Kernel Panic, Please Help

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Level 1

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Kernel Panic, Please Help

Hi-

I've searched and searched google and the forums for any help about this, but being alittle computer illiterate I can only follow very simple instructions. I actually don't know what kernel panic means but i'm gathering that's what's going on with my MBP.

Today, I went through the system updates for Itunes and MacOSX...asked to restart, obeyed. When it restarted, at the screen with the apple and the moving circle, a grey screen came on that said "You need to restart your computer, please hold down the power button...". I did, and I have done so about 20 times. The screen continues to come up every time. I tried to start it up in SafeMode--no luck, unless i'm doing it wrong (shift button at startup, right?). I opened up Single-User Mode, because someone suggested that--A lot of text came up, but it didn't give me any prompt to enter in the SFCK codes. I am at a loss, and I don't have time until Friday to take it to the apple store.

am I doing something wrong or is my Macbook Pro really down for the week?

MacBook PRo

Posted on Mar 25, 2008 2:24 PM

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Answer 1

Courcoul

Level 6

18,558 points

Mar 25, 2008 5:10 PM in response to goheels87

Whether because of something you did or something you did not do, it appears that your MBP ended up in an inconsistent state that prevents it from starting and operating properly. It remains to be seen if that can be remedied thru some routine maintenance actions now, or if it will have to wait until a genius at the Apple store needs to be brought to bear on the problem.

Hardware problems can be discarded by running a diagnostic test. Reboot the system and right after the "bong" sound, press and hold the letter D on the keyboard. A screen should come up and guide you thru the steps needed to run the standard Diagnostic Test. I expect that no errors should come up, which will mean that the problem is software-based.

Before leaving the diagnostics screen, insert the Installation DVD that came with the computer. Restart and now press the letter C after the "bong". The Mac will now boot from the DVD and after awhile, a window will pop up and ask you to select the desired language; do that. Now you will go to the main install screen, but we won't reinstall the system just yet, we will try to salvage what's on the HD. In the Utilities menu, select Disk Utility. When it starts up, select the Mac's internal HD ("+Macintosh HD+") on the left pane and run Repair Disk on it. If any errors show up, repeat until none appear. If you cannot get it to pass without errors, things will have to wait until the Friday appointment.

If all went well so far, run a Repair Disk Permissions on the HD. This needs to be run only once. After that, you can quit Disk Utility and quit the installer, causing the Mac to reboot. Hopefully, it will run ok then.

In the future, to avoid similar misfortunes, you need to remember to run Repair Disk and Repair Disk Permissions before and after every time you install updates from Apple.

BTW, a "kernel panic" is the moral equivalent of a Windows Blue Screen of Death, minus the blue tint... 😀 Something in the code or configuration is causing the operating system itself to fail.

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Answer 2

Mar 25, 2008 6:49 PM in response to Courcoul

I am getting exactly the same thing. We were in the middle of working on our Mac Book Pro and a screen came up that says "You need to restart your computer. Hold the power button..." At the top of the page it says "unable to find driver for this device" Is there anything I can do to fix this through diagnostics?

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