Keep getting kernel panics

[ataboc]

Hi! I have a late 2007 santa rosa macbook with 4gbs of ram and a 64gb SSD.

I also have two external drives hooked up. One for media and another for time machine which backs up media and the SSD.

For the past two days, I keep getting consistant kernel panics (about every 30 mins.) I have restored permissions on the SSD and repaired both external drives.

Is one of my drives failing?


thanks in advance!

 

[Makosuke]

Could be a failing hard drive, although in that case I'd expect long, semi-random pauses (with beachball) while accessing a bad file on the failing drive--I just had this happen to a Mini at home. More likely is failing RAM or motherboard (hope for the former!).

Find the discs that came with the computer and run the long scan in Apple Hardware Test, and see if it finds anything. There are times it won't even when something is failing, but it's worth a shot as a first-line test.

 

[ataboc]

Could be a failing hard drive, although in that case I'd expect long, semi-random pauses (with beachball) while accessing a bad file on the failing drive--I just had this happen to a Mini at home. More likely is failing RAM or motherboard (hope for the former!).

Find the discs that came with the computer and run the long scan in Apple Hardware Test, and see if it finds anything. There are times it won't even when something is failing, but it's worth a shot as a first-line test.

Great! thanks a lot!

I'll give it a shot when I get home and see what happens.

real quick, do you think 10.6 will let me use 10.5 disks?

 

[Makosuke]

Apple Hardware Test is its own OS that runs directly off the disc, so it doesn't matter at all what OS (if any) you have installed on the computer.

 

[ataboc]

Hi!

I ran the Apple Hardware test last night with no fails. When I checked the "perform extended testing", the test timed out while testing memory. I let it run overnight.

This may sound dumb but, I'm still under the hunch that one of my drives is bad. I'm going to leave it disconnected today and see what happens.

 

[Makosuke]

...the test timed out while testing memory.

When you say "timed out," do you mean that it reported that the test didn't complete? I've never seen that happen, and it sounds to me like an indication of either bad RAM or something wrong with the test disc itself (which seems unlikely).

I'll again repeat that while a failing hard drive is possible, the symptoms will usually be long hangs while the OS waits for the drive to run its error correction routine; listening closely will also usually have the drive making repetitive clicking noises as it repeatedly re-reads the bad sector.

If you got anything other than normal results of the hardware RAM test, that sounds like a more likely source of panics. You could download and try running Memtest for confirmation (which is more thorough than Apple's test):

http://www.command-tab.com/2008/01/11/how-to-test-ram-under-mac-os-x/

 

[ataboc]

When you say "timed out," do you mean that it reported that the test didn't complete? I've never seen that happen, and it sounds to me like an indication of either bad RAM or something wrong with the test disc itself (which seems unlikely).

I'll again repeat that while a failing hard drive is possible, the symptoms will usually be long hangs while the OS waits for the drive to run its error correction routine; listening closely will also usually have the drive making repetitive clicking noises as it repeatedly re-reads the bad sector.

If you got anything other than normal results of the hardware RAM test, that sounds like a more likely source of panics. You could download and try running Memtest for confirmation (which is more thorough than Apple's test):

http://www.command-tab.com/2008/01/11/how-to-test-ram-under-mac-os-x/

Hey, thanks again for your help. I appreciate it.

I'll give the memtest a shot after work.

with both drives disconnected, I witnessed another kernel panic.

I started up another Apple Hardware Test before I left to see what happens.

It would be nice if it was just a bad stick of ram. Only 30 bucks from Crutal...

Would you recommend testing one stick at a time?

 

[Makosuke]

Well, start with both sticks of RAM first and see if you can generate an error. If so, then try each individually, and if you're lucky you'll find which one is bad. If you're UNlucky, it could be the motherboard that's screwing up (I've seen at least one system that developed a bad slot in which no RAM would work, for example).

 

[ataboc]

Ran the extened Apple Hardware Test with no fails.

and two Memtests with zero fails as well.

I'll leave Memtest running tonight.