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Level 1

1 points

Serious Kernel Panics?

So i've been having an evergrowing problem with my G5 quad 2.5 box over the last year or so. It started very rarely freezing while it was sleeping with the fans blazing. Over the last couple months it has become drastically worse... it is freezing nearly 3 times a day now, sometimes when it's asleep, sometimes when i'm running it. There is no common symptom for applications or anything.

I read a report that said to check my logs for PanicReports. I have over 100 panic reports in the last month.

I have ran full Apple Hardware tests stating nothing is wrong... as well as a number of RAM tests saying the ram is ok. I've switched out between 3 pairs of RAM sticks, as well as disconnected all peripherals... but had the problem still occurs under all states. I do have 2 video cards that I haven't tried testing without yet.... other than that, I can't find any sign of a hardware failure.

The kernel_panics all vary, but most looks similar to this:

Wed Sep 17 22:30:06 2008

Unresolved kernel trap(cpu 1): 0x300 - Data access DAR=0x0000000000000000 PC=0x000000000000B9CC
Latest crash info for cpu 1:
Exception state (sv=0x63069780)
PC=0x000009CC; MSR=0x00001030; DAR=0x00000000; DSISR=0x42000000; LR=0x00042130; R1=0x62D93D50; XCP=0x0000000C (0x300 - Data access)
Backtrace:
0x00452224 0x00002124 0x00356AA4 0x000B05D4
Proceeding back via exception chain:
Exception state (sv=0x63069780)
previously dumped as "Latest" state. skipping...
Exception state (sv=0x1101c80)
PC=0x00000000; MSR=0x0000D030; DAR=0x00000000; DSISR=0x00000000; LR=0x00000000; R1=0x00000000; XCP=0x00000000 (Unknown)

BSD process name corresponding to current thread: kernel_task

Mac OS version:
9E17

Kernel version:
Darwin Kernel Version 9.4.0: Mon Jun 9 19:36:17 PDT 2008; root:xnu-1228.5.20~1/RELEASE_PPC
System model name: PowerMac11,2
panic(cpu 0 caller 0xFFFF0003): "wait queue deadlock - wq=0x46ebec, cpu=0\n"@/SourceCache/xnu/xnu-1228.5.20/osfmk/kern/wait_queue.h:169
Latest stack backtrace for cpu 0:
Backtrace:
0x0009B498 0x0009BE3C 0x00029DD8 0x00042750 0x00356168 0x007A39A4 0x0035A414 0x0061F928
0x0036FEA4 0x000B4BF4 0x000B30B8
Kernel loadable modules in backtrace (with dependencies):
com.apple.NVDAResman(5.2.8)@0x79e000->0xa1efff
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IONDRVSupport(1.5.2)@0x786000
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily(2.4.1)@0x609000
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOGraphicsFamily(1.5.2)@0x760000
com.apple.driver.AppleMPIC(1.5.3)@0x61d000->0x620fff
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily(2.4.1)@0x609000
Proceeding back via exception chain:
Exception state (sv=0x631d1500)
PC=0x000B66DC; MSR=0x00009000; DAR=0x52846504; DSISR=0x00200000; LR=0x00035854; R1=0x62D53CF0; XCP=0x00000014 (0x500 - Ext int)
Backtrace:
0x00035830 0x000360A0 0x00036BD8 0x00356B3C 0x000B05D4
Exception state (sv=0x588c5780)
PC=0x00000000; MSR=0x0000D030; DAR=0x00000000; DSISR=0x00000000; LR=0x00000000; R1=0x00000000; XCP=0x00000000 (Unknown)

BSD process name corresponding to current thread: kernel_task
/

Please help, any information would be great.... this is averaging 3 times a day, and its getting very inconvenient. This is a very fast box, and I am very curious as to what is causing this issue.

Power Mac G5 (Late 2005) Quad 2.5, Mac OS X (10.5.4), Currently 4GB RAM, 2 GeForce 6600 Vid Cards

Posted on Sep 18, 2008 10:42 PM

25 replies

BleedingStar Author

Level 1

1 points

Sep 30, 2008 3:38 PM in response to djones9000

called applecare... said i gotta take it in... figured as much. Keep ya updated after i take it in.

Oct 3, 2008 3:29 PM in response to BleedingStar

Cool, thank!

BleedingStar Author

Level 1

1 points

Oct 10, 2008 2:06 PM in response to djones9000

Well.... after rigorous testing at the apple store, they couldn't get it to replicte my problem. However, they did say that pretty much the only 2 things left that it could be (the logic board, or the CPU) would run about $2000 for either of them.... and since i'm out of warranty then i'm sadly out of luck... They said it still might be a software issue... but i've pretty much limited it down to nothing... it freezes under any circumstance.

Oct 13, 2008 1:09 PM in response to BleedingStar

Man, this is sad to hear.

What bothers me, is that fact that they can't determine what's wrong. Maybe we could narrow it down by finding common ground between our two systems.

My system is set up on a Network, which access's a Apple G4 that's set-up as a print/file server. I typical have this computer mounted on my desktop. I sometime wonder if this is causing any issues. (Still doesn't really explain why I get a Kernel Panic when I'm not doing anything, but maybe there's some kind of internal utility that runs on idle??)

