Does anyone know what would cause System Preferences to "unexpectedly quit" every time the "Check Now" button for Software Update is pressed? My mom is suddenly having this problem running 10.3.4 on her FP iMac 800 Mhz 15". A couple days ago she successfully used Software Update to download and install Security Update 2004-06-07, but now when she tries to run Software Update, it causes System Preferences to crash. I'm not living in the same state, so I can't get my hands on the machine but so far I've had her reboot, and run MacJanitor. Neither one of those fixed the problem.
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Software Update crashes System Preferences
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you could try repairing permission yadda yadda yadda, etcetera, et al...
or you could just use Software Update from the Apple menu in the menubar, or that might crash as well. it might have been the Security Update, and if it is i dont' know how to fix it other than re-installing.
or you could just use Software Update from the Apple menu in the menubar, or that might crash as well. it might have been the Security Update, and if it is i dont' know how to fix it other than re-installing.
Or you could just go here - http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/apple/ - for the updates, as I recommend by default over Software Update anyways (now because of one more reason). Apple's site never crashes anyways.
Duff-Man says....that is what I tend to do most of the time even though my software update works fine. I like to keep an archive of the updates, which I take with me on the road with my Powerbook (along with a copy of my OS X install set) just in case of emergencies - luckily I have not had case to use them yet. But having said that, if the original poster is having a software update problem there should be a better solution than "just don't use it." The likely culprits are a bad preference or cache file. Try making another account on the computer and trying software update with that account - if it works then it is something in the original account like the com.apple.softwareupdate.plist...so, try that if you can and let us know.....oh yeah!King Cobra said:
Thanks for the advice. Not sure mom is up to creating a new account and hunting down a bad plist file, but I might be able to talk her through it on the phone. First though, I'm gonna suggest that she re-install the 10.3.4 update since she did download that one manually and has the file saved.
Just in case any of you were wondering - I had my mom reinstall the 10.3.4 update and that didn't help. So then I had her try what cb911 suggested (using the Software Update button in the "About This Mac" window that's accessed under the blue apple) and it worked! So, she can now use Software Update, but the problem with System Preferences crashing when she accesses it that way still exists. Any ideas? Would creating a new account still help pinpoint this problem? Obviously it's not a software update plist file at this point, right?