A little while ago I bought a Mac Mini to play around with. The primary goal was to use it (believe it or not) as a Windows Server 2008 platform and do some tinkering with Hyper-V. This worked well and I’ve been very happy with the ease at which I was able to do the installation, apply a fully working set of drivers and get it up and running with Hyper-V. I upgraded the RAM in the Mini to allow me to do this - it will take 4GB quite happily - following the instructions you can find pretty much everywhere and I’ve been very happy with this pretty little box and it’s performance.
But time has moved on and I decided I was going to look at other things, principally the Server version of OS X Leopard and what it can do. I wanted to find out more about the Podcast Producer component (which is VERY cool by the way) but I hit a major issue during the installation process, a BIG error box saying (I paraphrase slightly here) ‘The “BaseSystem” package could not be validated, please go away’ or words to that effect anyway!
I was slightly miffed at this and was not able to find any reference to what could be causing this despite a good amount of time spent with Mr Google, so putting it down to a ‘bad’ DVD image I put that disk to one side and decided to put the original Leopard distribution back on (no real reason but a machine with no OS seems a little sad to me) - and got the exact same error message!!
Now I know that this installer works, I’d already re-installed a couple of times when creating the bootcamp split for the Windows Server install, so this set me to thinking.. what had I changed in the meanwhile? The answer was the RAM upgrade.
I’d done the previous installation and the Windows Server deployment with the original 1GB of RAM fitted, waiting for the 4GB to arrive in the post, which I subsequently installed. I still had the original 2 x 512MB SODIMMS so I popped the lid off and set about swapping things over. I left the lid of to do the testing - just in case - and BINGO the Leopard distro which came with the MIni installed without issue!
So, I retrieved the Server version from the corner of the room where it had been ’stored’ and gave that a go… after an anxious wait while the installer checked things over it worked!! YAY I AM A GENIUS! After the installation had finished I re-installed the 4GB upgrade and put the lid on.. my work was done.
So if you’re seeing errors like this and don’t know why - think about what you’ve changed hardware-wise and try returning to base config, it worked for me.
I wanted to share this little bit of knowledge, I couldn’t find any information out there so I played around until things worked.
Scenario:
I buy Office 2008 for the Mac - Home and Student Edition because it’s cheaper and I don’t have an Exchange server.
I update as updates come along, like the diligent user I am (should user be highlighted there.. I’m not sure!)
I use the Mac Mail application for ALL of my email, because I like it and it works well. I use iCal for my appointments for the same reasons.
I take on a job where I’m given a mailbox on an Exchange Server. Now, Mail will connect to an Exchange server using the IMAP protocol and this is fine on the whole, unless that Exchange SErver is 2007 in which case appointment invitations are irretrievable (this is an Exchange issue I believe as Outlook on a PC connecting with IMAP does the same thing).
Joy! I’m allowed to download Entourage with Exchange access from the service provider of the Exchange system - it’s hosted you see, a solution i wholeheartedly support of course!
Pain! I install the new Entourage and then am prompted to do an update, the update fails with the message:-
"You cannot install Office 2008 12.1.0 Update on this volume. A version of
the software required to install this update was not found on this volume."
This is of course no fun, it’s even less fun when I find that non of my Office applications now work either!
The solution was to remove the Office Suite from the machine (dragging the folder from Applications to the Trash and emptying it), re-booting, re-installing the Suite from the DVD, re-installing the new Entourage from the DMG I downloaded and then letting the updater loose on the system.
It looks like the bottom line on this is - if you change ANYTHING in Office, do it from a FRESH installation before you update. This is more than tedious, even today I had to re-downloaed SP1 and then get the 12.1.1 update too, this process is only going to get longer until the restrictions that the updater seems to be hitting are mitigated.
Sometimes the worst thing that happens is that someone genuinely ‘gets’ what I’m talking about, truly understands what it is that needs to be done and knows what it’s going to take to get there.. but just doesn’t have the ability to execute.
This isn’t necessarily the personal ability, it’s the ability to change minds and time-lines within the business or to overturn the deep-rooted beliefs that ‘ what we do is working so we don’t need to change it’. This is what causes the pain behind their eyes, the frustration below the surface which my words and discussions have simply inflamed and made painful.
I could be sorry about this, but I see it as birthing pains. We will collectively come through this in a better and stronger place, with superior services being available to a greater audience. More pain, more frustration please.. the results will be better for the struggle!!
