Can't update to OSX 10.6.1

Open Disk Utility & select the hard drive from the list (not the name of the volume indented under it). At the bottom of the window, you will see a line of info that tells you the *Partition Map Scheme* of the drive. It should be "GUID Partition Table." Is it?

In Disk Utility select the volume & click the *Verify Disk* button. If it reports any problems, follow the instructions at the top of the window to restart from your installer disc & run the *Repair Disk* step.

How much free space is on the drive?

Be sure and check out what the [upgrade is supposed to do|http://support.apple.com/kb/DL930?viewlocale=en_US]. If it isn't supposed to solve a significant problem for you, then I wouldn't update until the next combo updater comes out. The update has hurt some more much more than if helped.

Quite a few are having/have had a problem where they can't install anything after installing Sno. Setting up a new admin user has solved the problem for some of these.

donv (The Ghost) wrote:
Setting up a new admin user has solved the problem for some of these.

Which almost always means something in their normal user account is the culprit, & not Snow Leopard itself. The usual suspects are incompatible login items or bad preference files.

Out of curiosity, how did you upgrade to Snow Leopard? Did you buy the Box Set?

~Lyssa

Updating an OS that has existing problems rarely fixes those problems. In fact, often that just makes things worse. (Basically, this is because the existing OS itself is doing the update, so if that OS instance has problems it is not uncommon for those problems to interfere with the process.)

There are essentially an infinite number of possible login items, so it is impossible to list the incompatible ones. Typically, any that come from Apple are safe. It is usually easier to go to System Preferences > Accounts > Login Items pane & list any that seem suspicious here in a post, leaving out any that are obviously from Apple (like iTunesHelper). Some other user most likely can tell you if they are safe or not.

However, since login items are just one of many things in a user folder that can cause this kind of problem, it is best to start by creating a temporary new user account, logging out of your normal one & into that, & seeing if the problems go away. If not, you know the problem is systemic & not localized to one user.

You could always try the suggestion in my post above--about setting up a new admin account and doing your installs from there.

You are welcome. Hope it helps. There is a lot to be said for "if it ain't broken, then don't fix it."

Hi Memoire;

Simply restore the clone you made before the upgrade.

Allan