S.O.S.: Can't run software update!

[berniej]

Saklolo:

After weeks of procrastinating, I've decided to run all available updates to my 'Book this morning and this error message has popped in my face:

[berniej]

Pahabol: I already did a permissions repair and a restart but the problem persists.

[hannibal]

did you try downloading the update from the apple website?

[penmanila]

try this: go to that folder (temporaryitems) and manually change permissions (do a get-info or command-I, then make sure it says "read and write" and that its your user name beside the lock icon; if locked, click it to unlock and provide the password if asked).

[berniej]

Hmmm... this is weird. I tried installing the "iPod Updater 2004-11-15" and it worked fine, yet all other updates (such as the AirPort Update and the Mac OS X Update) doesn't work at all!

Any other ideas?

[penmanila]

hi, berniej, not to be makulit, but do try that manual permissions fix on the problem folder and its contents. you'd be surprised, but the repair permissions routine doesn't automatically give you permissions to everything. (look into that desktop-to-go installation problem thread somewhere here, where people couldn't install DTG into their palms without a manual fix.)

[berniej]

@penmanila: I already checked the permissions and it seems fine (the permission my ID has on the folder is "read & write&quot. When I checked the logs using Console.app, I got the following error messages (or at least something like this):

/usr/bin/tar: This does not look like a tar archive
/usr/bin/tar: Skipping to next header
/usr/bin/tar: Archive contains obsolescent base-64 headers
/usr/bin/tar: Error exit delayed from previous errors
2005-01-07 10:02:38.418 Software Update [669] Error untarring /Users/berntpj/... (etcetera ad infinitum... my mac displays a long code string here)

I can only assume that the tar archive being downloaded is somehow corrupt so I'm currently downloading the update manually and try to install it later. What makes me assume a corrupt tar file is that except for the iPod update, Software Update downloads a 30.1 KB file for the OS X update and the AirPort update (despite them being reported as larger files).

[Edited on 1-7-2005 by berniej]

[xineizer]

hey, berniej!

Were you able to get your Software Update to work? Mine also didn't want to work. Then, I realized that the tar program was missing from my Mac!

Weird! So, I installed gtar, which I got from http://www.osxgnu.org. Works fine now.

[berniej]

Oh.. thanks xineizer, I have been "neglecting" my iBook lately -- actually my wife is using it and I haven't ran any of the recent updates yet. I'll try your advice once I get my hands on it again (hopefully this weekend).

[dude_funk]

Hi Bernjiej,

How about downloading the standalone installers direct from the Mac OS X Download site - at least, just this time. Maybe after updating OS X, the problem might be fixed at the same time.


Goodluck,
Christian