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My first Mac crash ever!

D

DavidOS

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 16, 2002
45
0
Michigan
Well folks, I finally managed to do something that I was once very good at doing back in the days when I owned a PC - I crashed my computer.

I woke up my Mac (PB G4 12.1 in. 867mhz 640mb ram, 60 GB) from sleep, thinking I would check my e-mail. The screen lit up, I saw my friendly desktop background of me and a few friends staring glassy-eyed at a half-full beer pitcher on a table. Then white text began to print on the screen: here is the basic outline of most of it:

System failure: cuu+0 code =0000001 corrupt stack
latest crash info for cpu 0:
exception state (sc=0x1d17A280 Pc=something . . . etc. . . ) system failure
back trace: back trace terminated frame not mapped or invalid: . .. etc.
Proceding back up exception chain . . . etc.
Back Trace:
Numbers and letters
etc.
kernal version: Darwin Kernal version 7.2.0
Memory access exception . . . etc.
entering system sump routine
a panic server was not specified in the . . . etc.
termenating kernal core dump
ethernet address:
ip address:
waiting for remote debugger connection

What happened? feelings of feel and dread penetrated to my inner most being. I mentally calculated whether or not I was still under warranty (just barely I think) I wondered if I should have bought apple care (probably yes).

In any case, a few other points to consider: over the Christmas break I totally re-installed panther from scratch, so I should have a relatively healthy system.

On the other hand, yesterday I was browsing www.cryptome.org (a very interesting website, but I hope mentioning it won't turn this tread into a political argument . . . ) In any case, the site has many huge HUGE picture files, I thought they might have somehow clogged my system.

So far these are the things that I have done to reset the problem, I know, some of them may be foolhardy steps, but I am just doing what I know how to do.

I have virus scanned the machine, I have emptied my safari cash, I have emptied the trash. I still plan to verify and repair disk permissions of the panther disk, run the periodic maintenance scripts from the console.

So my questions are: what happened? is it going to happen again? why did it happen? Is there anything else I should do to prevent further problems? Finally, should I be pissing my pants, or will everything be okay?

thanks,

David.
 
You had a kernal panic. There are many causes for it. The only causes that I have had for it are when memory has gone bad, or been improperly installed. That doesn't sound like your problem though, unless you've just recently added memory. But there are many more reasons why kernal panics happen, and perhaps someone else who has had them more often than I can help you with that. If you warrenty has not yet expired, you can still purchase AppleCare, which I highly recommend, as it has payed for itself several times over for me over the years. Hope the kernal panic doesn't get you again. Good luck.
 
I would suggest not worrying about it, unless it happens again. Sometimes the system can confuse itself, no OS is crash-proof.
 
Actually, the NSA has used their T-Ray long range surveillance equipment on the innards of your Mac (through your windows/walls/body) after they detected you downloading all those anti-military-industrial-complex image files from cryptome, and THAT induced the kernal panic. ;)
 
Re: My first Mac crash ever!

Originally posted by DavidOS
Well folks, I finally managed to do something that I was once very good at doing back in the days when I owned a PC - I crashed my computer.


<CUT>

So my questions are: what happened? is it going to happen again? why did it happen? Is there anything else I should do to prevent further problems? Finally, should I be pissing my pants, or will everything be okay?

thanks,

David.
Click to expand...

First off welcome to the real world where computers, be it Windows or Mac, CRASH.

Secondly Kernel panics happen in any OS. My personal experience is to reboot, spend a little time seeing if you can figure out what went wrong, and just go on with your life. Something obviously went wrong when your system came back from sleep. You might want to go about checking your log files to see if there are any obvious error messages there. *shrug*

If it happens again anytime soon then there is cause for alarm. Otherwise its I'd owe it up to a random error and move on. Can I ask how long you've had your Mac? You say this is your first crash. How long has this been?
 
Re: Re: My first Mac crash ever!

