In South Burlington, we troubleshoot many software and hardware problems. Software in particular is usually a sure thing to resolve, even given that it’s likely that someone has had the exact issue in the past — all it would take is some online research to determine the best course of action, right?
However, because software is all programming by human hands, it is never perfect. Couple this with the fact that software acts on each other in peculiar ways, and sometimes it can be quite a mess to resolve.
This past week, I had a worst case scenario for software conflicts. The machine was suffering occasional memory error tones (which virtually never occurs during actual operation, but only on startup). We had tested this machine’s hardware thoroughly beforehand, finding no issues. As it turns out, computers running 10.6.8 (FYI: Now unsupported by Apple) have a conflict with Google’s cloud syncing service Google Drive, and this is a common problem.
There were two solutions for the customer: Stop using Google Drive, or update to 10.9. The customer opted for the latter of the two, and I updated the computer to 10.9.
Immediately after updating, the computer was powering off and rebooting immediately after startup. I figured the update didn’t resolve the issue, and it had grown worse, or could have been a memory issue still. I replaced the RAM with brand new modules, and this did not resolve the problem.
When I checked the Console.app for shutdown causes, it appeared related to McAfee Internet Security. As I did more research, I found that this is a common problem — something that occurs after upgrading to OS 10.8 or 10.9. It did, however, take more effort to determine how to remove it without any information on what exact version it was, as it had been previously uninstalled.
After removing the problematic folder from the System Library, the random shutdown issue was resolved. Now I was able to run it long enough to confirm the error tone problem was also gone.
Having multiple software conflicts at a time can be difficult or confusing to work with. The best thing one can do is remain objective and think carefully, determining what changes have been made since the problem started occurring, and research solutions online using as specific words as one can.