EXC_BAD_INSTRUCTION frequent kernel panics os x 10.4

[ByronCW]

Hi all, I'm running OS X 10.4.8 on an iBook G4.
1gb DDR SDRAM (FACTORY)

I've been getting frequent kernel panics, usually a bunch in a row, for the past two weeks. I've had this laptop for about 1.5 years, and have not made any hardware modifications. I've run memtest and it found nothing wrong with my RAM (which isn't surprising because the RAM is from Apple and was installed by them). I've also reset my PMU, but this didn't help either. I haven't done any major new software installs, either.

No peripheral devices are attached, and no application in particular seems to trigger the crash. However, it does seem to happen more frequently when I'm doing things that require a lot of RAM. As mentioned before, I tend to get a bunch of kernel panics in a row, i.e., it will kernel panic at boot.

Here is a sample log from the crash reporter (in this case, Preview was the application, but again, this is not consistently the case). I really appreciate any input here. Thanks!

Exception: EXC_BAD_INSTRUCTION (0x0002)
Code[0]: 0x00000002
Code[1]: 0x90a42e80


Thread 0 Crashed:
0 libobjc.A.dylib 0x90a42e80 object_cxxDestructFromClass + 180
1 libobjc.A.dylib 0x90a3f4f8 _class_lookupMethodAndLoadCache + 640
2 libobjc.A.dylib 0x90a3f1d4 objc_msgSend + 244
3 com.apple.AppKit 0x937559c8 -[NSView unlockFocus] + 44
4 com.apple.AppKit 0x93750ab4 -[NSView _recursiveDisplayRectIfNeededIgnoringOpacity:isVisibleRect:rectIsVisibleRectForView:topView:] + 1944
5 com.apple.AppKit 0x937509a8 -[NSView _recursiveDisplayRectIfNeededIgnoringOpacity:isVisibleRect:rectIsVisibleRectForView:topView:] + 1676
6 com.apple.AppKit 0x937509a8 -[NSView _recursiveDisplayRectIfNeededIgnoringOpacity:isVisibleRect:rectIsVisibleRectForView:topView:] + 1676
7 com.apple.AppKit 0x9374a054 -[NSView _displayRectIgnoringOpacity:isVisibleRect:rectIsVisibleRectForView:] + 384
8 com.apple.AppKit 0x9373f348 -[NSView displayIfNeeded] + 248
9 com.apple.AppKit 0x93846484 -[NSClipView _immediateScrollToPoint:] + 1384
10 com.apple.AppKit 0x93845d94 -[NSScrollView scrollClipView:toPoint:] + 252
11 com.apple.AppKit 0x937b4590 -[NSClipView _scrollTo:animate:] + 744
12 com.apple.AppKit 0x937b4294 -[NSClipView _scrollTo:] + 32
13 com.apple.AppKit 0x939febe4 -[NSClipView _reflectDocumentViewFrameChange] + 72
14 com.apple.AppKit 0x9373a074 -[NSView _postFrameChangeNotification] + 80
15 com.apple.AppKit 0x93737f24 -[NSView setFrameSize:] + 384
16 com.apple.AppKit 0x93737cd0 -[NSView setFrame:] + 136
17 com.apple.Preview 0x0000a6a4 0x1000 + 38564
18 com.apple.Preview 0x00013fbc 0x1000 + 77756
19 com.apple.Preview 0x00013ed0 0x1000 + 77520
20 com.apple.Preview 0x0002c714 0x1000 + 177940
21 com.apple.AppKit 0x938d358c -[NSToolbarButton sendAction:to:] + 76
22 com.apple.AppKit 0x938d352c -[NSToolbarButton sendAction] + 80
23 com.apple.AppKit 0x938d2e84 -[NSToolbarItemViewer mouseDown:] + 1568
24 com.apple.AppKit 0x93767890 -[NSWindow sendEvent:] + 4616
25 com.apple.AppKit 0x937108d4 -[NSApplication sendEvent:] + 4172
26 com.apple.Preview 0x00003640 0x1000 + 9792
27 com.apple.AppKit 0x93707d10 -[NSApplication run] + 508
28 com.apple.AppKit 0x937f887c NSApplicationMain + 452
29 com.apple.Preview 0x000313f0 0x1000 + 197616
30 com.apple.Preview 0x00031298 0x1000 + 197272

 

[wraith77]

It seems to have something to do with the OS trying to draw a menu, or transparency. I recommend you install the machine with it's default load-out. (The software that came with the machine when purchased.) Then see if the problem still occurs. If it does, you can rule out software.

 

[fryke]

Any haxies installed, something using APE? Have you tried creating a new test user and using that _clean_ user only for a few hours to see whether the panics return?

 

[ByronCW]

Thanks for the feedback, I really appreciate it. No Haxies installed. I'm going to first try and create the new user to see if the problem persists, and if it does then I'm going to resort to a reinstall of the OS. Anyways, thanks again for the help, I'll post again with my 'results'.