Debugging of a kernel panic

G

GammaPoint

Registered
Hi, my fiancee has a Mac (running Mac OS X 10.4) and today received the error "Please restart your computer" which Google tells me is related to a "kernel panic". I don't know that much about Macs (I personally run Linux) and so I'd appreciate you Mac experts lending me a hand in figuring this out for her.

We have tried restarting, but the error continues (even though sometimes it'll take a minute or so to show up). I booted her up in Safe Mode and it seems that there is no problem when I do this (at least so far).

I looked at the panic.log file in /Library/Logs and this is what I found:

Tue Nov 2 09:54:22 2010
panic(cpu 0 caller 0x000A8C00): Uncorrectable machine check: pc = 00000000006B77
20, msr = 0000000000149030, dsisr = 42000000, dar = 00000000301A2000
AsyncSrc = 0000000000000000, CoreFIR = 0000000000000000
L2FIR = 0000000000000000, BusFir = 0000000000000000

Latest stack backtrace for cpu 0:
Backtrace:
0x000954F8 0x00095A10 0x00026898 0x000A8C00 0x000A7E90 0x000ABB80
Proceeding back via exception chain:
Exception state (sv=0x2FEEDC80)
PC=0x006B7720; MSR=0x00149030; DAR=0x301A2000; DSISR=0x42000000; LR=0x006B
D3A4; R1=0x0CF33350; XCP=0x00000008 (0x200 - Machine check)
Backtrace:
0x006BD34C 0x006BC8A8 0x006B7A1C 0x006CD4F8 0x006C8930 0x006F42EC
0x006D0B18 0x006F0874 0x006EDF9C 0x007008F8 0x005D042C 0x005D02AC 0x002
D2244 0x005D0320
0x005C7240 0x005C7470 0x005C70FC 0x005D02AC 0x002D2244 0x005D0320 0x005
C6FBC 0x0011E790
0x0011BB98 0x0011C0A8 0x00283F80 0x00284034 0x00260FE4 0x00280198 0x002
ABDB8 0x000ABD30
0x69627261
Kernel loadable modules in backtrace (with dependencies):
com.apple.iokit.AppleAirPort2(405.1)@0x6b1000
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IONetworkingFamily(1.5.0)@0x5c4000
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily(1.7)@0x48d000
com.apple.iokit.IONetworkingFamily(1.5.0)@0x5c4000
Exception state (sv=0x2FB00280)
PC=0x90001F0C; MSR=0x0200F030; DAR=0xE00EC000; DSISR=0x42000000; LR=0x000E
431C; R1=0xF00803E0; XCP=0x00000030 (0xC00 - System call)

Kernel version:
Darwin Kernel Version 8.11.0: Wed Oct 10 18:26:00 PDT 2007; root:xnu-792.24.17~1
/RELEASE_PPC

*********

Tue Nov 2 19:34:30 2010
panic(cpu 0 caller 0x000A8C00): Uncorrectable machine check: pc = 00000000006DB5
2C, msr = 0000000000149030, dsisr = 40000000, dar = 0000000017260040
AsyncSrc = 0000000000000000, CoreFIR = 0000000000000000
L2FIR = 0000000000000000, BusFir = 0000000000000000

Latest stack backtrace for cpu 0:
Backtrace:
0x000954F8 0x00095A10 0x00026898 0x000A8C00 0x000A7E90 0x000ABB80
Proceeding back via exception chain:
Exception state (sv=0x2FA40C80)
PC=0x006DB52C; MSR=0x00149030; DAR=0x17260040; DSISR=0x40000000; LR=0x006F
0078; R1=0x0D0A3D30; XCP=0x00000008 (0x200 - Machine check)
Backtrace:
0x0027D47C 0x006F0078 0x002D1B8C 0x002D0A54 0x000A9714
Kernel loadable modules in backtrace (with dependencies):
com.apple.iokit.AppleAirPort2(405.1)@0x6b1000
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IONetworkingFamily(1.5.0)@0x5c4000
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily(1.7)@0x48d000
Exception state (sv=0x1D14C500)
PC=0x00000000; MSR=0x0000D030; DAR=0x00000000; DSISR=0x00000000; LR=0x0000
0000; R1=0x00000000; XCP=0x00000000 (Unknown)

Kernel version:
Darwin Kernel Version 8.11.0: Wed Oct 10 18:26:00 PDT 2007; root:xnu-792.24.17~1
/RELEASE_PPC

