kernel panic problem

1. Repair Permissions.
2. Restart.
3. Software Update.
4. Restart.
5. Repair Permissions.
6. Restart.
7. Hardware Test.

Let us know if you still get a panic.

 

This is straight from OS 10.3's Help menu:

Search for "repair permissions" and you get this entry:

My Mac runs slowly or I can't open a file or application

Occasionally the user permissions associated with files or applications become damaged, which can prevent a file or application from opening. This problem can also cause the computer to run very slowly. If you have either of these problems, you may be able to fix them by using Disk Utility to repair permissions on the startup disk.

You can only verify or repair disk permissions on the startup disk.

To repair permissions on the startup disk:
1. Open Disk Utility, located in Applications/Utilities, and select the startup disk in the left column.
2. Click First Aid.
3. Click Verify Disk Permissions to test permissions or Repair Disk Permissions to test and repair permissions.

Repairing permissions is also a good maintenance task after updating the system or installing new software.

 

I have NEVER had a kernal panic on my year old PowerBook - always keep it in tip top shape by running permissions, cron, etc. After the last system update I've been getting a KP at least once a week - frustrating.

 

I hate to implicate it...but have any of you gotten Firefox 1.0? I did too, and I got a KP this morning....it's the only thing I've done to my iBook recently. Well, hopefully it's a coincidence. I'm going through permissions repairs and cron and so on, right now, to try to prevent more.

 

Cron is a scheduler in unix systems that runs tasks automatically. In the Mac world, it's big thing is to run some system housekeeping tasks weekly. They usually shouldn't be things that cause KP's but it's on the rule-out list... The tasks normally run on Friday nights, I think. If your computer is not usually running at that time, you can use a program such as MacJanitor, or a terminal command, to force them to run. Macjanitor link below, for more info, try searching for "cron" in these forums.

http://personalpages.tds.net/~brian_hill/macjanitor.html

I think the hardware test is on the install CD/DVD, but I'm not sure on that part.

 

No, it comes on a separate CD. You just stick the CD in the CD drive, restart, and hold down the 'C' key. Instant hardware test screen! There is TechTools 4, which can do it while you are running OS X, but the Apple Hardware Test CD is what you want to start off of.

 

From your first dump, "getnewvnode" fails. According to one of my BSD Unix guides, the vnode is the focus of all file activity in UNIX. There is a unique vnode allocated for each active file, each current directory, each mounted-on file, text file, and the root. Vnodes are not examined or used by the kernel.

OK, if you always get a KP that mentions getnewvnode, that probably means that a particular program is failing to allocate a file properly. Your dump doesn't give an indication as to what program made the call, so no help there. If you get more random causes for KP's, then it's more than likely either a pending hard drive failure or a memory problem.

More people than I can count have fixed all sorts of seemingly unrelated problems by removing and/or replacing memory DIMM's. Have you added any new memory lately? My suggestions in order of likelihood:

1. Bad memory--remove or replace experimentally
2. Corrupted program--could reinstall some programs experimentally or just wipe and reinstall everything from scratch.
3. Hard drive going bad--so sorry, but it happens.

You might also try fixing up some file system junk by doing this:

1. Open up the terminal
2. type 'fsck' (fsck might do it's thing for a while or finish quickly with no comment at all)
3. type 'sudo update_prebinding -force -root /' (this will update your prebindings--will likely run for a while)
4. type 'diskutil repairpermissions /' (again, will run for a while--be patient)
5. close the terminal and restart

Good Luck,

WCat

 

I know I'm not wcat but....

....Macintosh HD>Applications>Utilities>Terminal.

 

I gave you the wrong info on fsck

Oops, sorry about that, but fsck should be run from single-user mode in order to work properly in Panther. Do this:

1. Reboot the computer, holding down the 'command' (that's the Apple key) and the 's' key at the same time until you see white text on a black background scrolling by. This puts you in single-user mode.

2. When the text stops, type the following: '/sbin/fsck -fy' and hit enter. That tells the file system consistency check utility to do its thing automatically. You may see some status info print out. If it comes back with the message 'file system was modified', run it again by typing the same line again. You're looking for it to finally say 'no problems found'.

3. Type 'reboot' and then let your computer boot up normally again.

4. Now go ahead with the other advise on prebinding, etc., by running the terminal, which is in the 'Utilities' folder in your main 'Applications' folder. Terminal is a text-only mode thingy that lets you talk directly to Unix. Kinda like the old dos prompt in Windows (and pre-Windows era).

For backup info, here are links to Apple Knowledge Base Articles about this:

This link explains pretty much what I just described about fsck and single-user mode.

This article gives some examples of benign messages that fsck might give you if you're running the journalled file system (default in Panther).

Cheers,

WCat

 

You might want to bookmark this link:

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=89736

It explains how to do some common housekeeping / repair things on your Mac, screenshots included.

 

One of my favorite, wicked-fine short cuts: find the utility script "AppleJack" on Versiontracker, and install. Then restart in single user mode, and type "applejack" at the prompt. You'll see a menu that allows you to automagically run all of the maintenance scripts you're being instructed on how to type laboriously at the command line on terminal.