Update turbotax 2013 error can't extract from archive on install and launch

Question

I installed my turbotax 2013. Then it said to update. I downloaded the update. Then it said install and relaunch. Up comes this message, "An error occurred while extracting the archive. Please try again later. No matter what I try. It comes up with same error message. I was online with intuit techs and they haven't solved it yet. Any ideas?

Answer 1

First off, you are not seeing a kernel panic but an inability to load the kernel file "mach_kernel," which is damaged or missing.
This is apparently because of a file system error (Invalid Key Length), a serious error Disk Utility is not designed to repair, since the repair usually involves loss of data & that app is very conservative about such things.
It is almost impossible that the update itself is responsible for creating this error but very common for one to exacerbate it if it already exists. This is because file system errors corrupt files when the OS writes files to the disk, & updates write a lot of files to the disk.
If you have implemented a backup strategy, the fix is straightforward, if a little time consuming: reformat the drive, do a new install of the OS from the installer disks, & restore your data from your backups.
If you have not implemented a backup strategy, you now know why one is essential: no data you cannot afford to lose should reside only in one place like your internal hard drive. Data is lost every day because of human error, theft, hardware failure, or a host of other reasons. Only a good backup strategy can prevent this.
Assuming the second situation applies to you, your best bet is to purchase a more powerful disk repair utility like DiskWarrior to see if it can repair the file system damage with minimal data loss. Be sure you read & heed the app's manual before using it! Failure to do so, or attempting to use the computer before the errors are repaired, will almost certainly result in more data loss.