OS upgrade failing halfway through?

Ah, a point upgrade to your OS. It’s like a little love note from Apple, saying “Baby, I’m sorry, we can fix things. I mean it this time. Please come back.” However, TUAW is reporting that many users are having a problem with Mac OS X v10.5.6 being able to make it all the way through the process (if you know what I mean):

My own experience was similar. My Mac Pro upgraded just fine. My mid-2007 MacBook Pro froze on the “configuring installation” screen. I went back to the Apple site and downloaded the combo update (which many frontline Mac techs recommend as a best practice for all system upgrades, despite the 3x larger file size) and installed that after booting from a backup USB drive. After that, everything was fine. Many upgraders, however, may not know to try that approach, and those with problems will keep Apple support techs quite busy today.

I also find that its a good idea to wait a couple of days to see what major glitches might pop up in the latest Apple update. But for those of you who must live on the bleeding edge, you can download the Combo Updater here.