Kernel panic after 10.5.8 Update

Question

Level 1

4 points

Kernel panic after 10.5.8 Update

Hi,

I have the black intel Macbook which was bought slightly over a year ago. A few days ago I was prompted to do the 10.5.8 update. Software Update was doing its work and I left it running with the Macbook plugged in. About an hour later, I checked and it stated that the update failed and I have to restart. I restarted and was presented with a kernel panic and a message to restart. Restarting brings me back to the same kernel panic and restart message.

These are things that I have tried:

1) Reset PRAM.

2) Used Disk Utility off the install disk - I did a Disk Repair. It failed but gave me an option to Verify Disk. I verified the disk (by this time Repair Disk is greyed out) and got the "invalid node structure" and "Volume check failed" messages. Verified a few times and this is all I got. I tried to reinstall the OS but the installer does not see the hard disk.

3) Cmd-S for single user mode not accessible. So I can't run fcsk.

4) Tried to boot Disk Warrior CD but it went into a booting loop (chime-blue screen-blank screen-chime).

5) Used my iBook G4 800 (also running Leopard) as host with the Macbook as the firewire target. The Macbook harddisk did not mount. Disk Utility can see the harddisk but cannot access it.

6) Used Disk Warrior from the iBook through firewire target mode. Disk Warrior came back with "Directory cannot be rebuilt due to disk hardware failure (-36, 2268)".

7) Used Disk Utility off the install disk again - at first it shows SMART was ok, the number of files on the harddisk and how much space is used. Once I did a Verify Disk (the only option available), I get the "invalid node structure" error and the status on SMART, number of files and space went blank.

8) I ran Apple Hardware Test and it says everything is ok but it didn't show that a test was performed on the hard disk.

The biggest problem I have here is that I need files from that harddisk. I have no backup of those files. No Time Machine or any other form of backup. Anybody has any idea for me to try before I send it to the Apple Store people?

Thanks in advance.

Macbook, Mac OS X (10.5.7)

Posted on Sep 15, 2009 7:50 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Kappy

Level 10

361,849 points

Sep 15, 2009 8:20 PM in response to harman_faiz

You cannot use your iBook or any installers for it to work with an Intel Mac. An iBook is a PPC Mac, the MB is an Intel Mac. Their operating systems are not compatible with one another. If the hard drive is repairable you must do the following:

Repairing the Hard Drive and Permissions

Boot from your original OS X Installer disc that came with the MB or a retail Leopard DVD compatible with your particular model. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger and Leopard.) After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the installer. Now restart normally.

If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior (4.0 for Tiger, and 4.1 for Leopard) and/or TechTool Pro (4.6.1 for Leopard) to repair the drive. If you don't have either of them or if neither of them can fix the drive, then you will need to reformat the drive and reinstall OS X.

If you continue getting an invalid node structure error then you will need a compatible version of Disk Warrior - not a version intended only for use with PPC Macs.

To learn about diagnosing kernel panics visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on diagnosing kernel panics.

We cannot help with a kernel panic unless you post the panic log entry for the recent panic that occurred. Open the Console application in your Utilities folder, click on the Logs icon in the toolbar, locate the panic log. Make a copy of the full panic log entry for the most recent panic recorded in the log.

Reply

Answer 2

Sep 15, 2009 8:41 PM in response to harman_faiz

Hi--

Welcome to the Apple Discussions. Sorry to hear about your troubles.

3) Cmd-S for single user mode not accessible. So I can't run fcsk.

Do you get any error messages when you try to boot to single user mode? What happens if you just try to boot into with the verbose option (cmd-V)? Does that give you any text on the screen?

4) Tried to boot Disk Warrior CD but it went into a booting loop (chime-blue screen-blank screen-chime).

Look closely at your DiskWarrior CD and make sure it's capable of booting your Macbook. If you've had the CD, it may be too old to boot your Macbook. Check at DiskWarrior's web site (Alsoft is the company name). They used to have a pretty good listing of what version of the DW CD will boot what computer.

Steps 5,6, and 7 make me suspect a hardware failure of some kind, not just a bad upgrade.

8) I ran Apple Hardware Test and it says everything is ok but it didn't show that a test was performed on the hard disk.

The Apple Hardware Test doesn't do extensive disk testing. I suspect it just checks the controller to see if the disk is there is about all. I'm pretty sure MicroMat's TechTool Pro will perform more extensive scans on hard drives, including a surface scan. But I don't think you should do any surface scans until you get files off the drive: if you have bad blocks, a surface scan could just spread the problem across more blocks.

The biggest problem I have here is that I need files from that harddisk. I have no backup of those files. No Time Machine or any other form of backup.

In the past I had good luck with Data Rescue on an iMac whose drive failed with symptoms similar to yours:

http://www.prosofteng.com/products/data_rescue.php

It was able to get all of the files I wanted off the drive before they swapped it out (there were a whole section that couldn't be rescued, but luckily they were audio loops installed from a DVD, so they could be restored easily enough). It didn't seem to matter that the partition wouldn't mount, either. They have a demo you can download that will tell you if it can recover any files before you pay for it.

