New MBP Kernel Panics!!!

[tullys]

limited to 802.11n Y/N?

Just about to place an MBP order...😱

From what I've read here this *appears* to be seen with 802.11 N routers?
One of the more recent posts reported no issues since going back to an "old belkin" router.

Has anyone actually seen this panic on a 802.11 G router?

I think the OP (justflie) was on a campus network, but do you know if it's using N or G?

C

 

[Trepex]

Negative. It's not a personal wireless network, but a campus-wide network that thousands use. But believe what you will. I think that, since this has happened with multiple laptops in a row, it's more likely a software issue with the new SR chipset. But, then again, I'm a mechanical engineer and don't know much about the inner workings of the computer.

EDIT: Here's a link to people with the same problem: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=986785&tstart=15

Hey there, just to clarify I didn't mean for it to sound like I didn't believe you. I meant more that it must be some sort of driver issue triggered by certain auth/encryption schemes on certain networks. It really is odd, but likely more than just a loose card or something.

 

[justflie]

Hey there, just to clarify I didn't mean for it to sound like I didn't believe you. I meant more that it must be some sort of driver issue triggered by certain auth/encryption schemes on certain networks. It really is odd, but likely more than just a loose card or something.

roger that, no problem. To the poster above you, I'm pretty sure the campus isn't N yet. I'm 99% sure it's G.

 

[Atomic-Ed]

roger that, no problem. To the poster above you, I'm pretty sure the campus isn't N yet. I'm 99% sure it's G.

I just thought I would let you know that I got my new MBP today and it is so far working on my old netgear wireless g router with encryption enable without any problems. It seems to be working pretty well thus far. I will run it this way the remainder of the week and then setup my new airport. Let you know if I get any error as the rest of the week should tell if I get one or not. BTW.. How do I maximize the web browser in OSX o fill the whole screen? I can't seem to get away from it being a window no matter what I click.

 

[justflie]

BTW.. How do I maximize the web browser in OSX o fill the whole screen? I can't seem to get away from it being a window no matter what I click.

Congrats on your success. You can't really "maximize" the window as you would in XP or Vista, where maximize means full screen. That green button on the Safari window resizes the app to be just big enough (or thereabouts) to fit what info is being displayed on the page. The idea is that the window isn't made bigger than it needs to be, thus freeing up some screen for another application or something. If you want to MAKE the window full screen, left click/drag the bottom right corner of the window to adjust to whatever size you want. You need to grab at the 3 diagonal /// lines.

 

[Atomic-Ed]

Congrats on your success. You can't really "maximize" the window as you would in XP or Vista, where maximize means full screen. That green button on the Safari window resizes the app to be just big enough (or thereabouts) to fit what info is being displayed on the page. The idea is that the window isn't made bigger than it needs to be, thus freeing up some screen for another application or something. If you want to MAKE the window full screen, left click/drag the bottom right corner of the window to adjust to whatever size you want. You need to grab at the 3 diagonal /// lines.

Thanks for the info on the fullscreen stuff. Kind of is strange to me why they would not have this standard. Anyway I have since found a way to do this using this link on the bookmark menu " javascript:self.moveTo(0,0);self.resizeTo(screen.availWidth,screen.availHeight); " without the quotes. I found it on this site http://www.jydesign.com/resources/index.html which works great. Now I can maximize just like in windows.

 

[Episteme]

Thanks for the info on the fullscreen stuff. Kind of is strange to me why they would not have this standard. Anyway I have since found a way to do this using this link on the bookmark menu " javascript:self.moveTo(0,0);self.resizeTo(screen.availWidth,screen.availHeight); " without the quotes. I found it on this site http://www.jydesign.com/resources/index.html which works great. Now I can maximize just like in windows.

It's a different mindset.

Windows tends to lead one to always work with most/all windows maximized and alt-tabbing between various full-screen displays.

The Mac tends to work better where you keep more in smaller windows simultaneously on the desktop. It's designed to push you towards this.

I've found it to be very usable like that. I still work with everything maximized in Windows though.

I recommend giving it a go. I was pleasantly surprised after years of using Windows ("everything maximized") and Unix ("lots of different desktops").

 

[justflie]

Unix ("lots of different desktops").

lol. You only escaped that for a little while, here comes the spotted kitty 🙂

Still waiting on fed ex to email me those stupid shipping labels so I can send this machine back to CA/get my new one. D'oh.

