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iBook G4 Kernel Panic and freezing...

coachingguy

coachingguy

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Feb 7, 2003
702
224
The Great White, Albeit Frozen North
Okay, here's the deal. My old iBook G4, which I've passed on to my wife when I got my MB, has been bulletproof until yesterday, when the dreaded grey - Kernel Panic screen began appearing seconds after start up. After many hours of working on it, I was able to get in while holding down the "D" key. I reset the permissions, verified the HD, cleared the start up items... After 10 minutes, the panics were back. So today, after much work trying to get in, I was able to erase (zero out) the HD and install 10.5. I had to restart the install multiple times because even this would freeze up. So anyways, the only thing on the iBook now is 10.5 and I'm still getting regular (every 5 minutes) Kernel Panics. I pulled out my 1 gig RAM from OWC to see if that was the issue - no change. Could it be the HD? Does anyone have any suggestions?

Oh, after multiple efforts I was able to run the hdw diagnostic, it comes up fine.

Also, the computer feels to be running really warm when I can get it to stay on for more than a few minutes at a time. On the Apple iBook bd, there seems to be a lot of failures of many hdw things: issues with Airport card, logic board, video card etc... They all seem to be happening at once - now. Does anyone else know of these issues?

Coachingguy
 
Do you have an external drive you could boot form to test if it's the internal drive causing the problem? To be honest though, hard drive failure doesn't usually happen like this. There are usually more warnings (clicking sound, erratic behaviour, sometimes data loss) and when dead it rarely panics but rather it just doesn't work. It might be time to take it into a technician to get them to run some more thorough diagnostics. :)
 
Here are some general troubleshooting tips that may help:

Reset NVRAM / PRAM - Mac OS X only stores five things in PRAM: Time Zone, Startup Disk, Speaker Volume, DVD Region Setting, Kernel Panic information (only on first reboot after a panic). See Knowledge Base article 86194, "Mac OS X: What Is Stored in PRAM?" If you are resetting PRAM in an attempt to resolve other issues in Mac OS X, you're using the wrong technique.

Resetting Open Firmware - Open Firmware contains your startup disk information, artificial limits on RAM or CPUs, and persistent settings for safe, verbose or single-user modes.

Reset PMU - A computer's PMU (Power Management Unit) is relevant to sleep/wake issues, battery issues (such as not charging at all), power-on issues or port issues (USB/FireWire ports appear dead). http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=14449

Make a new network location - Turning off network ports is quicker and less disruptive than making new network locations

Archive and Install to fix irreparable disk directory damage - The disk directory is not something that is installed, but rather a way the disk keeps track of what is installed. It's like cooking in a broken pot. Emptying and refilling the pot does not fix the pot.

Get a copy of Disk Warrior and use it.
 
What does your kernel panic log say? You can access it from the console.

Reason I'm asking is my wife's iBook G4 has started to get kernel panics in the last week or so - it's now a daily occurrence. I ran the extended hardware test overnight (43 loops) - no prob. I reset the PMU, too. Still no fix.

So tonight I checked the logs and the panics are always exactly the same, with the #1 item on the traceback list as AirPort. Just now I turned AirPort off and plugged her in with CAT5. I figure if it goes a week with no panics then it's gotta be her Airport. Question is - what then? I got a feeling that a new mobo for her 2 year old laptop will be $$$.
 
I started having exactly the same problems just over a week ago on my iBook G4 - and I am noticing there are other threads here about this. I went through all the possibilities with an Apple engineer, no result, and as I am covered by an extended warranty the iBook is going to be repaired - the engineer thinks it is a hardware problem. I am wondering though if it is something else, maybe related to the latest round of updates?
 
AirPort kernel panics

I've been having this same problem for the last couple of days with my ibook G4. I get the lovely kernel panic screen over and over. I took it to the genius bar, and the guy said it was probably the logic board, and seeing that I don't have the extended warranty, it wasn't really worth repairing. He couldn't tell me what was wrong, but since bringing it back home, I've realized that it's the airport that's causing all the problems - the computer works fine when I have the airport off. Does anyone know if it's still a problem with the logic board, or if it's simply the airport hardware?
 
It's probably not the hardware, I've got same problem and just switched out the airport card for a new one (which is not for the faint of heart on a G4 iBook). Same problem wih new card.
 
when airport creates KPs , it's usually not the hardware, i've had this problem before, its quite random. generally the router is the problem or its firmware, you should check if there a firmware update available at the router's website, you can also try with a different router.
 
karnsculpture said:
I started having exactly the same problems just over a week ago on my iBook G4 - and I am noticing there are other threads here about this. I went through all the possibilities with an Apple engineer, no result, and as I am covered by an extended warranty the iBook is going to be repaired - the engineer thinks it is a hardware problem. I am wondering though if it is something else, maybe related to the latest round of updates?
Click to expand...

Have you gotten your iBook back yet? Did apple fix it and if so, what did they say it was Logic Board or Airport or something else?

Thanks

Coachingguy
 
Hi deadpixels, Hi all,
Sorry I not see before your problem.
the problem is the contacts in the contacts between the airport card and the logic board. The delicate contacts can not stand that heat so lose forces and enough one of give up and stop the data stream for that we get kernel panic. Change the logic (mother) board or/and the airport card will not solve the problem for longer time.
Typical design problem. Give up. Apple will not admit it only if the people will go to the court.I will not buy any more Apple computer until they not solve this. Think about it.
Good luck,
doki
 
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