FaceTime for Mac Kernel Panic After Connecting With iOS Devices

OK, I'll pour over the router and WiFi settings per those links, and get back to you.

Re the iSight camera: The Mac Mini only has one output Firewire 800 port (no FW 400). Right now, that port connects to the external RAID drive (for TimeMachine). Then the iSight is connected to an output FW 400 port on the RAID array. In order to test the iSight camera driven by the FW 800 port on the Mini, I will need to use a FW 800 to FW 400 dongle. Is that how you want me to proceed?

Well, let’s see ... I will try to summarise the work arising from our latest steps.

iSight Connections:

I reconnected the iSight camera directly to the Mini’s output FW 800 using the FW 800 to FW 400 adapter. This did not work. The iSight camera did not appear to be getting power - FaceTime could not see a camera and the green LED on top of the iSight did not light up.

Thinking this might point to a bad FireWire adapter, I connected the Cinema Display FW 400 line out of the display’s wiring harness into the FW 400 adapter on rear of Mini, then plugged in the iSight camera into the FW 400 port on my Cinema Display. This worked - go figure. The iSight lit up and FaceTime saw the camera. However, firing up a FaceTime session to an iPhone resulted in the same outcome, i.e. Mini freeze, Kernel Panic, crash. I’ve since reconnected the RAID to the Mini and the iSight to the RAID.

iTunes Store Access:

Next thing I tested was to jump over to the iTunes Store. No problem.

Router Settings & Firewalls:

I read through the linked docs on TCP/UDP ports, and settings for routers and access points. Lots to digest there, but here’s what I came up with:

Ports Needed for FaceTime: I checked the router/access point settings but found no blocks to the following ports: 80, 123, 443, 3478-3497, 5223, 16384-16387, 16393-16402.

Actually, there are no port settings entered into the router at all. It appears wide open.

The OS X software firewall is similarly wide open.

WiFi & Access Point Settings: I looked at every setting in the Cox router and saw nothing that looked suspect. The four iOS home devices are on the 2.4 WiFi frequency and the Mac Mini is on the 5.0 frequency. Until now, everything was on the 5.0 band. I could move everything back onto one band, but I doubt it would solve my problem.

Plus - Ethernet:

Just for the **** of it, I ran a line from the Mac Mini over to an Ethernet port on the router. Fooled around with this for about an hour (rebooting both ends, changing settings, testing, etc.) but was never able to get to the Internet this way. I’ve removed the cables and reverted back to WiFi.

Whew! Off to bed.

Umm, looking at the options described there, just a few questions before we escalate further:7$

a) Is this continued / extended telephone support going to cost me?

b). if I take my Mini with iSight camera in to the local Genius Bar, will they have the display, keyboard, mouse, etc. to test and reproduce problem? Will they charge me for that?

c) If I send the Mini & iSight in, does that mean like ”depot repair”? How much might this cost? Length of time? Since I’m running a 2009 Mini with the latest OS X software proscribed for it, and using the iSight camera that was supposed to match up back then, shouldn’t I have a reasonable expectation this should work?

I’m retired, on a fixed income, so money is always an issue. Thanks!

i had to go through a medical procedure the last couple days, which delayed me following the links to further escalate until next week. But I had a thought I want to ask you first:

The kernel panic occurs after I connect to an iOS device (or vice versa) but we don’t know what happens if I called up another Mac (or vice versa). What we do know is the Mac, iSight camera and iOS device set works fine using Skype.

Which makes me wonder - is it possible that uninstalling and reinstalling FaceTime for Mac might fix the problem? Can that be tried, or is there some reason that reinstalling FaceTime is not a good idea? Could it screw up my El Capitan? Could it screw up my working Skype? If it’s a fair idea, how best should I do this?

Thanks!

Follow-Up: Ran First Aid on the boot drive. Reset PRAM.

Re-tested - no change to end result.

First, let me say ‘thank you so much’ for digesting my long problem description and getting back to me with recommended next steps - much appreciated!

First step, I booted up in Safe Mode per the directions at the link. Note that the FireWire iSight camera does not get recognised under Safe Mode. So I could only test using a FaceTime audio call out to the iPhone. The end result was still the same - the iPhone answers, FaceTime seems to actually connect on each end for a few seconds, then El Capitan freezes and goes into a Kernel Panic.

Rebooted and re-tested FaceTime but same result.

Second step, I created a new Administrator account. Re-booted and re-tested a FaceTime video call. Same result - Mac connected to iOS, then after a few seconds the Mac froze and the kernel crashed.

Maybe I should try a Repair Permissions.

It crossed my mind that all tests so far have been El Capitan to iOS and vice versa. I have not been able to test OS X to OS X - not sure where I can come up with someone I know that has an OS X computer. Might be interesting.