Help! kernal panic on 2 year old MBP

[jeffy.dee-lux]

Hi, I just had a scary experience. I woke my computer from sleep (it had been on since this morning) opened safari, clicked the Top Sites button and immediately got pink lines here and there running across the screen, along with a strange grid about 1"x1" following the mouse cursor. Nothing was responding except the mouse. I forced the computer off (held power button) and tried to reboot it, getting to the grey Apple logo only to then have the Kernal Panic screen come down, where the screen goes grey starting from the top going down, and tells you in a few languages that your computer must be restarted. I tried restarting a couple more times, even with the Install disc while holding down C, but could not get passed the grey Apple logo screen.

I then tried running the Hardware test by holding D while starting up. This worked (and yes I shuddered at the old OS9 appearance!), I ran the short test which ran for about 3 minutes, and it found no problems. I told it to restart and it started up fine, although there was a bit of a delay with my internet connection. not sure if that's related, but it took about a minute before I could access the internet.

Here is the log from the Problem Report for Mac OS X that came up when it finally started up successfully. Anybody able to get anything out of this??

panic(cpu 0 caller 0x001A4A55): Unresolved kernel trap (CPU 0, Type 14=page fault), registers:
CR0: 0x8001003b, CR2: 0x000000b8, CR3: 0x013fe000, CR4: 0x000006e0
EAX: 0x47ed1510, EBX: 0x0683c404, ECX: 0x06e70020, EDX: 0x00000000
CR2: 0x000000b8, EBP: 0x47ed1548, ESI: 0x00000000, EDI: 0x00000040
EFL: 0x00010246, EIP: 0x5f24502b, CS: 0x00000008, DS: 0x06e70010

Backtrace, Format - Frame : Return Address (4 potential args on stack)
0x47ed12c8 : 0x128d08 (0x3cc224 0x47ed12ec 0x131de5 0x0)
0x47ed1308 : 0x1a4a55 (0x3d2638 0x0 0xe 0x3d1e5c)
0x47ed1418 : 0x19aeb4 (0x47ed1430 0x1 0x47ed1458 0x5f27a535)
0x47ed1548 : 0x5f24bd5f (0xc1d00005 0x1000000 0x1000003 0x40)
0x47ed15a8 : 0x5f2408ff (0x47ed18b8 0x47ed1868 0x0 0x5f23301a)
0x47ed1888 : 0x5f234b88 (0x0 0x600d600d 0x7027 0x47ed18b8)
0x47ed1948 : 0x5f3d6d63 (0xc1d00005 0x1000000 0x1000003 0x40)
0x47ed1978 : 0x5f3deaca (0x4653a000 0x1000000 0x88100090 0x3e)
0x47ed38d8 : 0x5f3c4caa (0x4653a000 0x1000000 0x15 0x4653a01c)
0x47ed39c8 : 0x5f22f402 (0x4653a000 0x0 0x47ed3ad2 0x80)
0x47ed3a28 : 0x5e267133 (0x693bc00 0x0 0x47ed3ad2 0x80)
0x47ed3b58 : 0x5e268813 (0x693bc00 0x5e26bcac 0x47ed3bfc 0x4)
0x47ed3c18 : 0x5833f875 (0x693bc00 0x1 0x0 0x47ed3dd4)
0x47ed3c78 : 0x5833906b (0x693bc00 0x0 0x0 0x693bc00)
0x47ed3c98 : 0x38c565 (0x693bc00 0x661e1c0 0x661e1c0 0x0)
0x47ed3ce8 : 0x3b29ca (0x693bc00 0x661e1c0 0x661e1c0 0x0) Backtrace continues...
Kernel loadable modules in backtrace (with dependencies):
com.apple.NVDAResman(5.0.0)@0x5f22e000
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily(2.2)@0x580b4000
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IONDRVSupport(1.4.7)@0x5e260000
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOGraphicsFamily(1.4.7)@0x58331000
com.

