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iBook G4 kernel panic on 10.4.11

E

EEcuber17

macrumors member
Original poster
Aug 4, 2005
96
0
Illinois, US
I recently downgraded my iBook back to Tiger a few weeks ago. I wanted to do a clean install and I had left my Leopard disk at school. After the install I found my iBook to work just great with Tiger and was content with keeping it that way. I keep all my music and photos on an external hard drive, so it was just a matter of relinking the libraries in iTunes and iPhoto.

Anyway I came back to my computer tonight, just surfing the net like usual, and all of a sudden I get the ominous gray box: "Please restart your computer. Hold down the power button and then restart." I did a bit of research on the other computer in my house and I think came to the conclusion this is some type of kernel error.

Now whenever I try to restart the computer, it doesn't get much past the login screen until the error comes up again. I can't even hit the back arrow at the login and try to shut down properly. I've probably had to hard-restart my iBook over 10 times now, Im really freaking out. I love this computer.

I have the install CD disk 1 for Tiger. How do I boot from this? I really really, really want to be able to at least drag some files from my desktop to my external before I can be ok with wiping the drive. How can I recover some files?

How bad is this?

Please help, I should've headed to bed a long time ago but Im pretty worried. My stats are in my signature, thanks.
 
Try this:

1. Shut down your computer. Be sure the computer is turned off.
2. Press the power button to turn on the computer.
3. After you hear the startup chime, press and hold the Shift key on your keyboard.
4. Release the Shift key when you see the startup screen with the Apple logo and the progress indicator. During the startup, you will see "Safe Boot" on the Mac OS X startup screen.

This will boot in safe mode. If it works you may have some extension problem.
This will also do a directory check.

If you want to reinstall you should boot from the disc (holding the C key at startup). Doing a archive and install should conserve your file for a later recovery. I would run disk utility from the cd before reinstalling, to check the disk.

Beware that if there is some hardware problem you may lose the data.
 
First, don't panic! :)
Second, if redmans suggestions don't do the trick, go here for a guide on how to deal with non-screwdriver issues with ibook G4's.

EDIT: sorry guys - a dB failure meant we lost ye olde hint guide to the ages....
EDIT #2: a copy was found! and more importantly, reposted and linked to above
 
Ok I tried to follow your directions and stuff I've been reading online. It came to the point that I COULD boot in safe mode and nothing would crash. So I got in and recovered everything I needed to and moved it to my external.

Last night I booted from the Tiger install disk 1 and reinstalled Tiger with a clean install, hoping to fix the problem. It looked like everything was OK after it rebooted. It showed the welcome video and started asking for my name and info then all of a sudden, there was the error again. "Please restart your computer", another kernel panic.

What do I do? I just did a fresh install of osX and still I get the error. Does this mean the problem is hardware related? But when I booted in safe mode, no error occurred..

Thanks for the help.
 
When you boot in safe mode some of the kernel extension are not loaded. Only those really required are. For that reason some function of the mac are not available in safe mode.
It could be that a piece of hardware has a problem and the kernel extension isn't one of the necessary to boot in safe mode. So the system has problem only when it try to load that extension.

Since you reinstalled from scratch I'd say to use the discs that came with your iBook to do a Hardware check.

To use Apple Hardware Test:
1 Disconnect all external devices from your computer except the keyboard and mouse.
If you have an Ethernet cable connected, disconnect it.
2 Insert the Mac OS X Install Disc 1 that came with your computer.
3 Restart your computer and hold down the Option key as it starts up.
A list of available startup volumes appears.
4 Click Apple Hardware Test and click the right arrow.
5 Follow the onscreen instructions when the Apple Hardware Test main screen appears
(after about 45 seconds).
6 If Apple Hardware Test detects a problem, it displays an error code. Make a note of the
error code before pursuing support options. If Apple Hardware Test does not detect a
hardware failure, the problem may be software related.

For more information about Apple Hardware Test, see the Apple Hardware Test Read Me file on the Mac OS X Install Disc 1.
Also try the test of the hard drive, always in the Hardware test utility It can take a long time but at this point it's worth it.

I would first check the drive with Disk Utilities if you haven't yet. Just boot with the install disc and select Disk Utilities from the menu. It's important to check the SMART status, on bottom left of the Disk utilities window.
 