First of all, someone said I had to be running 10.2 or earlier . . . No, I am running panther - 10.3.2

also,

Originally posted by SiliconAddict
. Can I ask how long you've had your Mac? You say this is your first crash. How long has this been?
Click to expand...

Well, I guess my PB is about 9 months old or so. I have had programs crash many a time, and I have had things act real funny a few times to the point where I restarted the computer to avoid a crash that seemed immanent, but this is my first full-fledged crash. The first time I have had to hard-reboot the computer.

I looked through the logs for a while, but didn't understand anything! Anyways, I guess I will just let it be until anything else goes wrong. Thanks folks!

Dave
 
I would also not recommend antivirus programs. They seem to cause more problems than they're worth, especially on the Mac.
 
Something is seriously wrong if you are running 10.3 and you got text down the screen. 10.2 and later dims the screen and puts an image of a power button in the screen. It also puts text in the middle of the screen in 3 languages explaining that you need to restart by holding the power button.

Did you do an update install of 10.3? Have you been messing around in the terminal? Have you installed any software recently that required you to enter your password for installation?
 
NO!!! NO!!! NO!!!

Well, it happened again. This time it wasn't as the machine came back on from sleep, but it just happened right out of the blue while I was working.

Remember, this sort of thing has never happened before, but now it has happened twice in the course of a single week, it seems to me like this is more than minor trouble. SOmething is wrong with my computer.

First of all, is this a problem with my hardware, or just with my OS? It seems to me that a KERNAL panic implies that the OS is at fault. Is that right? If not, what in my hardware could be causing the problem. Would reinstalling my system from scratch solve things? I just did it a month ago, but should I do it again?

Someone mentioned last time around that that I should look through the log to see if I could find any errors. Well, that is a bit beyond me, but I am willing to make it available as a .txt file here. Before I do that though, is there any potentially private info in it? Is it safe to post that sort of thing on the net?

Help me out!!!
 
Originally posted by MacBandit

Did you do an update install of 10.3? Have you been messing around in the terminal? Have you installed any software recently that required you to enter your password for installation?
Click to expand...

Well, last time around I hoped that you were a doom forecasting prophet not worth listening to.

. . . I might have been wrong . . . :rolleyes:

THe answers to your questions:
I had previously had 10.2. on the system, but no. I did a totally clean instal. I backed up my mp3's, files, and such, and installed panther clean.

I have not been fiddling around in the terminal.

software . . . hmmmm . . well virex and backup from .mac, but those were after the first crash, so that doesn't make sense. Other than that, no. Definitely not any unusual or uncommon programs. I started using a compact flash card reader for my digital camera, but I didn't install any software for it. Real Audio for news videos and such. oh, and TACO HTML editor and cyberduck FTP program, but could they possibly cause these sorts of problems?

Also, like I mentioned before, I have NOT added any new ram, so that cannot be the problem.

Maybe I should call apple. My machine is about 8 months old I think. No apple care. Will they help me?

Thanks again,

David
 
I had a series of kernel panics once under the infamous update to Jaguar that caused USB crashes (10.2.7?).

Give you are using a PB I guess you have nothing connectes, but it might be worth disconnecting anything and see if the problems are there and then reinstall drivers. It is also worth checking that your Airport card (if you have one) is properly seated.
 
The most common reason for KPs are crappy kexts, eg 3rd party drivers for USB devices. Also, unplugging a FW device while in use is an easy way to create a KP.

Maybe this helps.
 
Originally posted by DavidOS
Well, last time around I hoped that you were a doom forecasting prophet not worth listening to.

. . . I might have been wrong . . . :rolleyes:

THe answers to your questions:
I had previously had 10.2. on the system, but no. I did a totally clean instal. I backed up my mp3's, files, and such, and installed panther clean.

