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Recurring Kernel Panic - PowerBook G4 12" - Boots in Safe Mode - Log in Thread

R

Riviera122

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Sep 14, 2008
488
164
Hi all,

I've been having an issue with my 2006 PowerBook G4. It will not boot without kernel panicking within the first few seconds after chiming. It has been doing this for about a year and started suddenly, however it's been in my wardrobe gathering dust until then. I have wiped the hard drive thanks to using a Leopard install disc, so it's a completely fresh install. It didn't change anything and the panics kept happening. Booting into Safe Mode stops the kernel panics, meaning it's probably something to do with the start up process that prevents the PowerBook from booting normally.

Here is the log:

IMG_6973_zpsnutktvt3.jpg


IMG_6973_zpsnutktvt3.jpg.html
 
Your screen shot seems to indicate a problem with the drivers for the airport card, so you may possibly have a hardware issue.
Do you have a hardware test CD? If so, try booting to that, and run the hardware test.

The OS X version showing on your screen shot looks a little odd
"9B21" would be an intermediate version of 10.5.1 - maybe from a grey DVD, and not from a black commercial Apple installer DVD.

Try downloading the current 10.5.8 combined updater. You can get that using a different Mac from here. You can transfer that to a flash drive.
Can you boot to safe boot mode (restart, holding the shift key)?
If you can stay working then, try to install that combo update. It can take a LONG time to complete (30 minutes to an hour), but may get you going again, assuming some software issue with the version of Leopard that you have installed now.
 
Last edited:
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In safe mode disable your Airport drivers (kext files).

Your Airport Extreme card has probably failed. Disabling the kext files should allow the Mac to boot normally.
 
DeltaMac said:
Your screen shot seems to indicate a problem with the drivers for the airport card, so you may possibly have a hardware issue.
Do you have a hardware test CD? If so, try booting to that, and run the hardware test.
Click to expand...

I unfortunately don't have a hardware test CD. Is it possible to replace card?
 
Justin122 said:
I unfortunately don't have a hardware test CD. Is it possible to replace card?
Click to expand...
You can diable the kexts. Just move them out of their current location to a folder elsewhere. If they don't load when the Mac boots the Mac won't KP.

You'll have to Google where they are, I don't recall offhand. Not sure if you can replace the card but I would think so.
 
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eyoungren said:
You can diable the kexts. Just move them out of their current location to a folder elsewhere. If they don't load when the Mac boots the Mac won't KP.

You'll have to Google where they are, I don't recall offhand. Not sure if you can replace the card but I would think so.
Click to expand...

Excellent, I'll do this.
 
eyoungren said:
Just keep in mind that disabling them disables the Airport card, so there won't be any wireless connections.
Click to expand...

OK. The card is removable - do you think that a loose connection would cause the Mac to kernel panic? Could I find a new or used internal card on eBay?
 
Justin122 said:
OK. The card is removable - do you think that a loose connection would cause the Mac to kernel panic? Could I find a new or used internal card on eBay?
Click to expand...
It's possible a loose connection is the problem. You can try reseating it.

Replacements can always be found on eBay. Should be fairly inexpensive I think.

I would just replace it. The PowerBook is 11 years old, which means the Airport Card is also 11 years old. Parts fail and being stored in a closet doesn't impart protection from that.
 
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Some 12" powerbooks had a little piece of plastic glued in behind the airport card from the factory. I guess that was their fix. I'd guess it slipped out of place. You could pull it, see if the problem goes away, then put it back in. Or maybe if you look it will be clearly out of position. Good luck.
 
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eyoungren said:
It's possible a loose connection is the problem. You can try reseating it.

Replacements can always be found on eBay. Should be fairly inexpensive I think.

I would just replace it. The PowerBook is 11 years old, which means the Airport Card is also 11 years old. Parts fail and being stored in a closet doesn't impart protection from that.
Click to expand...

