[rozwado1]

My buddy's iBook is sick. It'll boot to the network init on startup, stall a bit, then jump to the desktop (without completing the boot progress bar). When it gets to the desktop, the custom wallpaper loads, then the dock, then a nice opaque layover that says to restart.

I told him I'd help, so I ran DiskWarrior on it - all OK. S.M.A.R.T. settings say disk is OK (do those work anyways?) Tried to boot - got the same.

Booted with all boot commands (OF, Verbose, Safe, etc.) Safe mode got me past the initial kernel panic, but then the Finder warns me about the date and time being pre-2001 (reset PRAM) and it freezes on that. Might as well be a kernel panic.

I guess the first question is "Can I change the date/time in Open Firmware?"
Then I'll be able to check out the system logs to see what's going on at boot.

[larkost]

If you are seeing the time revert back to the "beginning of epoc" (on many computers this is 1969, on others is may be 1976... for example...) then you probably have a bad PRAM battery, and that can cause weird things. What you are seeing is a kernel panic, and that is in the list of things that can happen when a PRAM battery goes bad, and the PRAM information gets messed up.

You might be able to get the computer to boot up successfully by simply flashing the PRAM (reboot the computer while holding the Apple Option P and R keys at the same time, hold them until you hear the chime... I usually wait until it has gone through three cycles before letting it go... overkill). Notice that this is only a temporary measure, and it would be best to get the PRAM battery replaced ASAP. The part should cost between 5 and 10 dollars, and should be available at most battery stores (if your area has such a thing). I have never replaced it on an iBook, so you might want to see how much a local Apple repair site would charge you for it.

[rozwado1]

when I said (reset PRAM), I meant that I reset the PRAM. I caused the date to go back to 1969. Thanks anyways.

[Detrius]

iBooks don't have backup batteries.

Resetting the PRAM won't reset your date & time.

Resetting the PRAM in OS X does virtually nothing (except maybe reset your time zone preferences).

On an iBook, removing the main battery and the power cord at the same time resets the Date & Time.

Bad Date & Time will not cause your machine to crash. Don't bother trying to fix it in open firmware, as this won't fix your machine.

The Disk Warrior SMART checks only politely ask the drive it thinks it is failing. Do not rely on this. It's only useful when it gives errors.

Use Tech Tool Pro 4 or Apple's Drive Setup Utility in OS 9 to run a surface scan on the drive. TTP will tell you how many bad blocks it finds. Drive Setup will just say an error occurred and that means you have a bad drive. These are both reliable tests.

Hard freezes in OS X where the mouse won't move anymore are very bad. Run the Apple Hardware Test to see what it thinks of your RAM. Bad RAM can be very difficult to pinpoint. You may at some point just have to remove the RAM modules (if there is one to remove) and see if the problems go away. Note that anything that was written to the disk while the bad RAM module was installed can also potentially be bad as well--so your OS and apps may need to be reinstalled (again).

[Dr. Smoke]

If starting up in Safe mode skips the initial kernel panic, this implies a Startup Item may be causing the panic.

To test this:

(1) Startup in Safe Mode, and log into the affected account.

(2) Open the System Preferences > Accounts > affected_account > Startup Items tab.

(3) Take a screen shot or make a list of the Startup Items you have defined for your account.

(4) Remove (select all, click [-]) all Startup Items listed for that account.

(5) Log out, then log in as normal. If the problem does not recur, it was one of the Startup Items.

You'll have to determine which Startup Item was causing the problem by process-of-elimination: restore the Startup Items one-at-a-time from the list you made in step (2), logging out and in normally after restoring a startup item until the problem recurs. When the problem recurs, the last Startup Item you restored is the problem and should be removed and diagnosed individually.

If the problem occurs after removing all Startup Items, but still does not happen in Safe Mode, then it may be a component that a third-party app installed in their Computer > Macintosh HD > Library > StartupItems folder.

For additional advice on resolving kernel panics, see my Resolving Kernel Panics FAQ. This FAQ includes step-by-step instructions for identifying and resolving some of the most common causes of kernel panics, as well as details on how to post a panic log here for analysis. Please run all the tests recommended in the FAQ before posting your panic log.

[ThisGuy]

Originally posted by Dr. Smoke:
For additional advice on resolving kernel panics, see my Resolving Kernel Panics FAQ. This FAQ includes step-by-step instructions for identifying and resolving some of the most common causes of kernel panics, as well as details on how to post a panic log here for analysis. Please run all the tests recommended in the FAQ before posting your panic log.

if you have a moment would you mind helping me with my panic log as well?