Kernel Panic 10.6.2 Unsolved Problem

[spikespeigol]

I have been up and down search engines trying to figure out how to fix this problem I recently encountered on my iMac.

The problem happend as followed:

I have a 32gb partition on windows vista on my imacs hard drive. Windows wanted me to do an update as usual, and i did. When it was in the third and final stage of configuring the update, the computer froze and I had to restart the computer.

Once i turned on the mac, there was scattered "stuck" pixels all over the screen, some were flashing blue.
I tried to enter windows through the option key at start up but it just brings me to a black screen.

When i try to boot in OSX it loads for an abnormal amount of time then brings me to the multilingual error message. I restarted several times reaching the same error, with the same "stuck" pixels.

I retested the PRAM, heard the two chimes.
THis time, the "stuck" pixels were in a new pattern, vertical lines down the screen, about 8 across every 2 inches.
After resetting the PRAM it still brings me to the black screen in vista and kernel panic message in OSX.

Then...

I entered single user mode, and it found some errors using /sbin/fsck -fy
I ran the command a couple of times to ensure all errors were fixed and the "volume appears to be ok" appeared consistently.

I then used "shutdown -h now" and turned the mac back on.
The pixels were still on the screen and still brought me to the kernel panic screen, as well as the black screen in vista.

I gave up and left my imac off for about 5 hours.
I came back with new hope to try and fix the computer.

I removed all first party ram, two 1 gb sticks, then reinserted.

I turned on the mac and everything was fine.
For some reason the fans in the imac were on full power blowing really fast.
There was no more stuck pixels on the screen and it booted, very slowly, to OSX.
As soon as I entered I used the disk util and repaired permissions. There seemed to be many errors in the flash plugin folder. maybe about 30 of them.

I restarted the imac, and everything was fine, everything was back to normal speed.
Once the imac went into screen saver mode for about 15 min, the screen froze and the flurry screen saver looked distorted. I restarted the imac.

Once i restarted the imac the same "stuck pixels" were back.
I tried using all previous methods, all volumes appear ok in single user mode but I continue to receive the kernel panic message along with the pixels.

I can not start from the snow leopard dvd, because i get the kernel message.
I can not boot into safe mode, because of the kernel message.
I can not use a live linux CD because it takes me to a black screen.

Although I did notice one thing.
Once I use the /sbin/fsck -fy command follwed by the exit command, i receive a string of messages, checking the normal functions.

All appear ok but there is a message mentioning the NTFS partition log check not being clear, then it says unable to mount volume cant (read/write)

I am assuming the vista update somehow damaged something but i am unsure because I was able to boot normally into OSX twice after I received the symptoms the first time.

Does anyone have any idea on how to fix this?

THank you for your time reading this very long post

Intel iMac early 2008 24' Mac OS X (10.6.2)

 

[chscag]

This is a head scratcher. ?? Your assumption that the Vista update could have damaged something in OS X could very well be correct, however, this looks more like a hardware problem to me.

The stuck pixels throughout the screen area leads me to suspect that something has gone wrong with your graphics adapter in the iMac. The reason I suspect this is that when you left the machine off for 5 hours, that gave everything a chance to cool down. And when you did turn it on the fans were blowing hard (probably from the previous thermal increase). Then after the machine was on for a bit and went into screen saver mode for 15 minutes (screen save mode causes the GPU to get hot), the screen froze again and you were back to the same problem.

OK. How do you solve it? Not by yourself unless you're able to swap out a logic board. If your iMac is covered by Apple care, make an appointment and take it on in and have them look at it.

Hopefully, you've been making regular backups with Time Machine or some other method. Anyway, your hard drive should be OK. You're still going to have to resolve the Vista problem update but I think that can be done easy enough using the Vista recovery method.

Keep us posted. Sorry I couldn't be of more help.

Regards.

 

[VegasGeorge]

I know it's not helpful, but accounts like this are why I keep Microsoft products off my Mac.

I suppose you could use a bootable external HD, or swap internal HDs and determine if the problem is associated with the drive (including software) or is actually in the computer itself. Really it sounds like a bench repair job to me.

 

[spikespeigol]

Still on solution...

I put my mac into target disk mode and used macdrive 8 from another pc to fix and permissions that may be broken...which there wasnt any.

I completely reformatted the windows partition.
I then installed vista on another partition on the pc...then used a cloner to clone the whole partition over to my mac since vista will not allow you to install the OS to an external hdd.

Tried booting in OSX and vista....still no luck. same kernel panic in osx and black screen in vista.

I called the expert technicians at apple care.
We did about 30 min of trouble shooting...still on luck
We ran the hardware software diagnostic test....
no problems were found.

I put the diagnostic test in loop mode for 24 hours on both standard and extended trials....
Still no problems were found.

The apple care technician said he has no idea whats wrong with the computer....


I have no ideas whats wrong with it but i am preparing for the worst.

 

[chscag]

I'm going to stick my neck out again here and say it's more than likely a hardware problem. The Apple Hardware Test (even the extended looping test) is not definitive. The reason I say this is that kernel panics are usually caused by hardware errors rather than software.

My thoughts are it could be bad memory or a flakey logic board acting up. If you don't mind spending some money, you might try swapping out the memory modules since that's the easy thing to do. If it turns out not to be the memory, return the modules for a refund.

Regards.