As for backing up, trust me, there's no better feeling than being able to tell the Apple Genius that it doesn't matter what they do, you can just restore from a backup.

charlie

Reply

Answer 3

harman_faiz Author

Level 1

4 points

Sep 15, 2009 8:44 PM in response to Kappy

Thanks for the quick reply. After the first time I used Disk Utility from the original OS X installer disc that came with the MB, the Disk Repair option is greyed out and not available anymore. Now only the Verify Disk option is available. If I do a fresh boot off the install disc, I see the SMART status as verified. However, after doing a Verify Disk, the volume is unmounted and SMART status is blank.

I will try to get a log of the kernel panic and will post it here later.

Reply

Answer 4

harman_faiz Author

Level 1

4 points

Sep 15, 2009 8:51 PM in response to Charles Minow

Hi Charles,

cmd-S did show some text on the screen but no prompt. I will re-look at the text again and see if I can post it here later.

I have not tried cmd-V. Will do that too.

I will check the DW CD again.

In Apple Hardware Test, there is a tab for Hardware Profile (if I'm not mistaken). It shows info about the MB, connection, memory, etc but not the harddisk.

I will take a look at Data Rescue. Did you boot from a different startup disk to rescue the data on your iMac? I will have look for an external FW drive if that's required.

Nobody else to blame on not backing up but me.

Thanks

Reply

Answer 5

Sep 15, 2009 9:13 PM in response to harman_faiz

harman_faiz wrote:

cmd-S did show some text on the screen but no prompt. I will re-look at the text again and see if I can post it here later.

I have not tried cmd-V. Will do that too.

I'm not looking for a prompt so much as an error message of some kind that might give a clue as to what's going on. Often, if there's a startup problem, verbose mode will show you errors that won't be visible otherwise, like if it never gets past the gray screen at the start.

I will take a look at Data Rescue. Did you boot from a different startup disk to rescue the data on your iMac? I will have look for an external FW drive if that's required.

I got my copy of Data Rescue at the Apple Store, so it was boxed. I think I could boot from the CD. But I had also partitioned the drive and installed another copy of the OS on a second partition, so I mostly ran from that (I did a couple copying sessions at the Apple Store, they were very patient with me).

I used a FireWire drive to copy the files to, since I was pretty sure the iMac's drive was shot, and I think you'll want to do that, too. You could also use target disk mode with your other Mac and copy the files to that Mac's hard drive, but you might not have enough free disk space for that.

I only copied files that couldn't be replaced, for the most part, like documents I'd created, source code for my programs, and some of the UNIX configuration files I'd customized. I didn't bother with anything that could be reloaded from a CD or from a downloadable installer from the Internet.

charlie

Reply

Answer 6

harman_faiz Author

Level 1

4 points

Sep 16, 2009 8:11 PM in response to Charles Minow

Charles,

This is what I got.

Normal boot:

panic(cpu 0 caller 0x001A9C68): Kernel trap at 0x00000000, type 14=page fault, registers:
CR0...

Debugger called: <panic>
Backtrace (CPU0), Frame : Return Address (4 potential args on stack)
...
Backtrace terminated-invalid frame pointer 0
Kernel loadable modules in backtrace (with dependencies):
com.apple.driver.AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement...

BSD process name corresponding to current thread: kernel_task

Mac OS version:
Not yet set

Kernel version:
Darwin Kernel Version 9.6.0: Mon Nov 24 17:37:00 PS
System model name: MacBook4, 1 (Mac-...)

Boot with cmd-s or cmd-v:

Darwin Kernel Version 9.6.0: Mon Nov 24 17:37:00 PST...
standard timeslicing quantum is 10000 us
vm pagebootstrap: 969861 free pages and 78715 wired pages
mig table_maxdispl = 79
Extension "com.apple.driver.AppleACPIPlatform" has immediate dependencies on both com.apple.kernel and com.apple.kpi components; use only one style.
Extension "com.apple.driver.AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement" has immediate dependencies on both com.apple.kernel and com.apple.kpi components; use only one style.
AppleACPICPU: ProcessorApicId=0 LocalApicId=0 Enabled
AppleACPICPU: ProcessorApicId=1 LocalApicId=1 Enabled
Loading security extension com.apple.security.TMSafetyNet
Security policy loaded...

MAC Framework successfully initialized
using 16384 buffer headers and 4096 cluter IO buffer headers
panic(cpu 0 caller 0x001A9C68): Kernel trap at 0x00000000, type 14=page fault, registers:
CR0...
Error code: 0x00000010

Debugger called: <panic>
Backtrace (CPU0), Frame : Return Address (4 potential args on stack)
...
Backtrace terminated-invalid frame pointer 0
Kernel loadable modules in backtrace (with dependencies):
com.apple.driver.AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement...

