A day after it was released, Apple quietly pulled its Mac OS X v10.2.8 update from circulation Tuesday afternoon, both from its Web site and through the Software Update system preferences pane.
Some Mac users complained that their Ethernet networking connectivity was deactivated following the software update’s installation. The problem seems mainly isolated to certain Power Mac G4 models (MacCentral observed the problem directly on a Power Mac G4/500MHz configuration, for example). MacCentral received a statement from Apple late this afternoon confirming the news.
“We have temporarily removed the Mac OS X v10.2.8 software update while we resolve an issue affecting Ethernet networking on small number of Power Mac G4 desktop systems. We anticipate that the issue will be resolved soon,” said the statement in its entirety.
Further details about when a new update would be posted were unavailable as MacCentral posted this article, and Apple stopped short of offering a specific remedy to correct the issue on Power Mac G4s already stricken by this problem.
Several MacCentral readers and participants of the discussion groups on Apple’s own Web site have noted that it’s possible to restore Ethernet connectivity on these computers by downloading the previous copy of the AppleGMACEthernet.kext file used by Mac OS X and reinstalling it, either by issuing a series of commands from the Terminal application or by rebooting the Power Mac G4 into Mac OS 9 and dragging and dropping the file into its appropriate location. Apple does not support these solutions, however, so proceed with utmost caution.