I have not been fiddling around in the terminal.

software . . . hmmmm . . well virex and backup from .mac, but those were after the first crash, so that doesn't make sense. Other than that, no. Definitely not any unusual or uncommon programs. I started using a compact flash card reader for my digital camera, but I didn't install any software for it. Real Audio for news videos and such. oh, and TACO HTML editor and cyberduck FTP program, but could they possibly cause these sorts of problems?

Also, like I mentioned before, I have NOT added any new ram, so that cannot be the problem.

Maybe I should call apple. My machine is about 8 months old I think. No apple care. Will they help me?

Thanks again,

David
Click to expand...

Sorry to hear about your second KP but I wouldn't get too worked up about it. It could be nothing.

What were you doing at the moment it happened? Both times.

Did you copy any old prefs over from 10.2? What did you copy over from 10.2 in general.

A KP can be software or hardware. How old is your system? Have you installed RAM or anything? Do you use it on a network? Do you have iDisk mounted on virtually or do you use the iDisk backup so you have all the data physically on your disk?

Sorry if this seems like a lot of questions but a KP can really be a lot of things and I'm just trying to narrow it down.
 
Three times and counting!

Originally posted by MacBandit
What were you doing at the moment it happened? Both times.

Did you copy any old prefs over from 10.2? What did you copy over from 10.2 in general.

A KP can be software or hardware. How old is your system? Have you installed RAM or anything? Do you use it on a network? Do you have iDisk mounted on virtually or do you use the iDisk backup so you have all the data physically on your disk?
Click to expand...

The first time I wasn't doing anything. It was asleep on my desk and I opened the lid. It lit up, and everything looked fine for a second or so, then came the text. I had literally not yet even moved my mouse. I just opened the top.

The second time I cannot quite remember, but I think I had just pushed command tab to switch from safari (I was reading the news) to MS word. Then came the text.

The third time - thats right, it happened again. I was in the library studying. I connected to the network with airport, opened my we browser and mail and ichat. I checked the mail - nothing new. I minimized it. I checked checked this thread to see if anyone had responded (you had) I switched to ichat and wrote someone a message. I waited a min. or two, but they didn't respond. I began typing a second message and then came the text.

Old Prefs: with the backup program from .mac I tranfered my addressbook, mail settings (prefs and messages), safari settings - bookmarks and such. That is more or less it. Then I put my itunes collection on an external hard drive as well as photos, and some MS word files and pdf files. Stuff like that. Then I installed any other programs from the cds or from the net.

No new ram. just 640 factory installed. Yes I am on a network. The first two times I was on the network here in my college dorms. It is actually connected to a router and then to the network - me and my roommate didn't want to pay for two connections. This last time I was connected to the universities on campus wireless network. By the way, all of this was the same before I upgraded to panther. Originally I had 10.2 everything went fine. Then I upgraded to Panther (keeping all settings and stuff, not a clean install.) Then over Christmas I reinstalled panther from scratch, like I mentioned before.

Idisk: I never use it. actually my dad's account is what I used to get virex and backup from .mac, but I never use the idisk at all.

like I said before, my PB is about 8 months old.

Thats it, I guess. Thanks. David
 
I have only had kernal panics when Ive had hardware issues (not trying to alarm you). My iBook suffered from the dreaded "video/screen" problem, and as I would type (thereby putting pressure on the keyboard, etc) it would cause a Kernal Panic. If your still under warranty, call Apple.
 
Originally posted by DavidOS
I started using a compact flash card reader for my digital camera, but I didn't install any software for it.
Click to expand...

My iMac has a Kernal Panic with any flash cards if it hasn't been done in a while, a restart after a KP sometimes lets me access the card. This is with no software installed for the reader. It only happens when you put the card in though so probably not your problem. Of corse I don't know what causes this though.
 
Originally posted by MacBandit
Something is seriously wrong if you are running 10.3 and you got text down the screen. 10.2 and later dims the screen and puts an image of a power button in the screen. It also puts text in the middle of the screen in 3 languages explaining that you need to restart by holding the power button.

