How to Uninstall Hiface on Mac?

[kamil]

My audio stopped working when I installed a new version of Hiface. Is there an uninstaller that allows me to revert to the older version? Help please. A week without music can be painful. Had PM them but no solution yet.

 

[wgscott]

Delete this file:

 

/System/Library/Extensions/Hiface.kext

 

Then reboot.

 

Then write them a nice email and tell them to include an installer, especially if their kext screws up your computer.

 

I figured this out by the way by downloading their software and then using a program called "Pacifist" to open the package and see where it gets installed. In retrospect, I should have just looked in the /System/Library/Extensions or /Library/Extensions directory. But it is 4:30 here and I woke up to let the dog out.

 

By the way, it was wrong for the to put it in the former directory.

 

Oh, and with a Nova, just use an optical cable. You don't have to install potentially corrupting third-party kernal extensions.

 

[kamil]

Will try.

 

[wgscott]

Did it un-install?

 

The page said the new firmware was to fix some sort of popping/clicking problem. Did you experience that?

 

[kamil]

I got this from Marco today!

 

"type the following commands on a console:

 

sudo mv /System/Library/Extensions/Hiface.kext /tmp

sudo touch /System/Library/Extensions

sudo pkgutil --forget com.m2tech.driver

 

Then, restart the Mac."

 

 

Thanks to all.

Now we know :-)

 

[wgscott]

Moving the kernel extension into /tmp followed by rebooting simply deletes it.

 

Touching the directory does nothing but updates its date. It can't hurt. They must have a reason.

 

I think the pkgutil command must remove the receipt for the installed package.

 

[Bob Stern]

wgscott said: "Touching the directory does nothing but updates its date."

 

To uninstall a kernel extension, I believe you have to do more than delete it and reboot. I only have a superficial knowledge of this, but I've read that to hasten the boot process, OS X stores a cache of kernel extensions. I believe you need to delete that cache to prevent the kernel extension from continuing to reload even after the file has been deleted. Perhaps restarting in Safe Mode (holding the shift key down) suffices. Alternatively, perhaps "touching" the Extensions directory causes OS X to recognize it needs to rebuild that cache.

 

Hopefully an OS X expert can chime in with more accurate guidance.

 

[wgscott]

I believe it checksums the directory's contents, and if changed, rebuilds the cache. This is why it takes longer to reboot after you remove the extension. Touching the directory maybe also alerts the system, i.e., if the directory appears newer than the cache, it rebuilds the cache (which makes sense, otherwise adding a kernel extension would suffer from the same problem).