A handful of users have reported issues after applying the recently released Java for Mac OS X 10.6 Update 2. Among the reported problems:
- Memory leak. Apple Discussions poster Howard SOA writes: “one of my server applications suffers serious memory leak problem. The java process will simply uses up all available memory and crashes. The crash log indicates that the hot-spot complier was trying to allocate a large amount of memory. However, the heap size was normal when the java process crashed from my jconsole log.”
- Missing images. Richard in NYC writes: “Well, now some weird things have started happening with my system. The one that is my primary problem right now is that when I embed images in an email (regardless of where they come from on my system, i.e. iPhoto, or any other storage file, and regardless of their format, i.e. jpg, jpeg, bmp, etc.) they no longer appear. They show up as a blue cube with a question mark.”
- Network access broken. angelaravi: “It appears that the new Java update that was just released is affecting Network Connect and is not allowing users to remotely access their networks. Has anyone come across this issue and is there a solution at this time. This had been an issue after the last update at the end of 2009.”
How to Fix.
Most of these issues can be resolved via one of three methods.
- Reinstall the update. Try this first. Download the standalone Java update installer and re-run it.
- Use previous Java version. Try this second. Navigate to Applications/Utilities/Java and select the previous iteration of Java as the preferred version, then restart.
- Reinstall Snow Leopard. Try this last. Insert your Snow Leopard installation disc, then restart while holding down the C key. When prompted, choose the normal “Install” option. Make sure to select “Preserve Users and Network Settings.” After installation, you’ll be left with an earlier iteration of Mac OS X 10.6.x (current retail discs include Mac OS X 10.6.2), but an otherwise largely intact system. You may need to restore some saved username/password information, browser information, etc. Download the Mac OS X 10.6.3 combo updater, which weighs in at a hefty 784MB but is a troubleshooting godsend. Quit all open applications and run the installer. Now you are left with the previous version of Java.