Gray Curtain of Death

Whitehill

Whitehill

Registered
I upgraded to Snow Leopard three weeks ago. Since then I have experienced two kernel panics, leading to the exhilarating title. I had only one of those during the entire Tiger + Leopard era.

Panic 1 happened a while after re-installing MacPorts and having it build and install a bunch of things. The upgrade wiped out all previous ports.

Panic 2 was after asking Safari to open a URL. Everything froze.

Is there anything I can do to try to figure out what the issue is? I mean, short of doing a clean install and migrating all my stuff.
 
Well: There´s a couple of things... First: Kernel Panics tend to tell you there´s a hardware problem rather than a software problem. Now, I see that you were fine using older systems, but sometimes newer systems tend to be more picky with faulty RAM, for example. That´s one thing to test. (Hardware test CD or if it´s a newer Mac, simply boot holding down the ´d´ key.)

Second: If you´re SURE it isn´t hardware-related, you don´t have to reinstall the system just yet. You merely have to boot a "known to be clean" system. Install Snow Leopard on an external drive, for example, and use that for a day or two trying the same site etc. Install MacPorts too, maybe...
 
May want to boot to your install DVD and try to repair the disk from disk utility. Just see if it comes up with errors or if it will repair. I've replaced enough hard drives in those particular iMacs to where it is worth checking.
 
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