G5 Panic troubleshoot help

[silence04]

Long story short. I have a G5 that panics on a regular basis (4 times week, if not daily). Trying to distinguish the issue.

complete reinstall on new Hard disk, still panics.
replaced video card, still panics.
only factory ram, still panics.
remove 3rd party devices (except Wacom Intuos2 tablet, i can't work without it therefore i can't test without it), still panics
panics on Tiger install and Leopard install.

Unresolved kernel trap(cpu 1): 0x700 - Program DAR=0x00000000007FF000 PC=0x00000000640D3704
Latest crash info for cpu 1:
   Exception state (sv=0x64098500)
      PC=0x640D3704; MSR=0x00089030; DAR=0x007FF000; DSISR=0x42000000; LR=0x640D3700; R1=0x640D34A0; XCP=0x0000001C (0x700 - Program)
      Backtrace:
0xFF0F0F0F 
         backtrace terminated - unaligned frame address: 0xFF0F0F0F

Proceeding back via exception chain:
   Exception state (sv=0x64098500)
      previously dumped as "Latest" state. skipping...
   Exception state (sv=0x85b64000)
      PC=0x00000000; MSR=0x0000D030; DAR=0x00000000; DSISR=0x00000000; LR=0x00000000; R1=0x00000000; XCP=0x00000000 (Unknown)

BSD process name corresponding to current thread: Unknown

Mac OS version:
9F33

Kernel version:
Darwin Kernel Version 9.5.0: Wed Sep  3 11:31:44 PDT 2008; root:xnu-1228.7.58~1/RELEASE_PPC
panic(cpu 1 caller 0xFFFF0007): 0x700 - Program
Latest stack backtrace for cpu 1:
      Backtrace:
         0xFF070707 
         backtrace terminated - frame not mapped or invalid: 0xFF000000

Proceeding back via exception chain:
   Exception state (sv=0x64098500)
      PC=0x640D3704; MSR=0x00089030; DAR=0x007FF000; DSISR=0x42000000; LR=0x640D3700; R1=0x640D34A0; XCP=0x0000001C (0x700 - Program)
      Backtrace:
0xFF0F0F0F 
         backtrace terminated - unaligned frame address: 0xFF0F0F0F

   Exception state (sv=0x85b64000)
      PC=0x00000000; MSR=0x0000D030; DAR=0x00000000; DSISR=0x00000000; LR=0x00000000; R1=0x00000000; XCP=0x00000000 (Unknown)

BSD process name corresponding to current thread: Unknown
P/zP/

Outside of a few digits changing, the panic Log always reports the same. The only thing that might change is "BSD process name corresponding to current thread: Unknown P/zP/" will sometimes say Unknown P/ or Unknown /zP/.

Any info would be GREATLY appreciated!!

 

[silence04]

I meant to post this in hardware... sorry about that mods!

 

[Nitrocide]

Are you using an early model of the G5, if so its probably time to regrettably cut your losses. ive given up on trying to fix mine (did the whole graphics card shenanigans. I have now accepted that its not a reliable machine anymore). Im not sure why they all seem to be timing out now though it is rather annoying . However if you work it out or if this does not apply to you forgive my pessimistic post!

 

[Amdahl]

If you have your original system discs, pop in the one that has Apple Hardware Test and boot while holding the D key.

Are you able to move to 10.5.6? You may have to check for new Extensions for the Wacom tablet as well.

 

[Belly-laughs]

Have you tried zapping the pram? When you did your clean install, you didn´t by any chance import any bugs from the previous install with the migration assistant?

 

[Stachelsk]

Try and see if you can reproduce the issue.

What happens when you put a really heavy load on the system? Open iDVD or something and render a DVD... see if you can get it to crash.

I'm thinking one of two things:
- Bad RAM (even though it's factory, just finally hit the can)
- Bad CPU heatsink connection (getting too hot, crashing)

 

[mojohanna]

Is this an early Rev B or Rev A PowerMac G5? If so, you are probably looking at a logic board failure. On my G5 in my sig, I had it for a week and started doing the same thing. Fortunately, mine acted up within the warranty.
I did all of the hardware tests, ram tests, reset pram, dram, sam and pam and nothing worked.
I agree with nitrocide, best to cut your losses and make sure you can get at your data.

 

[silence04]

Thanks for the comments guys!

It's a 2.3ghz Dual Core G5, i think it was that last version before the Mac Pro.

Zapped the pram numerous times.
Didn't Migrate anything on new installs.
Wacom drivers up to date.
It's crashing with only factory ram (2x256mb samsung), also with only crucial memory installed (2x 2gig), and also with only macsales.com memory installed (4x 2gig).
Hardware Test shows nothing is wrong.

i'm constantly putting a heavy work load on this machine. Photoshop CS3 and Illustrator CS3 with about 20 files open in both apps, plus many other apps open as well.

I've typically left this machine running 24/7 since i got it.
It seems to panic the most when it's not in use. about 80% of the panics happen before i even come into work in the morning. (only the display is set to go to sleep, hard drive doesn't sleep)

However, yesterday was a very unique panic:
Expose went crazy (almost as if someone hit the all windows button 100 times)
when it stopped the dock wouldn't appear, expose wouldn't work, couldn't close windows or move them (however i could select them).
Then it Panics shortly after.

I'm not concerned about cost to repair this machine, its a solid machine when it's working.

I currently working with applecare to have them cover this. They made an exception to fix it out of warranty by replacing the video card, but that didn't fix the panic issue. (there was another issue with the video not appearing, both applecare and i thought that was also why it panics)

 

[silence04]

Are you able to move to 10.5.6?

I haven't tried since i heard a few horror stories of it getting locked updating, i was going to skip it until the next update.

- Bad CPU heatsink connection (getting too hot, crashing)

that's a good idea, i will try to get a temp monitor.

 

[Amdahl]

that's a good idea, i will try to get a temp monitor.

I'm not sure that would be the cause.. When my older dual 2.5Ghz G5(mid-2004) was new, it had problems with spontaneous sleep, because of a thermal runaway problem. A future firmware update(or OS?) fixed that I think.

If your CPU was overheating, the thermal sensors would detect that, and you'd sleep. If the sensors aren't detecting properly, you won't see it on your program either.

I guess the best you can hope to learn is that the sensors appear to be working properly (e.g., you've got normal temperature variances).

I've had a couple of PCs with glitchy motherboards (swapping EVERY part didn't solve problems), and the bizarro factor you describe would indicate a defective logic board or CPU to me.

 

[mojohanna]

Just another thought, any wireless mice or anything like that attached to it? My G5 was acting way way strange and it turned out that after a rest of the wireless mouse (not bluetooth) it fixed the issue. Mind you, I was not getting kernel panics, but I was getting menus that I could not highlight and click, a dock that woudl disappear and not come back and a host of other weird things.

 

[silence04]

well, apple decided to cover it even though it's out of warranty. They sent a tech out today and he just replaced the Motherboard and Processor.

So far so good!!!
And my video refresh rate seems even better than before surprisingly!

 

[Stachelsk]

well, apple decided to cover it even though it's out of warranty. They sent a tech out today and he just replaced the Motherboard and Processor.

So far so good!!!
And my video refresh rate seems even better than before surprisingly!

This is why I'm willing to invest the extra money in these computers...

Congrats on your fix.