Kernel panic + slow boot

[digitalpencil]

Had my first kernel panic the other day and since then my boot time has dramatically increased. Not really sure what a kernel panic is exactly other than the os/x equivalent of BSOD or of how to diagnose what the problem is that has caused it so here's some background.
Running 10.4.10 on an MBP SR, no intense apps were running (iTunes, Azureus, peerguardian, FF and a few widgets etc).. all of a sudden, screen turns grey and I get the KP box telling me to force reboot. Not had any issues before this other than MDS (spotlight indexing) going crazy with my EXT HDD and something to do with memory core dump in XP rendering my windows partition unbootable.
As a result, I restored my Boot Camp to a single HFS partition and have not yet re-installed windows.
As i said, i've not had any other issues since other than the fact that when I boot my system, it takes a good 30-45 secs before I see the apple logo and the preloader wheel. Once this has happened, everything's up and running at regular speeds and I'm having no further problems but given it only used to take a few seconds before the kernel panic, i'm thinking something must have got screwed up.

Any ideas how I can resolve this or diagnose the problem are much appreciated.

Thanks

[macjack1]

If the screen looks like this (http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106227) it is a kernel panic. Disconnect all peripherals, only Apple keyboard and mouse (remember to unmount any fire devices before disconnecting)and test. Often connected peripherals cause kernel panics. See isolating issues in Mac OS X (http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=25392)for troubleshooting steps.

EDIT: Also post your panic.log and we'll see if we can read the tea leaves.

-mj

[maharajah]

digitalpencil, I had the same issue on my MacPro, the slow 45s boot time before the Apple logo. This just showed up in the last 2 or so weeks.
The source of the issue for me was that during that time I had Startup Disk pointing to a DVD disk (for some testing). The fix for me was to "instruct" Startup Disk to use my OSX volume as the boot volume. Once I did this, the :apple: shows up in 1-2s.

[bigboy99]

[QUOTE

EDIT: Also post your panic.log and we'll see if we can read the tea leaves.

-mj[/QUOTE]

Jumping in... my G4 PowerBook has been having more and more KPs. Here's the most recent panic log. Thanks.


Sun Oct 21 00:10:52 2007
panic(cpu 0 caller 0x0003FFE8): zalloc: "kalloc.128" (2170208 elements) retry fail 3
Latest stack backtrace for cpu 0:
Backtrace:
0x000952D8 0x000957F0 0x00026898 0x0003FFE8 0x0002BC34 0x002FB764 0x002D5924 0x00959D54
0x00959FE0 0x0095996C 0x00464E90 0x009AF2DC 0x009AF9A8 0x009AFA40 0x009AA85C 0x002D130C
0x002D01D4 0x000A9514
Kernel loadable modules in backtrace (with dependencies):
com.apple.iokit.IOUSBMassStorageClass(1.4.5)@0x956000
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOUSBFamily(2.8.1)@0x462000
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOSCSIArchitectureModelFamily(1.4.9)@0x564000
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOStorageFamily(1.5)@0x43c000
com.apple.driver.AppleUSBEHCI(2.5.9)@0x9a6000
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOUSBFamily(2.8.1)@0x462000
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily(1.7)@0x48c000
com.apple.iokit.IOUSBFamily(2.8.1)@0x462000
Proceeding back via exception chain:
Exception state (sv=0x4222D000)
PC=0x00000000; MSR=0x0000D030; DAR=0x00000000; DSISR=0x00000000; LR=0x00000000; R1=0x00000000; XCP=0x00000000 (Unknown)

Kernel version:
Darwin Kernel Version 8.10.0: Wed May 23 16:50:59 PDT 2007; root:xnu-792.21.3~1/RELEASE_PPC

And here's the one from yesterday. I rebuilt with Disk Warrior after this one.

Sat Oct 20 15:28:12 2007


Unresolved kernel trap(cpu 0): 0x400 - Inst access DAR=0x00000000003EE8EA PC=0x0000000000000000
Latest crash info for cpu 0:
Exception state (sv=0x42B21C80)
PC=0x00000000; MSR=0x40009030; DAR=0x003EE8EA; DSISR=0x40000000; LR=0x002C8C1C; R1=0x2C83BDC0; XCP=0x00000010 (0x400 - Inst access)
Backtrace:
0x002C8BB8 0x0003C884 0x000A9514
Proceeding back via exception chain:
Exception state (sv=0x42B21C80)
previously dumped as "Latest" state. skipping...
Exception state (sv=0x426BA500)
PC=0x00000000; MSR=0x0000D030; DAR=0x00000000; DSISR=0x00000000; LR=0x00000000; R1=0x00000000; XCP=0x00000000 (Unknown)

Kernel version:
Darwin Kernel Version 8.10.0: Wed May 23 16:50:59 PDT 2007; root:xnu-792.21.3~1/RELEASE_PPC
panic(cpu 0 caller 0xFFFF0004): 0x400 - Inst access
Latest stack backtrace for cpu 0:
Backtrace:
0x000952D8 0x000957F0 0x00026898 0x000A8004 0x000AB980
Proceeding back via exception chain:
Exception state (sv=0x42B21C80)
PC=0x00000000; MSR=0x40009030; DAR=0x003EE8EA; DSISR=0x40000000; LR=0x002C8C1C; R1=0x2C83BDC0; XCP=0x00000010 (0x400 - Inst access)
Backtrace:
0x002C8BB8 0x0003C884 0x000A9514
Exception state (sv=0x426BA500)
PC=0x00000000; MSR=0x0000D030; DAR=0x00000000; DSISR=0x00000000; LR=0x00000000; R1=0x00000000; XCP=0x00000000 (Unknown)

Kernel version:
Darwin Kernel Version 8.10.0: Wed May 23 16:50:59 PDT 2007; root:xnu-792.21.3~1/RELEASE_PPC

[macjack1]

It's hard to tell bb, they are 2 different panics.
EDIT: No wait...they're not:

Here is information on your panic. (http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=1895063) And here is a bug report (http://lists.apple.com/archives/firewire/2002/Apr/msg00016.html) but from a while ago. In addition Google "mac panic Inst access ".

If normal troubleshooting routines don't work, I'd archive and install.

-mj

[bigboy99]

Thanks for the reply. I'll make sure the ram is seated fully, and if the problem continues do an A & I. It's quicker than troubleshooting.

[Amdahl]

Besides Startup Disk, also try changing your screen resolution down a notch, and then change it back to full native.