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Walker · Aug 25, 2003, 08:03 AM

I'll try to explain this as well as I can. The computer that is having a problem is my aunt's iMac 400 DV. I purchased this computer for her a couple of weeks ago. As soon as I got it, I installed another 512 mb chip into it (pc 133 from pulled from a G4 tower). I also installed Jaguar on it. I kept the computer for a week and had zero problems with it. However when I took it to her place (4 hours away), I did notice an occasional application crash. I knew this was unusual, so I repaired disk permissions, but that was all I had time to do before I had to come home. I left hoping that the computer would run solid for her.

Well, she called this morning and said that while she was playing "solitiaire" the computer gave her a message something like this "You must restart your computer. Hold down the power button for several seconds...yada yada yada." Well, when she does this, the computer restarts, the "apple" shows on the screen, and the same darn message "you must restart...." shows up again. It does this just a few seconds into the booting process.

She also confessed that there have been a handful of crashes ever since I left.

Could my memory chip be the culprit?

Any other thoughts? I don't look forward to another 4 hour trip but it looks like I may be taking it.

Thanks for your help,

lw

Moose · Aug 25, 2003, 08:07 AM

Originally posted by Walker:
Could my memory chip be the culprit?

Yes.

KeyLimePi · Aug 25, 2003, 09:31 AM

Originally posted by Moose:
Yes.

Phoenix1701 · Aug 25, 2003, 11:40 AM

That message is the infamous Kernel Panic screen. Combined with the random application crashes, it looks very much like your RAM chip is, indeed, the problem, as only a very few things can cause both those problems, and a faulty piece of RAM is one of them.

Walker · Aug 26, 2003, 03:09 PM

Well, it isn't the memory chip. I've tried 3 different chips and all of them result in a kernel panic.

I've spent the last day trying to fix this, and I'm afraid I've got a hardware problem of some other sorts. I tried zapping pram and resetting that little button on the motherboard. I am unable to start up with the MacOS X Jag CD or a Diskwarrior CD. However I was able to start up with an OS 9 CD. However even with the computer booting off the OS 9 CD, weird things would happen. I was unable to run the disk repair utility without it crashing. One time during a restart off of the OS 9 CD it reported a "bus error." I did manage to initialize the drive (which I probably didn't need to do), but was unable to reinstall OS 9 without an error. Even when the drive was wiped clean I still couldn't start off of the OS X CD without getting either a kernel panic or the apple screen with a bunch of scratchy lines running horizontally across it.

When all was said and done, I ended up taking the computer to my distant Mac store. I hope it is something minor, but am anticipating the worst.

lw

Walker · Aug 29, 2003, 07:48 AM

....and the worst (or close to it) is what I got. Aunt's iMac, meet your new logic board! In the last 3 weeks I've invested $750 in a 400 mh iMac. Hope the bleeding stops here

Angus_D · Aug 29, 2003, 08:05 AM

Why didn't you just get an eMac or something instead?

Walker · Aug 29, 2003, 11:41 AM

Originally posted by Angus_D:
Why didn't you just get an eMac or something instead?

Hindsight is 20-20, Angus. I purchased the iMac for $300. All my aunt uses it for is email, internet, light-gaming (like solitaire, etc), and word processing. Didn't feel like spending the $650+ for an eMac. However now I wish I would have.

lw

KidRed · Aug 29, 2003, 11:59 AM

I was about to say maybe the logic board. I just had a processor go out on my dual gig-also a fan which may be the culprit for the processor. Luckily, only $480 to fix.