all os 10.4.11 machines need multiple reboots before working...WHY? HELP!

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all os 10.4.11 machines need multiple reboots before working...WHY? HELP!

this has been a recent occurrence and i wonder if it has anything to do with the recent upgrade of the entire airport system with a new airport extreme base station and two new airport expresses. the problem seems to have started at the same time as this change in our home network.

my new os 10.6.x machine works fine, but everything that still runs on os 10.4.11 is affected.

basically upon startup, the shadowed black screen with the multi-lingual message, "you need to restart your computer. hold down the power button for several seconds or press the restart button" appears. then you have to restart the machine several times until it will finally work properly. sometimes it has to be restarted a dozen times or so before it will work (not an exaggeration either).

why is it suddenly doing this?

i'd be less concerned if it were only happening to one older machine, but it happens to all of them...three or four other machines. there's also no rhyme or reason as sometimes it takes fewer restarts. and again, my newest machine is not having any of these issues.

any suggestions on why this is happening or if there are any good fixes?

17" macbook pro / 15" g4 powerbook / imac, Mac OS X (10.6.6), iphone 32gb 3gs

Posted on Jan 17, 2011 10:58 AM

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Answer 1

BDAqua

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Jan 17, 2011 11:31 AM in response to rnrollgirl

i wonder if it has anything to do with the recent upgrade of the entire airport system with a new airport extreme base station and two new airport expresses.

I believe so, have you tried booting the 10.4 Macs with all those new devices OFF? Or do they Net Boot?

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Answer 2

rnrollgirl Author

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Jan 18, 2011 8:18 AM in response to BDAqua

not sure what "net boot" is. no, i haven't tried booting with new airport devices off (unplugged).

the os 10.4 machines do work under the new configuration -- eventually -- but it's the getting there that is frustrating and filled with continual restarts and error messages.

all the airport devices should be compatible with the older machines, i thought.

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Answer 3

Limnos

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411,265 points

Jan 18, 2011 8:47 AM in response to rnrollgirl

no, i haven't tried booting with new airport devices off (unplugged).

The way to test things with computers is component by component. If you think the airport devices may be causing problems, try turning on the computers with the airport devices off. If the computers start up all right then you've narrowed it down. Then one knows to work along the path of narrowing down why they may be causing problems.

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Answer 4

rnrollgirl Author

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Apr 13, 2011 9:32 AM in response to rnrollgirl

ok, i am still having problems. i've realized through research that these error screens are called kernel panics, but through all the websites, i still can't solve the issue.

on one machine i've even restored the computer to factory settings via the original discs and updated to the current version via apple software update. still i get the kernel panic on this machine, and it takes several restarts before everything is up and running normally (all the troubled machines will eventually work normally after a series of hard restarts).

i firmly believe it has something to do with a conflict between os 10.4.11 and the latest and greatest airport extreme/expresses. this is when the problems began and it only occurs on the machines that run 10.4.11 (not the newer machines that run 10.6). also, there are no other devices involved that are common amongst the 3 older systems.

does anyone know of any issues that may be related to 10.4.11 and the newest airports? could it be a security setting that's incompatible somewhere?

Message was edited by: rnrollgirl

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Answer 5

BDAqua

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239,483 points

Apr 13, 2011 4:18 PM in response to rnrollgirl

I wish I'd kept the link, but I think the new Airport Exrpess needs a separate SSID/Name for the 802.11b/g channel.

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Answer 6

Jul 23, 2011 8:59 PM in response to rnrollgirl

I am having the same problem with my Powerbook 17" with OSX 10.4.1.1

The problem started right after I installed the Airport Extreme as well... I've rebooted a zillion times, booted from the original startup disk, reset the PRAM a million times, held down the shift to start, held down the x to start and reselected the startup disk...on a daily basis since we started using the new Airport Extreme base station. I hope someone has a solution...

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Answer 7

rnrollgirl Author

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Jul 25, 2011 3:48 PM in response to cynthiafrom Michigan

for the most part i solved my original problem. this is for you cynthia....

i had to connect an older airport to my new airport system and using that older airport, create a separate network for my older machines to read. so when my older computers look for a network to get their internet connection, they always go to the one set up specifically for the older machines.

my newer machines automatically connects to the new network set up for them (and will also run under the older network when you want to do stuff like home sharing), and my older machines automatically connect to the other network set up for them.

it's a little counter-intuitive, but for the very most part, it works. once in a blue moon, i'll still crash, but that usually happens only when i try to connect the older machines to the more updated network.

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Answer 8

Jul 29, 2011 6:01 PM in response to rnrollgirl

Thanks for the info rnrollgirl...I appreciate your help, I think I've got the old router laying around the house, I'll have to give it a try–

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