It’s no secret that many of the Team Members and Contributors here at Gear Diary have Macs. Some of us use them more for a Windows Machine, like me (sorry…the hardware is just too freakin’ awesome…), but most of us use them with their native OS, as intended. Like many people, most of us here have applied the newly released OSX 10.5.6 OS update. Some of us have had success. Some of us have bumped into a number of problems. One of the biggest things to hit members of the Team here has been issues with Mail:
Mail Many users are having problems with Mail crashing after the update when trying to read email messages. For some the program will not open, but for others it seems to crash when messages are selected. Some users have been able to fix this problem by removing Mail add-on software, but this does not apply to all affected users, most who do not have any third-party add-ons. As such, users might try the following to fix these problems:
Fixes
- Reapply the combo update Users should first try downloading and applying the combo update for the 10.5.6 updater. This may fix some problems with various frameworks and other system resources that Mail uses, and is a way to ensure all updated files on the system are refreshed as much as possible without having to reinstall.
- Delete Mail’s preferences file These problems could be due to a corruption in the Mail preferences file. As such, users should try removing the “com.apple.Mail.plist” file from the /username/Library/Preferences/ folder, and then relaunch Mail.
- Rebuild Mailboxes Since this problem happens for many when they load messages, launching Mail with the shift key held should allow it to load as this prevents the program from loading messages when the program starts. With the program open, users can select each mailbox and use the rebuild option that’s available in the “Mailbox” menu to hopefully fix this problem.
However, don’t be surprised if you also have issues with any of the following. The 10.5.6 update seems to have created a number of different issues with a number of different OS and hardware features:
- Trackpads
- Time Machine
- Airport
- Bluetooth
- Post-Installation–the infamous startup loop
- Pre-Installation–hangs and more
All of the known issues with this update can be seen here. If you don’t already have a subscription to MacFixIt, you may want to take a look into getting one. Its free, unless you need any of the premium content connected with it, or VersionTracker. I have found it to be a very valuable resource and wouldn’t want to run my Mac without it.
