[jvicinanza]

I’m having a problem booting my Powerbook G4 12 Inch.

When I start up the machine I get the Kernel Panic error stating that I must ‘Restart my computer…’ When I do this I simply get the same message again.
If I try to boot and hold down the C key after a minute or so I get the ‘Apple face and a flashing question mark’. The machine then continues to boot and arrives at a black screen.
If I reboot and hold down SHIFT-CTRL-OPTION-POWER (to reset the PMU – Power Management Unit) I get the Apple face logo as above for a few seconds later the machine starts to boot. Whilst the Apple logo is on the screen the display flashes (just like when you see computer CRT monitors on TV) and after a minute or two it boots to the Apple logo screen where you see messages such as Waiting for Apache etc. At the bottom of this window I see ‘Safe Boot’. I am then presented with a list of users for the machine. I can select my user and login as normal.

When I eventually get to my desktop I find that (a) Only half the memory (512mb) is reported and (b) My wireless network is not found.

It seems that all other programs such as iLife etc run OK.

As a test I restarted the machine after this ‘sucesssful’ reboot which results in a black screen. It seems that I can only reboot bu resetting the PMU.

I first noticed the problem when I was using Unison. I was not touching the computer at all and all of a sudden the kernel panic occurred for no apparant reason. The only thing I can I was doing before using Unison was to watch a movie with the notebook mini DVI connected into my TV but the computer worked fine for a whilst after the movie finished.

Can any one suggest what the problem is?

Thanks very much

Jason

[JKT]

Sounds like a faulty RAM issue to me - installed any new chips lately? Even if you haven't, remove one chip at a time (obviously, leave the other one in), start up and see if that helps.

[jvicinanza]

Im afraid that ive tried that. I took out the one and only memory chip and retested with the same problem. The main memory is on the mother board unless im mistaken? So I cant access it in order to remove it.

[JKT]

Are you able to run the hardware test disk? It may be able to tell you what is going wrong. The only other solution would be to call (on) Apple.

[jvicinanza]

It was the Geforce video ram causing the kernal panic. I examined the Panic.log file and the Apple hardware test, both pointed to video RAM.

Even though the warentee ran out 2 days ago Apple still said that they would fix it for free. It's good to see some excellent customer service!!
I could not get an appointment at the 'genius bar' so I had to goto the apple store in London and ask for the manager. As I live in Paris and don't get to london more than once or maybe twice a month he made an appointment for me.
Im pleased that Apple will fix my PB for free as otherwise the bill would have been 540 UKP!! Thats 465 UKP for the mother board and 65 UKP for the labour.
In the meantime ive ordered a new MBP. And get this.... Ive found that if you order high value Apple hardware over the phone (from the Apple store) you can often get a good deal. I purchased a new 2cgz MBP and Procare for less than the original price of the MBP. Nice!!

[TMac4Life]

Yeah, I have a feeling I have a RAM issue as well. Every few hours, my computer decides to freeze/crash. This only started happening after I installed my ramjet chip. This is the data from my latest crash:

Sat Mar 25 10:17:01 2006


Unresolved kernel trap(cpu 0): 0x300 - Data access DAR=0x000000001036100C PC=0x00000000000AA4C4
Latest crash info for cpu 0:
Exception state (sv=0x2A1F7280)
PC=0x000AA4C4; MSR=0x02001030; DAR=0x1036100C; DSISR=0x40000000; LR=0x00003820; R1=0xFC008891; XCP=0x0000000C (0x300 - Data access)
Backtrace:

backtrace terminated - unaligned frame address: 0xFC008891

Proceeding back via exception chain:
Exception state (sv=0x2A1F7280)
previously dumped as "Latest" state. skipping...

Kernel version:
Darwin Kernel Version 8.5.0: Sun Jan 22 10:38:46 PST 2006; root:xnu-792.6.61.obj~1/RELEASE_PPC
panic(cpu 0 caller 0xFFFF0003): 0x300 - Data access
Latest stack backtrace for cpu 0:
Backtrace:
0x00095718 0x00095C30 0x0002683C 0x000A8384 0x000ABD00
Proceeding back via exception chain:
Exception state (sv=0x2A1F7280)
PC=0x000AA4C4; MSR=0x02001030; DAR=0x1036100C; DSISR=0x40000000; LR=0x00003820; R1=0xFC008891; XCP=0x0000000C (0x300 - Data access)
Backtrace:

backtrace terminated - unaligned frame address: 0xFC008891

Any idea what I should do? Does anyone know if this panic.log report points to faulty memory? If so, should I return the RAM?

Thanks,
TMac

[amazing]

Originally Posted by TMac4Life

Yeah, I have a feeling I have a RAM issue as well. Every few hours, my computer decides to freeze/crash. This only started happening after I installed my ramjet chip. Any idea what I should do? Does anyone know if this panic.log report points to faulty memory? If so, should I return the RAM?

Thanks,
TMac

Well, it's pretty easy to take the RAM back out--and if the panics go away, there's your culprit.

[jvicinanza]

Suggest you also run the apple hardware test and see what, if anything, it states about the memory. Run the test first without the RAM installed and then with the RAM installed.

good luck

Jason