10-19-2011, 03:00 PM

I'm getting an error message a few minutes after I start up. The screen freezes up and a box opens that says you need to restart your computer. Hold down the power button for several seconds or press the restart button.

I did that but when I try to restart, the screen is black and it gives me 3 short beeps followed by 3 long beeps and 3 more short beeps.

Any ideas what's wrong?

10-19-2011, 03:06 PM

Usually a memory error. Go ahead and try to re-seat the memory.

10-19-2011, 03:37 PM

Thanks, but that didn't help. The error message came back up as soon as I restarted. There is a kind of grayness that scrolls over the screen with the error message in the middle of it. Any other ideas?

10-19-2011, 09:49 PM

It still sounds like a memory error. Have you added any memory to your machine lately? What you're seeing is a kernel panic, indicating a possible hardware or software error. Most kernel panics are caused by hardware. And memory errors are a common cause of kernel panics.

You might want to test the memory. Download and use MemTest for the Mac from here.

10-20-2011, 11:36 AM

Thank you blairtechguy and chscag! I tried to reset the RAM again and this time it seems to have worked, at least so far. I'm doing a software update and then I'll run the memtest just to be sure.

Thanks again for the suggestions!