Restart Issues with OSX 10.4.11

Hi:

I am baffled.

Quite often, for seemingly no reason, a translucent "screen" will come down, lock me out of all functions and my desktop, and tell me I have to restart. (It hasn't happened for a month, but it's happened twice today.)

Sometimes the restart works, sometimes my system freezes and I have to unplug.

After the restart, I can never pull up a report to discover what has happened.

I have not loaded any new software in almost a year.

I just don't understand what's going on. I've run Disk First Aid and have found nothing.

Any ideas on what I can do before I lose my mind - and the material I'm working on? I'd greatly appreciate any ideas.

I'm not a Mac novice, but I'm not comfortable with being a Mac brain surgeon, so I'd appreciate any step-by-step instructions if need be.

Thank you,

Bill

NOTE: Thread moved to more appropriate forum. Not a forum-specific comment/question or suggestion.

What you are experiencing is known as a "Kernel Panic". KPs can occur for a variety of different reasons, most frequently if there is a problem with the disk structure or a hardware failure.

The first thing to do would be to open up Disk Utility (Applications => Utilities => Disk Utility). Then, do the following:



If the problem persists, run the Apple Hardware Test just to verify that your hardware is in good shape.

Let us know how it goes.

Hi:

I've used Disk Utility repeatedly in the past and nothing has come up. (I tried again after your suggestion, but still didn't get anything.)

I tried to run the Apple Hardware Test off my OSX Tiger disc, but it called for my name and password. I entered the information and nothing was accepted. I then restarted and reset my password. Now, I have to use passwords for everything (which I do not want to do), but I still can't get through to the Test - my password is still not acceptable.

Any suggestions? I'm getting completely frustrated.

Thanks so much for the time and help,

Bill

The password issue is a strange one to me. I'm not sure which password it's looking for.

My next step would be to do a filesystem check, the process is described in this troubleshooting guide:

http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/os-x-operating-system/93819-basic-os-x-mac-troubleshooting.html

Under Step 7.

Hi:

I've used Techtool Pro. So far, so good. My computer has picked up speed and there have been no restarts as of yet. Time will tell. If anything changes, I'll let you know.

Thanks for everything,

Bill

What Mac do you own? I have never had the Apple Hardware Test ask me for a password. How are you running the AHT?