Getting Leopard's BSOD? Try uninstalling APE.
By Conrad Quilty-Harper 
posted October 28th 2007 7:32PM
posted October 28th 2007 7:32PM
While there's no easy way to account for everybody Leopard user's crashing, Unsanity's Application Enhancer is apparently the cause of many a BSOD turning up on a range of user's systems during a system update to Mac OS X 10.5. If, after selecting "update," you're getting a perpetual blue screen, follow Apple's instructions for booting into single-user mode to remove the offending software. If you haven't updated yet, make sure you get rid of the software before you do: alternatively, do a fresh install and it'll overwrite any of the conflicts you would encounter otherwise. And remember to backup, backup, and backup.[Thanks, Dilan J.]
on one hand if Apple would get their head out of their ass and add customization to their OS people wouldn't be downloading apps such as these.
On the other hand users should know better then to install such apps on a newly released OS that developers have had less then 2 days access to. (Developers didn't get access to the GM until Late Friday.)
So in both cases I'd guess 30% of this is Apple's fault. The rest is all about a dumb user.
Anyone who installs software that dicks with the OS at a low level deserves all the problems that come with it. I mean you really need to be a moron to install this software so soon after Leopard is released. I mean for the love of god developers got their hands on the gold master only days ago. Personally I won't go near this software until next spring at the earliest.
Watch how in a month all the iPeople will be back on the "you-suck-if-you-use-windows" band wagon. Yeah, it just works - except when it don't.
Customizing an Apple device... Oh noes...
Any person who ventures beyond the safe confines of Job's grand vision of the user experience should know the risk.
Then again, the end user should have kept their APE up to date. Any check compatibility of all their programs before upgrading. It seems like APE 2.0.3 is Leopard safe.
I have Application Enhancer installed and had no problems upgrading to Leopard.
Another source for Unsanity's APE insanity: Logitech. If you have a Logitech mouse and you installed their drivers you also installed APE as part of the process. I have no idea why Logitech uses this crap software, but if they have to take shortcuts like this I for one will not have anything to do with their products in future.
I have a feeling Logitech uses APE in order to reassign their mouse buttons to do different things based upon the program currently active. Seems like they took an easy shortcut to implement this functionality on a MAC.
I could be totally off-base, but that just seems like the most logical reason that they chose to use APE.
Never Blue screened with Vista. I think now everyone will switch to Vista cause Macs and Apples and Jobs suck.
Oh wait that is what the opposite side usually says.
I use most of Unsanity's haxies, and I miss them in Leopard. Having said that, perhaps Unsanity could have sent out a mass email saying that they weren't sure that APE and the rest would work reliably with 10.5 and had not been tested yet, and ask that all users disable all Unsanity haxies until testing was complete. I don't think that would have been that difficult, and then the onus of problems due to old versions of APE causing installation headaches would have fallen on the enduser, not on Unsanity. Just my two cents.
I agree that haxies (by definition) are "hacks" and sophisticated ones at that. However, they wouldn't be needed if Apple didn't make an active effort to prevent themes from being used, allow different fonts as the standard display font, etc. Unsanity exists because Apple has the standard "Our way or the highway" approach when it comes to the appearance of Tiger, Leopard, etc.
this happened to me. i brought it to the geniusbar today, and they couldn't help. so i went on the mac forums and there was a solution there. all you had to do was go into the library folder from target mode and delete a few APE files. i rebooted after that everything went fine. on this issue, apple is way behind for not telling thier employees about the solution posted on thier forums. it is a stupid mistake on both apple and APE's part. Apple for not realizing that this would happen, and APE for messing around with the OS like that.
This is not even close to a windows BSOD error. This is a system hack that is incompatible with a new os. When the computer boots the hack prevents the os from fully loading the blue screen is just the os load screen, not an error screen. To even compare this to windows locking up is ludacris. I don't care what OS you use but use your brain before you post nonsense trying to compare this to some of windows failures in the past. If you install a system level hack and then install a new version of an os the same day it is released, yes you will probably run into problems no matter what os you are on. Besides, this is nothing new, application enhancer has always had compatibility problems whenever the OS has a major upgrade. Remember, this is a low level system hack, not a program.
Sorry,
I forgot this is Apple, Mac, Jobs and we are supposed to cut them a huge amount of slack and nothing they do can be wrong. Only Windows gets no slack and false propaganda.
Can't we all just get along already?