 

[RustyM]

I think the OP (justflie) was on a campus network, but do you know if it's using N or G?

I'm definitely on G router. Same Wireless Panic Disorder here.

 

[justflie]

My MBP is being overnighted to Cupertino as of today. Hopefully the new one they return will be happy and kernel panic free. We'll see...

 

[CybrMike]

Got a brand new SR 2.4Ghz MB Pro w/ 4GB ram & 200GB HD. Using "G only" network with LinkSys router & WEP 26 bit Hex. No kernel panics in 2 days use.

 

[justflie]

Got a brand new SR 2.4Ghz MB Pro w/ 4GB ram & 200GB HD. Using "G only" network with LinkSys router & WEP 26 bit Hex. No kernel panics in 2 days use.

Nice. Is it possible for you test it with a WPA2 connection? That's where I'm having my trouble.

 

[justflie]

Possible (temporary) solution?

Hey guys

There's a forum related to this post at apple's website. One new development: a few of the posters said that the kernel panics only occur when running on battery power (ie not using the wall powerbrick). Can those who are having kernel panics confirm this? My computer is back at apple now (i hope) so I can't check it out myself.

 

[ot73nl]

Hey guys

There's a forum related to this post at apple's website. One new development: a few of the posters said that the kernel panics only occur when running on battery power (ie not using the wall powerbrick). Can those who are having kernel panics confirm this? My computer is back at apple now (i hope) so I can't check it out myself.

(Sorry for my english...)

I can confirm this. It works like that:
Safari+Wi-Fi+ running on battery (±15 min. left) = kernel panic!
(security WEP)

 

[Hogan65]

I am having the same Airport issue on a second new MBP using wireless G router.

 

[knowone]

Try Disabling IPV6

I bought my new mbp last Thursday and had my first panic on Sunday AFTER I switched from a Netgear super-g router with WPA enabled to a D-Link Draft N 2.0 router using WPA2 AES. My second panic was on Monday with the same D-Link setup.

The KPs seem to occur after a period of your wireless connection struggling. I have tried changing a number of settings including going from N to G and using WPA instead of WPA2.

One thing that is interesting is that in general, the wireless connection doesn't seem as stable as it should be with pauses in web page loads that don't occur with my other Apple (an older ibook) or my PCs.

As of now the latest thing I tried is using WPA2/AES and draft N BUT disabling IPv6 on the MBP. So far, so good..The web pages are loading fast and smooth and I have not had any more KPs. It may be too soon to tell since I just made the change 6 hours ago, but I am optimistic since I have tried to stress the connection without so much as a hiccup

 

[RustyM]

knowone, i'll try that now too.

EDIT: Didn't work. Still getting panics

 

[justflie]

I bought my new mbp last Thursday and had my first panic on Sunday AFTER I switched from a Netgear super-g router with WPA enabled to a D-Link Draft N 2.0 router using WPA2 AES. My second panic was on Monday with the same D-Link setup.

The KPs seem to occur after a period of your wireless connection struggling. I have tried changing a number of settings including going from N to G and using WPA instead of WPA2.

One thing that is interesting is that in general, the wireless connection doesn't seem as stable as it should be with pauses in web page loads that don't occur with my other Apple (an older ibook) or my PCs.

As of now the latest thing I tried is using WPA2/AES and draft N BUT disabling IPv6 on the MBP. So far, so good..The web pages are loading fast and smooth and I have not had any more KPs. It may be too soon to tell since I just made the change 6 hours ago, but I am optimistic since I have tried to stress the connection without so much as a hiccup

Cool idea, where/how would you disable this?

Also, update for me: My faulty MBP was received at apple on thursday. It was decided that they would be sending me a new one from their warehouse. As soon as I get it, I'll put it through it's paces on the wireless and see if it kernel panics. Then I will try your IPv6 idea should a kernel panic occur. Of course, I'll let everyone know how it goes. The support guy I've been in contact with (who's been wonderful) wants me to call him after I receive the machine to tell him if it is working fine or still screwed up. Sadly, he can't find out what was wrong with my previous machine. It would have been nice to know what was causing it this whole time.

keep the great ideas coming!

