Kern Crashes on Panther (G5)

[GotherThanThou]

I'm set up with a 2x 2Ghz G5, 1Gb RAM, running 10.3.2, and I keep having apps crash on me, bringing up the 'report bug to apple' option telling me that there was a kernel protection failure. Same thing everytime. The apps that crash most often are iTunes, Sim City 4, and Microsoft apps. Mostly everything else is fine, but other apps crash with the same message now and then too. Is this a known bug? Can anyone tell me what's going on? I'm worried that perhaps some of my RAM is screwed up or something. Thanks.

-John

 

[Fukui]

Did you add the ram yourself?
If so remove all the ones you added.
Remember, G4 uses memory pairing/interleaving so they have to be the same exact size chips and you have to add them in pairs.

Also, try to delete the preference files in your /library/preferences folder in your home, that coresponds to those apps, such as com.apple.itunes.plist is the preference file for iTunes....

If thats not the case, if you don't have too much on your G5 right now, I would recomend, as a last resort, to erase your HD and reinstall everything from scratch.

 

[GotherThanThou]

The RAM was installed by a well-known and trusted company (MR systems) in the UK, which has never failed me (or the company I work for) before... I'll try deleting the prefs, and give it a while, but I really do not want to have to wipe my hard disk. So far I'm using up 116Gb of my space.

 

[Fukui]

Originally posted by GotherThanThou
The RAM was installed by a well-known and trusted company (MR systems) in the UK, which has never failed me (or the company I work for) before... I'll try deleting the prefs, and give it a while, but I really do not want to have to wipe my hard disk. So far I'm using up 116Gb of my space.

Yea, but you never know, sometimes a bad memory sneaks in there sometimes.

Is only iTunes and MS apps and games failing? Are any cocoa apps affected such as safari, mail, text-edit etc? It could also be a problem with carbon libraries...you might also try to re-install the 10.3.2 updates (must first delete the reciept file in /library/reciepts ... not in you home folder though)....

 

[GotherThanThou]

I deleted the prefs, and the first time I started iTunes the entire window was just white, and I had to force quit. It's working for now... Safari aparently has bugs anyway, so I'm not sure if that's the same thing and not just normal problems. mail and text-edit work fine. It's been a problem since I got the computer. Any advice on how to check the RAM?

 

[IJ Reilly]

Run the Hardware Check CD that came with the Mac. This test found a bad RAM stick that came factory installed on my PB.

Edit: Another thing. If you've had a few panics and hard restarts of the Mac, it's well worth booting up in single user mode and running fsck.

 

[wPod]

check RAM

the simple way. . .

remove all ram except the RAM apple installed. see if you have the same problem with only apple RAM.

or, if you have a friend with another G5, then trade RAM and see if you have the same problems.

if deleting the previously mentioned pref files doesnt work and the change of ram doesnt make a difference then try re-installing panther. and remeber to BACK UP your data especially if you have 116Gb of important data.

 

[IJ Reilly]

I have to disagree. Reinstalling the OS is the very last resort, to be attempted when absolutely nothing else works! Apple tech support recommended this procedure to me when I reported my random kernal panics. They failed to suggest the Hardware Check CD, which when I ran it, immediately identified the problem as bad RAM.

 

[Fukui]

Oh, forgot, try to repair permissions using disk utility. It may explain some of the crashing in those apps.

 

[Calliander]

Re: Kern Crashes on Panther (G5)

Originally posted by GotherThanThou
I'm set up with a 2x 2Ghz G5, 1Gb RAM, running 10.3.2, and I keep having apps crash on me, bringing up the 'report bug to apple' option telling me that there was a kernel protection failure. Same thing everytime. The apps that crash most often are iTunes, Sim City 4, and Microsoft apps. Mostly everything else is fine, but other apps crash with the same message now and then too. Is this a known bug? Can anyone tell me what's going on? I'm worried that perhaps some of my RAM is screwed up or something. Thanks.

-John

Do you have Norton Systemworks?

For Microsoft apps, check the versions of them and see if you need any updates to the software. http://www.microsoft.com/mac/downloads.aspx

Go to Apple Menu > About This Mac. Click on the "More Info..." button. Once Apple System Profiler comes up, go to the File Menu > Save As and save a copy of your ASP report. E-mail me a copy and I'll see if I can figure out why you're crashing.