HELP - Mac won't reboot after latest Apple patches!

My only suggestion is to boot into the secondary HD, transfer any documents you want to save from the original HD, erase the original HD, and clone the secondary HD onto the original using something like Carbon Copy Cloner, SuperDuper!, etc. Once you've restored it to a working condition, then manually apply the updates. There's nothing in the updates that singles out MD G4s for crashes.

The latest security patch from Apple seems to cause one of a number of really nasty problems for a small minority of users. I've posted elsewhere on this forum about my particular problem.

As for your grey screen issue - recent OS patches from Apple seem to cause the Spotlight database to be fully rebuilt. I've seen speculation that Apple have tweaked the spotlight algorithm and caching mechansim. which would explain the need for a full rebuild of the spotlight database(s).

In any case, on older Macs with huge hard disks, the first reboot after an OS patch does seem to take an incredibly long time. I'd suggest letting it sit at the grey screen with Apple logo for at least half an hour and seeing if it will eventually progress. Of course, you have probably tried that by now!

Best of luck,
--
Michael

Hi, it maybe "too late" to ask now, but did you Repair Disk Permission before doing the updates, and after the (auto) restart, did you do another Repair Permission and then restart again?? And in this whole process of updating, especially Apple OS, Security Updates and Apps Updates, did you unplug all the external devices??

I know on the net some "schools" say there is no need to do this, and that you can run apps in the background and still do the Software Updates; I beg to differ, then you'll see lots of posts here asking for help, and at the same time cursing and swearing at Apple.

I just did my latest updates, and my iMac is running just fine.

So pardon me, and I apologise for nagging, but don't blame Apple or someone else when your mac acts up because you did not even prepare the basic procedures. Ask yourself this very simple question, if you are ill and taking medication, would you take it down with alcoholic drink?? Which may worsen your body situation?? Maybe it's not a very good example.

fxstein, sorry there, not here to lecture you or "tell you so", but am here to help, but I've just seen too many posts complaining of updates went wrong only to find out they did not do the necessary preparations.

If you can't boot from your problematic primary drive, try booting from your secondary, thank gosh you got one, and see if you can Repair Permission and also Repair Disk of the Primary Drive. Another way is to see if you can boot up from your OS disc and do the same, see if you can revive or repair your drive.

If still cannot, see if you can Safe Boot, (press Shift key) while booting, if you can, most likely some StartupItems may have been corrupted or something, the only thing you can do now is to backup your important data and then do an Archive and Install option.

Take care and Cheers

Welcome to Apple's Users Help Users Forums.
Hi howwow,

If still cannot, see if you can Safe Boot, (press
Shift key) while booting, if you can, most likely
some StartupItems may have been corrupted or
something, the only thing you can do now is to backup
your important data and then do an Archive and
Install option.

Take care and Cheers

I am pretty sure there is no need yet to resort to A and I. Just disable, drag to desk top, startup items. Start up normally and hopefully find joy. Adobe Version Cue seems to be a major culprit.

Do a Search on "startup -003"

Oliver -

I am pasting the following from MacFixIt, in case you did not check the Startup items in System/Library/StartupItems in addition to the root level Library:

You should also check the /System/Library/StartupItems directory for potential problem-causing files (this is a different StartupItems folder, located in the /System directory at the root level of your startup drive).

In particular, some users report that removing the "RemoteDesktopAgent" folder from System/Library/StartupItems resolves some issues.

MacFixIt reader Mark Dixon writes:

"Another fix that worked for me. Removed all startup items under safe mode as discussed. Logged in only to find that keyboard and mouse click ability disabled. After about an hour of trouble shooting found removing the 'RemoteDesktopAgent' folder from the System/Library/StartupItems location fixed the problem." <<<

Bob N.<br>
Mac Mini 1.5 GHz; iBook 900 mHz; iPod 20 GB Mac OS X (10.4.6)

Have you tried resetting the NVRAM? Boot into Open Firmware, if your unit will let you, and type after the prompt

reset-nvram
set-defaults
reset-all

and hit return.

If you can't get that far, try resetting the PRAM by holding command-option-P-R at startup and waiting for three successive startup chimes. This may work for you.

I have not updated my MBP because of all the problems of others. What I am wondering though, is whether Apple admits that there is something wrong and whether they're going to release an updated version of the update. Seems to me, this isn't an isolated case, and that many are experiencing problems. But I haven't heard of any official word on this. Unlike most of the "bad" updates before, these haven't been silently pulled off the server and replaced. I hope this isn't a sign of what's to come.

No way. I just went through this 'fun' exercise 2 weeks ago when an internal HD crashed.

You have a daily backup (I'm assuming it's bootable) so that you can restore your system in case it goes bonkers, but don't want to erase the screwed up installation and reclone it (takes about 30 minutes to reclone 15 GB). So why do you bother with backups? You screamed HELP and then refuse to consider any that is offered. Sorry for troubling you. OUT.