CUI CUI CUI error 10.7.3 all apps crashes

Every app I start crashes. The "xxx quit unexpectedly" dialog opens and the buttons and the scrollbar don't have their usual graphics but a "CUI CUI CUI ????" background graphic. The Text of the button is printed over it.

Ditto. Hosed my Macbook Pro i5 2010 15".

running off my backup drive to try and reinstall the update from download instead of through software update.

Total Garbage. I have a lot of photos to run through for Sports this evening. Total Crap.

Where is Serlet when you need him...

APPLE, this is a serious problem, fix this ASAP!!!

I just updated my MacBook Air, latest edition, to 10.7.3 and immediately, none of my apps work after installing. The only apps I found working is iCal so far and the update checking process seems fine.

I can't use safari, finder or even system properties. I dont want to restore my system. Who's going to pay for my time lost? So I expect a quick emergency update to fix this.

*****

<Edited by Host>

Just updated half a dozen MBP's ranging in age from 2007 to 2010. Used the combo udate on 3 and incremental update on the other 3. Also updated a server OS. No problems to report at all.

Now have to go update 40 more users in the bulding. Feeling brave and confident that all will be fine. If not, all my users are runnig CrashPlan, which btw is godsent.

The same problem here on Mac Pro (2,1). The same update went fine on my Mac mini. Now I am restoring from Time Machine and I'll try with the Combo Updater.

I am sorry for the users without backup, Apple should check updates like this with more care. This is the first time since 10.0 beta that I have problem with an update.

How this didnt get picked up by Devs in the latest build is strange. I'm running desktop iMAC, not macbook and had the same problems.

Head in the sand Apple will blame everyone's hardware (if they make any comment at all)

Not impressed with the time wasted to restore and then install the combo update.

Updated a 2011 iMac through software update and that went fine. A 2011 Mac mini through software update bit it big time with CUI errors. All apps crashed upon launch. Had to do a Time Machine restore. The Mac Mini did report that it's first attempt to download the update failed. That may have had something to do with it. Still, as people have already said, very un-Apple like. This is the first software update that has failed me so spectacularly using OS X in lord knows how long.

Using the combo update on all of my other macs.

Same problem here. Called apple support and they were a bit frantic and not

Helpful. Thank god for time machine. At least you guys here have some famiarity with techy stuff and the sense yo seek each other out and share you thoughts and possible fixes. Just imagine the average user getting CUI CUI CUI and not being able to use their computer....apple support will be working late tonight

I have tried downloading the combo update twice, once on the affected Mac, and the second time on my MBP that's still on 10.7.2. Both times, the DMG will not open because of a checksum error. Anyone else get this issue? Maybe we're getting bad downloads from Apple.

Indeed. If Apple is smart, they will pull this update at least temporarily and figure out what's going on to cause these problems. For those who don't backup regularly, good luck!

The best bet - download the combo update. But those brave souls who update through Software Update, if you get an error saying the first attempt at downloading didn't work, DO NOT proceed. Cancel and then download the Combo. Trust us poor souls who went ahead and spent 2 hours restoring!

Glad I am not alone. I have a 2 month old 15" Macbook Pro. Used software updater as usual and after reboot nothing works. Running now in Recovery mode and downloading the combo update. I hope that I will be able to install that without doing a TM restore first.

This certainly wasn't an option for me. Nothing would run. Even the finder would crash if I so much as opened a window. Software Update crashed immediately. So merely "rerunning the update" was not a solution.

Hopefully Apple will come up with a solution for those affected.

This link referred to above no longer available!!!!!

Sorry link above is available now,,,,,it was one further back that was not,,,,,,

Can someone give a Mickey Mouse guide to restoring from Time Machine.....just in case.

Ok, I'm back in business again too.

It seems to me that the Software Update process should be avoided at all costs - only run the 10.7.3 update via the Combo download. You can get there by clicking on the Support link from the Apple home page and then clicking Downloads - go for the 'client combo' download.

To fix my old white plastic iMac, I booted from a Lion USB stick I made when initially upgrading to Lion (insert stick and switch iMac on holding down the option key). Once booted from the stick, I connected to my Time Capsule and kicked off a Time Machine restore (just following the menus/wizards).

Meanwhile, I downloaded the Client Combo update and popped it on another USB stick which, once the restore was completed and the iMac rebooted, I updated from (double click the Combo .dmg file and then double click the .pkg that shows up - follow the wizards again).

I'll update the other iMac here at work via the combo update, ditto for my Hackintosh at home.

Same issue here with early 2011 MBP. I'm honestly at a loss for words I'm so frustrated by this (I just suffered through a FileVault decryption error that resulted in a TimeMachine restore and two weeks' lost work.)

Rather than doing another 9 hour TimeMachine restore, I've installed 10.6.8 onto a spare HDD connecting via Firewire, and am downloading the Combo Update on this backup drive. Hopefully I can target the botched 10.7.3 disk with the combo update.

P.S. -- Why, oh, why, Apple, don't you package "wget" and "open" commandline tools on the terminal that is packaged on the TimeMachine backup drive? I could easily have fixed this problem without doing a brand new system install that way.