I replaced the card. It worked for 15 minutes or so, allowing me to conncet to WiFi, however it then kernel paniced again. Next time I was able to boot with the AirPort card in I had to re enter my WiFi settings. I've made sure it is seated correctly and that the antenna is properly pushed in. Here's the code for the second kernel panic:

Code: 
Interval Since Last Panic Report:  2547 sec
Panics Since Last Report:          2
Anonymous UUID:                    511F2237-409C-432A-AD2D-7C3CD37D0836

Wed Jun 21 01:33:38 2017
panic(cpu 0 caller 0x000B0504): "Uncorrectable machine check: pc = 0000000000F835D8, msr = 0000000000149030, dsisr = 40000000, dar = 000000002A631FF8\n" "  AsyncSrc = 0000000000000000, CoreFIR = 0000000000000000\n" "     L2FIR = 0000000000000000,  BusFir = 0000000000000000\n"@/SourceCache/xnu/xnu-1228.15.4/osfmk/ppc/trap.c:975
Latest stack backtrace for cpu 0:
      Backtrace:
         0x0009CC88 0x0009D63C 0x00029DA0 0x000B0504 0x000B0784 0x000B4278
Proceeding back via exception chain:
   Exception state (sv=0x249a1a00)
      PC=0x00F835D8; MSR=0x00149030; DAR=0x2A631FF8; DSISR=0x40000000; LR=0x00F87824; R1=0x249A79C0; XCP=0x00000008 (0x200 - Machine check)
      Backtrace:
0x249A7AC8 0x00F87824 0x00F88308 0x00FBD6A0 0x00F7A7E4 0x00F7ACBC
         0x00348ED8 0x0034A02C 0x0034BEDC 0x0034AFFC 0x000B1DD4
      Kernel loadable modules in backtrace (with dependencies):
         com.apple.driver.AirPortBrcm43xx(366.91.21)@0xf70000->0x109cfff
            dependency: com.apple.iokit.IO80211Family(216.1)@0xf4c000
            dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily(2.6)@0x7b2000
            dependency: com.apple.iokit.IONetworkingFamily(1.6.1)@0xeec000
   Exception state (sv=0x24969c80)
      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:
Not yet set

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: PowerBook6,8

System uptime in nanoseconds: 14059943039
unloaded kexts:
(none)
loaded kexts:
com.apple.driver.AppleFileSystemDriver    1.1.0 - last loaded 258986913
com.apple.iokit.IOSCSIMultimediaCommandsDevice    2.1.1
com.apple.iokit.SCSITaskUserClient    2.1.1
com.apple.driver.AppleADBKeyboard    2.3.9
com.apple.driver.XsanFilter    2.7.91
com.apple.iokit.IOATAPIProtocolTransport    1.5.3
com.apple.iokit.IOATABlockStorage    2.0.6
com.apple.driver.AppleUSBHub    3.4.9
com.apple.iokit.IOUSBUserClient    3.4.9
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.AppleVIA    1.5.1d1
com.apple.driver.MacIOGPIO    1.3.0d0
com.apple.driver.AppleMPIC    1.5.3
com.apple.driver.IOI2CMotionSensor    2.1.1d2
com.apple.driver.AppleI2C    4.0.0d2
com.apple.driver.IOI2CControllerPPC    1.1.1d2
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    366.91.21
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    1.6.77
com.apple.security.TMSafetyNet    3
com.apple.BootCac`

Thanks in advance.
 
Justin122 said:
I replaced the card. It worked for 15 minutes or so, allowing me to conncet to WiFi, however it then kernel paniced again. Next time I was able to boot with the AirPort card in I had to re enter my WiFi settings. I've made sure it is seated correctly and that the antenna is properly pushed in. Here's the code for the second kernel panic:

Code: 
Interval Since Last Panic Report:  2547 sec
Panics Since Last Report:          2
Anonymous UUID:                    511F2237-409C-432A-AD2D-7C3CD37D0836

