Kernel panic from iPhone USB tethering

Just upgraded to IOS 4.3.1 and still with Kernel Panics on my Snow Leopard 10.6.7 while in 64-bit mode while connecting thru USB.

No KPs if I connect to the Iphone Personal Hotspot if I use Wifi.

Just Bought the Machine yesterday MBP 15" Gb Memory 750 Seegate 7200 2.2 i7 transfered my time machine backup from my MBP (mid 2009) and I have 10.6.7. It cost me 2500 Euros and I got 4 Kernel Panics today!. I still don't know if its iphone tethering related. Iphone 4 4.3 on the usb but I think I got a Kernel Panic earlier with the iphone NOT attached. I am no running a memory test with techtool pro 6.01. Very very dissapointing, since I am starting to thing its not a bad RAM. All the Kernel Panics I've seen in my life was RAM related so far, however this...Any help deeply appreciated.

Message was edited by: Paleoka

Message was edited by: Paleoka

Well this is a know issue if you read the whole topic. Same for me with the same config. The only solution for now is to set your machine to boot in 32bit. Every software available in 64 bits will run in 64. What actually happens is that the kernel extension will run in 32. I've been running this way for the past 2 weeks and haven't noticed any performance issues.

Hope this helps until they fix the issue

I am glad to know that we can fix the issue by using 32-bit boot mode.

I'll try that and report back if it's still a problem after changing to 32-bit.

I am using an iPhone 4 on iOS 4.3.1 to occasionally tether with USB. I found this thread searching for the USB tethering issue.

Zero problems in 32-bit kernel mode, after quite a bit of tethering. 🙂

Until today I was able to reproduce the crash on every mac I tried, 4 MacBook Pros (3 Mid2011, 1 Mid2009) and one iMac (Mid2010) with different iPhone 4, 3GS and 3G.

I don't think switching to the 32bit kernel is a real solution!
There are people - like me - who need 64bit (I bought a new Mac because of 64bit) and I'm not willing to reboot every time just to use tethering.

I reported the bug one month ago to Apple (and submitted them many kp-logs from different macs) and still didn't get any response, I'm very disappointed on how Apple ignores this issue...

I was on to Apple about this problem yesterday and it does seem to be solved (only as a workaround) by using 32-bit mode.
They sent me a data capture program to try and capture the moment of the crash however the file recording the data did not survive the crash.
The first person I spoke to got me to remove the mobile device drivers and reinstall iTunes. When that didn't work I reverted to 32-bit mode.
There appears to be a relationship to the amount of data being downloaded over the tethered phone. Casual browsing can text dominant site can last for a while but a data rich site such as YouTube can crash it immediately. There is a relationship between the two but it is not a direct cause/effect relationship, as I have it a kernel panic immediately after boot-up.
In the cases of immediate crashes, these have always occurred after a previous kernel panic and I have rebooted without physically disconnecting the iPhone. This might also be a contributing factor, but I haven't tested it thoroughly.
The first person I spoke to at Apple was very familiar with the problem. When I rang back with some feedback the second person had not heard of it before however their supervisor was familiar with it.
I think they are concentrating on writing a new version of the mobile device drivers, but how long that will take is anyones guess.
AJ

One more case here!

Been having this kernel panic problem since last week on my mbp 2011. was almost going to bring this in to the service center tmr! after exhausting all attempts to solve the problem. reinstalling, erase and install.. hardware tests..

then before i slept it occurred to me that every time this darn thing happens, my iphone was attached and on usb tether. viola! after readin all your threads here i can rest tonight in peace. been struggling with this for a week!

my new MPB 13inch i7 crashed multiple times from the first day.. once when i clicked on 'report' to send the previous kernel panic to apple!!

they sent me a new one, and the same thing happened first time i plugged in the iphone.. i can't be without a computer again, so living with it seems the only option for now... the call centre seemed to suggest there had been a lot of complaints about this, so i hope they get a work around sometime soon!

Your best bet for now is to switch to 32 bit mode ( check previous post). Don`t worry, even in 32 bit mode all your 64 bit application will run in 64 bit.

There are now several discussion posts on this. Now I know about the problem I can avoid it by using wi-fi tethering (which is a nuisance). Like others I have spent considerable time trying to "fix" my Macbook, assuming it had a serious problem (eg disk repair utility).

My main gripe is that there is no mention of the problem on the Apple Support site. We have all had to search these discussions to find out that others are experiencing the same problem and that we don't need to take our Macbooks in for repair.

The irony is that many Macbook users probably only access the internet using USB tethering so, unless they are quick and lucky, they won't reach these discussion pages before a kernel panic occurs.

BTW - don't forget to Repair Permissions after the kernel panic. The crash leaves many open files in a mess.

Medic15 wrote:
Here you go:


On-disk setting (persistent)

To select the 32-bit kernel for the current startup disk, use the following command in Terminal:

sudo systemsetup -setkernelbootarchitecture i386

To select the 64-bit kernel for the current startup disk, use the following command in Terminal:

sudo systemsetup -setkernelbootarchitecture x86_64

You then need to reboot.

Note: This setting is stored in the /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.Boot.plist file and will take effect every time you start up from this disk. If you start up from a different disk, the setting on that disk, or the hardware default, will take effect.

Manually

You reboot and hold either "32" or 64" keys to start in one or the other.

Can confirm that switching the kernel from 64-bit to 32-bit has stopped the kernel panics from occurring durring tethering. I have had the MBP for less than a week and I've had 5 kernel panics while tethering while running the OS in 64-bit. I've changed the OS to 32-bit and have been tethering for a good chunk of the morning, and so far so good. Will post again if situation changes.

Thanks Medic15, that was very helpful advice.

I'm using OSX 10.6.7 and iPhone 4 with iOS 4.3.2 and i'm getting a lot of kernel panics when using USB cable.