"Your computer has restarted because of a problem"

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Hi, I have an early 2008 24 inch iMac, and yesterday it shut itself down and then rebooted to a screen saying "your computer has shut down because of a problem. Please wait a few moments for it to boot or press any key to continue", then proceeds to go to the screen with the apple and the gear moving for about 20 seconds, then turns off and starts from the "your computer has shut down because of a problem" screen.

It's been repeating this process since yesterday afternoon.

Thanks
 

Raz0rEdge

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Welcome to Mac-Forums

What were you doing when this started? What version of OS X are you running? Do you have the original media that came with the iMac? If so, put it in and hold down C during startup to boot from it and then do a disk repair from Disk Utility for starters and see what happens..
 
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Welcome to Mac-Forums

What were you doing when this started? What version of OS X are you running? Do you have the original media that came with the iMac? If so, put it in and hold down C during startup to boot from it and then do a disk repair from Disk Utility for starters and see what happens..

I was running Logic Pro and had a Behringer USB audio interface plugged in. I am running the latest version of Mountain Lion, and I don't have the original media. I have, however, tried to boot from the recovery partition by holding the option key (alt) when booting.

This didn't work, it just went to the screen with the apple and the gear, which span for a bit then stopped and hung.

Thanks
 

cwa107


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Have you tried booting it with all non-essential peripherals unplugged?
 
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Have you tried booting it with all non-essentially peripherals unplugged?

Hi
Yeah I've tried literally everything I can think of, and scoured forums doing what other people have tried.

Thanks
 

cwa107


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What you're experiencing is known as a "Kernel Panic" or "KP", for short. It is roughly analogous to the infamous "Blue Screen of Death" on a Windows machine.

This happens because a component of the operating system failed unexpectedly, causing the OS to crash. It is often the result of a hardware problem, though it can be the result of a system configuration change. Unfortunately, without your system discs, you can't run a hardware diagnostic.

That said, with the age of the machine, I'd bet money on a bad hard drive. If you're handy with a screwdriver, replacement shouldn't be that bad. But it will require some disassembly. You can find details on iFixIt.com, or you can likely find a video tutorial if you Google "24 2008 iMac hard drive replacement".

Good luck.
 
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What you're experiencing is known as a "Kernel Panic" or "KP", for short. It is roughly analogous to the infamous "Blue Screen of Death" on a Windows machine.

This happens because a component of the operating system failed unexpectedly, causing the OS to crash. It is often the result of a hardware problem, though it can be the result of a system configuration change. Unfortunately, without your system discs, you can't run a hardware diagnostic.

That said, with the age of the machine, I'd bet money on a bad hard drive. If you're handy with a screwdriver, replacement shouldn't be that bad. But it will require some disassembly. You can find details on iFixIt.com, or you can likely find a video tutorial if you Google "24 2008 iMac hard drive replacement".

Good luck.

Hi,

That's what I thought, which is why I tried resetting the NVRAM because that's supposed to help however nothing appeared to happen.

I bought it refurbished and I know that a new hard drive was put in, so I don't understand how a (relatively) brand new hard drive would fail - or even a 5 year old one for that matter!

Thanks
 

chscag

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I bought it refurbished and I know that a new hard drive was put in, so I don't understand how a (relatively) brand new hard drive would fail - or even a 5 year old one for that matter!

I've had a brand new hard drive right out of the box fail. Known as "dead on arrival". Try booting in Safe Mode to see if you can run that way. Press and hold your shift key as soon as you hear the "Bong" sound and keep holding it until the Apple appears and it boots. Safe mode disables all third party drivers, start up apps, and the system sound. If it runs OK in safe mode that should eliminate hardware failure.
 

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Hi,

That's what I thought, which is why I tried resetting the NVRAM because that's supposed to help however nothing appeared to happen.

I bought it refurbished and I know that a new hard drive was put in, so I don't understand how a (relatively) brand new hard drive would fail - or even a 5 year old one for that matter!

Thanks

Because they are mechanical in nature, with lots of moving parts. All mechanical devices fail - it's not a question of "if", but "when". They're also subject to magnetic desensitization on the surface where the data is stored (the actual "disc" part). And finally, they're hermetically sealed and sometimes the seal breaks down. Something as small as a particle of smoke could cause the heads to be fouled.

I would echo chscag's comments - I've had hard disks run for many years - I've also had them fail within weeks, months or dead on arrival. This is why backups are so crucial. It's also why the industry is moving toward solid state drives (SSD), which should prove to be more reliable.
 
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Resolved!

Hi,

I took it into the apple store who ran a diagnostic on it and attempted to boot from their software on an external HD, to no avail.

They said more likely than not it's the RAM, and that they could replace them (I have 2 2GB DDR-2 RAM cards) for £35 each, but worst case scenario it's the main logic board, which could be replaced for ~£500.

I bought it refurbished, so I contacted the seller and he's agreed to replace the necessary parts for free.

Thanks for everybody's help, and I hope this answer is somewhat helpful to anyone finding this forum with the same problem.
 
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I bought it refurbished, so I contacted the seller and he's agreed to replace the necessary parts for free.

Give that seller some rep points!
 
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