Ok I just booted from the disk and did an extended hardware test. Everything passed, no errors came up. So it asked me to restart my computer or shut it down. I hit shut down, then a minute or two later restarted the computer. Before I even got to the login-screen I got the error again.

So because the hardware test didn't have any errors is it software related? How though, I just reinstalled osX? Where should I go from here? thanks.
 
EEcuber17 said:
Ok I just booted from the disk and did an extended hardware test. Everything passed, no errors came up. So it asked me to restart my computer or shut it down. I hit shut down, then a minute or two later restarted the computer. Before I even got to the login-screen I got the error again.

So because the hardware test didn't have any errors is it software related? How though, I just reinstalled osX? Where should I go from here? thanks.
Click to expand...

Did you do the hard drive test too? The one with the complete sector check?
 
The advice others are giving is good. Follow those steps to rule out a hardware issue.

If no hardware issues come up, thank whatever deity you worship and then try reformatting the hard disk (after you get all your data off the computer first, of course.) Sometimes a reinstall of the operating system isn't enough.

You might also try running the disk repair, although honestly, I've had little luck with that solving these kinds of problems. If you've already cleared all your important data off the machine, a disk reformat and OS reinstall is the best bet (assuming it's not hardware.)

On a personal note, hang in there and try not to get too discouraged. Diagnosing kernel panics is probably the more exasperating thing you'll ever encounter on a Mac. The cause can be pretty elusive. If it continues to happen after a disk reformat and OS install, you may want to look at your RAM which is a typical cause of kernel panics. Try removing any RAM you have installed to see if the problem goes away. I was experiencing almost the exact same issue you describe, and it turned out to that my RAM was failing. The frustrating part is that Apple's hardware test did not catch it.
 
It looks like the next thing to do is try reformating the harddrive. I'll pop back in the disk and try this, then reinstall Tiger. Be back.
 
Remember to write zeroes when doing the formatting. That will help in case of bad blocks on the drive. Beware it may take a while!
 
EEcuber17 said:
Can you please explain how to do this? Whats the best way to reformat?
Click to expand...

1. In Disk Utility, select the disk you want to erase and click Erase.
2. Specify a volume format and name for the disk.
3. Click Security Options and select Zero Out Data. Click OK.
4. Click Erase.
 
Omg! I think that worked. Im passed the registration start-up and everything. Im doing a system update now, it's installing the new iTunes and upgrading to 10.4.11. Any reasons why I shouldn't upgrade?

If everything is clear sailing from now, thank you guys so much. Youre awesome.

Well, Ive got some bad news to pass on. I thought everything was looking great. I could open all the programs and safari worked great, started adding some bookmarks and changing settings. Then I did a software update, and the iTunes and iTunes iPhone package upgrades went red with a network error like the server wasn't responding to download them. So it skipped them and downloaded 10.4.11, then asked me to restart. Did so, it restarted. Come back and do another software update, there's tons more items on the list, again the iTunes and iTunes iPhone package wouldn't download. But, mid-download the computer started to slow down and the spinning ball came up, then I was getting frustrated and soon enough the error I've been seeing this whole time came on the screen: "please restart your computer. hold down the power button...".

MANNNNNNNNN....now what? I did a zero reformat and installed the base osX 10.4.2 with no extras. It seemed like it was working fine until I upgraded to 10.4.11, but why would that have anything to do with it? I wish I had a leopard CD to try going straight to leopard.

Now any suggestions? thanks.
 
Damn! Well, you've pretty much eliminated software causes at this point. It's very likely hardware. I would still follow up on the weird download problem you mentioned. I've had interrupted updates cause kernel panics before so you may want to (once again) reinstall the OS just to rule that out. You don't have to reformat the drive again. A failed update won't affect the hard drive.

If that doesn't work, look at the RAM. Do you have any third-party RAM in your iBook? If so, take it out and try running it with just the factory-installed memory. See if the kernel panics go away. If they go away, then chances are you have bad RAM and will need to replace it. If you've never removed or installed RAM before, you will want to read up on the proper way to do it beforehand.

If you rule out bad RAM as the source, your hardware issue may go a little deeper and you may want to seek the assistance of a professional computer tech.
 
