Apple Releases Snow Leopard Update (OS X 10.6.2)
Tuesday November 10, 2009
Apple today released OS X 10.6.2, the second update to Snow Leopard since its initial release at the end of August 2009. OS X 10.6.2 primarily addresses specific system fixes, and enhances stability and compatibility.
- an issue that caused data to be deleted when using a guest account
- an issue that might cause your system to logout unexpectedly Spotlight search results not showing Exchange contacts
- the reliability of menu extras
- an issue in Dictionary when using Hebrew as the primary language shutter-click sound effect when taking a screenshot
- an issue with the four-finger swipe gesture
- an issue adding images to contacts in Address Book
- an issue in Front Row that could cause sluggish or slow frame rates while watching videos
- creation of mobile accounts for Active Directory users
- reliability and duration of VPN connections
- general reliability improvements for iWork, iLife, Aperture, Final Cut Studio, MobileMe, and iDisk
- overall improvements to VoiceOver performance This update addresses video playback and performance issues for iMac (21.5-inch, Late 2009) and iMac (27-inch, Late 2009) computers that may occur in some situations while AirPort is turned on
OS X 10.6.2 also corrects issues with Apple Mail, Safari, and MobileMe. For a complete list of updates provided by OS X 10.6.2, stop by Apple's support site.
You can update to OS X 10.6.2 by selecting 'Software Update' from the Apple menu. You can also download it directly from the Apple web site.
Are there any known issues with this upgrade? I installed it this morning and now I’m having problems opening preference windows, some applications are crashing on startup, and I’m generally frustrated. I’d like a tag-back and go back to 10.6.1.
Hi Jennifer,
I’ve only heard about two issues so far that are affecting a handful of people. The first is sound not working, or only transmitting through the internal speakers. In either case, the problem seems to be that the Sound preference pane has been reset, with internal speakers as the output device, and the output volume set at a low level. You can correct the sound problem by using the Sound preference pane to raise the volume or set the output device to something besides the internal speakers.
The other issue I have heard of is receiving POP mail with Apple Mail. If your POP email server requires authentication and you have not set the server to use for each email account, Mail may not be able to complete the download of POP mail.
This is just a change in how Mail operates. Before 10.6.2, Mail would try every server setting you had set up in Mail before giving up. With 10.6.2, Mail only tries the server assigned to an account. If you set the server incorrectly, Mail will now fail after the first attempt. This is only an issue for Mail users with multiple mail accounts from different providers. Just make sure you have the correct provider server information assigned to each account.
As for the problems you mentioned, the first thing I would try is booting from the Snow Leopard install DVD and running Disk Utility to verify and repair permissions on your startup drive.
You can find instructions for using Disk Utility from the Snow Leopard DVD in the ‘Erase and Install of Snow Leopard: How to Perform a Clean Install’ article:
http://macs.about.com/od/snowleopardmacosx106/qt/cleaninstall_sl.htm
Once you have Disk Utility running, use these instructions to repair your startup drive’s permissions: “Disk Utility: Using Disk Utility to Repair Hard Drives and Disk Permissions”:
http://macs.about.com/od/applications/ss/firstaid_3.htm
Tom
Do not upgrade if you are using Podcast Producer. It will break and the only alternative is to reload your machine or wait for 10.6.3. Apple has all my log files trying to find out what went wrong.
Hi Tom,
Thanks for the information about Podcast Producer and OS X 10.6.2. Let us know what Apple comes up with, assuming they get back to you before 10.6.3 comes out.
Tom