My Mac crashed!

[Mac Lad]

The unthinkable happened for four times for the past five months ... my PowerBook G4 crashed (is this normal?)... The screen slowly went black and there are messages in 3 languagues that basicly says "Restart your computer by pressing... blah blah..". This happened when I repeatedly tried to connect to the internet using my internal modem. I have had problems getting online using internal modem because dial tone is not detected, etc (the phone line itself is fine). There are times when I have to try four to five times before I finally get connected. I wonder if this is the problem.

I have had applications froze because there are too many stuff running... but crashes are pretty scary. Did anybody ever have the same problem??

Thanx y'all!!

 

[Agathon]

I had one kernel panic back with 10.0. Nothing since then.

Are you using any new peripherals, RAM or something like that?

I am not an expert, but these things can sometimes cause trouble IIRC.

 

[Littleodie914]

Those are known as kernel panics, and are sometimese serious. What exactly were you doing when it crashed? Like what program were you using to connect to the internet? When you say you were repeatedly trying to connect, did you give the computer a chance to finish signing off completely before trying again?

 

[ruud]

A kernel panic is (as the name implies) caused by an exception in the kernel. Think of it as the kernel version of the "this program has unexpectedly quit" message. Except in this case it's the kernel of the operating system itself, so the computer can't continue.

In general, an application cannot cause something like this by itself, simply because an application is not allowed to meddle in kernel affairs. The most likely reason for a kernel panic to happen is flaky hardware or a buggy driver. For example, I can consistently panic my ibook by hooking it up to my brother's USB ADSL modem and putting the ibook to sleep while a connection is active. This is clearly a bug in the modem drivers.

I suspect that either your modem is acting up for some reason or your connection pattern is triggering a bug in the modem driver. Try connecting at V90 instead of V92 to see if that makes a difference.

 

[Mac Lad]

Those are known as kernel panics, and are sometimese serious. What exactly were you doing when it crashed? Like what program were you using to connect to the internet? When you say you were repeatedly trying to connect, did you give the computer a chance to finish signing off completely before trying again?

Well... I just tried to connect to internet using the internal modem by selecting "Connect" from that little phone sign on the top bar. Then, my modem can't detect any signal (this happens sooo many times). So I waited awhile and tried to reconnect. Sometimes though the modem can't detect any signal again ... so I have to do the whole routine all over. I think I upset the internal modem badly.....

Hey at least I learned new terms... "kernel panic"! By the way, how do I connect to internet (by virtue of dial-up) using the Terminal??

I suspect that either your modem is acting up for some reason or your connection pattern is triggering a bug in the modem driver. Try connecting at V90 instead of V92 to see if that makes a difference.

Yes, I really do believe that my modem is acting up. The problem is how do I change from V90 to V92? Is there some setting I can change or I just have to get a new hardware?

Once again, thanx!

 

[ruud]

Yes, I really do believe that my modem is acting up. The problem is how do I change from V90 to V92? Is there some setting I can change or I just have to get a new hardware?

You can change it in System Preferences, Network pane, Modem tab. See attached screen shot.

 

[varmit]

I hate to say it but you might just have a bad Modem. If you added any Third party RAM, I would take it out and see if the problem continues. Call up Apple if you are still within the amount of time for your Apple Care, 1 year if you didn't get the 3 year protection. They will walk you though an hopefully get your settings right, or diagnose the problem that would require your PB to get fixed.