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amazing · Feb 18, 2008, 04:44 PM

Leopard Graphics Update kills DVD Player on 12" PB

On a 1.33 GHz 12" PB, 1.25 GB RAM (Samsung RAM, same as Apple uses.) Everything else working fine under 10.5.2 with the graphics update, including being able to play DVDs with VLC. However, starting DVD Player leads to immediate SBOD, no kernel panic message, no switching to anything else, can't get to the Force Quit dialog because it's totally frozen with the SBOD.

Tried everything, including reapplying the Combo update, fixing Permissions (useless procedure for the most part, but occasionally fixes something.) Nothing changed. The PB was stable and normal, except if starting up DVD Player. VLC worked fine on the exact same movie.

To verify: Did an archive-and-install of Leopard, DVD Player v 5.0 working fine. Then did Combo update to 10.5.2 (same as first time around) and DVD Player 5.0.1 worked fine. Applied the Leopard Graphics Update, and got the SBOD again, same as above.

Final result: Had to reinstall Leopard archive-and-install once again, followed by the 10.5.2 Combo update, once again. DVD Player 5.0.1 is working fine. Getting very familiar with the Leopard archive-and-install feature.

Applied each update one at a time, with a restart in between. In other words, didn’t apply the Quicktime update along with the Leopard Graphics update—it was definitely only the Graphics Update that triggered the SBOD with DVD Player. Have since applied the Quicktime update and iTunes update, and DVD Player is working just fine.

Will definitely NOT be reapplying the Leopard Graphics Update. Perhaps the Leopard Graphics Update only messes up the 12” PB graphics card, because the optical drive works fine with VLC.

wataru · Feb 18, 2008, 08:07 PM

I have all the updates applied on my 2.2GHz MacBook. I tried launching DVD Player and it immediately kernel panicked. I thought I had the same problem as you, but after rebooting I now find that DVD Player launches successfully. I haven't tried watching a DVD though.

amazing · Feb 18, 2008, 08:27 PM

Yeah, it may be specific to either the 12" or to PPC. I used it for several days quite normally, pretty much deciding to use VLC if I wanted to watch a DVD. Did quite a few restarts, didn't fix anything. Then I decided that was ridiculous and did the archive-and-install, thinking I'd messed up something with installing Brother printer drivers.

When the Leopard Graphics Update reproduced the problem, I just doggedly did another archive-and-install. Everything normal now, and have told Software Update to ignore the Graphics update.

Cadaver · Feb 20, 2008, 10:17 PM

Amazing, thanks for the head's up. I was going to update my daughter's 12" PB, so I'll make sure not to apply the Graphics Update.
Have you reported the bug to Apple??

fisherKing · Feb 20, 2008, 10:31 PM

yikes!

just tried a dvd on my 12" pb (1.5g, 1.25g ram), and SAME THING.
10.5.2, graphics update.
def a 12" issue...graphics card?

anyway will post a bug report with apple.

just when everything else seemed okay, to...

amazing · Feb 21, 2008, 01:24 PM

Thanks for reporting the bug to Apple--didn't do that.

Good to have the bug confirmed on another 12", but you have my condolences for having to suffer through an archive-and-install!

Even though my install procedure above pretty much confirmed the Graphics Update bug, there's always that lingering suspicion that something in my user folder was responsible.

amazing · Feb 21, 2008, 04:10 PM

Turns out there are several very long threads about this bug on the apple forums. The 867 MHz 12" may be immune because it has a different graphics card.

Solution on the Apple threads is the same: just don't install the Graphics Update, every other update is fine to install.

fisherKing · Feb 21, 2008, 07:16 PM

hopefully, there will be a FIX (as opposed to a workaround); am NOT in the mood to do an archive & install right now...

Barked · Feb 22, 2008, 12:03 PM

Jut noticed this (i ignored it earlier due to the PB topic) but my G4 dt (dual 1gig) will wake from sleep but there is no signal to the display. after restarting it is fine. this problem started immediately after installing the graphics update so the cause is pretty clear, short of archive and installing 10.5 does anyone else know of a fix?

amazing · Feb 22, 2008, 01:32 PM

Apple will eventually fix it, but who can wait? I broke my usual rule of never applying updates until 10 days have gone by, to let bugs surface. Should've known better...

Flagheimer · Feb 23, 2008, 04:03 AM

I'm running 10.5.2 on my 1 GHz 12" PB and no problems here.

amazing · Feb 23, 2008, 11:14 AM

Originally Posted by Flagheimer

I'm running 10.5.2 on my 1 GHz 12" PB and no problems here.

Did you apply the Graphics Update? Because I'm running 10.5.2, after the last archive-and-install. The Graphics Update doesn't show up in the Software Update until after 10.5.2 and from the discussions on the Apple site and from my own experience, that's when it gets borked.

Flagheimer · Feb 23, 2008, 04:02 PM

Originally Posted by amazing

Did you apply the Graphics Update? Because I'm running 10.5.2, after the last archive-and-install. The Graphics Update doesn't show up in the Software Update until after 10.5.2 and from the discussions on the Apple site and from my own experience, that's when it gets borked.

Yep, I updated everything roughly a day after 10.5.2 was released. The only thing I ran into after the entire update was Time Machine took a long while to backup, around 50 minutes -- which isn't something I worried about too much.

