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How to cure a kernal panic - My ibook G4 hurts !

I

igmolinav

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Aug 15, 2005
1,126
4
Hi,

My beloved ibook G4 ¨went on strike ; ) !!!¨ As soon
as I turn it on a message appears that tells me the
following:

You need to restart your computer. Hold down the
Power button for several seconds or press the
Restart button.

What could i do to fix this problem ??

Thank you, kind regards,

igmolinav

Message written on a PC - Yikes !!!
 
It's a kernal panic, did you just add new RAM or something like that? if you did try taking it out and see if it still happens, bad RAM is a common cause of kernal panics.
 
Hi,

Thank you for your messages : ) !!!

No, I haven´t added any new RAM. My six year old
ibook G4 still has the same RAM it came with.

Kind regards,

igmolinav
 
You don't need to post duplicate threads, or pointless threads with a link to another one.
Your computer isn't even an MacBook. Next time, try posting this topic under "OS X Software". You will get more replies there.
Other than that, I would try reinstalling the OS.
 
Last edited:
Hi
That used to happen to mine as well. It´s showing it´s age.
BUT, what (sort of) fixed it for me was a clean install of OSX. If you don´t have any backup of your iBook you will loose all your data I´m afraid.

I tried a few different things before the install, but the fresh install was the only fixed it.
My wife lost a few pictures and contacts etc and learned the hard way the importance of backup (I´m starting to think this is the only way to learn;))

Good luck with the install, if that dosen´t fix it I don´t think you will be able to fix it
 
Hi,

Thank you for your answers : ) !!!

People stopped answering to the original thread. They were
very helpful to point out that the problem was a ¨kernel panic¨.
This new thread focuses on the very specific problem, the other
one was perhaps a bit too random. There is not an ibook
forum anymore. The ibook forum used to be together with the
Mac Book forum. That´s why I posted here. I have done it
before and it was not a problem.

The hard drive is 120 GB and half of it is full. Would it be a
possible to ¨suck out¨ the information in the hard drive with
the help of another computer ??

If the information is ¨sucked out¨ are the passwords to e-mail
accounts and to the different forums I belong to kept or saved
together with the other information of the hard drive ??

Thank you again, kind regards,

igmolinav
 
Hi,

Thank you for your answers : ) !!!

How can I get the ¨Kernel Panic¨log ??

Kind regards,

igmolinav
 
The problem is, the OP can't get to the log because the computer hardly makes it anywhere in the boot cycle.

@ igmolinav: have you tried booting from an install disc? Does it do it there as well? Exactly how far into the booting process does the computer get before it kernel panics? Is it the moment you turn it on, or do you get to the Apple logo and the spinning wheel?

You can certainly get your information off your iBook with the help of another Mac. If you can get into target disk mode (hold down T at startup), you can connect it to another Mac via FireWire and transfer that way. If not, you'll have to remove the HDD from the computer and hook it up to a different computer somehow, either via an external enclosure for 2.5" IDE or an IDE to USB adaptor. iBook G4s are a pain to get apart, though.
 
wordoflife said:
In any case, you have a software related issue, so I'd recommend posting in here next time: https://forums.macrumors.com/forums/2/ next time.
Click to expand...

That is a highly faulty assumption. You have no idea that it's caused by software. That's like responding to the question "my car won't run" by saying "you need to put gas in it" when in actuality, there are no wheels.

To the OP: boot the machine holding down command-V. Then, a bunch of text will come up on the screen. Eventually, the system will still panic, but it will spit out a log. If you're going to post a picture, THAT's what the picture should be of. From that, we can potentially decipher the cause.
 
Hi,

iThinkergoiMac said:
The problem is, the OP can't get to the log because the computer hardly makes it anywhere in the boot cycle.

@ igmolinav: have you tried booting from an install disc? Does it do it there as well? Exactly how far into the booting process does the computer get before it kernel panics? Is it the moment you turn it on, or do you get to the Apple logo and the spinning wheel?
Click to expand...

From an install disc I haven´t. (How do you do it ??).

I may be able ¨to make it to the log¨. It kernel panics a few minutes after I have turned it on. I still get to see the apple logo and the spinning wheel. It is three or four minutes later when it kernel panics.

