Apple is confirming that some installations of its Leopard operating system have left a "Blue Screen of Death," and recommends the OS be reinstalled or installers use "line commands" to get the systems booting properly.
After a much-anticipated launch on Oct. 26, user reviews of Leopard began surfacing on the Internet by the hundreds over the weekend. But as the night and morning wore on Saturday, a greater number of reviews and comments on Web forums began complaining of the blue screen, and said the problem left their Mac-based computers "bricked."
On its own web site, Apple has acknowledged the complaints and responded with its suggested solution. The news-social network Digg.com began linking to Apple's posting early Sunday morning.
"After completing an upgrade installation of Leopard and restarting the computer, a 'blue screen' may appear for an extended period of time," Apple wrote.
"It may be necessary to perform an Archive and Install installation of Leopard," Apple wrote. "Archive and Install moves your existing Mac OS X system files to a folder named Previous System, and then installs a new copy of Mac OS X on the selected volume. Mac OS X"installed applications, such as Address Book and Safari, are archived, and new versions are installed in the Applications folder. Applications, plug-ins, and other software may have to be reinstalled after an 'Archive and Install.'" This is covered on page 7 of the Install & Setup Guide included on the Leopard DVD."
Apple also suggests using advanced line commands, "if you are comfortable using Terminal and have certain application enhancement installed."
The launch of Leopard, also known as Mac OS X 10.5, took off on Oct. 26 after a several-month delay - - so Apple could shift engineering resources from its iPhone development back to getting its next-generation Mac operating system out the door. For much of the year, growth of Mac-based personal computers has been about twice the rate of the rest of the PC industry and Apple now sits in third place in U.S. PC market share.
