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

Resolved PowerBook won't boot with onboard RAM

jrsx

jrsx

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Nov 2, 2013
1,057
18
Tacoma, Washington
I was testing booting speeds with my PowerBook G4 running Leopard. It currently has 1.25 GB RAM, and runs fine. However, when I remove the 1 GB module from the slot on the bottom, Leopard will not boot with just 256 MB RAM. It gets the Apple logo, and a second later, it panics and send my the gray screen of death, telling me to shut down immediately. Is this a sign of bad RAM? It boots fine otherwise. According to System Profiler, both onboard and extra RAM are verified and working, and show up in the 'memory' tab. I have not done any more testing, but I have tried 3 times and it won't boot any of the three times without the extra 1 GB. How can this be solved?
Thanks,
jrsx

EDIT: here is a report:

Interval Since Last Panic Report: 64192 sec
Panics Since Last Report: 2
Anonymous UUID: F1E9758B-60CF-462B-8929-DE4CAB00DA5F

Sun Apr 6 13:19:42 2014


Unresolved kernel trap(cpu 0): 0x300 - Data access DAR=0x0000000000000014 PC=0x0000000000072B8C
Latest crash info for cpu 0:
Exception state (sv=0xe109500)
PC=0x00072B8C; MSR=0x00009030; DAR=0x00000014; DSISR=0x40000000; LR=0x00D726F0; R1=0x10B33D90; XCP=0x0000000C (0x300 - Data access)
Backtrace:
0x0047956C 0x00D726F0 0x000B1DD4
Kernel loadable modules in backtrace (with dependencies):
com.apple.BootCache(30.4)@0xd70000->0xd75fff
Proceeding back via exception chain:
Exception state (sv=0xe109500)
previously dumped as "Latest" state. skipping...
Exception state (sv=0xe122c80)
PC=0x00000000; MSR=0x0000D030; DAR=0x00000000; DSISR=0x00000000; LR=0x00000000; R1=0x00000000; XCP=0x00000000 (Unknown)

BSD process name corresponding to current thread: kernel_task

Mac OS version:
9L31a

Kernel version:
Darwin Kernel Version 9.8.0: Wed Jul 15 16:57:01 PDT 2009; root:xnu-1228.15.4~1/RELEASE_PPC
System model name: PowerBook6,4

System uptime in nanoseconds: 17081977585
unloaded kexts:
(none)
loaded kexts:
com.apple.driver.AppleFileSystemDriver 1.1.0 - last loaded 259288366
com.apple.driver.AppleADBKeyboard 2.3.9
com.apple.iokit.IOSCSIMultimediaCommandsDevice 2.1.1
com.apple.iokit.SCSITaskUserClient 2.1.1
com.apple.driver.XsanFilter 2.7.91
com.apple.iokit.IOATABlockStorage 2.0.6
com.apple.iokit.IOATAPIProtocolTransport 1.5.3
com.apple.driver.AppleUSBHub 3.4.9
com.apple.iokit.IOUSBUserClient 3.5.2
com.apple.driver.ApplePMU 2.5.6d2
com.apple.driver.AppleGPIO 1.3.0d0
com.apple.iokit.AppleMediaBay 1.0.2f1
com.apple.driver.KeyLargoATA 1.1.1f1
com.apple.driver.AppleI2C 4.0.0d2
com.apple.driver.AppleVIA 1.5.1d1
com.apple.driver.MacIOGPIO 1.3.0d0
com.apple.driver.AppleMPIC 1.5.3
com.apple.iokit.AppleGMACEthernet 1.5.9f1
com.apple.driver.AppleFWOHCI 3.9.7
com.apple.driver.AppleKauaiATA 1.2.1f4
com.apple.driver.AppleUSBEHCI 3.4.6
com.apple.driver.AppleUSBOHCI 3.4.6
com.apple.driver.AirPortBrcm43xx 367.91.22
com.apple.driver.AppleKeyLargo 1.7.2f1
com.apple.driver.AppleMacRiscPCI 3.4.0
com.apple.driver.AppleCore99NVRAM 1.1.1
com.apple.driver.AppleFlashNVRAM 1.0.5
com.apple.security.seatbelt 107.12
com.apple.nke.applicationfirewall 1.8.77
com.apple.security.TMSafetyNet 3
com.apple.BootCache 30.4
com.apple.driver.DiskImages 199
com.apple.driver.AppleMacRISC2PE 1.8.7d5
com.apple.iokit.IOSCSIBlockCommandsDevice 2.1.1
com.apple.iokit.IOBDStorageFamily 1.5
com.apple.iokit.IODVDStorageFamily 1.5
com.apple.iokit.IOCDStorageFamily 1.5
com.apple.iokit.IOSCSIArchitectureModelFamily 2.1.1
com.apple.iokit.IOADBFamily 9.0.0
com.apple.iokit.IOFireWireFamily 3.4.9
com.apple.iokit.IOATAFamily 2.0.1
com.apple.iokit.IOUSBFamily 3.5.2
com.apple.iokit.IO80211Family 216.1
com.apple.iokit.IONetworkingFamily 1.6.1
com.apple.iokit.IOKeyLargo 1.7.2f1
com.apple.iokit.IOHIDFamily 1.5.5
com.apple.iokit.IOStorageFamily 1.5.6
com.apple.driver.IOPlatformFunction 1.8.7d5
com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily 2.6
panic(cpu 0 caller 0xFFFF0003): 0x300 - Data access
Latest stack backtrace for cpu 0:
Backtrace:
0x0009CC88 0x0009D63C 0x00029DA0 0x000B0A10 0x000B4278
Proceeding back via exception chain:
Exception state (sv=0xe109500)
PC=0x00072B8C; MSR=0x00009030; @
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
I tried this once before, for whatever reason Leopard won't boot on any system with less then a certain amount of RAM (512MB IIRC). It will either show the restricted sign or Kernel Panic. Its normal. If you really wanted to check, load Tiger and see what it does. It should boot fine then.
 
It just confused me, because Erik claims that he's got a mac running Leopard on 128 MB of RAM. I'll have to try Tiger when I get the chance.

Would a PRAM or SMC reset do anything? Also, I have an Apple Hardware Test on one of my iBook G4 model specific disks. Would it work on this PowerBook?
 
I've had Leopard running on a machine with 256MB of ram. Not very well, but it did boot and was vaguely usable.
 
Intell said:
I've had Leopard running on a machine with 256MB of ram. Not very well, but it did boot and was vaguely usable.
Click to expand...

Mine does not seem to like 256 MB RAM with Leopard. Everything works great, until OS X starts to boot. The laptop seems to function during the early stages of booting, but as soon as the spinning wheel below the Apple logo, it panics.
 
Does it still panic in Safe Boot mode? Have you seen what happens when booting in verbose mode? Maybe I'll have to try Leopard on my 12" with only the internal 256MB.

Just tried Leopard on my 12" Powerbook with only its internal 256MB of memory. Same thing, it kernel panics. Apparently the boot cache is around 256MB and it completely fills the ram and causes it to panic. I know I've had Leopard running on a 256MB system before, I just don't know why'd this wouldn't work while that one did.
 
Last edited:
Ok, that makes more sense. The PB cannot physically boot with only 256 MB RAM. It boots fine on 512 on my iBook, though.
 
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