Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Mac Kernel Panics when booting from DVD and no HD screws.

S

sjvirchow

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 22, 2011
12
0
I've got two questions:

I received a Macbook Pro 17" that doesn't have a hard drive. I popped in my snow leopard DVD (MBP still doesn't have a hard drive) to see if it would boot. It does! I turn off the Mac, and, just to make sure, try it again. It does the usual startup chime, I hit option and select the DVD. It appears like it's going to boot just fine, but after a while it kernel panics. Each and every time. Is this because there's no hard drive in the Mac? There's no hard drive because I don't have the mounting bracket or screws to secure it in place. Could I just lay the hard drive on something inside the mac? So here's my questions:
1.) Why does it crash when booting from the SL DVD, but it worked fine once.
2.) Can I lay my hard drive on something inside the mac?
 
2. Just place a hard drive in where the hard drive usually goes. As long as there's no extreme movement (dropping/shaking your MBP) you should be fine.
Then see if it still panics. If it doesn't, you'll have your answer to 1.
 
But the bottom of the hard drive (where there's a circuit board) would be touching aluminum. Wouldn't that short out the drive?
 
No. If you think about it, Even on desktop computers, metal from the hard drive is touching metal from the drive chassis which is touching metal from the case. It should be fine. I actually disassembled a seagate external drive a couple days ago- upon opening, it was wrapped in a thick aluminum foil blanket- most likely a cheap heat sink. If you're too worried, you could cut a piece of cardboard the shape of the drive and place it underneath the drive. But really, I don't foresee a problem.

Remember- it's just a temporary fix, so placing a piece of cardboard between the hard drive and circuit board won't hurt anything. Once you have your answer, you can order the drive chassis.
 
sjvirchow said:
I've got two questions:

I received a Macbook Pro 17" that doesn't have a hard drive. I popped in my snow leopard DVD (MBP still doesn't have a hard drive) to see if it would boot. It does! I turn off the Mac, and, just to make sure, try it again. It does the usual startup chime, I hit option and select the DVD. It appears like it's going to boot just fine, but after a while it kernel panics. Each and every time. Is this because there's no hard drive in the Mac? There's no hard drive because I don't have the mounting bracket or screws to secure it in place. Could I just lay the hard drive on something inside the mac? So here's my questions:
1.) Why does it crash when booting from the SL DVD, but it worked fine once.
2.) Can I lay my hard drive on something inside the mac?
Click to expand...


I had this same problem with an MBP. I had an retail DVD of 10.6 and tried to install a new drive. It would try to load then crash, turns out if your machine once had a newer os installed the 10.6 will not work. The work around for me was to get my hands on the restore disk for the model I had. I was trying to install 10.6 on my machine but is was shipped with 10.6.3 from what I've read you can't start from an os that was earlier then what it was shipped with.
 
No dice. It still kernel panics. The drive I'm using is completely blank by the way. I can't boot from the Snow Leopard disc.
 
Reflow's suggestion holds weight as well. It'd be best if you could run the Apple Hardware Test on it to see what's wrong but you'll still need the original install discs.

Do you have a bootable hard drive with OS X on it? If so, boot from that drive by pressing the option button as soon as you turn on the MBP. If you dont have a bootable drive, take the drive you place in the MBP, place it in an external case, install OS X on it, then boot from it in the manner I just explained.
 
sjvirchow said:
No dice. It still kernel panics. The drive I'm using is completely blank by the way. I can't boot from the Snow Leopard disc.
Click to expand...

One way around this is if you have an apple store near you take it in. Tell them you lost your restore disk and your drive failed...
 
Does anybody have a hunch as to what could be causing this? I got it to work once, and I brought it into a apple authorized service place (no apple store nearby) and it worked fine when they tried it.
 
sjvirchow said:
Does anybody have a hunch as to what could be causing this? I got it to work once, and I brought it into a apple authorized service place (no apple store nearby) and it worked fine when they tried it.
Click to expand...

Maybe you need to find some screws to mount that drive, then work on the other problem. If you have an apple authorized place maybe you can get some free screws from them and maybe if you ask them nicely they'll install the os for you. It's worth a shot.
 
sjvirchow said:
But the bottom of the hard drive (where there's a circuit board) would be touching aluminum. Wouldn't that short out the drive?
Click to expand...

Only if he put it in that way.

With the default connector position, the label-side would be touching the aluminum case. Which is how I've always installed drives into my MBP... but as long as the MBP remains stationary and not moved while powered up... still, I'd recommend getting screws or else getting screwed would be the only inevitable outcome... inserting cardboard as leverage material would cause problems with heating as well...
 
thermodynamic said:
Only if he put it in that way.

With the default connector position, the label-side would be touching the aluminum case. Which is how I've always installed drives into my MBP... but as long as the MBP remains stationary and not moved while powered up... still, I'd recommend getting screws or else getting screwed would be the only inevitable outcome... inserting cardboard as leverage material would cause problems with heating as well...
Click to expand...

As already stated, it's a temporary fix to ease his fear of shorting the drive or board.

What model MBP is it? It's possible that you could have the model MBP that had nvidia 8600m video card issue which ruined the logic board.
 
Thanks everyone for the quick responses and all the help you've provided. I decided to sell the parts I purchased for it. I took it into the apple authorized retailer I live nearby, and the person who tested it confirmed it is the logic board.
 
It's a bummer, and unfortunately, the logic boards are a good $900. But I don't think it's worth going through all the trouble to rip out, er- I mean delicately extract, the old logic board even though I've done that numerous times, I've never had to pay for a logic board out of my own pocket. Owch.

Thanks for the quick responses everyone! I would say "HA! IT'S A MAC! THERE'S YOUR PROBLEM!" but I've grown very fond of Apple products lately.

Again, thanks everyone!
 
Just FYI- you can find refurbed logic boards on eBay for around $300. I've seen some come with a 90 day warranty.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back