Just as a side note, Mac OS X never experiences a "Blue Screen of Death." It does, however, undergo the equally horrid "Gray Screen of Panic and Disarray (GSPD)."
oh noes! my DOS Hack recks myne windows 98.
I've got an idea! Instead of ranting on about how M$ has BSODs, and how Apple doesn't get blamed for BSODs, why doesn't everyone use Ubuntu, where theres no such thing (unless of course you configure your xorg.conf wrong)
but of course, thats besides the point. After all, there is such thing as ubuntu without a GUI! Then you'll REALLY never get a bsod! A little bit useless for most peoples needs, but it still exists.
Linux zealots ftw.
It's OK - Microosft has problems occaseionally with THEIR service pack installs, too.
Because I cant get Photoshop to run on Linux.
And there's no way I'm going to switch to Gimp.
@jtc970
Hey I have photoshop 7.0.1 running on WINE right now. It works fine. And You know there is a package you can download to turn gimp into something REALLY REALLY similar to photoshop. Its pretty awesome. And on top of that its faster and I think its more robust than photoshop.
but still, you gotta spend the time to find these things (or to configure wine lol)
Gimp could never compare to the awesomeness that is CS3.
and as far as I know WINE wont work with anything over v7
Once Adobe builds a Linux package my Vista will hit Ebay
I'll have to say that I'm impressed with Gusty Gibbon so far except it seems to be suffering alot of 'Grey Windows of Non-Responsiveness' which seem related to flash in firefox... had it also happen when trying to burn a dvd. Overall I have a Mac Mini, desktop with XP, and a laptop with Vista and Ubuntu and XP and Vista have probably been the most solid and stable especially considering the abuse which my XP has endured from hardware changes, windowblinds, registry edits, and just constant use. Sadly I've not found much use for my Mac Mini other than a music server or browsing the web while my XP machine is doing other things.
"It just works...unless you try to download software and use the mac as a computer"
im sorry dave i cant let you do that...
Gosh that blue Leopard fur graphic sure is pretty... can we get a hi-res desktop background version of that? And in the original non-blue version perhaps? An Engadget exclusive download? :)
if you have two macs you can target boot the problem mac and get at the hard drive though the other mac, its a much easier way to delate unsanity apps
Why is this news? Third party software crashes system, news at eleven!
That's funny. I recently went through desktops, feature to feature, and with Dell (and Dell coupons) you could get a computer with more memory and a faster processor for about 60% the price of a Mac.
"Anyone who installs software that dicks with the OS at a low level deserves all the problems that come with it. "
Yeah, anyone who dares want a device driver to get their printer to work is a dumb ass. All of those folks that want robust development tools are tools themselves for using applications that hook into the kernel JIT debugger. Anyone with file recovery tools or other system utilities is a damn moron.
Not all third party code can function entirely in user space and still achieve their purpose. Kernel mode applications have their place, but as soon as code crosses that boundry it should be held to MUCH higher standards than entirely user mode applications. There is a reason that Vista 64bit requires all 3rd party kernel space code go through a certification process (it is a shame that they don't for the 32 bit version, but app compat still holds too much weight in redmond). The issue here isn't that users are dumb for running kernel mode software, but that they are doing so from a less than reputable source. APE is crap.
arg, I am an idiot. This was supposed to be a reply to a dude on the first page who claimed anyone running low level software was an idiot.
HOLD ON HERE! ....with regard to that BLUE SCREEN supposed problem...... way too many people are jumping to conclusions here....... I too had seen this blank blue screen on install of Leopard on my G4 Laptop... of course i cannot speak for anyone els... but when the blue screen appeared and did not seem to go away... rather than give up and assume that it crashed... i had patients and let the computer sit for about 10 min... SURE enough... eventually... the computer booted up... im assuming that the upgrade just took a long time... granted... im on a G4 Laptop... not one of those fast and fancy INTEL models... needless to say... it DID eventually start up and i have not seen any major issues... sure there a few bugs... but most are minor enough for me to continue to work until there is an update... AND just for the record... im not running a simple setup... i have tons of software that was already installed... some are major applications like Adobe CS 3 as well as other third party software ...all working without issues.... i have to say... im IMPRESSED with LEOPARD... HAVE PATIENTS OUT THERE PEOPLE... Realize that if you are doing Archive and Install... A lot of your hard drives out there are HUGE... large amounts of data take time to backup... and regular upgrades or installs will take time as well... especially on older macs...