Are there known issues in 10.8.5

Same here. Updated "vintage" Mac Pro and "vintage" MacBook Pro to 10.8.5 - the latter all but died. Freezes randomly, sometimes at password time, other times even after an hour, but freezes all the same. Tried everything (clean OS (re)install, then installing one app at the time, restarting, seing what happens, etc.), finally gave up, and since when downloading via App Store, the @%$# 10.8.5 overwrote my 10.8.4 full installer (even though it was "hidden" on an external drive !!!), I'm right this very minute installing 10.8.3, to be followed by 10.8.4 update.

Not happy, Apple !!!

Wow!! I had no idea this was possible, but - I started my MacBook off an USB drive with 10.8.3 installer on it, proceeded to install expecting it'll format the drive and perform clean install, but instead - it installed 10.8.3 onto my 10.8.5 system !!

Wish I knew that, it would save me from now having to re-install and re-authorize everything. This way you don't even need to worry about backing up your system when you upgrade it.

lesna wrote:

Wish I knew that, it would save me from now having to re-install and re-authorize everything. This way you don't even need to worry about backing up your system when you upgrade it.

And in the event of an installation failure? what then.

So as I understand it while getting to the crux of the matter, for those of us in the same situation the "solution" is after one experiences his/her Mac fail miserably after updating to OS X 10.8.5, use your back-up installer and revert back to OS X 10.8.4 which we all had working perfectly before bothering with OS X 10.8.5 in the first place ?

I wonder why I am having no problems at all with the .5 update, luck?

One of my Macs is a mid 2009 13" MBP, not so much younger than yours really.

Hi LionelID,

I'm glad to see you managed to get your system back.

This is purely speculative, but if your system is hard freezing yet that is apparently resolved by reinstallation of an earlier software release my first port of call would be to look at the power management kernel extensions, and any changes made in this area.

Hard locks such as those you describe are a common symptom where power management is involved; specifically where the voltage on a component drops as the current draw ramps up, eg when a CPU with power management techniques such as Intel's SpeedStep (used in Macs) or when a GPU requires more power for graphics work. I used to have a sideline business fixing Macs and the iBook G4 models had a deisgn flaw where a hairline crack would develop in the solder to one of the pins ona voltage regulator to the graphics chip causing a disconnection. The system would work fine until something required additional power from the GPU and tried to draw more juice, at which point the system would hard lock.

I'm posting this from a new retina MBP 13" which is based on the newer Core i (5/7) family of Intel processors. These use a significantly different architecture to the previous generation of Intel CPUs which used the Core 2 (Duo/Quad) design, so it is - while I reiterate that is purely speculative - possible that development on power management for 10.8.5 has focussed on current and recent Apple hardware releases and in doing so has introduced an error condition which only presents on previous generation architecture.

To confirm the error definitely lies with the operating system, if you have the means (ie a spare hard drive) you could do a clean install to an external drive over USB or Firewire, upgrade that to 10.8.5 and see if the issues are present then. If so, you know the error lies with a change Apple have made between 10.8.4 and 10.8.5 in which case you could chec the changelog and maybe open a bug ticket; if not, you know your issues are the result of a conflict with a change made in the 10.8.5 update and something else installed on your system, possibly something which makes certain power management related calls in the background.

The good news, muted as it may be, is that it does not appear to be a hardware fault, else the rollback to 10.8.4 would not have proved successful. Additionally I have not checked the changelog for 10.8.5 (I believe it snuck in as a security update - I'd only had this machine a day or so) but I can't see any feature differences between the points releases.

A fair and pointed analysis I must say however I can save anyone some time in relating that I have tried the external drive route both in attempting to boot from an applied update (both the software update as well as the combo) and from a native OS X 10.8.5 full app installation and it makes no difference. Interesting that you point toward the powe rmanagement aspect as in googling this issue, the "Hackintosh" community when confronted with this same freezing issue, has described and found a fix by replacing the AppleIntelCPUPoerManagement.kext in OS X 10.8.5 with the OS X 10.8.4 version. Out if desperation, I used "kext wizzard" and performed the same swap however knowing that a "Hackintosh" and a real Mac are essentailly two differnt animals that fix didn't work either.

I think the obvious fact still being somewhat over looked in what appears to be a "cross the board " issue with all owners of the 15" MacBook Pro from 2007 is that this machine is Mountain Lion capatible and runs OS X 10.8.4 with great effecientcy and precision. And not to be rundundant however a simple search of this specific MacBook Pro model with OS X 10.8.5 included within that search will reveal case after case of folks reporting the exact same occurence when simpy trying to update from OS X 10.8.4 to OS X 10.8.5.

I personally take issue with anyone who in labeling these laptops as vintage, insinuates that somehow because of the laptops age that its ridiculuos to expect OS X 10.8.5 to function properly. To that I say...in a nicer term...BALONEY !!! The bottom line is that ANYONE who owns a Mountian Lion capatable Mac and an OS X 10.8 license should fully expect and deserves to be furnished with a fully functioning/working update of the lastest system version. End of discussion.

10.8.5 Desaster - It took me 6 hours in total and now I'm back to 10.8.4.

I'm an every-day user, not a pro.

Thanks for making it clear but who will care?

"The bottom line is that ANYONE who owns (...) OS X 10.8 license should fully expect and deserves to be furnished with a fully functioning/working update of the lastest system version."

So...

As I am the type that can rarely "let a sleeping dog lie" and as the impression I was getting in contacting Apple directly reagrding this issue was to not expect a solution any time soon...I pressed forward and I believe to have come up with a viable (temporary or otherwise) fix to the OS X 10.8.5 freezing issue. I will preface in what I have to found work with my 2007 MacBook Pro15" 2.2 GHz A1226 by making the statement that if one elects to perform this proceedure they do so at there own risk. Firstly, in analizing what was occurring when updating "normally", in the many steps I had taken to to try and correct the problem, I became fairly confident in assessing that it was a updated driver/kext in OS X 10.8.5 that is causing the freezing issue in my MacBook Pro. I deduced this from variety of circumstances that I had witnessed behavior wise coupled with the fact that my Mac Pro updated to OS X 10.8.5 without any issue whatsoever and possesses every single third party application that my MacBook also has installed. I woke up this morning still puzzled yet determined to try to come up with my own resolution.

I began as I had done before, with my MacBook Pro booted to my perfectly operating OS X 10.8.4 system and an external with the full native OS X 10.8.5 ".app" installation mounted on my desktop. I opened up each System/Library/Extension folder and placed them side by side began comparing the two. After about 15 minutes of tedeously going down the kext list and going into finder and clicking "get info" on each and every kext while checking versions etc., I thought to myself "f" this....there are way to many combinations and variables that could be effected by replacing each of them one by one systematically. Then without making any single changes, I put into practice my "what have I got to loose" mindset, went into the OS X 10.8.4 Extension folder and in Finder used "Select All" selecting EACH AND EVERY kext extension and then OVERWROTE the entire kext Extension Library in OS X 10.8.5 with those from OS X 10.8.4. Repaired permissions, used DiskWarrior 4.4 and cleaned up the directory and low and behold, OS X 10.8.5 has booted successfully for me now on my MacBook Pro at least a dozen times and I have had it running and performing various task with no freezing issues at all.

Conclusion...IT IS A SOFTWARE ISSUE. I have basically done enough of Apples homework where now some engineer should be able to take this proverbial ball and run with it in disecting and comparing the two kext extension folders and replacing only what is necessary and issuing a corrected, official Supplemental Update. I know I won't get one but none the less...your welcome Apple.

It has been approximately 6 hours since applying my fix and everything remains stable, functional, and completely operational.