Strange crash with my Dual-core G5.

[Hyernel]

So there I was, in Safari clicking a link, when...

The cursor froze...
None of the force-quit options worked...
Pressing the power button did nothing...

I then noticed that the red light near the power button was on. (Red is almost never good) Just then, all the fans started to roar like a 747. They are usually very quiet; almost unnoticiable. I thought that perhaps something was overheating and the fans were desperately trying to compensate....

I think my only option was to pull the plug, which is what I did before a fire broke out!! I zapped the PRAM a couple times on restart and then I repaired disk permissions, though I really didn't think that had anythng to do with it.

My question: What the hell happened here?? Why did clicking a simple link freeze Safari so badly? And why did the fans go all poltergeist?

I checked all my logs afterwards and there was no notation about the event. Things seem to be working fine now, but I'm stressed ooouuuttt!

Thank you for any advice, input or comments about my Mom.

Hyernel
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

2.3 Dual-core G5 Powermac / nVidia 6600 / 23" ACD / 512RAM (but another 2GB is coming from DMS) OSX 10.4.2

 

[mad jew]

I'm guessing from your signature that you're still running just the standard RAM, right? Well, even that could be bad although usually it'll tell you in the crash logs but I suppose this wasn't a normal kernel panic. There's really no way of checking the RAM until the new stuff arrives anyway.

Do you have any funky apps running at the same time like theme changers or other hacks?

 

[paulypants]

According to your sig you're on 10.4.2, upgrade to 10.4.3 and see if that helps...

 

[Hyernel]

Are there abnormal kernal panics?

....I suppose this wasn't a normal kernel panic. There's really no way of checking the RAM until the new stuff arrives anyway.

Do you have any funky apps running at the same time like theme changers or other hacks?

No...I've had a couple of kernal panics (though I'm not exactly sure what those are) In both cases, I got a message to email the event to Apple.

I'm a long time Mac user, but I've just now upgraded from OS9.1 along with the new PM. (And wow, what an upgrade!!!)

No funky apps other than a few dashboard widgets. Both previous kernal panics happened in LightWave 8.5, but I was trying to load an old .lwo, so I might have deserved it.

Hyernel

 

[Hyernel]

I will soon...

According to your sig you're on 10.4.2, upgrade to 10.4.3 and see if that helps...

I'm waiting for you guys to work out the bugs on the 10.4.3 updater and then posting all the quirks and bugs here.

Is it a stable update? I'll wait until the new RAM is installed and then hit that badboy after that.

Hyernel
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

2.3 Duel-core G5 Powermac / nVidia 6600 / 23" ACD / 512RAM (but another 2GB is coming from DMS) OSX 10.4.2

 

[Hyernel]

Temperature Utility

I've DL'd Temperature Monitor to try and get a clue if anything is running hotter than normal. But the software hasn't been revised to include the 2.3 duel core temperature specs.

http://www.bresink.de/osx/TemperatureMonitor.html

Right now, both CPU's are running 102.3°F. But I don't know what the normal upper and lower limits are (and can't find the info on Apple/Google)

The Graphics chip and the KODIAK diode are around 135°F, and are, for some reason, the hottest parts. But until I know what "normal" is, I am streeesssed oooouuut! Does anybody know?

Hyernel
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

2.3 Duel-core G5 Powermac / nVidia 6600 / 23" ACD / 512RAM (but another 2GB is coming from DMS) OSX 10.4.2

 

[mad jew]

Well, since there's no crash log entry it's hard to say what exactly happened, let alone whether it was a kernel panic or otherwise If it was a one-off I wouldn't worry about it too much though. It is a little weird.

As for the RAM, I'd install 10.4.3 first (been fine on seven machines for me so far) so that if something goes wrong later we'll be able to pinpoint it to the update or the new RAM easier, assuming it doesn't all go well.

 

[Hyernel]

And I used to think that 512MB of RAM was alot.

....As for the RAM, I'd install 10.4.3 first (been fine on seven machines for me so far) so that if something goes wrong later we'll be able to pinpoint it to the update or the new RAM easier, assuming it doesn't all go well.

