kernel panics making me lose my mind :(

[vm7118]

so... i started getting them about once a day. reinstalled os x, still got them. and they became more frequent... sometimes once every 10 minutes, and the screen would stay black for 2-3 min before i could successfully restart.

did another clean install of os x, and vista x64, for fun. vista is far more stable than os x, but i've still gotten a couple BSOD's (about once a day).

the kernel panic logs are inconsistent... sometimes it says kernel trap at the top, sometimes some other thing. usually kernel trap.

at the bottom, the process it references varies wildly. sometimes airport, sometimes kernel_task, sometimes firefox.

i'd post a couple now (have them all saved) but sadly i am running in vista

what does this sound like? bad RAM? hopefully it's not a bad disk or a bad logic board/cpu, since i just had my logic board replaced because of the dreaded 8600m debacle, and i just bought a new hitachi 7k320 a few weeks ago. and the RAM would be a bitch too.

i run a 2.4 SR (merom - pre-penryn) with 4gb RAM, 256mb 8600m, leopard, vista x64.

help me!

 

[Sun Baked]

Time to try swapping in the factory RAM, to see if the problem goes away.

Kernel_task is a big memory swap routine (maybe, I think), so this might be an indication of bad RAM.

 

[IJ Reilly]

I concur, a hardware problem, more than likely bad RAM.

Also, another lesson on the value of reinstalls for curing kernel panics.

 

[vm7118]

here...

that's what i figured. since they remained during the new install, and even in windows, i figured it had to have been hardware. RAM is easier to replace than logic board/cpu at least.

do you guys think the bad RAM led me to writing corrupted data to the disk? i've only had this install for a couple days now. i hope i don't have to redo it all

i will post the latest panic logs too... the last panic referenced kernel trap at the top, and WindowServer was the only BSD process name at the bottom.

 

[darkcurse]

I have also noticed more Kernel Panics ever since installing Logic Studio and while using Mainstage. Not radically more, just more than my usual once a year

 

[danny_w]

I was getting a lot of kernel panics and random freezes on my MB when running 10.5.4, but I had never seen one before upgrading from 10.5.2 (at least as far as I can remember). I recently reinstalled 10.5.2 (archive & installed 10.5.1, upgraded to 10.5.2) and have not had any problems since then.

 

[IJ Reilly]

Kernel panics can cause disk directory errors but I would not worry about that too much now. Find the source of the problem first then run Disk Utility (or fsck in Single User mode) to find and/or correct disk issues.

 

[vm7118]

swapped the factory RAM back in, thought it was good, and within an hour i experienced another kernel panic.

then another. then a panic on boot, before the apple even showed up.

then strange writing with a blank mac address listed on the top left of the screen (MAC 00:00:00:00...), with some other writing beneath it.

all intermixed with kernel panics referencing ACPI, kernel_task, OSServer, Launcher, etc... i could be slightly off with the names, just pulling from memory here.

needless to say it was obviously a hardware problem, so i swapped back in the factory hard drive, and the notebook has been running strong for 4 hours now. fantastic. even put my 4gb of RAM back in, and it's still good. looks like the hard disk went bad, and not the RAM.

it was a brand new hitachi 7k320... any hope of saving it? maybe zero all the free space, with a 7 or 35 pass? is it even worth it?

i have to mention, though, that i didn't really like that disk. battery life was only marginally better than my stock seagate 7k160, and it introduced quite a bit more vibration in the palmrest area, and i'm noticing the lack of vibration with the seagate back in.

it was my first experience with a hitachi disk, and i must say i'm not very happy