Going nuts with Pwnage failure

[cavaughan]

I have been trying to compile the 2.2.1 firmware using Pwnage per the instructions at: hackthatphone.com
However, I always get the point where it comes up the "Sry, I haz fail." The log stops at:
2009-04-05 00:56:12 - Scanning root filesystem with ASR.
2009-04-05 00:56:24 - FAIL


I have tried reinstalling Pwnage, as well as the 2.2.1 firmware.
I have read somewhere to look out for files left over in /Volumes/ . But there are none. I have looked using command line, using ls -la in order to be sure there are no hidden files.
I have rebooted and am currently doing a disk check for permissions just to make sure there's no other reason for causing this error.

Finally, I should perhaps note that over the years I have never had this problem before. My computer remains the same: MacBook, white, 15", Intel, OS 10.5.6 (that has changed of course!).

Any ideas about what to do?

OH! And while I'm asking the phone I want to unlock already has the official 2.2.1 firmware on it. Will this make a difference?

[HackThatPhone]

A failure can be caused by running other memory intensive programs on the computer at the same time. Make sure you are only running PwnageTool at the time you are doing this. It doesn't matter what firmware is on your phone, you are flashing your own custom firmware to it.

[cavaughan]

Actually the last 2 times I've tried, I did it with absolutely nothing else running.

Since writing the previous, I even turned off a lot of "services" and other apps that were running in the background that were in essence non-essential. Nonetheless, it failed. I wish to note one more time that I have been doing this for years without any problems. So I find it strange that it might be my computer now.