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Kernel panic one after another!?

MrSugar

MrSugar

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jul 28, 2003
614
0
Hi guys... bad BAD news.

So I was using my powerbook today at work, everything was working great. I put it to sleep to bring it back to my office and when I opened it I got a kernel panic, but not the pretty kind that asks you to boot off the computer. Tons of text on the screen. So I rebooted and now every time the computer gets to my log on screen it panics, the "please hold down your power button" image comes up.. over and over :(.. I thought macs didn't do this? I am just flustered what should I do? Reset pram (I did this, didn't help), what else?
 
This souonds like a hardware problem. I'm thinking that in toting it to work something, probably the AirPort card rattled a little loose. That might be enough to cause these KP's. Just remove, and reseat the AirPort card ans see if that fixes the problem.
 
It might not necessarily be hardware trouble. It could just be that the OS got corrupted somehow.I had a similar problem (KP on boot) when I tried to install 10.1 on top of Jaguar without reformatting. If it isn't the airport card, I'd recommend reformatting and trying to reinstall before you go looking for more expensive hardware problems. Handy tip: even when you can't boot, you can usually start in firewire target mode to back your stuff up on another machine.
 
MrSugar said:
Hi guys... bad BAD news.

So I was using my powerbook today at work, everything was working great. I put it to sleep to bring it back to my office and when I opened it I got a kernel panic, but not the pretty kind that asks you to boot off the computer. Tons of text on the screen. So I rebooted and now every time the computer gets to my log on screen it panics, the "please hold down your power button" image comes up.. over and over :(.. I thought macs didn't do this? I am just flustered what should I do? Reset pram (I did this, didn't help), what else?
Click to expand...


I just had a VERY similar problem with my 12" Rev B. Unfortunately mine WAS hardware related. First I'd recommend you -fsck the disk, then repair permissions. If that doesn't work you may want to clean install the OS... if that doesn't help then do a hard reformat and a clean install. I had the same problem with mine, except mine would only panic intermittently on startup (and it was NOT due to my Airport card, even though I believed it might have been).
 
Sun Baked said:
Have you tried booting into safe mode, run fsck, and Disk First Aid?
Click to expand...
I do not know how to boot in to safe mode on a Mac, lol usually it works so well that I never even thought of it.
 
i had some KP probs in the past (i think it was in 10.1) and Disk Warrior helped me through the dark times. it was bad enough that Norton couldn't even see my startup disk as a hard drive.

i'm curious how this turns out. keep us updated...
 
MrSugar said:
Hi guys... bad BAD news.

So I was using my powerbook today at work, everything was working great. I put it to sleep to bring it back to my office and when I opened it I got a kernel panic, but not the pretty kind that asks you to boot off the computer. Tons of text on the screen. So I rebooted and now every time the computer gets to my log on screen it panics, the "please hold down your power button" image comes up.. over and over :(.. I thought macs didn't do this? I am just flustered what should I do? Reset pram (I did this, didn't help), what else?
Click to expand...

Run the hardware test CD that came with your PB. Make sure you use the extended tests.

Also, you can try reseating the Airport Card/RAM.

If it continues to happen, backup everything and do a clean install of Panther. :(
 
titaniumducky said:
Run the hardware test CD that came with your PB. Make sure you use the extended tests.

Also, you can try reseating the Airport Card/RAM.

If it continues to happen, backup everything and do a clean install of Panther. :(
Click to expand...


BTW HW tests don't seem to test for jack.

I ran both and no problems showed up.

My 12" just had it's logic board replaced because I was getting panics both when running off my HD or an external.
 
vraxtus said:
BTW HW tests don't seem to test for jack.

I ran both and no problems showed up.

My 12" just had it's logic board replaced because I was getting panics both when running off my HD or an external.
Click to expand...

