spam | close Reply |
freezes?

If you're having random freezes in 10.3.2, you need to do an ARCHIVE & INSTALL of 10.3 -- but do NOT bring over the user preferences & network settings. (This is the Mac OS 9 equivalent of doing a clean install.) 95% of the people I talk to who are having problems in 10.3 never did an archive & install WITHOUT carrying over the user preferences & network settings.

mowogg
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Aug 2002

0

03/15, 05:50pm | report spam | close Reply |
No Video Updates?

It looks like they pulled the ATI & Nvidia updates from this update. I was hoping it would fix my LCD "out of range" problems, but now I'm not so sure. Has anyone else had the problem where an LCD monitor is listed as a CRT in the System Profiler? The other symptom is the inability for some full-screen games to change to a usable resolution giving an "out of range" message and requireing a force-quit to go back. I'm at work right now and can't run the upgrade on my home machine until tonight. Any input would be welcome.

TIA

mkbhatia
Administrator

Joined: Dec 1998

0

03/15, 05:53pm | report spam | close Reply |
Setup Assistant?

After installing, Mac OS X 10.3.3 launched the setup assistant (?) asking me to register the computer and also seems like my Keychain was reset--all new access require a new confirmation dialog. Are other people seeing these (relatively minor) glitches?

Mac_Realist
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Mar 2004

0

03/15, 06:06pm | report spam | close Reply |
Updated!

Ran update on eMac DVD-R
going well sofar -
no problem.

BrettOZ
Dedicated MacNNer

Joined: Mar 2003

0

03/15, 06:10pm | report spam | close Reply |
Safari

I am curious to know what updates have been made to Safari ? anyone know - is it a new version?

arekkusu
Mac Enthusiast

Joined: Jul 2002

0

03/15, 06:15pm | report spam | close Reply |
video drivers

The video drivers definitely _are_ updated. Not sure about nvidia fixes but the Radeon 9600/9700/9800 now support point and line antialiasing and line/polygon stipple which were all missing before.

testudo
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Aug 2001

0

03/15, 06:18pm | report spam | close Reply |
Keychain

and also seems like my Keychain was reset--all new access require a new confirmation dialog. Are other people seeing these (relatively minor) glitches?

This happens a lot, usually whenever there's a new security update or the like.

testudo
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Aug 2001

0

03/15, 06:22pm | report spam | close Reply |
Hey!

This just blows! How come apple hasn't come out with a 10.3.3 updater for us 10.2.8 users? I can't believe that just because we won't update to Panther they won't give us these bug fixes and extra features.

And what's the deal with this requiring a Mac? What do you mean I can't install it on my Dell box. This really blows, forcing users to buy a whole new computer system just to get this update.

And when is Apple going to release a version of 10.3.3 that will work with my iPod??? I mean, really, I don't want to be hauling around my iBook everywhere, but I need my files, Office, email, etc. Once the iPod can run OS X at 1024x768 (minimum) in full color on its 2 inch screen, then they'll have a killer player and OS. But until then, I'm going to have to stick to my copy of Windows 3.1. As my Mom used to say, "You can't do better than the Program Manager!"

Brian D Marsh
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Dec 2001

0

03/15, 06:50pm | report spam | close Reply |
Combo updater

The combo updater can be installed even over itself, so if you do the small update you can later run the Combo Updater on the same install (so far in 10.3.x there has only been the 10.3.1 small updater, then 10.3.2 which was always a combo updater)

It remains to be seen if 10.3.3 is just a small update, or if it's already a Combo.

goatman
Junior Member

Joined: May 2000

0

03/15, 06:57pm | report spam | close Reply |
boot time

After the previous update, my boot time jumped a minute and a half. After installing 10.3.3, the speed is back. Had been 3:20, it's now 2:20. G4 dual 1gig.

wings_rfs
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Dec 2002

0

03/15, 06:59pm | report spam | close Reply |
Longer Boot Time 10.3.3

Just installed 10.3.3. Boot time (reboot) went from 1:05 to 1:25. Seems to pause after displaying the first window frame, then seconds later fills in the contents of the window. Never did that before. Also has an additional pause just prior to displaying the dock. Hope this isn't a hint of things to come. Let you know more later. (1.4G DP G4, FW800)

ATPTourFan
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Apr 2003

0

03/15, 07:08pm | report spam | close Reply |
Startup Is Faster

My PowerBook 667 starts up faster now. I'm now back to the really fast speed I got right after I clean installed Panther for the first time.

giantmike
Mac Enthusiast

Joined: May 1999

0

03/15, 07:30pm | report spam | close Reply |
Video Drivers

Use System Profiler to take a look at the revision dates on the extensions installed. You will see that the video drivers have been updated (with a revision date of March 7, 2004 (i.e. just over a week ago) for both the ATI and nVidia cards.

