MacBook Pro 09' keeps telling me to shutdown and restart every 5 minutes. First a shaded area starts at the top of screen and rolls down to the bottom, everything locks up and the command to restart appears. I've been advised to do a PMV (whatever that is). Can you tell me how to do this?
Thanks in advance
MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.8)
The multi-language screen you see saying to restart is the result of a "kernel panic." Generally bad news, it 's a pretty severe failure of something, hardware or software.
Not sure what a PMV would be.
You can try resetting the parameter RAM (PRAM) and resetting the System Management Controller (SMC) for starters. Other possible things to try include checking/seating your RAM modules; booting in Safe mode (hold the shift key while booting) which does some system housekeeping; booting from the OSX install DVD and running disk repair.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2341
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1379
Some work is usually needed to pinpoint the failure.
How to PMV
