| by Joe Leo, Columnist | October 24, 2006 |
NEWS: (10.24.06)-- Apple recently acknowledged the problems associated with the 10.4.8 update to Mac OS X that was making certain portable computers exhibit signs of the blues. The problem seemed to be concentrated with MacBook users, but also unofficially affected users ranging from Mac desktops, to a specific 12" PowerBook user... one who writes for this site.
[See related article entitled, "Has Your 'Book been Exhibiting Signs of the Blues?"]
The problem that surfaced was an apparent blue tint to one's monitor / screen which was not present until after the user updated from Mac OS X v10.4.7, to the newest v10.4.8. Apparently, it was first addressed by MacBook user "Sekkyumu" on the Apple Discussions page under the topic "10.4.8 and colours?" on September 29th, 2006.
The day after that, the site AppleDefects.com made public the fact that MacBook users were facing yet another glitch in the pipeline, stating that "flustered MacBook owners are on the Apple Discussion Boards complaining that the latest OS X update 10.4.8 has altered their color profiles to a cooler and more 'blue' look."
Various visitors to the specific topic classified under the Tiger Forums section of Apple's discussion page also confirmed this unusual defect, and many (including this columnist) gave their feedback as well as suggestions to a fix. However, Apple did not acknowledge the problem until October 9th, the day their posting was created in response to the forum topic.
Five days after the issue was brought up here at PBCentral.com. (Plain coincidence, or Apple giving in to pressure from the Mac-centric media? "Fox News: We Report, You Decide").
The day before the 10/4 article that was published on this site, this columnist-- under the user name "Pismo900" --posted his remarks on the same forum topic, explaining that this problem was also evident on another Apple portable, the PowerBook G4, throwing a new card into the shuffle. The problem was not evident right away, and surfaced only after an odd glitch.
[See this user's posting on Apple's discussion page by following the link at the end of this story]
As one will note on the said discussion page, user "John Gnaegy" was the first person on the forum to notice that Apple had addressed the problem, posting a link to the Knowledge Base article within the forum on October 20th... oddly enough, only a day after it was updated by Apple, leaving one to wonder when the Knowledge Base article was made public on their site.
Apple plainly states in their assessment of the situation that, "After installing the Mac OS X 10.4.8 update, some MacBook computers will have a new color profile that is more consistent with other MacBook and MacBook Pro computers but may appear to have a blue tint when compared to the previous profile."
In addition to providing the issue / symptom, the product(s) affected-- note that the MacBook was the only product officially declared affected --and a solution to the problem, Apple also provides a downloadable file that will let users switch back to screen color settings that were present prior to installation of the 10.4.8 update.
A direct link to that Knowledge Base article is provided below.
NOTE: as of 10/24, the site AppleDefects.com has yet to update their original story from 9/30 to reflect that a solution, or at least an acknowledgment of the "defect" by Apple, has been posted.
UPDATE: 9:00p CDT-- apparently, AppleDefects.com has since updated their original story, posting a new story earlier today, but after this article was posted here on PBCentral.com (commentary/analysis to follow tomorrow)
RELATED LINKS:
Apple.com (discussions.apple.com), "Apple Knowledge Base Article- ID: 304534" (10.9.06)
ORIGINAL SOURCES:
AppleDefects.com, "Mac OS X 10.4.8 Update Causing 'Blue Tint'..." (9.30.06)
Apple.com (discussions.apple.com), "10.4.8 and colours?" (10.3.06)