Thanks! I might just do that. I held off adding RAM before so I could install my main apps. Then, if the RAM turned out bad, I would know that it was the RAM since the apps had already checked out with the factory RAM.

Hyernel

 

[nichos]

Had this happen on a powermac where I work, it was a revision B (I think). Did you open the case at all? Even if not, maybe your sensor was triggered on your deflector. Check to make sure it's secure, and then see this doc, fixed my problem:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=300351
good luck!

 

[yenko]

Thanks! I might just do that. I held off adding RAM before so I could install my main apps. Then, if the RAM turned out bad, I would know that it was the RAM since the apps had already checked out with the factory RAM.

Hyernel

Just for the hell of it..........Boot to single user mode and run "fsck -f" to make sure your directory isn't screwed up. I have a feeling you may have a problem there.

 

[Hyernel]

...Did you open the case at all? Even if not, maybe your sensor was triggered on your deflector.
good luck!

I opened up the case after the fact, just to see if it was glowing red, but I put everything back carefully

Thanks for the link.

Hyernel

 

[Hyernel]

Just for the hell of it..........Boot to single user mode and run "fsck -f" to make sure your directory isn't screwed up. I have a feeling you may have a problem there.

I'm almost embarrassed to admit....but I don't know how to do that.

I am the only user, so I'm the root user. Do you mean "Safe Mode?"

Also, how do I run "fsck -f"? (Sorry, I went from being an OS9 ninja to an OS X noob about 5 days ago. But I'm hopefully not too old to begin Jedi training.)

Thanks!

Hyernel

 

[londonfog]

most likely, logic board.

 

[mad jew]

All you need to know about fsck. By the way, I doubt you'll be the logged in as root because OSX won't allow that by default AFAIK.

 

[yenko]

I'm almost embarrassed to admit....but I don't know how to do that.

I am the only user, so I'm the root user. Do you mean "Safe Mode?"

Also, how do I run "fsck -f"? (Sorry, I went from being an OS9 ninja to an OS X noob about 5 days ago. But I'm hopefully not too old to begin Jedi training.)

Thanks!

Hyernel

At the startup chime, hold down the "Command(aka Apple)-s" keys.
You'll boot to a black screen with white letters.
You'll see a cursor flashing when the boot is finished. At that point type in "fsck -f" (without the quotes) and hit "return".

Notice the space between the fsck and the -

If there is any directory damage, the fsck command should repair it. It may return a "directory modified" or ....."OK"
If it returns repair/modified, run fsck -f again until it returns OK.
type in "reboot" and "return".
Always make sure your directory is OK before you run updates. Follow up by repairing permissions and then reboot and install updates. Also check to be sure, using "Disk Utility" to make sure "Journaling" is enabled.

 

[technocoy]

it may be...

that since you have a duel core machine instead of dual core, you have in some way pissed off your computer, and it is now trying pick a fight with you instead of running apps like a dual core G5 would do.....


j/k ;-) couldn't resist.

 

[Hyernel]

most likely, logic board.

Logic board?!?! And maybe the front grating has the wrong number of holes. I'd better count them!!!

I think it'll have to happen a lot more than once before I start diving straight toward the clitor...um...logic board.

Hyernel

 

[yenko]

Make sure too, that your Lightwave app is up to date before running it. There seems to be a problem in 2D using Open GL, though I'm not sure of it since I don't use that software. You may want to check with their website to be sure.

 

[Hyernel]

that since you have a duel core machine instead of dual core, you have in some way pissed off your computer, and it is now trying pick a fight with you instead of running apps like a dual core G5 would do.....

I thought that word looked funny. Dammit! I'm supposed to be the smart one!

 

[Hyernel]

Make sure too, that your Lightwave app is up to date before running it.

Thanks! I did, and LW is up to date. Although the overwhelming opinion, in the Mac Lightwave community, is that Apple needs to do better in regards to OpenGL.

