Need some help from a Mac OS X guru. I was messing around on my Mac iBook, basically I wanted to remove the Apple Airport kernel extensions so that I would disable Wifi access. I went to the relevant directory (/System/Library/Extensions) and moved the AppleAirport.kext and AppleAirport2.kext files off the HDD and into my thumb drive. The next time I booted up, no Airport symbol on top, like I wanted. The problem is, I can't restore the kernel extensions. I tried moving them back to the correct location, but there's a bootup error message saying the kernel extension AppleAirport2.kext can't be used, it was installed incorrectly, and advising me to reinstall or contact the product vendor for an update. Not sure if it's an issue with the ownership or privileges, but I've tried chowning the file to root and chmodding to full access, but the problem persists. I even tried using the aftermarket shareware app called Pacifist to read off the install packages off my Mac OS X install disks and reinstalling all files relevant to the Airport - still no luck. I really don't want to do a full system install, and I lack space on my HDD to do a full reinstall anyway. I would appreciate any solutions short of a full install. I am very comfortable with the command line, so just throw your geeky suggestions at me. Specs : iBook G4 laptop running OS X 10.4.9 Apple Airport Extreme card builtin Thanks in advance for all your help.
my only suggestment would to post somthing on www.macnn.com they provide alot of help and its quick good luck with your airport problem
I solved the problem myself, and posted the solution to MacNN. Here's how it went. I used "kextload -t" to give the diagnostic output. Interestingly, it highlighted the three subdirectories that had permission problems, but didn't give any details. I then looked around at how the other kernel extensions were permissioned, and they were all 755. When I chmodded the relevant subdirectories in the AppleAirport2.kext to 755, it worked! Previously I had chmodded them to 777 (full access) with owner as root and group as wheel. But apparently they do not work as 777, one *must* have 755 permissions. I don't quite get why it should be this way, in my previous experience with linux, "overpermissioning" never stopped anything from working. Oh well, hope this helps someone else.
QT3141, From reading this thread, I'd say that you are probably more of a Mac guru than many of us Mac users here.
That's a nice thing to say, but, nah, I guess I'm just an intermediate-advanced user. Nowhere near a guru, those guys can probably re-write the OS from scratch. I hope to learn enough to approach that one day, but that's a long way away.
I tried using the diagnostics that came with the install DVD, without luck. Archiving and installing wasn't an option because of lack of space on my HDD (my external drives are also chock full at the moment, so can't offload the data in a jiffy). I'm glad I found a simple solution. I'm actually more comfortable doing things with the command line than with the GUI. I guess I'm not the Apple target demographic! This iBook basically landed in my lap after I won a contest a little less than a year ago. I wasn't planning to purchase a Mac, but now that I've fortuitously got one, it's fun to play around with it and poke around its BSD base.
Actually, most things *are* easy to do and to fix on a Mac, as long as you don't muck around under the hood too much. I guess most Mac users (and most Windows users) don't poke around too much, but Linux and BSD users are often different. Part of the reason is the philosophy that drives a person to seek out a free (as in "free"-speech and often -"free" beer too) hobbyist OS over the paid Windows that already came bundled with the system. I was actually a little disappointed with one of the comments someone made on my thread in MacNN - he said something to the effect that "mucking around with things that were not meant to be touched causes untold grief". Ignoring the overdramatic hyperbole, I told him there was nothing wrong with playing around with a system "just for fun". And with the Unix-like nature of Mac OS X, it's easier now than ever. I suspect there's going to be a little cultural clash in the Mac camp for a few years. Prior to OS X, there was a clear delineation between the "sort of person" who went for Linux/BSD and the sort who went for a Mac (forget about the "sort of person" that goes for Windows - that's 99.9% of the population and they're boring). But now we have a system with a nice GUI on top of a pretty solid Unix like base, and that attracts experimentation. Now that the two worlds are colliding, interesting conflicts are going to arise and *that* is overdramatic hyperbole on my part!
you've gotta upgrade your Mac like me p.s June 11th 11:30 Keynotes Rummor: fullscreen touchscreen iPods 120gb solid state laptop 13inch iPhone of course and some new programs
The touchscreen ipod has been discussed ever since the announcement of the iphone, I'd just want to see them use a larger flashdrive instead but that might not happen for a coouple more years. 120gb HD will be good to iTV downloads to the ipod & maybe we will find out when Leopard comes out.
every now and then i delete something i shouldn't have and have to archieve and install which isnt near as bad as it wouldve been on windows, i think the greatest program apple has on their os is disk utility, i have used it numerous times to get through problems and anytime i tell a windows user about it they are amazed