The consumer HW test CD isn't as deep as the one the authorized Apple repair shops use, but it most certainly CAN pinpoint some hardware problems. It has for me at least, and it's ALWAYS better to at least try this troubleshooting technique before reinstalling the OS. In fact I'm dismayed by how many people automatically suggest rolling out the big cannon, given that it almost never solves problems of this kind, which are nearly always hardware-related.

Remove all the RAM you can and any other plug-in items, such as Airport cards, then try it. Troubleshoot in logical, methodical steps and you'll find that carpet bombing is almost never necessary.
 
IJ Reilly said:
The consumer HW test CD isn't as deep as the one the authorized Apple repair shops use, but it most certainly CAN pinpoint some hardware problems. It has for me at least, and it's ALWAYS better to at least try this troubleshooting technique before reinstalling the OS. In fact I'm dismayed by how many people automatically suggest rolling out the big cannon, given that it almost never solves problems of this kind, which are nearly always hardware-related.

Remove all the RAM you can and any other plug-in items, such as Airport cards, then try it. Troubleshoot in logical, methodical steps and you'll find that carpet bombing is almost never necessary.
Click to expand...


I'm not disagreeing with you per se, but from my experience it didn't really give any solid results.

Furthermore even if it finds a hardware issue, and it's non Airport or RAM related... how do you plan on fixing that yourself? :confused:
 
vraxtus said:
BTW HW tests don't seem to test for jack.

I ran both and no problems showed up.

My 12" just had it's logic board replaced because I was getting panics both when running off my HD or an external.
Click to expand...

I'm in agreement with you there.

I've had power-on-self-tests tell me that one of the processors was failing and yet, the diagnostics CD-ROM told me that everything is fine.

MrSugar:

If you haven't run a disk repair application such as TechTool Pro 4 or DiskWarrior, do so at your earliest convenience. I have often found that KPs are the result of major problems with the volume structure. They can also be caused by faulty RAM and USB devices. I would suggest removing any USB devices to see if the situation continues. Also, if you have removable RAM sticks, try removing them or re-arranging them into the opposite slots.
 
bousozoku said:
Also, if you have removable RAM sticks, try removing them or re-arranging them into the opposite slots.
Click to expand...


He can't rearrange... the main DIMM is soldered to the logic board and there's only 1 free slot.
 
vraxtus said:
I'm not disagreeing with you per se, but from my experience it didn't really give any solid results.

Furthermore even if it finds a hardware issue, and it's non Airport or RAM related... how do you plan on fixing that yourself? :confused:
Click to expand...

The hardware test CD may tell you whether it's something you can fix, which much of the time, it is. It might also prevent unnecessary instances of OS reinstalls, which I find are almost never warranted. What puzzles me is why this is the first thing many people suggest as a solution to a problem, instead of something quick and non-invasive, like running the hardware test CD. It pays to take these things step by step, escalating as necessary, instead of taking the most drastic measures first.
 
vraxtus said:
He can't rearrange... the main DIMM is soldered to the logic board and there's only 1 free slot.
Click to expand...

He said "if." Removing the RAM from the bottom slot is a good diagnostic technique because it's a quick and easy test, and can't do any harm. I had bad RAM in the bottom slot of my PB, factory installed. It started causing random KPs after I upgraded to Panther. This is a VERY common cause of KPs and can crop up unexpectedly and for no apparent reason.

I also had RAM go bad in my Cube (how, I still don't know). The problem was accurately diagnosed in the hardware test, though for awhile I had trouble believing it and thus wasted a lot of time trying other things. In both cases, after I replaced the RAM, I was good to go.
 
IJ Reilly said:
He said "if." Removing the RAM from the bottom slot is a good diagnostic technique because it's a quick and easy test, and can't do any harm. I had bad RAM in the bottom slot of my PB, factory installed. It started causing random KPs after I upgraded to Panther. This is a VERY common cause of KPs and can crop up unexpectedly and for no apparent reason.
...
Click to expand...

Thank you! :)
 
Update:

Okay, so I have been working crazy time for the past couple days and just don't have time to really sit down with it. But that might work out okay, here is my plan of attack.