Wed Jun 21 01:33:38 2017
panic(cpu 0 caller 0x000B0504): "Uncorrectable machine check: pc = 0000000000F835D8, msr = 0000000000149030, dsisr = 40000000, dar = 000000002A631FF8\n" "  AsyncSrc = 0000000000000000, CoreFIR = 0000000000000000\n" "     L2FIR = 0000000000000000,  BusFir = 0000000000000000\n"@/SourceCache/xnu/xnu-1228.15.4/osfmk/ppc/trap.c:975
Latest stack backtrace for cpu 0:
      Backtrace:
         0x0009CC88 0x0009D63C 0x00029DA0 0x000B0504 0x000B0784 0x000B4278
Proceeding back via exception chain:
   Exception state (sv=0x249a1a00)
      PC=0x00F835D8; MSR=0x00149030; DAR=0x2A631FF8; DSISR=0x40000000; LR=0x00F87824; R1=0x249A79C0; XCP=0x00000008 (0x200 - Machine check)
      Backtrace:
0x249A7AC8 0x00F87824 0x00F88308 0x00FBD6A0 0x00F7A7E4 0x00F7ACBC
         0x00348ED8 0x0034A02C 0x0034BEDC 0x0034AFFC 0x000B1DD4
      Kernel loadable modules in backtrace (with dependencies):
         com.apple.driver.AirPortBrcm43xx(366.91.21)@0xf70000->0x109cfff
            dependency: com.apple.iokit.IO80211Family(216.1)@0xf4c000
            dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily(2.6)@0x7b2000
            dependency: com.apple.iokit.IONetworkingFamily(1.6.1)@0xeec000
   Exception state (sv=0x24969c80)
      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:
Not yet set

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: PowerBook6,8

System uptime in nanoseconds: 14059943039
unloaded kexts:
(none)
loaded kexts:
com.apple.driver.AppleFileSystemDriver    1.1.0 - last loaded 258986913
com.apple.iokit.IOSCSIMultimediaCommandsDevice    2.1.1
com.apple.iokit.SCSITaskUserClient    2.1.1
com.apple.driver.AppleADBKeyboard    2.3.9
com.apple.driver.XsanFilter    2.7.91
com.apple.iokit.IOATAPIProtocolTransport    1.5.3
com.apple.iokit.IOATABlockStorage    2.0.6
com.apple.driver.AppleUSBHub    3.4.9
com.apple.iokit.IOUSBUserClient    3.4.9
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.AppleVIA    1.5.1d1
com.apple.driver.MacIOGPIO    1.3.0d0
com.apple.driver.AppleMPIC    1.5.3
com.apple.driver.IOI2CMotionSensor    2.1.1d2
com.apple.driver.AppleI2C    4.0.0d2
com.apple.driver.IOI2CControllerPPC    1.1.1d2
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    366.91.21
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    1.6.77
com.apple.security.TMSafetyNet    3
com.apple.BootCac`

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
What happens if you boot in Safe Mode, remove the airport kext files and then reboot?

Sounds like it may the logicboard.

I had a TIBook 400 that was wonky like this. Had the original Airport card, but in my case the offender was the ATI Radeon drivers. I removed those and it worked fine, other than the usual crapping it was doing because the LB was bad.

The reason I keep suggesting the Airport Card drivers is because that seems to be where the kernel panics are happening. I only discovered this because of some obscure blog post someone had made about his Airport Card and the video drivers.

As a hail mary you might try that instead. Instead of the Airport kext files, remove the ATI video drivers and see what happens. Those will be in one of the Library Extensions folders (don't recall which one).

If you try both things and it still won't work it's probably time for a new logicboard.

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...id-g4-powerbook-10-5-8.1550671/#post-16934350

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/imac-blue-screen-blues.1397012/#post-15165489
 
Last edited:
eyoungren said:
What happens if you boot in Safe Mode, remove the airport kext files and then reboot?

Sounds like it may the logicboard.

I had a TIBook 400 that was wonky like this. Had the original Airport card, but in my case the offender was the ATI Radeon drivers. I removed those and it worked fine, other than the usual crapping it was doing because the LB was bad.

The reason I keep suggesting the Airport Card drivers is because that seems to be where the kernel panics are happening. I only discovered this because of some obscure blog post someone had made about his Airport Card and the video drivers.

As a hail mary you might try that instead. Instead of the Airport kext files, remove the ATI video drivers and see what happens. Those will be in one of the Library Extensions folders (don't recall which one).

If you try both things and it still won't work it's probably time for a new logicboard.

