Software Updates 10.6.4 and Safari 5 -bugs??

Question

These are downloaded successfully onto my Mac Book, but installation fails. The downloads cannot be expanded. The Mac Book suggests possible corruption during downloading. I tried updating on an encrypted wifi, and just to be more confident, over a LAN connection. This made no difference. Continuing experimentation, I then tried to download and install Safari directly from www.apple.com, but "Verification failed". I then tried to install the Opera browser, but again "verification failed". I then temporarily installed a small blog widget, www.google.com/macwidgets, which I knew to be a zip file requiring expansion as part of its installation on the Dashboard. This worked. I may not be comparing oranges with oranges, that is to say my experiments may be useless, with no reliable conclusions to be drawn. In my Time Machine, I went back about a month and tried again. Installation failed again, with the same information. I am uncertain if it is worthwhile to go back further. I thought of doing a reinstall from the Snow Leopard recovery discs, but this seems drastic and premature. I am starting to doubt the Mac, and are feeling the way I do whenever I use the unstable Windows Vista OS (ugh!).
As a Mac newbie, I am stymied.
Is there a problem with these upgrades? It appears so. All earlier upgrades have just worked, unlike the unnerving Windows failures I have previously endured...
Cheers all,
Keno

Answer 1

I had the exact problem you're having a year or so ago. The following are instructions were from AppleCare tech support. However, my OS was/is Tiger at the time & the instructions worked. Reason why I saved the instructions in case it occurs again.
Therefore, since you are using Snow Leopard, _*TRY AT YOUR OWN RISK!
Look for the /var/db/.AppleTier3Language file. The file is in a hidden folder so
you'll need to do the following to look for it:
1) In Finder, open the 'Utilities' folder in the 'Applications' folder and launch Terminal.app
2) Enter the following line into the Terminal window and hit enter:
*ls -a /var/db*
3) This will print out a list of all the files in the folder. See if .AppleTier3Language is listed.
*To Remove*
Removing it should allow you to install again.
Please enter the following command in Terminal to do so:
*sudo rm /var/db/.AppleTier3Language*
Once you enter this command you will be prompted to enter an +administrator password.+ Do so and the command will complete.
Once that's done, give installing another go and tell us
what happens.
Good luck!
!http://i50.tinypic.com/izvwo1.gif!