Certain applications won't run

Question

Certain applications won't run. Mail, Safari (I'm sending this with Firefox), and now Installer. The disc now verifies although I had to repair the disc earlier. This started when trash-emptying wouldn't complete. Disc Utility from the Tiger install disc found what it called a minor error - a file that was a little too big (don't remember the file) and free space a little too small. Here's the crash log when I try to run the 10.4.10 PPC combo update - after a hint I got in another thread about a problem like this. I believe the same file is mentioned for any of the apps that won't run. If you have any ideas how I should proceed, please let me know. Thanks, Joe
===== Sunday, November 4, 2007 2:01:07 AM US/Pacific =====
dyld: NSAddImage() error
dyld: Library not loaded: /System/Library/Frameworks/WebKit.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/WebCore.frame work/Versions/A/WebCore
Referenced from: /System/Library/Frameworks/WebKit.framework/WebKit
Reason: no suitable image found. Did find:
/System/Library/Frameworks/WebKit.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/WebCore.frame work/Versions/A/WebCore: unknown file type, first eight bytes: 0xCA 0xFE 0xBA 0xBE 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x02 /System/Library/Frameworks/WebKit.framework/WebKit
Nov 4 02:01:39 joe-diederichs-powerbook-g4-15 crashdump[351]: Installer crashed
Nov 4 02:01:39 joe-diederichs-powerbook-g4-15 crashdump[351]: crash report written to: /Users/joed/Library/Logs/CrashReporter/Installer.crash.log

Answer 1

Joe Diederichs wrote:
How bad is it to try to install the combo update from the Terminal? Thanks, Joe
Well, it's this bad:
First off, a disclaimer. I didn't think of this, and I've not tried it from the DVD, though I did check the commands on a booted system. But it looks like it should work to me.
Okay, to use Terminal on the DVD, do this:
First, open up the disk image for the updater and copy the ".pkg" or ".mpkg" file onto your desktop, since that's an easy place to find it. Eject the disk image and make sure the package file stays on the desktop. Make a note of the package's exact name, including capitalization. You'll need it later. Now, open the Terminal on your Mac and type the following:
cd ~/Desktop; pwd
Write this path down somewhere, and keep in mind that case counts. It'll be something like "/Users/username/Desktop".
Now, take a look at the name of your hard drive. It's most likely something like "Macintosh HD". The main thing is to note any spaces in the name and note the name. I'm not sure whether auto-complete, and all the other good stuff, works in the Terminal on the DVD, so it's best to write these things down.
Now, boot from the Tiger Installer DVD and open up the Terminal app from the "Utilities" menu. Now, you need to construct a command to open up the installer package for the update package. Here's how it should look (without customization):
"/Volumes/Macintosh HD/usr/bin/open" -a /Applications/Utilities/Installer.app "/Volumes/Macintosh HD/Users/username/Desktop/MacOSXUpdCombo10.4.10PPC.pkg"
A couple of things to note: first, the quotes around the first part are necessary because of the space in "Macintosh HD", same with the last part. Also, it's possible that the installer will open up the OS X installer package from the DVD as well. Just be really sure you're installing the update and not the full OS. Also, make sure you customize the username in the last part, just before "Desktop".
Finally, if you've installed any updates after the 10.4.10 update (especially security updates), it's possible that the problem with the WebKit will not be fixed, since the 10.4.10 combo installer may not install the older version of the WebKit over the newer one. In that case, you might have to do the other updates that came after 10.4.10 to eventually get back to where you should be. And all this might be in vain if some other critical file is damaged, but hasn't been updated since 10.4.0.
charlie
P.S. -- Like I said before, I haven't tried this, and didn't even think of it. I found the general procedure at, of all places, the Washington Post web site in the comments to a blog entry. Look down toward the bottom.