[WhitE_RabbiT-PB]

It seems that more and more frequently I'm getting this self proclaimed "Grey screen of death." Basically, my whole screen gets shaded, so to speak, with a little box in the center. It tells me in about 4 different languages that my computer needs to be restarted, and it tells me how to do so, by holding the power button. This screen just comes out of nowhere. It seems there is no constant action that causes it.

I have run Cocktail with no avail.

Any ideas what is up?

[Powaqqatsi]

That is a Kernel Panic. It is indeed the screen of death.

[spiky_dog]

check the contents of /Library/Logs/panic.log

[Angus_D]

Apple Support: What's a kernel panic?

If you're getting frequent panics, it may be indicative of a hardware problem. The most common cause is bad third party RAM.

[bergy]

Resolving Kernel Panics
http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/kernelpanics.html

Bad Ram & Kernel Panics
http://www.macattorney.com/panther.h...r-Kernel-44484

Ram could be Loose

Dr Mac Kernel Panics and Disk Warrior
http://www.macobserver.com/columns/r...20030912.shtml

[Big Mac]

Maybe Apple should add some euphemistic term to the KP box so that people could describe it accurately without being panicked themselves. Perhaps it should be titled "Manual Restart Notification."

[Millennium]

That's called a Kernel Panic, and it is indeed analogous to the Blue Screen of Death.

If you're having them frequently, then it is almost certainly a hardware problem. spiky_dog mentioned a file at /Library/Logs/panic.log; this file contains information about each Kernel Panic you have. If you could post the last couple of entries (you can tell where an entry begins by looking for a date and time), it would be a great help; many of us here can read these well enough to have some idea of what is going wrong.

[jeffB]

I just got my first ever Kernel Panic.

I was using Mail, Colloquy, iTunes (thanks for nothing Talking Heads), and Excel.

The only thing in /library/logs/panic.log that isnt a date or memory location is
"com.apple.ATIRadeon9700"
3 dependancies: IOPCIFamily, IOGraphicsFamily, IONDVRSupport.
can my video card do that?

I'm willing to bet it was the new ram i installed over 10 days ago.

the log has another panic from 2 months ago that I don't remember. I would remember. It lists the video card there too.

[dopik]

I got this problem over the summer with my PowerBook 12' Rev A. It happened several times a day during a week. I was working at the time in a room that was very hot.

Does anyone know whether outside temperature has an effect on the frequency of kernel panic? Since I am using it back in a 'normal' temperature room, I have not more problem.

dopik

[Millennium]

Originally posted by dopik:
I got this problem over the summer with my PowerBook 12' Rev A. It happened several times a day during a week. I was working at the time in a room that was very hot.

Does anyone know whether outside temperature has an effect on the frequency of kernel panic? Since I am using it back in a 'normal' temperature room, I have not more problem.

How hot was the room? It's possible for a processor to have stability problems if it gets too hot, but a room hot enough for that to happen isn't healthy for humans either. That's not just a Mac problem, either; it happens with PCs and even larger computers.

Were you using the computer on top of a carpet or blanket or something? The other possibility I can think of is if the computer was on something that would cause it to trap heat from the processor, which would make it get even hotter.

[Millennium]

Originally posted by jeffB:
I just got my first ever Kernel Panic.

I was using Mail, Colloquy, iTunes (thanks for nothing Talking Heads), and Excel.

The only thing in /library/logs/panic.log that isnt a date or memory location is
"com.apple.ATIRadeon9700"
3 dependancies: IOPCIFamily, IOGraphicsFamily, IONDVRSupport.
can my video card do that?

In theory, yes, though it was more likely the video card's driver. You mentioned iTunes; were you running a visualizer? If so, which one?

I'm willing to bet it was the new ram i installed over 10 days ago.

This is possible, though I'd think that you would have seen crashes much sooner after installing the RAM if it was really the RAM's fault.

[jeffB]

Originally posted by Millennium:
In theory, yes, though it was more likely the video card's driver. You mentioned iTunes; were you running a visualizer? If so, which one?

I wasn't using a visualizer.

[jeffB]

now it has locked up 3 times, no grey screen of doom, running 4 or less programs, panic.log hasnt changed, but iTunes keeps playing. Can it be too much heat from 2 Gig o RAM, even though the fans arnt kicking on? The only way I can get the fans to start going is if I start playing in Celestia (which is an awesome program).
Either way I'm going to take out one of the 1 Gig sticks tonight.

[Angus_D]

Originally posted by jeffB:
now it has locked up 3 times, no grey screen of doom, running 4 or less programs, panic.log hasnt changed, but iTunes keeps playing. Can it be too much heat from 2 Gig o RAM, even though the fans arnt kicking on? The only way I can get the fans to start going is if I start playing in Celestia (which is an awesome program).
Either way I'm going to take out one of the 1 Gig sticks tonight.

Probably more likely to just be dodgy RAM.

[jeffB]

the apple hardware test said everything had passed, imma try taking out one of the 1gig sticks. so i could just be too much heat generated from the ram?

SADANGRYFACE