Imageman
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jan 2004

0

03/15, 07:46pm | report spam | close Reply |
Safari is Faster

Well I installed 10.3.3 on my g3, that has a gig of ram, It seems a little faster, Safari loads pages faster now. So far so good. I am installing the updates on my imacs as well. i will let you know how that goes.

Makosuke
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Aug 2001

0

03/15, 07:47pm | report spam | close Reply |
Re: Boot Time

The slow boot time in 10.3.2 was a known issue because Apple changed something that prevented caching parts of the process. There was a bit of a hack you could to to bring speeds back up, but since 10.3.3 fixes that among many, many other things, there's not much need for it now.

As for this, I've installed it on my work DPG4 1.0, and so far very good: Snappy reboots (the first one will be slow, by the way), SMB browsing seems to work much better, and mounted volumes FINALLY appear both on the desktop and in the finder sidebar, regardless of how you mount them! Yay!

The release notes also claim that it now supports UPSes natively--I'm itching to try that on my home computer, but I'm holding out for a combo updater and a day or two of reports on the web before I mess with my precious G5.

Imageman
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jan 2004

0

03/15, 08:01pm | report spam | close Reply |
Works well on an imac

Works faster on my imac, which has 160megs of ram. Faster browseing and startup time.

JasonQG
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Aug 2003

0

03/15, 08:05pm | report spam | close Reply |
Camino

Gah, the bug that messes up Camino is still there. Supposedly, Apple has had this fixed internally for months. Why won't they release it?! And people complained about MS bundling IE with Windows? At least Microsoft never intentionally broke competing browsers.

Chopper3
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Oct 1999

0

03/15, 08:06pm | report spam | close Reply |
Radeon drivers

I don't know what they changed but, subjectively, Halo (1.0.4.1) seems to run at the same speed with pixel shaders as it used to with just vertex shaders. This is on a dual g5 2.0 with 4Gb and a 9800.

Sam Venning
Registered User

Joined: Apr 2000

0

03/15, 08:07pm | report spam | close Reply |
Mail permission bug!

The Mail permission "bug" STILL hasn't been fixed!!!!! This is soooo irritating! All attachments *dragged* out of Mail are read-only!?!?!?! Why!?!?!?

S S
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jan 2003

0

03/15, 08:29pm | report spam | close Reply |
Bluetooth Mouse

My Apple bluetooth mouse seems more precise and less sluggish. Apple has also updated the battery meter in the Bluetooth section of the mouse & keyboard pane. It shows 5 bars instead of a continuous readout.

Nostromo
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Oct 2001

0

03/15, 08:38pm | report spam | close Reply |
Breaking browsers?

"At least Microsoft never intentionally broke competing browsers."

Have you ever used Windows? No, 10 minutes browsing with your roommates XP Dell doesn't count.

Installing any MS "update" is like playing Russian roulette. Every time one of our users installs one, *something* stops working. Usually, it's a competitor's product. Coincidence? Hmmmmmm.

Macaholic
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Mar 2002

0

03/15, 08:54pm | report spam | close Reply |
DVD Player Fixed!

The optical outputs on the DVD player now pass Dolby Digital on the G5 AND allows you to pause the DVD without messing up playback and sound. Thanks Apple.

HouseSold
Senior User

Joined: Oct 2000

0

03/15, 09:00pm | report spam | close Reply |
Powerbook G4 1.33 Fan run

1.33 Powerbook with 1 gig ram

Fan now cycles needlessly with nothing running and next to cold to the touch.

Don't like this at all. Previously only rarely, if ever, heard the fan even in Photoshop, etc.

iTunes now clocks 30-33 frames in Visualizer, still jerky however.

Activity monitor shows nothing running above 2%.

Fan only shuts off with everything quit.

Back to 10.3.2 here

nickgold2012
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jul 2002

0

03/15, 09:21pm | report spam | close Reply |
working for me here

2nd startup after installing went nice and fast!

---
thewired.blogs.com/teotwawki
the techno-mediated cultural conspiracy

aafuss
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Apr 2002

0

03/15, 09:24pm | report spam | close Reply |
Standalone installer size

I just went to the Apple website-and the standalone installer for the v 10.3.3 update is 67MB, for Mac OS X Server it is 69MB. There does not appear to be a downloable combo installer.

legacyb4
Mac Elite

Joined: May 2001

0

03/15, 09:38pm | report spam | close Reply |
G4 Sawtooth and GeForce?

Can anyone confirm if the above was fixed? Prior problems, of course, being that RAM over 256MB would cause problems with screen draws.

JasonQG
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Aug 2003

0

03/15, 09:50pm | report spam | close Reply |
RE: Breaking browsers?

"Have you ever used Windows? No, 10 minutes browsing with your roommates XP Dell doesn't count.