BSD process name corresponding to current thread: kernel_task

Mac OS version:
Not yet set

Kernel version:
Darwin Kernel Version 9.6.0: Mon Nov 24 17:37:00 PST...
System model name: MacBook4, 1 (Mac-...)

Any clues?

Reply

Answer 7

Sep 16, 2009 8:48 PM in response to harman_faiz

harman_faiz wrote:
Any clues?

Well, just that it's having a problem loading the Intel Power Management kernel extension,as that's what's in the backtrace. I'd guess that your hard drive has failed in some way, possibly taking out that kernel extension or some library it depends on.

Here's what I would suggest: first, get your data backed up to an external drive if you can. That's the most important thing.

Once you've done that, and made sure the data is good, you have two things you could try. You could get another Firewire drive and install the OS on that (I'd erase it first) and run from that for a while to see how the computer behaves. If it works fine, then you can be pretty sure it's the hard drive.

Or, you could try booting from the install DVD and see if you can reformat the internal hard drive. Just make sure to use option to write zeros to the drive. You only have to do a single pass, but writing zeros is important, as it re-allocates any bad blocks to spares. If it completes, before you do anything else, check the SMART status. If there are too many bad blocks, it'll show a failing status and should be replaced.

Unfortunately, I don't know of an easy way to get the reallocated sector count, which is a handy thing to know. For example, if there are only a couple bad blocks, I would be tempted to keep using the drive (while being more diligent than usual about backing up). If there were a lot, though I'd just get a new drive.

I know DiskWarrior doesn't show reallocated sectors. I'm not sure about TechTool Pro, it might. I use a command line program ( smartmontool) that has to be compiled. It's not too hard but you do have to have the Xcode tools installed. You'd probably need to be able to install a working OS on that drive, too, since it won't work over Firewire.

charlie

Reply

Answer 8

harman_faiz Author

Level 1

4 points

Sep 16, 2009 9:10 PM in response to Charles Minow

Thanks for the quick reply, Charles.

I have more or less decided that perhaps the people at the Apple Store can try something with the harddisk. Hoping for the best but if they can't solve it, I will replace the harddisk and put the current one in an enclosure. I have a few ideas still to try and will do that if I have to.

Reply

Answer 9

Sep 16, 2009 9:40 PM in response to harman_faiz

harman_faiz wrote:
I have more or less decided that perhaps the people at the Apple Store can try something with the harddisk.

That's not a bad idea, just make sure they are completely aware that you don't want the drive to be erased if you still have hopes of getting your files off. I think they'll offer to copy the drive (for a fee), but I don't know how hard they'll work at it, especially if the drive won't mount.

Honestly, if I were you, I'd get a Firewire drive and try that Data Rescue program before you even take the computer in to the Apple Store. That way there can be no misunderstandings about whether or not they can wipe the drive. And wiping the drive will be one thing they'll want to do for sure.

This was a few years ago, but when my iMac drive failed, when we got to the point of wiping the drive, I bought a copy of Data Rescue to see if it would work. When it was obvious it was going to work, I bought a Firewire drive right there and they let me sit in the corner copying files.

They were remarkably indulgent, because I called back the next day after I decided there were some more files I wanted to try to get. So I went back in on Saturday (the replacement drive wasn't due until Tuesday) and sat in the same corner and copied files all afternoon. I'll always have a soft spot for that store for that.

charlie

Reply

Answer 10

harman_faiz Author

Level 1

4 points

Sep 16, 2009 10:34 PM in response to Charles Minow

I do have the apprehension that some mac techie at the Apple Store might not notice the note on the order not to wipe the disk. I am seriously considering the FW drive option and Data Rescue.

Just to be clear on the Data Rescue option, I might be able to boot from the CD and then back it up to the FW Drive. Alternatively, I can also install OS X into the FW drive and run Data Rescue from there. Sounds right?

If all else fails, I was thinking of taking out the drive and trying to access it from a Windows machine (I hope this is not blasphemy here :-)). There's this program called HFSExplorer that can read HFS+ disks. I'm just thinking of just about anything to get the data of that drive.

Thanks, Charlie.

Reply

Answer 11

harman_faiz Author

Level 1

4 points

Sep 17, 2009 7:43 PM in response to Charles Minow

This is the latest update. Taking Charlie's advice, I decided to go with the FW drive option. I didn't have one at hand and checked if I can do the same with a USB external drive. I was glad to find out that the Intel Macs are able to boot with a USB drive.

I loaded up the OS X install disc that came with the MB and connected the USB drive. Using Disk Utility, I erased and formatted the USB drive (Mac OS Extended (Journaled)). I installed OS X on this USB drive and booted from it. A message came up after booting that the MB detected the internal hard disk but stated that it could not be repaired and that I should back it up. The hard disk was mounted on the desktop and when opened, all the files are there. I copied everything into a folder on the USB drive.

Now I am formatting the internal hard disk with zero out data option. I will be installing OS X when that's done.

Thank you to Charlie and Kappy for your help. I hope this post will be of use to other users facing the same problem. The important lesson here is backup, backup and backup.

Cheers

Reply