Could non-Apple power cord cause kernel panic?

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Level 1

8 points

Could non-Apple power cord cause kernel panic?

I have been having intermittent kernel panics on my laptop for about 3 months now. I have done everything suggested in this article http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/kernelpanics.html except erasing my HD and re-installing Leopard. I even ran the hardware test for 50 loops. I uninstalled google desktop and installed a bunch of updates. I also took it in to my local Mac Store and they found nothing wrong with it (except a minor disk repair) and couldn't get it to panic for them. Their best answer was that the logic board "may" be starting to fail even though it passed hardware tests.

I am wondering if using a non-apple charger could have anything to do with the panics. I replaced my original with a macallay charger well over a year ago. After accidentally leaving my charger in my office an hour away I borrowed one from a friend and was using it (though not exclusively) for a while and the kernel panics seemed to subside. Then 2 days in a row using the macally charger it was having kernel panics so much that I could barely open Mail or Word before it would crash. So I took it in to the Mac Store.

As soon as I turned my computer on after getting it back from them it immediately had another kernel panic (while plugged in to the macally charger). Today I have been using my friend's Apple charger (for about 6 hours) and have had no kernel panics.

Has anyone heard of non-Apple chargers causing these kinds of problems? Seems far fetched but I've run out of ideas after trying pretty much everything else.

Thanks for the help.

Sarah

iBook G4 (2005), Mac OS X (10.5.5), 1.45 GHz, 1G Ram, 100G memory left on 160G HD

Posted on Apr 1, 2009 2:07 PM

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Answer 1

Lyssa

Level 8

41,405 points

Apr 1, 2009 5:58 PM in response to Sarah_F

It certainly sounds like you've found the cause of your problem. Have you taken a look at your panic log? It located in Macintosh HD>Library>Logs and is labeled "panic.log"

If you could post it here, perhaps we can help you determine if you're on the right track.

~Lyssa

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Answer 2

Sarah_F Author

Level 1

8 points

Apr 1, 2009 6:42 PM in response to Lyssa

Here's a few of them. The application referred to in the line that starts "BSD process name" varies from day to day. Sometimes it's an application that isn't even open. Lately my G4 has been exhibiting the signs of a kernel panic (grey screen with "you must restart" or it is suddenly unresponsive) but I don't get the usual "OS X quit unexpectedly" when I restart and the log doesn't show up in the file you directed me to.

Sat Mar 21 18:27:52 2009

Unresolved kernel trap(cpu 0): 0x300 - Data access DAR=0x00000000FFFFFFFD PC=0x00000000000E1488
Latest crash info for cpu 0:
Exception state (sv=0x248af000)
PC=0x000E1488; MSR=0x00009030; DAR=0xFFFFFFFD; DSISR=0x40000000; LR=0x000E1448; R1=0x2D6DEF40; XCP=0x0000000C (0x300 - Data access)
Backtrace:
0x000E1448 0x000EDF70 0x000EF72C 0x000F0A44 0x00248050 0x0024FBBC
0x001090D8 0x000EA2FC 0x000EB06C 0x00293668 0x002945D4 0x0030C6AC 0x000B34C8 0x2F77722F
Proceeding back via exception chain:
Exception state (sv=0x248af000)
previously dumped as "Latest" state. skipping...
Exception state (sv=0x2480fc80)
PC=0x940138C4; MSR=0x0000F930; DAR=0x00101FC4; DSISR=0x40000000; LR=0x93FFA194; R1=0xBFFFD820; XCP=0x00000030 (0xC00 - System call)

