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Random Crash

XnavxeMiyyep

XnavxeMiyyep

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Mar 27, 2003
1,131
4
Washington
My G4 Dual 867 just randomly displayed a message that said that I had to hold the power button down to turn off the computer. The message was displayed in several languages. Has anyone else had this problem? One of the main reasons I like Macs is for their reliabiliy.
 
-XnavxeMiyyep

That's a kernel panic. And very disturbing.

You're right - Macs with OS X are very reliable, so when a kernel panic happens, I get very concerned - you should never see one.

Can you tell me what you were doing right when that panic occured?
 
It sounds like the reboot step that you have to do as part of a firmware upgrade, but I suppose you would have said so if you were doing upgrades at the time this happened.

Did it reboot fine? Was there any further trouble, or was it a one-time thing?

One glitch doesn't make a computer unreliable. What matters is how often you encounter glitches. My Dual G4 had one kernel crash last year and none so far this year. It's the most reliable personal computer I've ever had.
 
I was reading about the 970 at Macrumors, iTunes was playing music, a few web browsers were open, stickies was open, AIM, and maybe AppleWorks.
 
Originally posted by XnavxeMiyyep
I was reading about the 970 at Macrumors
Click to expand...
There's your problem. It got jealous!

Do you have any extra hardware attached to your Mac? USB hubs have been linked to occasional kernel panics.

Here are two Apple articles on kernel panics: 106227 106228
 
The only hardware is a USB Printer (which I'm replacing anyway), my keyboard, and my penmouse. It's working fine now, so does that mean it was completely random, but not likely to happen again?
 
-XnavxeMiyyep

Hmm. It's likely to occur again if you recreate the same circumstances.

You've done a good job of process of elimination so far, I have a few more ideas for you, and unfortunately, since there have been no easy answers yet.

A RAM chip may have gone bad - they do do that.

Is your machine too near a heat source?

Try to get it to do it again. I may be silly, and it may truly be random - though that'd be a first for me.
 
Now you can update to Mac OS X 10.2.6, in case that helps. One of its improvements is "Addresses an issue for Mac OS X 10.2.5 in which a kernel panic message may appear if certain USB hubs or devices are connected."
 
-patrick0brien
The situation is the same as it always is.

-Doctor Q
I did get the update. That's probably the problem they fixed.

-Everyone
Thanks a lot.
 
I just got that same error... i was in complete and utter disbelief

Edit: I had iChat, Safari, Konfabulator and iTunes running at the time of the crash... iTunes was playing a song.. iChat, Konfabulator, and Safari were inactive.
 
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