how to make your 12-inch PB crash

[Foxer]

I was somewhat distraught recently because my 12-inch powerbook had the penchant for crashing with more regularity than I would like. (I am defining crash as the window popping up telling me in several languages that something very bad has happened and I must hard-restart the machine.) Doesn't matter if I'm word processing, internetting, DVD-watching or nothing is running except OSX.

Well, I figure out out what it is. If I try to pick up the machine from the front-left (as I look at it) quadrant, it crashes. Everytime. Conversely, it never crashes at other times.

I guess I'm pinching the hard drive or something. Would that cause the crash? Any techies know? Anybody else have this experience?

 

[Schiffi]

Word of advice, don't move the mac unless it's slepping/off.

Then again I tried what you did and I had no error. Then again I have a 15".

 

[Mblazened]

you should not be getting these errors. If it is truly movement related, take it to a service center and get it fixed.

 

[jxyama]

Over on the official Apple discussion site, a problem very similar to yours was discussed in length... The culprit was the AE card. If you have it, it's potentially the source of the problem. Try taking the card out and putting it back in more firmly to see if the problem goes away or not... I hope it does.

You should not get kernel panics that often, consistently... so if above doesn't solve the problem, you will have to get your machine checked out...

 

[Foxer]

I'll try the AE card fix. Maybe that will solve it.


After reading the threads at Apple support, it sure sounds like my problem. Now I REALLY want to leave work and go home to try the fix. Two more hours...

I'll post if this fixes it. (or if not)

 

[Freg3000]

Mine doesn't do this......Sorry if you are having problems.

 

[icetraxxg5]

yeah, if you frequently have kernal panics (computer forces you to force shut it down) it is most likely caused by a flaky MacOS X install or a hardware issue.

 

[patrick0brien]

-Foxer

It could very well be the AE card. I've noticed that the one in mine can slowly work a bit loose if it's not completely seated (I experimented with this )

 

[KershMan]

The AE Fix worked for me

I had this same problem up to about a month ago and found the AE fix on the Apple support site. I took my AE card out, put it back in and made sure it was completely in place and then made sure the wire was fully in place.

Since then not one kernel panic. The AE card and wire seem a little hard to get completely seated.

I have repeatedly tried to make the kernel panic come back by grabing the left side near the track pad and nothing.

All is good now.