BSD process name corresponding to current thread: launchd

Mac OS version:
9G55

Kernel version:
Darwin Kernel Version 9.6.0: Mon Nov 24 17:39:01 PST 2008; root:xnu-1228.9.59~1/RELEASE_PPC
System model name: PowerBook6,7
panic(cpu 0 caller 0xFFFF0003): copyin/out has no recovery point
Latest stack backtrace for cpu 0:
Backtrace:
0x0009BCF0 0x0009C694 0x00029EA0 0x000AFB88 0x000B32F8
Proceeding back via exception chain:
Exception state (sv=0x248af000)
PC=0x000E1488; MSR=0x00009030; DAR=0xFFFFFFFD; DSISR=0x40000000; LR=0x000E1448; R1=0x2D6DEF40; XCP=0x0000000C (0x300 - Data access)
Backtrace:
0x000E1448 0x000EDF70 0x000EF72C 0x000F0A44 0x00248050 0x0024FBBC
0x001090D8 0x000EA2FC 0x000EB06C 0x00293668 0x002945D4 0x0030C6AC 0x000B34C8 0x2F77722F
Exception state (sv=0x2480fc80)
PC=0x940138C4; MSR=0x0000F930; DAR=0x00101FC4; DSISR=0x40000000; LR=0x93FFA194; R1=0xBFFFD820; XCP=0x00000030 (0xC00 - System call)

BSD process name corresponding to current thread: launchd

Sun Mar 22 16:17:24 2009

Unresolved kernel trap(cpu 0): 0x300 - Data access DAR=0x0000000000004090 PC=0x0000000000044024
Latest crash info for cpu 0:
Exception state (sv=0x248ed280)
PC=0x00044024; MSR=0x00009030; DAR=0x00004090; DSISR=0x40000000; LR=0x00043D54; R1=0x24827AE0; XCP=0x0000000C (0x300 - Data access)
Backtrace:
0x00000000 0x0002EED0 0x00320E84 0x00321010 0x0031EFEC 0x0031C630
0x00318BB0 0x00379E58 0x0008F2A0 0x0002C200 0x00024CFC 0x000B364C 0x00000000
Proceeding back via exception chain:
Exception state (sv=0x248ed280)
previously dumped as "Latest" state. skipping...
Exception state (sv=0x24b74780)
PC=0x93F38158; MSR=0x0000F030; DAR=0x034F5000; DSISR=0x40000000; LR=0x93F3F080; R1=0xBFFFE150; XCP=0x00000030 (0xC00 - System call)

BSD process name corresponding to current thread: iChat

Mac OS version:
9G55

Kernel version:
Darwin Kernel Version 9.6.0: Mon Nov 24 17:39:01 PST 2008; root:xnu-1228.9.59~1/RELEASE_PPC
System model name: PowerBook6,7
panic(cpu 0 caller 0xFFFF0003): 0x300 - Data access
Latest stack backtrace for cpu 0:
Backtrace:
0x0009BCF0 0x0009C694 0x00029EA0 0x000AFA90 0x000B32F8
Proceeding back via exception chain:
Exception state (sv=0x248ed280)
PC=0x00044024; MSR=0x00009030; DAR=0x00004090; DSISR=0x40000000; LR=0x00043D54; R1=0x24827AE0; XCP=0x0000000C (0x300 - Data access)
Backtrace:
0x00000000 0x0002EED0 0x00320E84 0x00321010 0x0031EFEC 0x0031C630
0x00318BB0 0x00379E58 0x0008F2A0 0x0002C200 0x00024CFC 0x000B364C 0x00000000
Exception state (sv=0x24b74780)
PC=0x93F38158; MSR=0x0000F030; DAR=0x034F5000; DSISR=0x40000000; LR=0x93F3F080; R1=0xBFFFE150; XCP=0x00000030 (0xC00 - System call)

BSD process name corresponding to current thread: iChat

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Answer 3

cornelius

Level 6

17,826 points

Apr 1, 2009 9:10 PM in response to Sarah_F

Sarah:

I would not normally expect that kind of response to a third party power supply, although your troubleshooting certainly seems to indicate that to be the case with your computer. It may be that the power supply has some kind of short that causes the KPs. I recently bought a cheap $25 power supply for my daughter's iBook G4 14-inch 1.33 GHz with no ill effects, so I don't think that the fact that you have a third party product is necessarily a problem. I would see if the vendor will replace the power supply.

😉 cornelius

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