MacBook Pro doesn't boot (Kernel Panic), even CD/DVD doesn't work anymore
It is a very long story how I came to the point I am at right now, so I'll try to keep it really short:
My MPR stops booting and shows that Kernel Panic message (30s after starting the boot procedure with the grey screen and Apple logo), telling me to reboot. It even does not boot from CD/DVD anymore. Zapping PRAM doesn't help. Booting into Safe Mode doesnt work. Booting into Single User Mode and repairing the drive (/sbin/fsck -fy) did help a couple of times; scanning the system with Onyx and removing faulty preferences even helped a lot as well, everything seemed to work fine. But after the next system crash (happened during memtest procedure), I had the same problem again, this time even Single User Mode doesnt help. Booting from external FW-drive doesnt work. Every time: Kernel Panic.
Since I put in 4GB RAM four weeks ago (without any problems until last week), I replaced the new RAM with the old RAM. Still: Kernel Panic.
How I ran into the whole trouble? I replaced the original internal drive with a new 500GB WD drive. Now problems, until I accidently wiped the whole drive with BootCamp assistant.
At some point, I managed to boot from CD/DVD and (deep-)clean / format the whole internal disk, reinstalled 10.5.4, imported the settings and software from my old internal disk, and maybe f *ed everything up again by doing so. ONYX helped me to isolate a couple of preferences that went bad after that import, and after deleting them, everything seemed to be alright, especially after updating to 10.5.6. Until the system crashed next time, during a memtest. Memory seems to be ok though; as I already said, swapping it against the old RAM doesnt change anything, and TechTool didnt find anything. HD seems to be ok as well, neither Disk Utility nor ONYX nor TechTool did find any hardware fault.
After every crash so far, pcscd.pub was corrupted, with 17 instead of 16 blocks (Single User Mode fsck -fy fixed that), which is more than strange since I don't use any smart card stuff which that file is used for.
Now, even fixing that file doesnt help anymore.
Verbose mode shows that the boot process stops right after
Feb 15 18:00:43 localhost /System/Library/CoreServices/loginwindow.app/Contents/MacOs/loginwindow[57]: Login Window Application Started -- Threaded auth
Feb 15 18:0046 localhost mDNSResponder-176.3 (Sep 30 2008 16:59:38)[56]: starting
AirPort: Link Down on en1
It could be interesting to put back in the old internal drive, but I'd like to avoid that at almost any cost since putting back the cases lid was such a p. i. t. a. It doesnt seem to be necessary as the drive itself seems to be ok technically.
The thing that amazes me most is the fact that I can't boot neither from CD/DVD nor from external FW-drive(s) anymore.
Now I'm sitting here with a beautiful 2,5k$ brick and I'm wondering if anybody has a clue what I could do or who to ask (Apple Care won't be available before tomorrow). Thanks a lot in advance!
My MPR stops booting and shows that Kernel Panic message (30s after starting the boot procedure with the grey screen and Apple logo), telling me to reboot. It even does not boot from CD/DVD anymore. Zapping PRAM doesn't help. Booting into Safe Mode doesnt work. Booting into Single User Mode and repairing the drive (/sbin/fsck -fy) did help a couple of times; scanning the system with Onyx and removing faulty preferences even helped a lot as well, everything seemed to work fine. But after the next system crash (happened during memtest procedure), I had the same problem again, this time even Single User Mode doesnt help. Booting from external FW-drive doesnt work. Every time: Kernel Panic.
Since I put in 4GB RAM four weeks ago (without any problems until last week), I replaced the new RAM with the old RAM. Still: Kernel Panic.
How I ran into the whole trouble? I replaced the original internal drive with a new 500GB WD drive. Now problems, until I accidently wiped the whole drive with BootCamp assistant.
At some point, I managed to boot from CD/DVD and (deep-)clean / format the whole internal disk, reinstalled 10.5.4, imported the settings and software from my old internal disk, and maybe f *ed everything up again by doing so. ONYX helped me to isolate a couple of preferences that went bad after that import, and after deleting them, everything seemed to be alright, especially after updating to 10.5.6. Until the system crashed next time, during a memtest. Memory seems to be ok though; as I already said, swapping it against the old RAM doesnt change anything, and TechTool didnt find anything. HD seems to be ok as well, neither Disk Utility nor ONYX nor TechTool did find any hardware fault.
After every crash so far, pcscd.pub was corrupted, with 17 instead of 16 blocks (Single User Mode fsck -fy fixed that), which is more than strange since I don't use any smart card stuff which that file is used for.
Now, even fixing that file doesnt help anymore.
Verbose mode shows that the boot process stops right after
Feb 15 18:00:43 localhost /System/Library/CoreServices/loginwindow.app/Contents/MacOs/loginwindow[57]: Login Window Application Started -- Threaded auth
Feb 15 18:0046 localhost mDNSResponder-176.3 (Sep 30 2008 16:59:38)[56]: starting
AirPort: Link Down on en1
It could be interesting to put back in the old internal drive, but I'd like to avoid that at almost any cost since putting back the cases lid was such a p. i. t. a. It doesnt seem to be necessary as the drive itself seems to be ok technically.
The thing that amazes me most is the fact that I can't boot neither from CD/DVD nor from external FW-drive(s) anymore.
Now I'm sitting here with a beautiful 2,5k$ brick and I'm wondering if anybody has a clue what I could do or who to ask (Apple Care won't be available before tomorrow). Thanks a lot in advance!
MacBook Pro Santa Rosa 2,4GHz 15", Mac OS X (10.5.6), 4GB RAM, 500GB HD