Did you do an update install of 10.3? Have you been messing around in the terminal? Have you installed any software recently that required you to enter your password for installation?
Click to expand...

I must disagree here. MOST kernal panics on 10.2+ are 'civilized', but get the occasional 'hardcore' white text w/ black background over GUI panics. I get both on my iMac with Jag, due to Bad memory I think.
 
Re: Three times and counting!

Originally posted by DavidOS
The first time I wasn't doing anything. It was asleep on my desk and I opened the lid. It lit up, and everything looked fine for a second or so, then came the text. I had literally not yet even moved my mouse. I just opened the top.

The second time I cannot quite remember, but I think I had just pushed command tab to switch from safari (I was reading the news) to MS word. Then came the text.

The third time - thats right, it happened again. I was in the library studying. I connected to the network with airport, opened my we browser and mail and ichat. I checked the mail - nothing new. I minimized it. I checked checked this thread to see if anyone had responded (you had) I switched to ichat and wrote someone a message. I waited a min. or two, but they didn't respond. I began typing a second message and then came the text.

Old Prefs: with the backup program from .mac I tranfered my addressbook, mail settings (prefs and messages), safari settings - bookmarks and such. That is more or less it. Then I put my itunes collection on an external hard drive as well as photos, and some MS word files and pdf files. Stuff like that. Then I installed any other programs from the cds or from the net.

No new ram. just 640 factory installed. Yes I am on a network. The first two times I was on the network here in my college dorms. It is actually connected to a router and then to the network - me and my roommate didn't want to pay for two connections. This last time I was connected to the universities on campus wireless network. By the way, all of this was the same before I upgraded to panther. Originally I had 10.2 everything went fine. Then I upgraded to Panther (keeping all settings and stuff, not a clean install.) Then over Christmas I reinstalled panther from scratch, like I mentioned before.

Idisk: I never use it. actually my dad's account is what I used to get virex and backup from .mac, but I never use the idisk at all.

like I said before, my PB is about 8 months old.

Thats it, I guess. Thanks. David
Click to expand...

Since there appears to be no recurring instance related to software I would have to say it's most likely a hardware problem.

If it's still under AppleCare I would give them a call and at least get a problem report filed. On one hand you could have ram or an Airport card that has become on the other hand it could be related to a motherboard issue. Since it's easy to access the airport and one of the ram slots on your machine I would try removing and reinstalling both and then using it a while to see if you continue to have the problem. In any case I would report the problem to Apple if you still have AppleCare.
 
getting them on the daily

I have been getting the text thing over the GUI pretty much every time i start up my computer, i have to restart it again and then i will start back up, it always says something about "corrupt stack on cpu 01", i have a dual 800 G4. and it's been going on for about a week now, before it was less frequent So what has happened to your problem david? i defragged the hard drive and check it for problems with norton utilities and fixed permission and it still comes up, im gonna play around with the RAM when i get home. :)
 
cool

hey thanx for posting the location of the log, i actually didn't know where it could be found. i'll post it up when i get to my comp at home. :)
 
Apple

If it is under warranty I would just take it to your local apple store and let them fix it. It is free if under warranty and it is better to have the problem fixed by them and have them order new parts than to sorta fix it and have problems down the road. My G5 has the no video on the screen on boot. I took it down to the store and they recalibrated my thermostats. It was fine for about a week then had problems again. They replaced my graphics card. It was fine then had problems after a week. I took it down and they replaced my logic board and power supply. I havent had a problem since. I bought the extended warranty a little after that. just to be sure but so far 100% good.

Warranty I belive is 12 months for repairs and 90 days for phone support. If you get the extended apple care it extends phone and repair to 3 years.
 
well people, i've experienced something which i haven't experienced in 6 months yesterday. My computer crashed. When i say crashed, I mean stopped responding, no kernel panic. i could see my desktop and move the mouse but couldn't do anything else. Even 10 minutes later, i still couldn't do anything so i had to force restart :eek:
 
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