MacBook Kernel Panic on Start Up

[GSMiller]

The thread title pretty much sums it all up, my friend is getting a kernel panic whenever she turns on her MacBook.

We've tried starting the OS X partition, the Windows XP partition, and loading the system discs but all three result in the same problem. The only "solution" I've tried is resetting the PRAM and that didn't work.

I've attached a screen of the message.

 

[aethelbert]

Can you get into the computer via target disk mode? I'd at least try that first and see if you can repair disk permissions or something if it can boot.

 

[GSMiller]

No, I cannot get it to boot in TDM. I suppose I should have also mentioned that a strange sound comes from the bottom right hand corner when attempting to start up, it's sort of a "buzz-buzz-swoosh" sound. It does this about two or three times and the screen stays black. Sometimes, I can hold the option key and I will hear the gong sound, see the Macintosh HD icon and Windows HD icon but if I select either one of them to boot, I get the error.

 

[plinden]

MacBook? Bottom right corner is where the hard drive is. Try removing the drive and mounting it on another machine ... you'll need some kind of connector or 2.5" external case.

 

[Jpoon]

No, I cannot get it to boot in TDM. I suppose I should have also mentioned that a strange sound comes from the bottom right hand corner when attempting to start up, it's sort of a "buzz-buzz-swoosh" sound. It does this about two or three times and the screen stays black. Sometimes, I can hold the option key and I will hear the gong sound, see the Macintosh HD icon and Windows HD icon but if I select either one of them to boot, I get the error.

Definitely sounds like the HDD got knocked around. Like the previous poster said, test the drive with a 2.5" to SATA / USB connector on another computer.

Hope all goes well ....

 

[GSMiller]

I figured the HDD was the culprit as well, but wanted more opinions before buying one. I found it a bit odd though that I couldn't even get the OS X install CD to run either without getting a kernel panic.

If that is the problem, I am looking at this Western Digital HDD as a replacement, will it work in her system? She bought her MacBook brand new at the end of October 2007 (immediately after Leopard was released).

 

[eman]

Yes, that WD hard drive will work. You can install any SATA 2.5" hard drive.

 

[GSMiller]

I didn't think there was a difference but was just checking. I may have found a place in town that will fix her MacBook and my iMac both though.

 

[GSMiller]

Okay ladies and gents....

I got the HD in the mail yesterday and put it in (followed the directions from Apple precisely) and it's doing the exact same thing as the old one was doing.

I've tried target disk mode, but my iMac will not recognize it.

Any ideas?

 

[logana]

I would try the RAM - pull one of the chips out and try to start up. If that does not work put it back and pull the other chip out.

I suspect one of the RAM chips is faulty.

Don't bother putting the battery back in - just plug the magsafe charger in.

Tell us what happens...

 

[GSMiller]

Hmm, I never thought of it being the RAM. I'll have to try replacing it with the RAM from my MacBook on Monday, my next day off, and report back to you.

 

[GSMiller]

So it ended up being the RAM! What happened, was when she spilled cough syrup on the keyboard a while back, it seeped in around one of the RAM modules, eventually causing it to fail. I took it apart, cleaned it thoroughly, and singled out the bad RAM. Being that the system only has 512MB of RAM now it can barely run, so I'm going to have to buy some more and was looking at purchasing this but wanted to be absolutely sure it would work.

 

[logana]

So it was the RAM !! I had forgotten about the "cough medicine" topic !!

That Crucial RAM from Amazon is fine - 2GB will be a lot better than 512MB...

 

[GSMiller]

So it was the RAM !! I had forgotten about the "cough medicine" topic !!

That Crucial RAM from Amazon is fine - 2GB will be a lot better than 512MB...

Yes it was, thank you very much as I hadn't even considered it being the RAM. When I replaced the keyboard it didn't look like there was enough cough syrup around any of the other components to cause any damage but I was wrong. This is a bit ironic as I offered to upgrade her RAM (she noticed how much quicker my MacBook was than hers) and order it along with the new HDD but she decided not to.

 

[Tomorrow]

I saw the photo and immediately thought of this thread:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/468479/

but that's an iBook, not a Macbook.

 

[GSMiller]

I saw the photo and immediately thought of this thread:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/468479/

but that's an iBook, not a Macbook.

It's not really that discolored or anything, but the white MacBook, iMac, and wall in the background took on sort of a yellow hue when I focused the camera directly on the screen. Her MacBook was pretty filthy when she brought it to me, but a Mr Clean Magic Eraser got it all off and if not for all the scratches, it'd look brand new

Here's a picture of the damaged RAM module, you can see how the cherry NyQuil dyed some of the pins red: