Any fix to Lion 10.7.5 update problems?

I'd suggest getting the 10.7.5 combo updater from here: http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1582 and running that. Combo updaters can fix problems the incremental updaters don't.

rwkpcv wrote:

I appreciate the info/link. I downloaded the combo file but when I tried to open it I got a message that it couldn't install it on my hard drive. There was a picture of the mac hard drive with a yellow exclamation mark on it. Something about the volume didn't support it?...

With all the different things on Apple's plate, I'm not surprised problems slip through. Indeed, the first release of the 10.7.5 update had its own problems and Apple released what I call a version 1.1 of the update to fix it but that was back in October. When the correct OS 10.7.5 is installed it should be build 11G63. You can see what yours is by going to About this Mac in the Apple menu and then clicking More Info. It'll be on the last line, which shows Software.

There may be a problem with the HD itself. Try running Disk Utility, select the Startup Disk (probably Macintosh HD but you may have renamed it) and click Verify Disk. We'll see what it says.

The next step would probably be to look into this: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4718

rwkpcv wrote:

It says the the build is 11G63B.

Not sure how to get to the disk utility feature.

In your Applications folder is a Utilities Folder. Disk Utility is in there. When you start it, you'll see its icon appear temporarily in the Dock (it'll disappear when you quit Disk Utility). You can keep it there permanently to make it easy to get to by right clicking on its icon in the Dock, choosing options and then Keep in Dock. Anyway, start Disk Utility, select your boot disk and click Verify Disk. We'll see what it says.

rwkpcv wrote:

Figured out how to verify the hard drive. It says the volume is okay.

Do you think I should reinstall Lion per the instructions in the knowledge article you sent a link for? I don't want to really mess things up. Assuming that Apple will come up with something to patch/fix this.

Unless you have a complete backup of your HD, I wouldn't suggest going through the reinstallation process because the time we had to do that following Apple's instructions for my wife's MacBook Pro, the HD was wiped clean. She didn't have anything she couldn't recreate so we did it but the actual solution turned out to be something else. The advantage of the combo updater is that it reinstall everything from 10.7.1 on, not just the most recent fixes.

Two other things you can try. First, try rebooting and hold down the shift key when the Mac bongs. You'll be starting in Safe Mode with only what's necessary to boot being allowed to load. Then see if the combo updater will run. Also, if you have any other devices, like an external HD, plugged in, unplug them before running the update. Second, if you run Software Update again, do you see a "Supplemental Update" listed? There was a patch for a 10.7.5 issue released that way, though I don't think it was the problem you're having and the fix should have been rolled into the combo updater you downloaded. Apple will sometimes change a file you'd download from a web page like the link for the combo updater without changing the posting date. Same thing with the full install you'd purchase from the App Store. That is, when Lion was released, the installer would give you 10.7.0. If you bought it now, it'd install 10.7.5.

rwkpcv wrote:

...Arrrrgh.

I've been doing this since 1984 and been there done that myself.

Do you have a bootable clone? In other words, do you have an external drive onto which you can clone your entire hard disk and from which you can boot? You should have both Firewire and USB connections and external drives should be able to boot when connected to either of them. You can clone your internal drive by connecting and formatting the external with Disk Utility (see the second part of this link for how to format http://support.apple.com/kb/PH4218); once formatted, you can clone your internal to it by selecting your internal in Disk Utility, clicking Restore, which shows the source as your internal, and then dragging your external (which should also be appearing in Disk Utility) to the Destination box. Restoring will take a while.

Carbon Copy Cloner is another, more flexible cloning tool (http://www.bombich.com/).

rwkpcv wrote:

Found my Seagate external drives. 500gb each. Apparently they only work with Windows according to the pdf file. Can't imagine why a hard drive isn't just a hard drive. Oh well, guess I have to go look for one.

Seagate makes external drives for both Windows and the Mac but the main difference is in the formatting. There are instructions on Seagate's website about formatting the PC drives to work with a Mac and it's essentially the same process. I can't say for sure if formatting them that way will allow them to boot a Mac OS installation. I've been through 3 of Seagate's externals and found that even when formatted for the Mac, there is a hidden MBR (master boot record) which seems to interface with the external's hardware. I couldn't test them for booting because they were connected via USB 3.0 to a PCIe card in a Mac Pro which doesn't support booting.

Anyway, assuming each Seagate drive is big enough to handle the entire contents of your internal drive, you can clone it for backup and then try to boot from it. If you have to completely reinstall the OS on your internal, you'll be able to use Migration Assistant to restore everything from the clone you've made. But before you do, you should try running from the clone to see if the problems you're having are still present. If not, the issue might be with your internal HD. You should also try running the combo updater from the clone (if you can boot from it) with the internal as the target to see if installation will be allowed.

Finally, if Safari is the only problem, you might consider simply using a different browser. Firefox is stable, and with a remarkable range of extensions, very flexible. Or, take a look at this forum thread: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4148675?start=15&tstart=0. In the middle of page 2 is a link (http://swcdn.apple.com/content/downloads/37/23/041-5058/lr5tynbldi18zcrqo8a8uq8 8rnjushqliu/Safari6Lion.pkg) to what looks like an installation just of Safari 6. I have no experience with it but it seems to have solved the issue for many posters, aka use at your own risk. The big problem seems to be that you need a browser to get it and your browser isn't working, but even a temporary installation of something like Firefox (http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/fx/#desktop) can get it for you. To be safe, you might want to try this after you make your clone.

rwkpcv wrote:

...Couple of things to ask:

1. Will Time Machine back up everything on my hard drive including email, docs, photos, itunes, etc.?

2. Will it create a bootable copy on the external hard drive and how do I boot from it to test?

3. How do I delete Safari?

Remaining issue:

1. Unable to drag and drop and files to any location. Can't even move a desktop icon to a different location.

Time Machine should back up everything on the HD for future restoration. While Setup Assistant (pops up with a new install) or Migration Assitant can transfer all your stuff from a Time Machine backup, the backup itself is not bootable. You would need to create an actual clone with CCC or Disk Utility's restore. Since you have a couple of Seagate externals, use the second one for a clone, sort of belt and suspenders.

After my last post last night, I tried that Safari install package myself on a Lion Virtual Machine. I found that I couldn't first delete Safari because the OS insisted it was part of the OS installation (which it is). There are ways to delete it using Terminal but that's tricky and dangerous enough if done wrong that one of the experts on the forum (there are quite a few) would have to chime in on that.

But the fact that something as basic as drag and drop isn't working either suggests that reinstalling the OS from scratch might indeed be necessary to fix this. But especially because that involves wiping your internal drive clean, you can never have too many backups!