My first proper use of my new iMac... just downloaded the raft of software updates offered including the 10.6.7 update and a few others (iTunes, iPhoto, Safari etc), ready to start installing all my apps... It asked for a restart... clicked ok/yes, it's now been sitting for 10 minutes with the spinning beachball, with desktop pattern behind, but hasn't restarted, thought it might be applying the updates before rebooting, but no alert, and no sound of disc activity... argh, has it crashed? Good job my XP system is nice and stable

Be patient, it sometimes does take a while if you have multiple items. Go and make a brew, have a dump, etc...

I would go and do something for a while as it can take a while.

I'm just waiting for the inevitable post about "combo updates".

I gave it 40 mins, then powered it off manually... there was no activity whatsoever, it must have crashed.

It's now taking an age to startup, still on the apple logo screen at the moment, 5 minutes so far...

Tempted to wipe and install from fresh, not keen on having a software issue on a brand new machine, before I spend hours loading all my apps, not a productive use of a day off so far!

Hmm never thought of a combo update, always did those in Tiger...

Edited to add - 30mins and counting - still on the startup apple logo screen... this can't be right surely? No information on progress, even aged old Windows XP is far better with updates and reporting progress, thought SL might have improved things.

Start it up holding down 'CMD-V'. That does a 'verbose boot' of the sort so beloved of linux types. That'll at least tell you where the problem is and most likely whether a full reinstall is the best option. If so put the install DVD in and restart it holding down 'C' and that'll boot from the CD so you can do a re-install.

Jon

Jon thanks, will give a verbose boot a try now, it's sat doing nothing for 60 mins... then I'll try a CD and run a disk scan/permissions check.

stops at:

[ffffff800c78300][AppleMultitouchDevice::start] entered.

Does nothing else, I assume that's the magic mouse? Will boot to a CD next...

Boots fine to the DVD, mouse works fine, disk verified ok, permissions, few with errors in library/updates, will repair and re-boot. However reading the Apple forums there seems to be a lot of people experiencing problems with 10.6.7

Won't boot in safe mode either, stalls half way through, the update surely screws up the system well and truly, not sure I want to risk installing the update again, even from a direct download.

Hmm definitely going to partition the disc too, so I can keep a base install to boot and work from if it screws up at a more crucial period. Never had any similar problems with updating Macs before.

I have had no problem upgrading to 10.6.7

What model? Looks like many of the problems are with newer models... Still inexcusable as far as I'm concerned.

Just reinstalled on the top of the existing system, and bizarrely now it's listed as 10.6.7 <edit not bizarrely> the DVD installer is 10.6.7, only just noticed, yet the Mac shipped with 10.6.6 !

So, does running a reinstall in place, clean up everything, or would a wipe and clean install be best practice? I need this to be utterly stable for large photography projects, rather another hour of pain now for stability...

I would do an Erase & Install then, just to make sure. I know, bit of a bummer on a new machine, but something's obviously not quite right in the system. Concentrate on the system first, then add any extra software and drivers once you've got a stable system again.

27" iMacs 2.8 GHz i7's with 8 Gb 1067 Mhz DDR3. They are both just over a year old.

From the threads I've read, it's affected the new 2011 iMacs and some new MBPs... Lucky you are ok!

Yes I appear to be. I notice that a lot of new models end up getting firmware upgrades within a few months. I think my version was okay but I think mine was near the end of the cycle and so working from day one. There were problems for those released a few months later.