[GoDucks]

Need to ask for some help here. I'm a longtime iPod user experiencing OS X crashing for the first time when using iTunes and syncing my iPod. Here are the specifics...

I'm running iTunes as part of iLife 06 on my 12 Inch Powerbook Rev C running 10.4.4. I have a 4 Gig Nano and a 60 Gig iPod Video. I'm running the latest version of the iPod updater. The nano is syncing perfectly. When I sync the iPod Video, it gets about 75% through the process and then OS X crashes. The message I get is "You need to restart your computer. Hold down the power button for several seconds or press the reset button." This message is repeated in three additional languages. I've noticed that when the machine crashes, the screen gets a bit darker starting from the top and working down to the bottom. When I reboot, I get the following message "The computer was restarted after Mac OS X quit unexpectedly."

I've never seen this before. It's just happened to me 4 times in a row. Any suggestions or thoughts? The iPod has less than 1 Gig left on it but I'm only trying to update 30 songs or so and a couple of videos. Everything I've added to iTunes in the last month or two has been from the iTunes store...

[hickey]

sounds like a kernel panic. I think you have to re-install tiger, or better yet, do you have an external drive with an OS installed on it to boot from? If so , I beilive you restart with the drive connected while holding down C

[icruise]

Have you added any peripherals or software recently? You might try syncing the iPod with only it attached and nothing else.

[Big Mac]

Open the Console (found in the Utilities folder) click on the Logs button and look for the Panic logs. Once you find them post the contents of one here, and we'll see if we can give you a more precise explanation of what is occurring.

[GoDucks]

Thanks very much for the suggestions and the willingness to help me out. I have not recently added any additional hardware or software to the laptop. I extracted the following panic log information:

("Movie Star" is what I named my iPod Video.)


Wed Feb 8 21:09:24 2006
panic(cpu 0 caller 0x002476F4): BlockAllocateContig: allocation overflow on "Movie Star"
Latest stack backtrace for cpu 0:
Backtrace:
0x00095718 0x00095C30 0x0002683C 0x002476F4 0x002471EC 0x00246120 0x0022B894 0x000FDDAC
0x0025BF40 0x002AA304 0x000ABEB0 0x7373424A
Proceeding back via exception chain:
Exception state (sv=0x3E0A6500)
PC=0x900197EC; MSR=0x0000F030; DAR=0x1C82A3DC; DSISR=0x42000000; LR=0x90B9C46C; R1=0xF0498690; XCP=0x00000030 (0xC00 - System call)

Kernel version:
Darwin Kernel Version 8.4.0: Tue Jan 3 18:22:10 PST 2006; root:xnu-792.6.56.obj~1/RELEASE_PPC
*********

[Big Mac]

I apologize for not noticing your reply until you PMed me. Here's a link to a blogger who reported the same problem. He fixed it by first launching the iPod updater before connecting his iPod and then restoring (reformatting) it. He believed he may have put too many files on his iPod, near its maximum capacity. Is your iPod full as well? That's actually the first thing I assumed when I saw the term allocation overflow.

[icruise]

How many files is "too much"? I wouldn't think you could get anywhere near too many files unless you had thousands and thousands of files that were only a couple of seconds long or something.

[GoDucks]

Thanks for the link and the advice. Yes - my 60 Gig iPod had less than 1 Gig of space remaining when this happened. I have filed all of my previous 10+ iPods in the past without experiencing this issue but perhaps I am approaching the maximum number of files on the iPod. I agree with a previous poster that it should not be an issue - I currently have about 8500 songs, 14500 pictures, 100 videos, and 1000+ contacts on the iPod. i will attempt a restore tonight and see what happends.

I really hope that if this is the issue that it is corrected with the next iPod release. I need an 80 Gig or 100 Gig iPod just for my media files - I really hope I'm not running into this issue on a regular basis.

Chris

[feoh]

Apple is aware of the issue. I had the same problem as well and was pretty ticked, having just bought my iPod (Also awfully embarrassing after having aspoused the ease of setup for peripherals on a Mac

I filed a bug with their devbugs system, and they asked for a panic log and then marked my bug as a duplicate, so they're obviously aware of the issue.

One can only hope they're working fervently on a fix, as this is IMO a truly embarrassing problem and a huge chink in Apple's armor.

[iNose]

Sounds exactly like the panic I got when syncing my 30gig 5G. It turned out to be because the iPod didn't have enough room. I expected but didn't get the message that it would create a SmartPlaylist. Just got the Kernal Panic. It took a while to figure out because, like you, it crashed at around 75% capacity. But I changed my smart playlists to total below 30 gig and it synced fine.

Originally Posted by GoDucks

Need to ask for some help here. I'm a longtime iPod user experiencing OS X crashing for the first time when using iTunes and syncing my iPod...