Apple released Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.7 yesterday with a lot of bug fixes as well as the fix for 2011 Macbook Pro external screen flickering issues. However, not all is that well. According a discussion that was started on Apple Discussion Forums, it seems like many new 13-inch MacBook Air users are experiencing crashes when try to fire up iTunes 10.2.1. Unresponsiveness of iTunes 10.2.1 calls the user to force-quite the application.
Every time I run iTunes 10.2.1 I get as far as the window displaying correctly then within 20secs the machine freezes and is unresponsive to anything other than a forced shutdown via the power button. I have fixed disk permissions with the same result.
Apple hasn't responded on the forum, but you can try following steps in order to fix this issue. It is also likely that Apple is going address this issue in an iTunes update.
- Use TimeMachine – Even though TimeMachine works only with external hard drives (will work with internal volumes in Mac OS X Lion), it makes sense to invest into an external drive. Better yet, buy a NAS that supports TimeMachine so everyone on your local network can store their documents on it. Perform a TimeMachine backup prior to installing the OS update so you can revert back if issues persist.
- Avoid Software Update – Download a combo update from Apple’s support site rather than choosing Software Update… from the Apple menu. Strange as it may sound, it can result in a smoother running system and fewer compatibility issues.
- Repair Disk Permissions – This is a common problem after a software update has been applied, albeit an easy one to solve. Run Disk Utility, select your boot drive in the lefthand column and click the Repair Permissions button. Once it’s finished doing its thing, restart your computer.
- Trash Application Preferences – Quit the app that’s been acting up, search for its settings inside the Users/yourusername/Library/Preferences folder and trash the files. I was able to resolve issues this way in several instances. In the case of iTunes, you’re looking for com.apple.itunes (this is where your iTunes settings reside). Trashing the iTunes Library Genius.itdb file found in /Music/iTunes inside your home folder may also help.
- Reinstall Offending Application – If iTunes or any other application won’t play nice with the updated OS, consider re-installing the offending program.