Pacifist downgrading with systemUIserver crashing

Alright, I'm helping out a friend with some issues on FCP. System specs powerbook G4, OS 10.4.11, FCP HD 4.5, QT 7.5.

QT 7.5 and FCP 4.5 aren't very good friends as FCP 4.5 has major problems with capturing with QT 7.5, so I had to downgrade QT and trying to avoid a reinstallation. Suddenly had systemUIserver crashing very often, and QT doesn't work. Ran software update. Still doesn't work.

Not sure if QT 7.3.1 and FCP 4.5 work pretty together, but essentially, the idea now is to get at least the OS/QT working without a reinstallation.

Came across this which seems like what's going on:
[macosx.com]

And this:

[forums.macrumors.com]

Anyone has a good fix for this?



www.strypesinpost.com

Updates. Just got back (actually, to work), but anyway got it back to QT 7.5. FCP 4.5 isn't very well supported by the latest versions of Tiger and Quicktime (there's a bug on capturing clips longer than 5 minutes that creates a huge -av file and crashes FCP). Using Pacifist to downgrade QT works for some and doesn't work for some others. What I found out was that QT 7.2 and 7.3 have different directory structures which doesn't work so well when you swap certain files/directory structure from an older version of QT and results in causing systemUIserver to crash every few seconds (and spotlight to blink slowly). systemUIserver is a background process that runs in the finder, and in this case, it was caused by me trying to downgrade QT. Tried trashing QT receipts and it didn't work either.

But running this worked:

[www.apple.com]

Got this back to OS 10.4.11, QT 7.5, on the Powerbook G4 with the combo update which fixes the QT structure as well.



www.strypesinpost.com

Hye Strypes, have you seen this list : Quicktime versions links

It might be helpful in conjunction with your Pacifist methods.

Yup. Remembered QT 7.1.6 runs alright with FCP 4.5, so tried that first, then found Tom's mention of QT 7.3, so I tried that too. No love in Quicktime, then realized the clock disppeared and spotlight started flashing slowly. Tried opening system prefs, and it crashed. The crash report mentioned some quicktime components failing. Ran console, and it reports that systemUIserver crashes every few seconds. Tried updating QT with software update, no love. Dug around a bit online, someone mentioned something about the directory structure in QT 7.3 which basically causes similar issues when you go between 7.2 and 7.3 without a proper reinstallation of the OS. (and in this case, I would have to get the OS down to 10.4.9 or something to support QT 7.1.6, which will then require a reinstallation which we're trying to avoid).

Then I found the combo updates and that worked. Phew. Didn't know QT had so much to do with the OS as well. Pacifist doesn't seem to allow any uninstallation function for QT. It merely changes certain components in a package. Useful (helps prevent the need for a complete reinstallation), but I won't touch it again for use on QT. I may have done something wrong with Pacifist, though.

We could drop the combo updates into the FAQ (both Leopard and PPC versions as well as the various tiger versions) if anyone is facing this issue again, though I don't know how to phrase this (?troubleshooting the Pacifist troubleshooting steps?)



www.strypesinpost.com

Yeah I think it's a good idea to add the combo update links.

I have used pacifist specifically for downgrading quicktime and didn't have any trouble, so maybe it was just an anomaly?

Hmm... did you downgrade the entire package or just two of the folders?



www.strypesinpost.com

Um, not sure what you mean by 'the folders'. I deleted the current QT and installed an earlier version, all went fine.

I did this initially..

[www.digitalrebellion.com]

Selected the components and quicktime folder and clicking install. Didn't seem to work, so i selected everything and clicked install, didn't work, so i tried it on QT 7.3, didn't work either... that's when i realized the spotlight was blinking... So I tried running software update to QT 7.5... doesn't work either. Alright... I'll find the combo updates for 10.4.11.



www.strypesinpost.com

Alright, dropped it in the FAQ. That's all i can gather on the issue for now. Also added the combo updates for intels and ppcs from 10.4.11 down to 10.4.7. Anyone with any corrections or more insight?



www.strypesinpost.com

Is that a known bug though, Strypes, or could it be a conflict of some kind with that particular machine?

If it's not a known bug I don't think it should be written up so specifically in the FAQ, because it might make people think that the program is not a viable option, even though it's worked very well for lots of people. That could frighten business away from a really good program.

While I was reading around trying to figure out why systemUIserver would crash when I was only tweaking around with QT, I came across these posts:

"Also, if you try to replace all of the QT files using Pacifist, you may run into a problem w/ SystemUIServer repeatedly crashing and causing the items on the right end of the menu bar to slowly blink on and off."

[www.2-popforums.com]

"I think the Quicktime 7.3 upgrade totally changes the directory structure or something and when you downgrade to 7.2 with Pacifist it overwrites some of the essential files, but since its structure doesn't mirror 7.3 you end up with a hodge podge of files that don't work together."

[forums.macrumors.com]



Pacifist IS a good program. In fact, probably the only software that can help you replace certain components of a software without going through a full reinstallation. It extracts those components from an installer package and swaps them out in the system library. Your call on this in the FAQ.



www.strypesinpost.com

Ah cool. Would be a good idea to link those notes, probably, so the onus isn't all on us.

Added it. Feel free to make amendments though.



www.strypesinpost.com