[DamnDJ]

Hi everyone,

I just got a new FW800/Dual 1.25 PowerMac over a month ago but have been plauged with almost daily kernel panics and other software weirdness.

I am not worried about software weirdness for now, but these daily kernel panics are really bothering me. I am not sure what else to do, so I've turned here.

Here's what I have:

Dual 1.25, Superdrive, 256 Apple brand memory, 512MB Crucial 2700 memory, Pro Mouse, Pro keyboard, external logitech speakers, Samsung 181 LCD monitor.

I've taken out the Crucial memory, still panics. I swapped the Apple memory with the Crucial memory, still panics. I've tried another mouse, still panics. I've tried running the hardware test CD with no problems. I've reinstalled OS X 10.2.3 countless times and have tried upgrading (combo) to 10.2.4, still Panics. I turned off the screen save, energy savers, spin down of the hard drive...still panics.

I don't know what else to do. Here is the Panic.log from today:

panic(cpu 0): simple lock deadlock detection - l=00317428, cpu=0, ret=0031D000
Latest stack backtrace for cpu 0:
Backtrace:
0x000852CC 0x000856FC 0x000283A8 0x00033938 0x000340B0 0x0001EE14 0x00$
0x00092638 0x00000051
Proceeding back via exception chain:
Exception state (sv=0x1D4BDC80)
PC=0x90000DE8; MSR=0x0200F030; DAR=0xE0BA2000; DSISR=0x42000000; LR=0x900$

Kernel version:
Darwin Kernel Version 6.3:
Wed Jan 8 19:14:49 PST 2003; root:xnu/xnu-344.16.8.obj~5/RELEASE_PPC

-----

I used kpdecode and get:

[c-24-99-13-233:~/Desktop] damndj% ./kpdecode
No logfile specified. Trying /Library/Logs/panic.log
Creating stack map... loading modules and nametables... done.
Mon Mar 31 21:38:50 2003:
Backtrace 1:
0x000852cc: _print_backtrace
0x000856fc: _Debugger
0x000283a8: _panic
0x00033938: _thread_select
0x000340b0: _thread_block_reason
0x0001ee14: _ipc_mqueue_receive
0x00024478: _mach_msg_receive
0x000253c0: _mach_msg_overwrite_trap
0x00092638: .L_syscall_got_args
0x00000051: kCacheLineSize


-----

None of these things mean anything to me, so I am hoping someone out there can offer any assistance. I was thinking about calling SOS-APPL tomorrow, but what are they going to do that I haven't done?

These panics occur either when I am web browsing and even when the machine is just sitting idle for a few hours (nothing running)

*sigh*

thanks.
DDJ

[ambush]

Oh well that's how it works; you get a lemon, you have to live with it until you just go boom - like me.


It's almost incredible how mac os x can be THAT buggy on my iBook. Incredible. I've posted twice on the Apple Computer Boards and nobody helped me there. I'm just sick and tired. My iBook KPs at LEAST 20 times a day - I can't really work and I HAVE NO DAMN IDEA about the source of the problem.

I just can't *afford* to lose a month (send my ibook to the repair store) like that. I have 4 school projects going on at the same time and 3 Cliché Software projects too. God. Time is money.

Damn.

[mactechie]

Hi,

Your test with RAM is a step in the right direction. Try booting with only the original RAM installed, only the Apple Pro Mouse connected (and nothing else, no speakers, no keyboard no PCI cards, ehternet cable, no nothing). Does the issue still occur. If yes, hook up the keyboard and do a safe boot. If you are still having issues, chances are there is a hardware defect. Nearly all kernal panics I've come across are hardware related. I saw an Airport card cause a kernal panic.
If the issue occurs during usage, which applications are running.
A couple I find weak: AOL, Palm, Norton, MS Office. A general rule of thumb is to avoid any application which messes with the System. Hope this helps.

[DamnDJ]

Thanks for all the suggestions. Unfortunately nothing I have done seems to help the problem. In fact the kernel panics are becoming more frequent.

I've reinstalled the OS more than I ever should have to do and leave the system running only with the applications that come with the OS. Same issues.

I made sure that all third party items were disconnected, tried different RAM (including the Apple only ram). I will admit I did not try unhooking the Ethernet cable and did not try using safe mode.

I called the Apple hotline and the guy had me boot into the OS install CD and run a disk check. There were about 15 error that were in red (Something about allocation errors) that were not able to be repaired.