Installing any MS 'update' is like playing Russian roulette. Every time one of our users installs one, *something* stops working. Usually, it's a competitor's product. Coincidence? Hmmmmmm."

Actually, I've been using Windows a lot longer than Mac. My main machine is running Windows XP (and I'm typing this now on my XP machine). I haven't had any problems with Windows Update, but that's not really the point of this conversation. Even if MS intentionally broke competing products, that doesn't make it okay for Apple to do it. This isn't about OS wars. This is about doing what's right.

FIX IT, APPLE!

ralphh
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Apr 2003

0

03/15, 10:03pm | report spam | close Reply |
Re: Breaking Browsers...

"Installing any MS "update" is like playing Russian roulette. Every time one of our users installs one, *something* stops working. Usually, it's a competitor's product. Coincidence? Hmmmmmm."

Dude, honestly I hate MS as much as anybody, but most of these breakages are because they test their updates with 3rd-party software, not deliberate sabotage.

Not that they haven't deliberately sabotaged 3rd-party software in the past (DR. DOS or Lotus 1-2-3, anyone?), but in the wake of the antitrust ruling I doubt anyone at MS would risk this kind of thing.

LouZer
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Nov 2000

0

03/15, 10:37pm | report spam | close Reply |
Re:camino

Gah, the bug that messes up Camino is still there. Supposedly, Apple has had this fixed internally for months. Why won't they release it?! And people complained about MS bundling IE with Windows? At least Microsoft never intentionally broke competing browsers.

Well, first, you should be a little more clear about the 'bug' that messes up camino. I've never heard of this bug. Second, why are you still running camino. I thought Firefox was the latest version of this c***. Third, I love that 'supposedly'. Where do you here this 'supposedly' from. The wonderful 'unnamed sources'. Some real substantiated proof that its been fixed but being held back is more impressive than a 'supposedly'. Oh, and by the way, they may have 'fixed' it, but did it ever occur to you that the problem is that its not broken, but rather Camino that is broken, and only works correctly if Apple breaks some of their own code. (This has been an issue with most OSes, where programmers code around anomalies, which then causes the OS maker to either keep the bug - a bad choice - or break the apps that count on the bug - another bad choice. Me, I'd like to see proof of this so-called intentional breakage).

JasonQG
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Aug 2003

0

03/15, 10:59pm | report spam | close Reply |
Re:camino

http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=224213

If you read the comments there, you'll see that it's been confirmed that it's an Apple bug and that it's Apple themselves who said they fixed it.

I'd use Firefox, but Firefox for OS X isn't up to par yet. It's been in development for Windows/*NIX for much longer. I'd use Safari, but there are a few features from the Mozilla world I can't live without.

JasonQG
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Aug 2003

0

03/16, 02:28am | report spam | close Reply |
Re:camino

Ooh, I just found this, which adds most of the missing features to Safari. Hello bookmark keywords and type-ahead find! I'd still like Apple to do the right thing, but this could be a good temporary solution.

http://haoli.dnsalias.com/Saft/

nohill
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Mar 2002

0

03/16, 04:02am | report spam | close Reply |
Updater seems to be Combo

System requirements: "Mac OS X 10.3 or later".

Macman069
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Apr 2003

0

03/16, 06:27am | report spam | close Reply |
POS

the peice of s*** known as teh finder got worse. there is a bit of laggyness to things like right clicking multiple files, selecting multiple items, and trying to delete multiple items. God help you if you wnat to move multiple items to the trash and ONE SINGLE FILE is locked, it will stop dead in its trax and tell you you cant do it cuz its locked. Pretty S***** problem STILL not fixed.

dave a
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jan 2002

0

03/16, 08:54am | report spam | close Reply |
Great update - question

Great update! Solved most of the myriad of problems faced by those in mixed network environments (that is, the Mac plays much better with Windows networks now).

But one question - has anyone gotten the UPS thing to work? (I wonder if I accidentally unplugged my UPS' USB port.)

testudo
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Aug 2001

0

03/16, 09:52am | report spam | close Reply |
Re: camino

If you read the comments there, you'll see that it's been confirmed that it's an Apple bug and that it's Apple themselves who said they fixed it.

Well, here's an idea, don't resize the window! (But this is coming from someone who doesn't even know what an iFrame is, or why I should care about it).

BTW, I read the listing. It was confirmed to be a cocoa bug by one poster (not that I'm smart enough to look at his code sample, but I doubt someone would be stupid enough to put up code that showed a bug unless it actually showed it - without some of that famous MS "missing some steps" or "hacking the code" they did in the antitrust trial).

But the only mention of it being fixed was through another 'reliable' source, with the line "this bug has been reported to apple and, according to them, fixed."