Here's more info to my set-up:

Hardware Overview:
Model Name: Power Mac G5 Quad
Model Identiﬁer: PowerMac11,2
Processor Name: PowerPC G5 (1.1)
Processor Speed: 2.5 GHz
Number Of CPUs: 4
L2 Cache (per CPU): 1 MB
Memory: 5 GB
Bus Speed: 1.25 GHz
Boot ROM Version: 5.2.7f1

Memory:
I don't think this matters, since I've experienced the kernel panics, no matter what configuration my memory is in (I removed/rearranged, etc)

PCI Cards:
Standard GeForce Graphics and Ethernet that came with the computer.

When it crashes on my system, I notice it more frequently when I am in a program, not when I'm doing something on the desktop (like moving an file, etc.).

I will try to get the exact Kernel Panic message the next time it happens and I'll start saving those.

BleedingStar Author

Level 1

1 points

Oct 13, 2008 3:08 PM in response to djones9000

hmmm, i have almost the exact same setup as you... however I have to video cards and 4 gb of ram. I have no network really running on it either.

They pretty much said it was narrowed down to either the logic board, or the CPU. Seems to me as if there is an issue with the quad 2.5 processors or logic boards because this issue is usual with this model.

Oct 14, 2008 8:55 AM in response to BleedingStar

Here's a screen shot of my kernel panic. Notice how the processor is not under heavy load.

http://www.cjboco.com/index.cfm/2008/10/14/Serious-Apple-Quad-G5-Problems

Oct 24, 2008 8:33 AM in response to BleedingStar

I feel I need to weigh in on one of these discussions to offer a solution (for two weeks and counting now, kernel panic free) that I stumbled on after months of this problem. If I could post this in every G5 Kernel Panic discussion I would.

My G5 had been unpredictably, almost daily, Kernel Panicing since February and the crash logs weren't helpful at all as they often had different messages. The panics occurred at the simplest action, a mouse move, key press or more often, nothing at all. I would be out of the room and just come back to a locked up computer. Regularly the crash logs returned the com.apple.NVDIAresman... message and they also seemed to be related to USB peripherals based on some of the lines in the crash logs (iokit messages were often in there)

Apple Care was no help. Phone told me to clean reinstall Leopard, which I did. Panics continued. I took it to the West 14th Apple Store in NYC, they had it for a week and couldn't get the problem to occur. Told me it was "environmental". BUT during that time I was using a FW clone to run the same setup through an old G4 powerbook and never had the problem. When I got my computer back from Apple Care it was back to its same old crashy self. It was clear to me that there was a conflict on the G5. I just could not figure it out.

Purchased an APC UPS, changed keyboards, mice, unhooked any and all peripherals, ran Cinema Display only, then my Dell display only, ran with Audio diabled, speakers disconnected, ran AHT, Disk Warrior to no error messages, Reset Pram, Repaired Permissions, No Time Machine Drives, No FW Drives... still daily kernel panics with no specific action causing them.

Then after speaking with a fellow Apple user he mentioned the energy saver settings and how they were notoriously problematic in G5s (See all the posts related to sleep kernel panics etc. here in Apple Discussions...) I remembered I had run this very computer for a year earlier on 10.4 editing a movie. When I was running FC Pro I had followed Ken Stone's recommended settings (www.kenstone.net) which are mostly stopping any software power management from occurring. (Turn off Sleep Hard Disks, No Display Sleep, No Screen Saver etc.) When I originally installed Leopard in January of this year I had left it at it's default power settings since I was no longer heavily in FC Pro. I knew what I had to do, turn off any and all power management settings...

I went into Sys Prefs, disabled all the power management and then remembered the Processor Performance setting in the Options box. It was set to Automatic, I moved it to Highest.

I have not crashed since.

I can't be sure this is some sort of Leopard conflict with all G5's. It could be a Leopard conflict with the G5, or with my G5 and my peripherals that the "Highest" setting is preventing. I hope this isn't only a fix for my setup.

All I can say is that with Energy Saver Computer and Display set to Sleep Never, uncheck Hard Disks Sleep when Possible, and Processor set to "Highest" my crashes have stopped.

Hopefully, this can help someone reading this as well.

guilloa

Level 1

0 points

Nov 8, 2008 10:08 AM in response to EditDesignEffect

I have two G5 quads that were having the same crashing issue since I upgraded to Leopard. I followed your advice about changing the energy settings to highest and so far it has been a week with no crashes.

Keeping my fingers crossed!

thanks!

Nov 15, 2008 2:40 PM in response to BleedingStar

Well, it's been a few weeks and I wanted to update everyone on my setup. I have not had a single kernel panic since I updated to 10.5.5.

I'm not 100% what the heck they fixed, but going from at least 3 kernel panics in a day to none is a blessing so I'm not going to complain.

I suspected it was software related (it made sense since I never had these problems 10.4) and I'm glad it doesn't seem to be a hardware related.

Jan 22, 2009 8:03 AM in response to BleedingStar

Thought I would add my similar experience to this thread.

I was suffering nearly daily kernel panics with my G5 quad, I have spent months and reinstalled the OS looking for a solution, following the latest reinstallation I have had no panics for 8 days with the processor settings at highest.

This morning I went back to automatic, and within 3 hours have had a kernel panic. Suffice to say I will stick to Highest and see how long it lasts.

Serious Kernel Panics?