The tech had me wipe the disk by partitioning it (1 disk) and then reinstalling the OS. Those red errors went away. The tech told me that those errors would not be fixed by just initializing the disk on its own; it would have to be partitioned.

So I was pretty excited about this. I thought we may have found the problem. Unfortunately a day or so later I got kernel panics again. Went back and ran the disk check and those red errors were not there. Must not have been the problem.

I used the Hardware Test CD and ran it in loop mode overnight. When I woke up the next day, it had run through 58 times and was still running.

So I called Apple back and talked to another tech. She got on the line with a hardware specialist who said it was time I take the machine in for repair. So yesterday I dropped it off at the Apple Store here in Atlanta and they said they'll be getting back to me in 3 to 5 days.

Man I hope they are able to find something wrong and fix it. I want to love my Mac but right now it's caused me more frustration than anything. I am using a Windows machine right now and it sucks that I feel safe using it without the fear the screen is going to dim out on me.

I look forward to getting the machine back and begin to really enjoy it. I will post a follow up post here and explain whatever Apple may have found wrong with the machine.

Originally posted by mactechie:
Hi,

Your test with RAM is a step in the right direction. Try booting with only the original RAM installed, only the Apple Pro Mouse connected (and nothing else, no speakers, no keyboard no PCI cards, ehternet cable, no nothing). Does the issue still occur. If yes, hook up the keyboard and do a safe boot. If you are still having issues, chances are there is a hardware defect. Nearly all kernal panics I've come across are hardware related. I saw an Airport card cause a kernal panic.
If the issue occurs during usage, which applications are running.
A couple I find weak: AOL, Palm, Norton, MS Office. A general rule of thumb is to avoid any application which messes with the System. Hope this helps.

[moki]

Originally posted by ambush:
It's almost incredible how mac os x can be THAT buggy on my iBook. Incredible. I've posted twice on the Apple Computer Boards and nobody helped me there. I'm just sick and tired. My iBook KPs at LEAST 20 times a day - I can't really work and I HAVE NO DAMN IDEA about the source of the problem.

It is very likely to be one of two things:

1) Bad RAM. If you're kernely panic'ing that often, something is very wrong -- often RAM that doesn't quite pass muster is the reason.

2) USB peripherals -- try unplugging all of your USB peripherals and see if the problem goes away.

[DamnDJ]

Well I called the Apple Store today to see what the progress was on the machine.

The girl said that so far they've replaced the processor(s) and the logic board. This was done yesterday and now the machine has been running under a stress test program since that time with no failures yet.

Hopefully they'll be calling me today or Monday saying everything checks out and it's ready to be picked up. I'm excited.

I'm also very glad I took it in for repair. My endless amount of troubleshooting was driving me crazy and obviously would have done no good.

Pretty serious problem that they had to replace the processors and logic board, eh?

yay =D

[Hous68]

Replaced logic board and processors? Whoa.

I have been having similar problems on a DP machine (dp G4@800) with simple lock deadlock. Most of the simple lock deadlock kernel panics were after leaving it on overnight and even with turning energy saver sleep off, no success. I have tried fresh installing, similar to what you had done with the tech, and after doing another fresh install on Fri-Sat, I got a simple lock deadlock kernel panic this morning.

I have sent an email to Apple and they told me to check the RAM and processors too, so... don't know.

When you hear from Apple about what the problem was with your Mac, could you let us know?

[DamnDJ]

Well, I got my Mac back from the Apple store today.

They said over the course of the time it was in for repair (8 business days), they were only able to get the machine to KP once during a Chess.app program loop. I find it amazing that they were only able to get one KP when I was getting them once a day.

I'm looking on my invoice and it says 1 MLB (which I am assuming is Motherboard Logic Boad) and 1 Proc. I was told over the phone that they replaced both procs, but the guy who did the invoice had to write it by hand so he may have missed the second.

I just hooked everything up and of course all is good so far. I am going to install a ton of apps, unstuff things, copy things, and really try to stress the system to see if there are any problems. I can only cross my fingers and hope.

I thing I have noticed that is different... before when I booted the machine, the fans would really kick in loud. Now when I boot, it's as silent as if the machine was running the OS. So either they forgot to plug something back in, they replaced something else, or there really was a processor problem which is now fixed. Who knows.

Anyway, I'll update later with any results to this issue.

[DamnDJ]

Well, it's been a few weeks since I got the machine back and I haven't had a single kernel panic! Looks like this issue was fixed. So it took a new logic board and new processors. Jeesh.

yay! =)