*********

Tue Nov 2 23:05:07 2010
panic(cpu 0 caller 0x000A8C00): Uncorrectable machine check: pc = 00000000006CD5
2C, msr = 0000000000149030, dsisr = 42000000, dar = 00000000043B6000
AsyncSrc = 0000000000000000, CoreFIR = 0000000000000000
L2FIR = 0000000000000000, BusFir = 00000000ff000000

Latest stack backtrace for cpu 0:
Backtrace:
0x000954F8 0x00095A10 0x00026898 0x000A8C00 0x000A7E90 0x000ABB80
Proceeding back via exception chain:
Exception state (sv=0x2F57CC80)
PC=0x006CD52C; MSR=0x00149030; DAR=0x043B6000; DSISR=0x42000000; LR=0x006E
2078; R1=0x0CFC3D30; XCP=0x00000008 (0x200 - Machine check)
Backtrace:
0x016027C0 0x006E2078 0x002D1B8C 0x002D0A54 0x000A9714
Kernel loadable modules in backtrace (with dependencies):
com.apple.iokit.AppleAirPort2(405.1)@0x6a3000
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IONetworkingFamily(1.5.0)@0x5b6000
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily(1.7)@0x48d000
Exception state (sv=0x20ACBA00)
PC=0x00000000; MSR=0x0000D030; DAR=0x00000000; DSISR=0x00000000; LR=0x0000
0000; R1=0x00000000; XCP=0x00000000 (Unknown)

Kernel version:
Darwin Kernel Version 8.11.0: Wed Oct 10 18:26:00 PDT 2007; root:xnu-792.24.17~1
/RELEASE_PPC
Click to expand...

Does this tell me anything useful? Is that AppleAirPort something that could be causing the problem or is this not what this panic.log is telling me?

Is there a way for me to check her hardware and see if anything has been damaged in any way?

Any other suggestions? I really appreciate any input you might have ! :)
 
GammaPoint said:
Is there a way for me to check her hardware and see if anything has been damaged in any way?
Click to expand...


I just learned about the hardware tests that are available with Disc 1 of the install CD. I plan on running them in Loop mode overnight to try to figure out if there's a problem there. I'll report back with the results. Thanks.
 
Well I ran the hardware test overnight, it did a total of 40 loops and apparently never detected any problems.

Satcomer said:
I would check that hardware for "Airport2". Is that a third party wireless card?
Click to expand...

I doubt it. I checked her 'hardware profile' near the testing section and it said she has a Airport Extreme wireless card. She's never made any modifications on her Mac since she bought it, and she bought it from the university student store new so I think it should be 100% Apple.

Regarding the hardware, I would have naively thought that if it were a hardware problem her computer wouldn't function while it was in Safe Mode. On the other hand, she didn't have the internet while in Safe Mode so if it were a wireless card problem I suppose that would be consistent.

Is there a better test that can be run on the wireless card? Other ideas? I'm sort of at a loss as to what to do next.
 
If you can boot to safe mode, there is a software conflict causing the Kernel Panic. I would suggest first trying to perform an archive and install of the operating system using the first disc that came with the machine. If it continues to happen, boot into safe mode save all of the important files and then do an erase and install. If either of these installs fails, it is most likely a bad hard drive or memory. If you have an apple store near you, make a genius bar appointment, they can help you with all of the above steps for free. And also help you narrow down the issue if the reinstall of the os doesn't work.
 
Another way to tell what is triggering the kernel panic is to boot in verbose mode by holding command-v when you hear the chime at startup. When the kernel panic happens you can see what the last item the machine has loaded before the kernel panic happened.
 
ex_mac_genius said:
If you can boot to safe mode, there is a software conflict causing the Kernel Panic. I would suggest first trying to perform an archive and install of the operating system using the first disc that came with the machine. If it continues to happen, boot into safe mode save all of the important files and then do an erase and install. If either of these installs fails, it is most likely a bad hard drive or memory. If you have an apple store near you, make a genius bar appointment, they can help you with all of the above steps for free. And also help you narrow down the issue if the reinstall of the os doesn't work.
Click to expand...


Thanks for this suggestion. She's making a clone of her system with SuperDuper right now and has saved all of her important data elsewhere as well (since I am guessing that the problem would remain in the clone). After that we'll try the archive and install and if that fails, will try an erase and install. If we have no luck with that and no leads as to what else could be wrong, we'll head to the genius bar. Thanks again :)
 
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