"Objection, your honor! Hear-say!". "Sustained".

testudo
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Aug 2001

0

03/16, 09:55am | report spam | close Reply |
Boot times

Its hard to judge reboot times on the first reboot, since the system is obviously doing something that's long/drawn out during that stage. The second reboot was definitely faster than the first (wish I could remember why I rebooted the second time, probably just to see if it was faster).

That being said, my reaction would be "who cares?". I close my iBooks lid when I'm done with it, open it up when I need it, and its available instantly (which is oh so nice). The only time it reboots is when I install these freakin' updates.

My desktop goes to sleep when I'm done with it as well. Why are you all shutting down and rebooting all the time?

giantmike
Mac Enthusiast

Joined: May 1999

0

03/16, 10:08am | report spam | close Reply |
UPS Support

"But one question - has anyone gotten the UPS thing to work? (I wonder if I accidentally unplugged my UPS' USB port.)"

Works great for me (APC 725 on Dual G5). I had to test it shortly after installing 10.3.3 (due to a very timely power outage), and it worked great. Put the display to sleep, then the computer, and finally shut the computer down. Very handy.

methodshop
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Mar 2004

0

03/16, 10:43am | report spam | close Reply |
DONT INSTALL ON SERVER!!!

we installed the 10.3.3 update on a g4 with Panther server. the install went fine and we restsrted. but ALL of our server settings got erased (users, web server, NetBoot, etc). You think Apple would have tested this update first. Now I have to rebuild the stupid server again. Install the OSX 10.3.3 Server update at your own risk!!!!!!

Frogmella
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Sep 2001

0

03/16, 11:14am | report spam | close Reply |
Re: G4 Sawtooth and GeFor

"Can anyone confirm if the above was fixed? Prior problems, of course, being that RAM over 256MB would cause problems with screen draws."

This was fixed with 10.3.2 (or even 10.3.1)!

z10n
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Oct 2003

0

03/16, 11:19am | report spam | close Reply |
whoop dee

Another thing to add to the infamously stupid left bar.

Apple, here's a tip: the Finder is NOT iTunes.

rcfuzz
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Feb 2002

0

03/16, 12:47pm | report spam | close Reply |
DVD+R

Has anyone confirmed that the SuperDrive will now play DVD+R discs. I have an original SD in a G4 DP 800 and it still won't recognize DVD+R discs I burned on my standalone DVD recorder (LiteOn).

z10n
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Oct 2003

0

03/16, 03:52pm | report spam | close Reply |
DVD+R

A better question is: what "+" drives does the new DVD player support? Only the Superdrive?

JasonQG
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Aug 2003

0

03/16, 03:58pm | report spam | close Reply |
Re: camino

Well, here's an idea, don't resize the window! (But this is coming from someone who doesn't even know what an iFrame is, or why I should care about it).

BTW, I read the listing. It was confirmed to be a cocoa bug by one poster (not that I'm smart enough to look at his code sample, but I doubt someone would be stupid enough to put up code that showed a bug unless it actually showed it - without some of that famous MS "missing some steps" or "hacking the code" they did in the antitrust trial).

But the only mention of it being fixed was through another 'reliable' source, with the line "this bug has been reported to apple and, according to them, fixed."

"Objection, your honor! Hear-say!". "Sustained".

I don't know why people insist on defending Apple when they're wrong, but here we go.

The problem is actually worse than what the bug report states. A bug report isn't really the place for people to be bitching, but check the mozillazine forums for more symptoms. The worst thing is sometimes large sections of a page will be white or covered by a floating Google ad as you scroll. It's quite annoying.

Mike Pinkerton (the guy who posted the testcase and reported the bug being fixed by Apple) is the lead developer for Camino. He knows what he's talking about. David Hyatt also made a comment there. He was the person who started the Camino/Chimera project, as well as the Phoenix/Firebird/Firefox project, but you may know him better as one of the main developers of Safari. If a prominent Apple employee admits the problem, then I believe him. You're welcome to make up your own mind.

Macman069
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Apr 2003

0

03/16, 05:57pm | report spam | close Reply |
leave it up to them

leave it to these f****** dumb a** isync creators to COMPLETELY del;ete ALL contacts on an ipod insteda of sharing the cpontacts with everything else. why is it that isync would erase my ipod contacts instead of sending them to everything else. complete bullshit. Apple's quality is starting to really go down the drain and its not a good thing at all. f*** apple and their fucked up priorities.

Me�vv
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: May 2001

0

03/17, 12:53am | report spam | close Reply |
Boiling Powerbook G4

After updating to 10.3.3 my rev b 12" PB G4 went loopers. It got bioling hot and the fan has been on all day. I just looked at the Activity monitor and there was a process called Null that used up all CPU and >1 GB of virtual memory. I force quit the process. Everything worked fine so it probably was not that important. Total cpu usage went down to 10-20% with Safari, Entourage, Mail (yes, both), iChat running and Airport on. Will see if it gets less hot now.

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