BTW: The new Dual core 2.3 SCREAMS with Lightwave. I only wish I could have gotten the higherend nVidia board.

TAC

 

[simie]

The nest thing to do now would be to run the Apple Hardware Test. Just put the disk into your DVD drive restart the mac and hold down C Key.

Now just run the extended test, non Apple hardware will not be tested.

Here is the diagnostic info for the LED on the front of the mac.

Here are the power light's various statuses and what this LED is telling you:

Power light status

What it means
On and solid Computer is on and running
2 flashes, pause No memory (RAM) is installed
3 flashes, pause Incompatible memory (RAM) is installed
4 flashes, pause No good DIMM banks detected
5 or 6 flashes, pause Contact Apple or an Apple Authorized Service Provider

 

[Makosuke]

First of all, the fans did not go all poltergeist, pulling the plug was not necessary (holding down the front power button for 5 seconds does a hard power down), nor was there anything to panic about... although what you experienced is sometimes called a panic.

What happened was a hard freeze of the OS. It's rare, and usually when it happens you get a proper "Kernel Panic" message (the screen greys and has a "hold down the power button" message in several languages), but occasionally for whatever reason even that fails and you get a total freeze.

Furthermore, when the computer freezes, the fans no longer have anything controlling them, so by default they crank all the way up to make absolutely sure the computer doesn't overheat. As it happens, on a G5 with all those fans that can get incredibly loud, but it's perfectly normal and absolutely won't do any harm at all (though it can blow stuff behind your computer around pretty good).

So, if it happens again, don't panic and hold the power button down for a few seconds to power down. You can then restart.

As for WHY, that's the much bigger question. I have had OSX freeze without reason on EXTREMELY rare occasions, but usually something's amiss when that happens--either you've installed something that's destablized the OS, there's something wrong with your installation, or you're doing something that tickles a low-level bug in the OS and causes it to crash.

In your case, if you didn't have anything untoward running in the background, I'd ignore it unless it happens again in the next month or so. If it does, then (since your computer is new anyway) you might as well do a clean install from the discs that came with it, incase there was something bunged up with the factory OS install. You can also run that hardware check (I always do on a new computer anyway, just in case), and there is a short list of standard troubleshooting things that can be found in stickied posts and a hundred other places on this forum.

Also, simie's post is describing what happens with the front power light; the light you saw is the little red warning light *behind* the front grille, if I understand correctly. I've only ever seen that go on when the air guide isn't in place, but perhaps it comes on any time the OS stops controlling the fans and the computer goes into emergency mode. Come to think of it, since removing the air guide causes the fans to spin up all the way (it's impressive---try it!), perhaps that's the "FULL BLAST!" light...

 

[Hyernel]

Thanks a lot Makosuke for all that.

Pressing the power button for 5 secs to hard restart....Didn't know.
Emergency Mode....Didn't know.

I'm still sort of looking for the power button on the upper-right corner of the keyboard to do a 3-finger restart with. (The power button on the side of the ACD seems to be disabled. Not a big deal, but...hmmm)

When I first got this out of the box, I took it all apart to see what was inside. Old habit. And I guess there was a thought in the back of my mind that I didn't get one of those fan clusters seated back just right.

Anyway, I've updated to 10.4.3, and nothing seems to be broken. We'll see how it goes in a production environment.

Thanks again

Hyernel

 

[londonfog]

yes, logic board

kp with red light = unhappy logic board

you don't have to take my word for it, but hopefully you will be able to reproduce it when you take it in for repair

and keep you work backed up (yes i know the logic board won't damage your hard drive, but if it has to go under the knife you want it backed up)

 

[Sdashiki]

kp with red light = unhappy logic board

you don't have to take my word for it, but hopefully you will be able to reproduce it when you take it in for repair

and keep you work backed up (yes i know the logic board won't damage your hard drive, but if it has to go under the knife you want it backed up)

wow, did you even read the thread? he never said he was going to bring it in for repairs. nor did anyone mention anything the logic board being bad. as you can tell (he is posting) the computer works. he just wanted to know why it happened.