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New to Mac (mini) what's a Kernel Panic?

J

j.benj

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 13, 2012
86
0
Hi all,

I've recently picked up my first Mac (a mini) to do iOS development on. The only change I've made to the machine is bumping the RAM up to 8gb. Last night I experienced something I later found out was called a "kernel panic". I was browsing Lifehacker using Safari when it happened. My mini started back up fine and it hasn't happened since.

Is this something I should worry about?
 
A panic is like a blue screen on a PC.

If everything was fine until you bumped up the memory I would make sure the memory is seated correctly in its socket.
 
Honestly I never even booted it up with the original 2gb in it. I upgraded the memory immediately after removing the mini from it's box. I'll have a look at the modules to make sure, though.
 
j.benj said:
Honestly I never even booted it up with the original 2gb in it. I upgraded the memory immediately after removing the mini from it's box. I'll have a look at the modules to make sure, though.
Click to expand...

By look at them, do you mean test them? Memtest is probably the easiest thing to do as long as they're firmly seated. What ram did you order? Was it identical in spec to what Apple uses? Crucial is fairly popular on here.
 
thekev said:
By look at them, do you mean test them? Memtest is probably the easiest thing to do as long as they're firmly seated. What ram did you order? Was it identical in spec to what Apple uses? Crucial is fairly popular on here.
Click to expand...

it was a PNY kit (2x4gb) that had a "Mac compatible" emblem on the package. the specs matched the requirements in the Mac mini manual.

They appear to be seated properly and I will run a Memtest when I get a chance.
 
I have had two Kernel Panics, both earlier this year, on my late '09 mini. I am pretty sure on mine it is something to do with the bluetooth, because the keyboard stopped working and then I get the grey screen. So now whenever the keyboard stops working I just restart my mini, just in case! :cool:
 
It's a 2011 mini :)

I did a memtest and I did come up with some failures near the end of the test. I tried reseating the RAM modules and still had failures. Looks like I have a bum kit. I will take the PNY kit back to Best Buy for an exchange and see if a new kit passes the test.

Thanks for the advice, will post back probably tomorrow with results.
 
Actually I got a chance to duck out at lunch and exchange the RAM. Installed the new kit and ran a memtest, no errors this time. Another thing I noticed was that with the old kit if I looked at "About this Mac" it would show "Memory 8 GB". With the new kit installed, it shows "Memory 8 GB 1333 MHz DDR3".

Guess the old kit really was defective. :roll eyes:

Thanks again for the advice, all. Like I've said before this is my first Mac and I'm just getting my feet wet. Lots of great help so far from you guys and Apple tech support (iTunes app issue).
 
Just another similar story: Bought my 2011 Mini shortly after it was released last July. I soon upgraded the memory to 8gb (Crucial). In late November, it started crashing and displaying the black box in several languages. The local Apple store eventually (took 2 trips) determined these kernel panics were probably due to bad memory. Bad thing is no determination could be made as to which one it was, or both, or how it happened. Apparently, some just go bad without warning. Had to send bad ones back to Crucial before they'd send me a replacement. No problems since. :)
 
Glad you got it sorted out quickly. I had kernel panic issues with my 2010 mini for several months before I tested the RAM (which of course turned out to be bad...):eek:
 
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