 

[justflie]

Knowone, were you on battery or AC power (or both) when you didn't receive kernel panics? One thing people have noticed is that it only happens on battery power. If you were on battery, how long was it? I'm hoping you're on to something here and this is not just a false positive. Lol, i guess it would be a false negative?😛

 

[RustyM]

Knowone, were you on battery or AC power (or both) when you didn't receive kernel panics? One thing people have noticed is that it only happens on battery power. If you were on battery, how long was it? I'm hoping you're on to something here and this is not just a false positive. Lol, i guess it would be a false negative?😛

I've had it happen with near full power.

 

[dcv]

EXACTLY the same problem here.

I bought a 15" 2.4GHz MBP earlier this evening.

Seemed fine to start with, I let it charge up. Didn't bother installing any apps, just ran the software updates.

Unplugged the power cord so I could calibrate the battery. I only had Safari running and it was while I was setting up iChat (entering .mac user info) that I encountered my first kernel panic. This was only about an hour or so after opening the box.

Restarted... started Safari again, started iChat again, got the second kernel panic at exactly the same point again.

Restarted again. This time it stayed up a little longer and I managed to get iChat set up but wasn't then able to use it. It took ages to connect and was beachballing and this can't have been an iChat/AIM error as I'd previously just been connected on my iMac.

Started noticing time-outs and "you are not connected to the internet" errors in Safari - very weird I thought as my iMac and PowerBook were both still fine, so not an ISP or router problem.

I decided to try ethernet instead. When I plugged the cable in, suddenly I had internet access again. So unplugged it again, turned airport off and then on again. Kernel panic number 3.

Restarted... this time it seemed to take ages at the initial grey screen with the spinner thing. After a few minutes the screen went from grey to blue, still with the spinny thing. This must have been going for a good 10 mins or more... eventually I just had to power it off and on again.

Restarted again... it spent a very long time at the grey spinny screen again but eventually booted up properly.

Couldn't maintain a wireless signal at all - it either won't connect or stay connected to my wireless network, whilst my other macs are fine.

When it says it's connected wirelessly I then cannot use iChat video.

As soon as I plug the ethernet cable in and turn Airport off it's fine.

My panic logs all say the same thing - relating to the "Airport.Atheros" thing that other people have posted. And they all happened whilst running on battery power too. Sound familiar?

Other issues - fairly high temp (73 deg C at one point) and fans just went crazy at over 6,000rpm for a few minutes for no apparent reason.

I'm gonna return this machine to the store and ask for a replacement but just wanted to mention the issues as they seem similar to what others have experienced.

Has anyone else had the blue screen hang on startup?

 

[RustyM]

Thanks for the post, dcv.
Let us know if your new one fairs better.

Information from the Apple forum indicates the Kernel Panic:

1. Must be using wireless (ie browsing the internet, internet video, copying files)
2. Wireless must be using security (WEP, WPA)
3. Must be on battery power

I think this is correct. I will be testing out #3 and hopefully #2 tonight. So far I've yet to have KP when the Airport is turned off.

UPDATE: Running on a WEP router for about an hour, but using AC power. No KP yet, as expected.

 

[dcv]

1. Must be using wireless (ie browsing the internet, internet video, copying files)
2. Wireless must be using security (WEP, WPA)
3. Must be on battery power

Yes, mine definitely follows that pattern. Wireless/WEP and was on battery power at the time. I was just trying to drain it to calibrate it, I think the battery must have been somewhere between 50 and 90% at the times of the kernel panics.

 

[iDive]

I use a g router (DLink) at home, an switch between two networks in the office (one on an Apple Airport and the other on a Linksys G) and had no kernel panics since I bought the machine 3 days ago. Speeds (even download speeds) are fantastic, much better than my old powerbooks.

 

[agore]

My Vewwy First Kernel Panic

After 3 years on Macs (G4 iMac, then the new MBP I have had a few days) I had my first kernel panic this morning.

I sprang for the extra battery for the MBP. After charging both of them, I ran one down most of the way. At 9%, I put the machine to Sleep, making sure to wait until I saw the light go to pulsating mode. I then swapped batteries, with an interval of abot 30 bseconds between them. As soon as I came back out of Sleep, the kernel panic hit. I had Safari and Entourage as the only apps open during Sleep.

Configutaion: 17" with high-res, 7200 rpm disk and 2M RAM.