10.6.8

When Apple released OS X 10.6.8, a number of people found problems including issues with the printing system that resulted in print jobs hanging. To correct some of these issues, Apple rereleased the update as version 1.1 of the updater; however, if you have applied this update, you may (or may not) notice that your Safari version has reverted.

Apple released the original OS X 10.6.8 update before it released the latest Safari 5.1 update, and then released the revised 10.6.8 updater about 5 days after Safari 5.1 had been out. … Read more

Apple has released a supplemental update to OS X 10.6.8, which fixes some of the outstanding issues that cropped up after the original 10.6.8 update. These include printers not working properly and going into a paused state when printing, and system audio not working properly when an HDMI or optical audio output is being used. In addition, the update includes the latest version of Apple's Migration Assistant software to ensure a smooth transition from a Snow Leopard Mac to a newly purchased one running Lion.

The supplemental update is about 10MB in size and should … Read more

After installing an OS update, migrating your system, or otherwise performing a major change to your Mac, you may experience a problem where the system will no longer connect to the network, and upon checking your network settings it will show the system has a "self-assigned IP address." This may be the case even though other devices on the same network are working just fine. Additionally, while it may happen to some Macs, it may not happen to others that appear to be set up identically.

In attempting to fix this problem, people may try repairing permissions, booting … Read more

So far the prevalent issues that have cropped up for the OS X 10.6.8 update have been an inability to print with some printers, and some incompatibilities with a few popular programs that have cause some system-wide issues for people using those tools (crashes and high CPU usage). In addition, another problem that has cropped up is various audio problems including no audio, and audio cutting out after a period of playback.

As with the printer problems, the current audio issue appears to be a problem with an updated system file, namely the AppleHDA (High Definition Audio) kernel … Read more

After OS X 10.6.8 was released last Thursday, a number of people found that their printers were no longer printing, where the system would show the printers in a paused state and no print jobs would work. This problem seems to behave differently for different setups, but overall appears to be a bug with how CUPS handles its backend processes.

The back end in the CUPS system is the interface for various transmission protocols for both networking and direct connections to the printer. While some people may benefit from the aforementioned fixes of running general maintenance, resetting the … Read more

There have been a few prominent issues following the update to OS X 10.6.8, though a couple of them have to do with third-party application support. One that has caused a number of users to have kernel panics is the tool Hands Off, which is a personal security program. Apparently the kernel extension for version 1.3 of the program is the culprit, and should be removed.

To do this, boot the system to Safe Mode and then locate the file "handsOff.kext" in the /Suystem/Library/Extensions/ folder. Move it out or delete it, and … Read more

A number of Mac users have run into a problem after applying the OS X 10.6.8 software update that was released yesterday, in which their printers have stopped working. The printer will still be installed, but print jobs fail and the printer is stuck in a paused state. People experiencing this problem may see an error in the system console (shown in the Console utility) that mentions a problem related to "backend" such as the following:

printer-state-message="/usr/libexec/cups/backend/lpd failed

Backend returned status -8 (crashed) Printer stopped due to backend errors

If … Read more

Apple has released the anticipated version 10.6.8 update to OS X Snow Leopard. The key features of this update are that it gets the Mac App Store ready for the upgrade to OS X 10.7 Lion that is slated for release this summer. The update also improves support and addresses bugs with networking and Apple's Preview application. Additionally, it also adds more support for the removal of the recent MacDefender malware and its variants.

The update specifically addresses the following issues:

Apple has recently made a number of references to the yet unreleased but anticipated OS X 10.6.8 update. The update is recommended by Apple for running the latest Final Cut X, Compressor, and Motion software suites that Apple released today, which suggests that its release is imminent. Apple previously released an update to MainStage that initially mentioned 10.6.8 as well, though this turned out to be a typo.

Regardless of the specifics of where it is mentioned, OS X 10.6.8 is quite obviously just around the corner, and will include a number of enhancements … Read more