How long is an 'abnormally long' time to boot after 10.4.8 update?

Question

How long is too long to wait for my macBook Pro to take to boot up after installing the latest update?
An hour?
2 hours?
A day?
I installed from Automatic Updates and shutdown rather than restart. Came abck hours later turned on powerer and waited and waited. After about an hour I tunred it off booted from the install CD, ran the disk utility, fixed a few permission and rebooted...
Should I take it in to the Apple Store tomorrow morning if this continues or reinstall the OS and start over?

Answer 1

Hello dn:
As an aside, comparing Windows to OS X is like
comparing a plow horse ready for the glue factory to
a thoroughbred race horse. I use both every day and
have for years, so I have vivid daily comparisons.
Now then, as I indicated above, you probably caused
the problem by interrupting the software update
process. At a guess, you have clobbered directories
(you, not Apple). The first step would be to run
repair disk from your software install DVD (boot it,
holding down the "C" key). Repair disk is found in
the disk utility. If that works, you should be back
to the point where you can reinstall the combo
updater. There is also an excellent third party
program (mentioned above) called DiskWarrior (pricey
at about $90, but worth it if it saves the day).
If none of that works, you probably should do an
archive and install:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107120
A good back up/retreat strategy is just good
computing practice whether or not you are a computing
professional. There are several approaches. I make
bootable clones of all my iMacs on an external
firewire drive using a little program called
SuperDuper (&28 at www.shirt-pocket.com). The
bootable clone gives me almost complete protection
against hardware or software problems.
By the by, these forums are user-to-user. Everyone
is a volunteer - not an Apple employee. Apple
monitors/moderates the forums and provides an
excellent resource. If you are new to Macs (as your
post seems to indicate), you should spend some time
browsing the forums and using the tools available -
including the excellent library of knowledge base
articles.
Barry
OK, So I'm a cry baby.
But I do not buy your argument that it was all my fault. After I inrterupted the hour ling gray screen and ran and fixed a few previlige problems and tried again over 2 hour went by with nothing but the gray screen.
Archive and intall did get me back and running, but by now 4 -5 hours of my life are gone that I want back!
And the tone on this whole board seems to be we MacBook owners, who unsupectingly trusted Apple and let the Automaitic Software Update have its way with a computer that was functioning just fine, the result of which is a computer that needs to have the OS reinstalled, are at fault for having poor prior knowledge?
I bring up Microsoft because they are BAD. They have an OS that allows 3rd parties to install code to render your computer useless at best, a robot of evil at worst.
Yet here we have the Apple, a trusted known entity and the manufacture of not only the hardware but the OS handing us an install that should have just WORKED.
So al I can think is the Delta install is the culprit, since I had previously been on 10.4.7 and the Archive & Install put in 10.4.6. The Combined installer is ok.
Again MacBook owners are victimized for keeping current?
Some one at Apple deserves a dummy slap at least.
MacBook owners represent the "Switchers". They bought on style and a promis of stability and reliability. Not the allure of becoming UNIX Geeks or even Uber User or browsers of forums. They came from that dull gray world out there where viruse roam but if you let automatic updates run and loaded up with antiv virus and spyware scanners, things pretty much worked.
I'm not new to mac as I have been usinge them since I shelled out $3,500 for a Mac SE. (Don't laugh). I gave up however being a Uber User and I at least am tenaciouse enought to find this discussion board. I suspect there are going to be a lot of busy Mac "Geniouses" for the next few days as ordinary computer users stream in with MacBooks with gray screens.
You know Sony support totally *****, but they are rated the best on the PC side for customer satisfaction. Why? You almost never have to seek support from Sony.
Again I'm just ******** 'casue it happend to me on a new laptop that was bone stock. Its working now so problem solved.