Start up into FW Disk mode and transfer all my files that are not most recent to my G5.

Check to make sure the airport card is seated properly.

Run extended version of Hardware test CD I got with the Powerbook.

This will be a good start I think, if you guys have any other suggestions please let me know.

Thanks so much for everything so far, sorry I haven't been responding as quickly .. time is tight at the moment.
 
Okay, so I went in to re-mount the airport card, but I can't find it on the 17". I looked around and the only really good guide for doing it is on the 15". I think that maybe because the 17" comes with it on all models that it's harder to get to... what should I do? I searched this forum and googled for a bit but no guide that I Could find on how to do it for a 17".. any suggestions?

EDIT: So.. after doing a few more searches (mainly just trying to figure out where the AE card is in my 17") .. I have decided I am not touching it with a 10 foot poll. I am perfectally comfortable working with computer hardware, but I am not comfortable with voiding my warrenty.

17logicb.jpg
 
I don't blame you, especially if you're still under warranty, and may in the end need to exercise your coverage. I trust the photo is not of your dissected PB!

If the AirPort card was factory installed, don't worry about that one. The optional RAM should be easy to remove.

How'd the hardware test come out?
 
okay... so this is really really weird

I re-seated the memory, then booted off panther and ran a disk repair followed by a repair permissions. The first time I repaired permissions it kp'd with text all over the screen but after running a disk repair repairing the permissions worked.

So then I attempted to boot up, it went to a blue screen with the spinning gray cirlce then to a black log on screen for the Darwin console. After trying to log in and not being able to it went back to booting up.

I got to the normal OSX login screen, got into OSX .. so I am a bit cautious, I play around and try things out. Seems fine, however, then I open up my hard drive and attempt to browse to certain directories -- the finder freaks out -- bugs out and re-launches the finder, over and over very quickly.

After another reboot it starts up fine, no odd login screen. I get to the desktop and start trying to go to the same directories as before in the finder. This time after browsing through a couple of them it kernel panics on me... I do a hard re-boot. Now in the middle of booting up, when it is still on the white screen with the apple and spinning gray cirlce is kp's.

Now I put in the hardware test CD .... I will let you know how it goes.


I love my Macs, and I love how perfect and stable they have been up until this point. But I have to say it worries me now that I have seen the bad side of what can happen (until now it has been like living in a dream world I thought would never end). I realize that it could have been something I installed or ran, or perhaps not and some hardware has failed (I will find out soon) either way I guess it's just frustrating and kind of nerve wrecking. Of course in comparison, I have done things like this on windows soooo many countless times it makes me sick.

anyway, again thanks for the help
 
Hardware test came back as all okay and passed. I guess that is good although as some as you have said it might not be totally reliable.

So I have now booted into X (no KPs yet) and am ftping in some info for my company so it is backed up. The system now seems to be fine, but I don't trust it. I have had it up about 20 minutes and browsed around the whole hard drive.. no KP yet.

I still think the best solution is to do a full backup of my stuff onto my Powermac and re-install panther cleanly.

Any thoughts?
 
MrSugar said:
I still think the best solution is to do a full backup of my stuff onto my Powermac and re-install panther cleanly.

Any thoughts?
Click to expand...


And you are right. Back things up, do that clean install and if it still panics (without installing anything else), you have a clear hardware issue on your hands.
 
like other people said it could either be a hardware or software problem. And like others said try backing it up and just reinstalling...i guess...

EDIT: THIS WAS MY 500'th POST...WHOOOOOOOT!!!!!!!!
 
Whoa, doggie! Here we go with the big cannons again.

Don't just reseat the RAM, remove whatever RAM you can.

After that, try resetting the PMU. (http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=14449)

And before I wiped the drive and reinstalled OSX, I'd either (1) try an archive and install, which at least preserves your user directories, or (2) [gasp!] bringing the PB into an authorized repair shop.

I'm still about 95% certain you've got a hardware problem that will not be fixed by reinstalling.
 
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