 

[Schtumple]

Don't worry about it, sounds like a random freak hardware error, nothing to fret over, I've had several on my MBP and iMac, if it happens consistently, go to apple, otherwise, you're fine.

 

[jeffy.dee-lux]

okay thanks for the reply. I actually just had another incident where I had left the computer on to fall asleep on its own after idle for a while. When I came back to it, it didn't seem to have fallen asleep. Instead the screen was off, the HD was still spinning (or fans were spinning, something was vibrating anyways) and the sleep light was just on solid, rather than "snoring". The computer wouldn't respond at all, so I just forced it off by holding the power button. On restart, it started up for a few seconds but then restart itself again before it even got to the grey Apple logo screen.

It has been really hot today, and it was sitting on a stack of papers rather than on the desk surface, could over heating have something to do with it?

 

[rev316]

I'd have it checked out. It's free, and with the high logic board defects.... 'nuff said.

 

[jeffy.dee-lux]

just to update that the problem has reoccurred several times tonight. Once I just got the pink lines scrambled all over the screen which lasted for a minute or so, with the computer unresponsive, and then it was okay after about a minute. Just now it happened again, but the computer remained unresponsive for a while, so i restarted. Again, on startup I got a kernal panic grey screen, but starting it up again after that worked okay. I'm going to look into going to an Apple store. This computer is no longer under warranty, the only thing I can hope for is that this is somehow related to the NVIDIA graphics card. Does that sound at all possible?

 

[jeffy.dee-lux]

here is a photo of the screen with all the pink stuff. The computer froze when the pink stuff came up. My impression of the NVIDIA failures was that the computer would continue to function but with distorted video. In my case though, the computer freezes, does this suggest that it's something other than a dying graphics card?

I've booked an appointment at the local Genius bar on Monday, so any background information on this would be greatly appreciated!

 

[cmaier]

here is a photo of the screen with all the pink stuff. The computer froze when the pink stuff came up. My impression of the NVIDIA failures was that the computer would continue to function but with distorted video. In my case though, the computer freezes, does this suggest that it's something other than a dying graphics card?

I've booked an appointment at the local Genius bar on Monday, so any background information on this would be greatly appreciated!

They have a specific "nVidia failure test" they run at the store. It's got its own repair code and everything. (I had to take my late-2007 MBP in this week - no video at all). You won't have to convince them if it really is a problem with the nvidia chip.

 

[Sponsi]

It does look like the nVidia chip is failing.

 

[J the Ninja]

Graphics cards going bad can have all sorts of odd effects on the OS, depending on how the driver reacts to the dying card. I'd say you have the 8600 issue. Graphics corruption, repeated kernel panics referencing Nvidia kexts, etc. Tell them you need the 8600M test done, it almost certainly will come up positive. If it does, you get a logic board swap on Nvidia's dime.

 

[Techhie]

For this model of MBP, Apple has extended warranty even beyond AppleCare due to the faulty Nvidia chips. If you go in and it is as obvious to the Geniuses that it is a GPU problem as it is to us, you will have a fresh logic board in about 3 days.

Good luck!

 

[Schtumple]

Graphics cards going bad can have all sorts of odd effects on the OS, depending on how the driver reacts to the dying card. I'd say you have the 8600 issue. Graphics corruption, repeated kernel panics referencing Nvidia kexts, etc. Tell them you need the 8600M test done, it almost certainly will come up positive. If it does, you get a logic board swap on Nvidia's dime.

Yeah this sounds like it's the cause of the problem. Apple will replace it for free. It's a widespread problem.

 

[jeffy.dee-lux]

Okay thanks a lot for all the replies, this is comforting. Wasn't looking forward to footing the bill if this was something else. My girlfriend's also got a MBP, I guess we'll be keeping our eyes pealed for anything like this.

I hope they don't look at the hard drive I installed in this thing and claim that the warranty doesn't apply because I've opened this computer up though. Anybody ever heard of them pulling that card?