iMac 11,2 Kernel Panic with 10.6.5 and 10.6.6

[fettman]

Hey All,

So let me know if there's another thread that resolves this or deals with this and I will shut up accordingly.

I recently purchased an iMac 11,2 from the refurbished mac store in mid-December. When I'm on 10.6.4, it runs smoothly and without fail. As soon as I upgrade to 10.6.5 or 10.6.6, I immediately get regular kernel panics. They occur mostly upon waking from sleep, but also on shut down, and has also occurred while playing video games.

I have contacted AppleCare about the issue. An extended test in the Apple Hardware Test showed that all hardware was fine. Furthermore, after erasing the drive, doing a fresh install of 10.6.4, and installing nothing more than the combo update to 10.6.6, the kernel panics began once more.

Since then, I have performed a reinstall of 10.6.4 without doing a clean swipe of the HD; the kernel panics have since disappeared. Given that my hardware seems fine and I had no third party software installed with 10.6.6 and still got kernel panics, logic dictates that 10.6.6 and my iMac do not get along. I have a hard time believing this, but I'm not sure what else it could be.

If any of you have any recommendations, it would be much appreciated.

Best,

Dan

 

[djc6]

Have you tried using the combo updater?

http://support.apple.com/kb/dl1349

Some feel its superstition, but I've had better luck using the combo updater (includes all updates since 10.6.0) versus the delta updates.

Also, is there anything interesting in the logs at the time of the kernel panic? You can check the logs by going to Applications -> Utilities -> Console - "system.log" on the left is most important, but "All Messages" is all inclusive.

If that doesn't help, keep in touch with the applecare folks. I'm sure they'll take care of you - i've always had good experiences with them, and I've had a couple refurb macs as well.