Just checked Software Update now to confirm. The only software that is available is the iTunes 7.6.1 update.

philinny · Feb 23, 2008, 07:36 PM

I can confirm this 100% as in the OP. I have a 12inch 1.5Ghz. Did a clean reinstall of Leopard to be sure that it was this particular update. Absolutely sure. Real annoying to fix. Any response from Apple?

Macfun808 · 10:25 AM

I am unable to view DVD's on my iBook and I have read it is due to an update of Jaguar I did awhile ago. I need to know how I can get my player working again. I tried calling Apple and they said I needed to pay $49 just to be told if there is a fix for this problem. I know around 2007 Thanksgiving I could use it but since then I have had no luck. Is there something I can do? I have tried VCL and it is worse and get error messages all the time. I dont have enough memory to do new install. Am I screwed forever? I can't believe that an update messed up out DVD player. When I put one it it just spins and doesnt access it at all. This has been an issue with others yet I have not seen anything for a fix. Please email me if you have idea how to fix this issue.

Please do not post e-mail adresses, use pms, otherwise webcrawlers with be all over you -- OreoCookie

TETENAL · Jun 9, 2008, 07:15 PM

Do an Archive & Install of Leopard from the system discs with keeping your user files. Instructions are here:

Mac OS X: About the Archive and Install feature

Confirm that DVD Player works fine. You can then fire up Software Update and install all updates with the exception of the "Graphics Update".

AKcrab · Jun 9, 2008, 11:26 PM

Are we certain that this wasn't fixed with 10.5.3?

Macfun808 · Jun 17, 2008, 09:59 AM

I tried calling Apple and was told that I did not an account and that they could not help me. I am still having issues with my DVD player. I sure hope that this is not a permanent issue. I cant do the archive/install since I am not able to do it. It says I do not have enough memory to do it.

TETENAL · Jun 17, 2008, 10:21 AM

Originally Posted by Macfun808

I cant do the archive/install since I am not able to do it. It says I do not have enough memory to do it.

The throw out some stuff from your hard disk to make room for it.

hwojtek · Jun 17, 2008, 10:27 AM

Another confirmation (1.5GHz, 12", 1.25GB RAM, SD).

CharlesS · 11:02 AM

Originally Posted by AKcrab

Are we certain that this wasn't fixed with 10.5.3?

Yes, it sounds similar to the issues I've been having. The Leopard Graphics Update just sucks. Avoid installing it if you can (unfortunately, my MBP came with LGU preinstalled, so there's nothing I can do). If the problem is the same one that I think it is, the reason for it is that the OP's PowerBook has an NVidia graphics card in it, and post-LGU, the NVidia drivers lock up the OS something fierce. 10.5.3 did not fix it - it in fact increased the frequency with which the problem occurs on my machine, although 10.5.3 is better at recovering from the problem than 10.5.2 was - it will sometimes restart the window server after it's been locked up for a few minutes.

My screen can lock up if I:

- use Front Row at all (this is near 100%, making that Apple Remote I paid extra for completely useless)

- let the screen saver go on (and it wasn't even a demanding screensaver - just the Flying Toasters re-implementation from XScreenSaver)

- use Exposé (this only happened once, admittedly)

- use any app which uses the GPU in a demanding fashion.

- I haven't tried playing a DVD yet, but that seems like exactly the sort of thing that would trigger this.

- I don't even want to think about trying to play a game on this thing.

If you check your Console log after the error occurs, you'll probably find all sorts of "NVChannel" errors in there, logged by the kernel. This indicates that you're getting the bug I'm describing. Here's some tips:

- If it's at all possible, archive and install the OS, and reinstall all the updates EXCEPT for the Leopard Graphics Update. This should get rid of the problem.

- If you buy a new machine, avoid ones with NVidia graphics cards in them because you're going to be stuck with the LGU, like it or not. If a machine has an ATI card in the base configuration and there's an option to upgrade to an NVidia card (i.e. 24-inch iMacs), FOR THE LOVE OF GOD DON'T BUY THE UPGRADE.

- If you get bitten by this, wait a few minutes before panicking, as 10.5.3 sometimes is able to recover from this and get you to a working OS again.

- If it doesn't recover, don't panic - the OS isn't actually locked up, just the UI. The underlying OS is fine, and if you have SSH turned on, you can SSH into it from another Mac and get a chance to do a soft reboot of the machine instead of having to hold down the power button. Or, failing that, at least you can eject any attached disks you have before you hard reboot it.

In my opinion, Apple shouldn't be shipping machines with NVidia graphics cards until they've fixed this, because the usability of the machine is severely hampered by this bug (and cynical old me bets that we won't see a fix for this until 10.6 - sorry PPC users). I posted about this bug a few months ago in a different thread a while ago. Most of the people in the thread were polite, but a few people did decide to castigate me for pointing this bug out. How dare I say something negative about something Apple ships.

Jens Peter · Jun 17, 2008, 11:00 AM

Mine 1.5 Ghz also suffers from this problem.. Found out, when I tried to view a dvd on a recent plane-trip

But X.5.3 dosen't fix it - can you remove the update? I'd hate to do a archeive & install now....

amazing · Jun 17, 2008, 11:13 AM

Well, and archive and install back to 10.5 does fix it, then upgrading to 10.5.3 is totally fine. That's what my 12" PB 1.33 is at now, with no problems. Just don't apply that pesky graphics update.