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nerd · Jul 6, 2003, 10:43 PM

My friends Dual 867 was kernel panicking on her since the day she got it. I pulled the 512MB chip that Mac Zones gave us for free and the panics still happened. I then did a clean install, reformat and all that stuff and the kernel panics stopped. After that the system started locking up randomly while getting on the internet via dial-up with AOL. I set her up with my Earthlink account so we could see if the AOL software was causing the lockups. The machine still locks up and it's always just after displaying "connecting" next to the phone in the menu bar.

I called Apple today thinking this must be hardware. I've done a clean install and the machine is stock (512 chip is still out). The tech support guy insisted that "a lot of lockups happen because of a bad phone line". I couldn't believe my ears! I'm thinking to myself, "my car won't start because my front tire pressure is 5psi below spec". BS Now I can understand noisy lines, dropped connections, etc but locking up your computer as in frozen mouse locked up? No way, I've never experienced this or even heard of it. Even if say 100v is hanging on the like it shouldn't make it's way out of the modem and lock the computer up. If it does then technology sucks and we need to take a step back and reinvent these things. Oh yea, and he said to replace the patch cord from the wall to the modem.

Anyways, enough of the rant. Where do you guys think I should take this from here? She just moved into an apartment and isn't going to get a phone line cause she has a cell phone. She's going to get a cable modem so this problem might not reappear. The Apple guy also recommended plugging the mouse into the back of the computer and see if that helps. I though of it also but the computer never locked up on me here but I was also testing it out on a cable modem. Also, the lockups only happen about every other day so that's probably why I never had it happen.

Brad

Nebrie · Jul 6, 2003, 11:38 PM

She's connecting to the internet via a cell phone?

Of course it's always locking up, if that's the case. When I connect via my cell phone, even IRC text is ultra laggy let alone AOL.

-Q- · Jul 7, 2003, 12:20 AM

Originally posted by Nebrie:
She's connecting to the internet via a cell phone? Of course it's always locking up, if that's the case. When I connect via my cell phone, even IRC text is ultra laggy let alone AOL.

Uh, maybe you shoud reread the post.

And as for the lockup problem, it sounds like the modem may be the culprit if the machine doesn't lock up while using your cable modem. One way to make sure is to try and dial up from your house (or any other phone line really). I've never heard of a machine locking up b/c of a bad phone cable.

Heck, I'd recommend getting the cable modem anyway in her new place as she'll just love the speed. But if a modem is essential, I'd test it at your place and if it locks up, complain to apple again and see if they'll replace the modem.

nerd · Jul 7, 2003, 09:07 AM

Originally posted by -Q-:
Uh, maybe you shoud reread the post.

And as for the lockup problem, it sounds like the modem may be the culprit if the machine doesn't lock up while using your cable modem. One way to make sure is to try and dial up from your house (or any other phone line really). I've never heard of a machine locking up b/c of a bad phone cable.

Thanks -Q-, so I'm not on crack. How the hell can someone have a job at Apple if they think the line it self is locking it up. I think bad modem also. She is going to do the cable modem I just don't want her to run into this problem say 2 years from now when it's not in warranty. I'll try to get the computer to my work and try it there since I'm in the same boat with cable and cell phone.

Brad

-Q- · Jul 7, 2003, 10:46 AM

Originally posted by nerd:
Thanks -Q-, so I'm not on crack. How the hell can someone have a job at Apple if they think the line it self is locking it up. I think bad modem also. She is going to do the cable modem I just don't want her to run into this problem say 2 years from now when it's not in warranty. I'll try to get the computer to my work and try it there since I'm in the same boat with cable and cell phone.

Brad

Heh. No crack necessary, athough it's probably encouraged after speaking to some of the phone drones in the support center.

Yeah, I'd test the modem (with a new phone cable and with the old one) and get it replaced while it's under warranty. Good luck!

The Placid Casual · 05:56 PM

The modem on my dual 867 (now returned because of other issues) also proved to be very temperamental...

It too would seemingly 'lock' everything up when connecting to the internet. It would just stay on 'connecting' and totally freeze the modem...

In the end, I had to fire up the terminal app and quit a few processes to get things back in order, and then restart the machine to get online.

The problems happened most often when waking from sleep...

Very, very annoying, and never fixed for me. The rest of the machine died so it was replaced before I isolated the problem.

Peace,

Marc

PS... Your friend isn't using 10.2.4 or 10.2.5 is she? If so the problem may be there, as they both gave me kernal panics all the time when trying to connect to the net... it was a well documented Apple issue.

Only 10.2.6 finally sorted it out.

nerd · Jul 7, 2003, 05:50 PM

Originally posted by The Placid Casual:
It too would seemingly 'lock' everything up when connecting to the internet. It would just stay on 'connecting' and totally freeze the modem...

In the end, I had to fire up the terminal app and quit a few processes to get things back in order, and then restart the machine to get online.

PS... Your friend isn't he isn't using 10.2.4 or 10.2.5 is she? If so the problem may be there, as they both gave me kernal panics all the time when trying to connect to the net... it was a well documented Apple issue.

Only 10.2.6 finally sorted it out.

That's exactly what she says is happening. She is running 10.2.6 which must have been what solved the problem with kernel panics. I was just thinking the reinstall was what solved it but she was running 10.2.5 before that. I'm never there when this happens but if I ever am then I'll try to rinf the process and kill it.

Brad