To the OP: boot the machine holding down command-V. Then, a bunch of text will come up on the screen. Eventually, the system will still panic, but it will spit out a log. If you're going to post a picture, THAT's what the picture should be of. From that, we can potentially decipher the cause.
Click to expand...

I´ll do it and then give you the log !!!

Thank you, kind regards,

igmolinav

Hi,

To the OP: boot the machine holding down command-V. Then, a bunch of text will come up on the screen. Eventually, the system will still panic, but it will spit out a log. If you're going to post a picture, THAT's what the picture should be of. From that, we can potentially decipher the cause.
Click to expand...

I held down command-V and I got a lot of ¨text¨. Please tell me more about how to identify this log and how to take the picture. It is a lot of text. It will be very helpful when you please tell me what to look for in order to be able to write the log.

Thank you, kind regards,

igmolinav
 
Last edited by a moderator:
igmolinav said:
Please tell me more about how to identify this log and how to take the picture. It is a lot of text.
Click to expand...

That text is the log. Since the computer is frozen, the only way to take a picture would be to take an actual picture with a camera (as opposed to a screenshot). Post that picture here.
 
The OS will attempt to create a log in /Library/Logs and call it panic.log

If it exists, add that to a post as an attachment. Otherwise, you will have to manually enter the data you see.
 
My (last generation) 12" iBook started getting kernal panics about a year ago and I figured out it was related to the wi-fi card. The soldering sucks. Apple stuck it too close to the heat sink, and many thousands of people have experienced what I did: the solder comes undone, which causes a kernal panic after the machine gets warm. It seems to have happened, usually, on these late-model iBooks after the 3-year Apple care warranty was up; after the resale value of the iBook was only a few hundred dollars anyway, so no one bothered filing a class action lawsuit, so Apple refuses to fix it, and they even used to delete mentions of the problem in their forums.

I "fixed" the problem by turning off the wi-fi connection. You have to do it quickly, right after the computer boots up, before the CPU gets hot, otherwise it panics. Then your iBook becomes an eithernet only machine - or you can buy a USB wi-fi thingy. Or you can open the machine up and try to put a piece of cardboard over the wi-fi card, as explained in various youtube videos. If you take it into a store, they're just gonna charge you a bunch of money to test the hard drive, RAM, and a bunch of other stuff that do often cause kernal panics when they go bad - but it's probably the wi-fi card.
 
iThinkergoiMac said:
But the OP's iBook panics during the grey boot screen...
Click to expand...

Your instructions re. using target disk mode were very clear, iThinkergoiMac; OP's answer to your question re. how far into the boot cycle the iBook is able to get were not. At least not to me.

igmolinav said:
It kernel panics a few minutes after I have turned it on. I still get to see the apple logo and the spinning wheel. It is three or four minutes later when it kernel panics.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure what "the spinning wheel" means, and there is a good chance this issue has something to do with failing RAM or something bad on the motherboard or something really bad wrong with the hard drive: without looking seeing that log, there's no way to tell. But the OP did also say "four minutes later", and to me sounds like they meant the boot cycle had completed (my iBook never took more than about a minute to boot up), so that's why I suggested the problem might be airport related (because I I know that's been a big underreported iBook issue, and it's easy enough to trouble-shoot: Turn off the airport and see if the machine stops crashing). With my machine, it was actually quite difficult to get the machine to stay on long enough, after the boot cycle was complete, to get into airport menu and turn it off. Often the machine would panic before the boot cycle was even complete; sometimes it would stay on for about a minute after the cycle was complete. As soon as I was able to turn off the airport card, the machine worked fine.
 
Hi,

Thank you for your messages again : ) !!!

I did what you have recommended: I turned airport off !!!

The situation may be "cured". My ibook has been sitting
for one hour doing nothing without any problems. Let's
see what happens when I run any application with it.

I kind of sighed when I turned airport off. Some six and
half years ago buying the ibook with airport was for me a
major selling point. A friend had one, a previous version,
without it. Now, I'll have to log on with a cable, just the
same way she does it.

Also looking forward to a MBP for the summer to run some
video and design applications.

Thank you very much : ) !!! I'll keep you posted.

Kind regards,

igmolinav
 
Some iBooks have the Airport card immediately under the keyboard. If this is the case, it would be easy to replace it.
 
Hi Detrius,

Thank you : ) !!! I have been recommended a repair shop.
I´ll try it and let you know how it went.

Kind regards,

igmolinav
 
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