Oh, sorry about that. actually it could still be an hard drive problem. If your drive is failing you may have repaired the bad blocks with the formatting, but more bad blocks appeared after that. Usually the SMART status in the Disk utilities (bottom right corner of the window should give you a hint about a failing harddrive). A third party utility to test the drive and get a response about the presence of bad blocks would be very useful. If you have an external empty drive you could try installing there.

As the previous poster pointed out check the RAM. Also be sure to remove any third party equipment when you test and reinstall the sytem.
 
Thought I'd give you guys an update.

-I did another disk format with zeros, then reinstalled Tiger. Got another Error.
-Removed my 1 gig stick of ram, formated, installed Tiger. Computer ran great for an hour, cleared all updates, then Error.
-I was thinking about maybe trying to get a hold of a Leopard install disk to try booting to that, Idk.

I think I am out of options. Im moving to chicago this weekend, so I plan to just go an apple store there and ask what to do. My little iBook is way past warranty. Around how much are these repairs looking to be? Thanks for all your guys' help along the way.
 
The cost will depend from what must be done. If it's the drive or the ram you are better out changing them yourself. If it's the motherboard I ould think about getting a new mac. Well, once you get a response from the shop I am sure you will know what to do. ;)
 
Once again we learn what we should already know: that kernel panics are overwhelmingly caused by hardware issues and can rarely be fixed by reinstalling OSX. Passing the hardware test proves nothing; only flunking it provides any information as to the cause. If removing and replacing RAM doesn't cure the problem, then the need for service from Apple is virtually assured.
 
iBook design flaw

Not sure if you're still wondering about this problem, but try Googling "iBook G4 1.33 kernel panic" and see what comes up. It's a pretty widespread problem with this particular iBook. The problem is the Airport card being built-in rather than in a slot like previous iBooks. Sometimes re-seating the module can resolve the issue, but there is no fix that always works.

I've done more "repairs" on this model iBook for kernel panics than I can count. Apple's official fix is to replace the logic board + Airport module, but that doesn't necessarily fix it. I have an iBook here right now that's had two logic board + Airport replacements and it's back again with kernel panics.

There are some videos on YouTube and elsewhere showing some other fixes (like putting paper between the module and the logic board). Since it's out of warranty it can't hurt too much to poke around as long as you feel comfortable inside a laptop. Otherwise, you're looking at a new logic board that may or may not fix it.
 
G4 Airport Extreme Kernel Panic Fix

1. take battery and power cord out/off of Ibook
2. Wait......scratch yourself......wait some more.
3 Put battery/Power cord back in.
4. turn on machine, with the intention o turning off the airport card as soon as ****you see the icon (fast, fast, fast)
5. if your machine doesn't Kernel Panic with the airport turned off, then ****"Robert is your fathers brother".
6. go to the afterthemac website, and order their $45 US USB WIFI STICK. it
****works perfectly, and is same color as IBook :D
 
My iBook G4 recently started having this exact problem, frequent random kernel panics, usually during boot or shortly after. I was able to boot from the install DVD and repair disk/permissions but that didn't help much. I took it to my authorized Apple repair shop and they ran all their diagnostics, wiped and reinstalled the disk, tried different kb, external disk, etc., with no good result. Swapping RAM is not possible because it has 512MB soldered to the board.

So if I understand the previous message(s) correctly, it's possible that just disabling Airport will mask the problem?
 
iBook airport extreme kernel panic

I had a 1.42 Ghz late '05 iBook with this kernel panic issue too. The symptoms were: frequent kernel panics when airport was is use, chime on boot but would not load bootx off HDD - this was remedied only by waiting 10 min before attempting again, booting to OF with an invalid memory access error - coupled with OF being unable to open the hd:\ device, successful boot from install DVD (10.4.6) and would run first time off HD - before configuring airport.

Reinstalled HD, did not help.

I fixed the issues by reworking the solder joints on the airport card's MB connector, for good measure I added a shim under the card's bracket too. See: http://www.instructables.com/id/Fixing_a_broken_iBook_G4_with_Airport_kernel_panic/ for instructions.

:mad: This RHOS compliance thing has got to stop! You're not saving the environment by using lead-free solder. It causes products to break in half the time making it necessary to manufacture twice as many! The product with the lowest environmental impact is the one that didn't need to be built!
 
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