[Sethro]

Being one of the many people out there that is extreamly dissapointed with the new Mac OSX 10.4.10 update my question is whether there is an easy way to downgrade to the more desirable Mac OSX 10.4.9

The reason I'm asking is that I have been having some really frustrating problems with my wireless internet connection constantly dropping and not returning without restarting the router, whereas my Toshiba Tecra can connect to the router just fine. I want to be able to keep my music, applications, movies and documents so I guess that elimates nuking the hard drive and reinstalling the operating system. Any solutions would be greatly appreacited.

[CharlesS]

You do have to reinstall. You don't have to nuke the hard drive, though, because this isn't Windows. Just use the "Archive and Install" feature in the OS X installer, and all your music, applications, movies, documents, and everything else will stay intact.

[Sethro]

Thanks for the prompt reply, so would everthing else remain the same including my fonts, different folders, application preferences and system settings?

Would all of my Home folders be saved as well, additionally will some things like iWork and iLife be reinstalled with the original 10.4.8 that my Macbook came with.

[CharlesS]

Your home folder will be fine.

iWork and iLife should be fine unless they install anything in /System, in which case you might have to reinstall those. I don't remember off the topic of my head whether they do or not.

[Wiskedjak]

Originally Posted by CharlesS 

You do have to reinstall. You don't have to nuke the hard drive, though, because this isn't Windows. Just use the "Archive and Install" feature in the OS X installer, and all your music, applications, movies, documents, and everything else will stay intact.

Ummmm .... Archive and Install is a reinstall. It just puts all your files, apps and preferences in a safe place during the install.

And, you're right, this isn't Windows. If it were, you could just go into System Restore and in about 5 minutes restore your machine to a date prior to when you installed the update.

[MacosNerd]

Well at least leopard will have the time machine functionality so you'll be able to go back, until then your only option is to reinstall OSX - just use the archive/install option.

[Wiskedjak]

Originally Posted by MacosNerd 

Well at least leopard will have the time machine functionality so you'll be able to go back, until then your only option is to reinstall OSX - just use the archive/install option.

Yep, that's one feature I'm glad they're finally copying from Windows. Having had System Restore since 2000 is one of the reasons I trust Windows updates more than MasOS updates. Ironically, there have been more times on my Mac that I would have liked to be able to revert back to a previous version than on my PC.

It blows me away how often serious bugs affecting current models sneak past Apple QA on their OS updates. You never see a Windows update take down any of their products (such as Office), and they've got millions of possible PC configurations to deal with, rather than a couple dozen.

I really like my Mac, I like MacOS, but I don't trust Apple QA.

[CharlesS]

Originally Posted by Wiskedjak 

Ummmm .... Archive and Install is a reinstall.

Uh, where did I say it wasn't?

It just puts all your files, apps and preferences in a safe place during the install.

Actually, it leaves your files, apps, and preferences where they are, and puts away the old system files in a "Previous Systems" folder that you can easily delete later if everything is working fine.

And, you're right, this isn't Windows. If it were, you could just go into System Restore and in about 5 minutes restore your machine to a date prior to when you installed the update.

Only if you'd set a save point right before you installed the update. Otherwise, there's no way to do a clean reinstall without wiping the drive.

[Wiskedjak]

Originally Posted by CharlesS 

Only if you'd set a save point right before you installed the update.

You can create restore points, but Windows also automatically creates restore points once a week and after any system updates or software installs/removals. If I wanted to go back past a buggy update, I'd be more than happy to go back a week, rather than a year.

Otherwise, there's no way to do a clean reinstall without wiping the drive.

System Restore on Windows isn't a reinstall. It's an uninstall of everything installed since the selected restore point.

[CharlesS]

Originally Posted by Wiskedjak 

You can create restore points, but Windows also automatically creates restore points once a week and after any system updates or software installs/removals. If I wanted to go back past a buggy update, I'd be more than happy to go back a week, rather than a year.

Doesn't that revert other things you've done to the hard disk in the meantime, such as any documents you've saved? Or is there a way to get it only to revert OS files?

[Sethro]

Yesterday I finally managed to find the time to perform an Archive Install of Mac OSX 10.4.9 and its been so much more usable and stable than Mac 10.4.10. So far no kernal panics when running more than one application, I have no "Snap, Crackle and Pop" coming from my Macbook speakers and most importantly Airport Extream is working without a hitch. No signal loss or dropped wireless signals, by performing an archive install I noticed some things.

- All my settings like icon size and text size was transfered to the new install seamlessly
- Documents and Music was restored to the new install without a hitch
- Theme and wallpaper were reverted to original factory settings
- "Library" folder was replaced with a fresh 10.4.9 install
- iLife 06' was completly reinstalled over again
- All languages completly reinstalled over again, took me 35 minutes to erase languages with Monolingual and recovered 1.3 GB of space

I also noticed that the cursor does not "jump" or "skip" around any more when using the built in internal trackpad.

[gulmatan]

Does this reset your DVD region back to original settings? Also, does that Archive & Install reset your DVD region change count to factory settings?

[Sethro]

Originally Posted by gulmatan 

Does this reset your DVD region back to original settings? Also, does that Archive & Install reset your DVD region change count to factory settings?

Yes every system element was reinstalled, including the DVD region limit. Although Gulmatan, when I threw in a new DVD, the system set a new North American region. Other than that I think I'll stick with Mac OSX 10.4.9 until all of these problems can be fixed.

[gulmatan]

Thanks! I bought the "Stock, Aitken & Waterman: Gold" DVD and found it to be a Region 2 format. Fortunately Macs can play PAL video BUT I wasn't expecting the Region 2 coding off the DVD. So, now that I can safely reset the Region Limit, I can watch that DVD to my heart's content.

[Wallaby]

Hey the audio popping went away and I am enjoying listening to iTunes..... after 10.4.10 (v1.1) Oh wait, my larger library is not on my laptop and is on an external USB drive. Guess what, the Audio popping is gone and I do not have to listen to the other 7000 songs I have to even see if its gone because 10.4.10 killed access to my external USB drive. So, 10.4.10's stated goal of fixing annoying USB problems fixed them by eliminating those annoying USB devices we use.

[Sethro]

Just a question for all of the people that have updated to the new Mac OSX 10.4.10 V.1.1 update.

- Do you have any issues with flaky wireless, like dropped signal strength and slow connections.
- Any kernal panics?
- Do you have any problems with popping with external audio?

[Wiskedjak]

Originally Posted by CharlesS 

Doesn't that revert other things you've done to the hard disk in the meantime, such as any documents you've saved? Or is there a way to get it only to revert OS files?

Windows' System Restore only affects OS files and installed applications. It doesn't any personal documents or files. It doesn't deal with disk images. As I understand how it works, it documents the changes being made to system files, and undoes those changes if you choose to restore the system to an earlier point in time. Considering it's been around for something like 8 years, it's pretty good.