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...id-g4-powerbook-10-5-8.1550671/#post-16934350

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/imac-blue-screen-blues.1397012/#post-15165489
Click to expand...

I think it is to do with the kext files because when I don't have an airport card installed, the computer doesn't kernel panic. Does this mean that there's no way to use WiFi on my PB? if I deleted then reinstalled the kext files would this do anything?

How do you reinstall the video drivers after removing them?
 
Justin122 said:
I think it is to do with the kext files because when I don't have an airport card installed, the computer doesn't kernel panic. Does this mean that there's no way to use WiFi on my PB? if I deleted then reinstalled the kext files would this do anything?
Click to expand...

I had a similar problem on my 12" iBook (it's a common issue). I removed the built in Airport Extreme card but it still had kernal panic, the solution was to remove the kexts from the iBook in target disk mode from another Mac.
For Wifi I now use an inexpensive USB miniature dongle which has it's own drivers and causes no problems.
 
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Justin122 said:
I think it is to do with the kext files because when I don't have an airport card installed, the computer doesn't kernel panic. Does this mean that there's no way to use WiFi on my PB? if I deleted then reinstalled the kext files would this do anything?

How do you reinstall the video drivers after removing them?
Click to expand...
In one of those threads I linked to I explain the process (scroll down), but essentially you want to boot into Safe Mode, open the correct folder and move those kext files to the desktop (make a folder for them). That removes them from the system, but still keeps them.

Then just reboot.

I suspect your logicboard is the ultimate problem.
 
Dronecatcher said:
I had a similar problem on my 12" iBook (it's a common issue). I removed the built in Airport Extreme card but it still had kernal panic, the solution was to remove the kexts from the iBook in target disk mode from another Mac.
For Wifi I now use an inexpensive USB miniature dongle which has it's own drivers and causes no problems.
Click to expand...

Which USB dongle did you buy? I imagine no new ones will have drivers for Leopard? I suspect this to be the necessary workaround.
 
Justin122 said:
Which USB dongle did you buy? I imagine no new ones will have drivers for Leopard? I suspect this to be the necessary workaround.
Click to expand...

I used this which has drivers from 10.4 to 10.9:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Neotechs®-802-11N-150Mbps-WIRELESS-ADAPTER/dp/B004XZEGQW

Doesn't seem available now (I got my last one a year ago) - I'm sure you can get similar under a different brand, just check with company for available drivers.

EDIT: Might be worth a look....

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Edimax-EW-...coding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=PR2EH98QVXVV2JSB6QZN

http://www.edimax.us/html/english/frames/b-download.htm
 
Last edited:
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As said, the common mode of failure has to do with the interaction between the LoBo and airport card. Replacing the airport card has never fixed this that I've seen.

You're best to nuke the kexts as others have suggested.
 
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bunnspecial said:
As said, the common mode of failure has to do with the interaction between the LoBo and airport card. Replacing the airport card has never fixed this that I've seen.

You're best to nuke the kexts as others have suggested.
Click to expand...

What's the reason for removing the kext files? Is it necessary to keep the airport card inside the machine?
 
Justin122 said:
What's the reason for removing the kext files? Is it necessary to keep the airport card inside the machine?
Click to expand...
The reason for removing the kext files is so that the drivers do not load.

If the drivers load the Mac bombs.

You can try removing the card, but if the drivers still load and the Mac bombs then you know this is still your problem.

I sense a serious aversion to removing the kext files on your part, despite all the advice to do so.

Is there any specific reason you have to explain why your allergy to doing this is so serious?
 
eyoungren said:
The reason for removing the kext files is so that the drivers do not load.

If the drivers load the Mac bombs.

You can try removing the card, but if the drivers still load and the Mac bombs then you know this is still your problem.

I sense a serious aversion to removing the kext files on your part, despite all the advice to do so.

Is there any specific reason you have to explain why your allergy to doing this is so serious?
Click to expand...

Not at all, I was just failing to see the point when removing my Airport card does the same thing as removing the kext files, as when I remove the card the machine stops kernel panic-ing. It must be a problem with the contacts inside the AirPort slot.
 
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