Another Mini freezing !! HELP

hi,
i have a Mac Mini which every so often will just come up on the screen with a message "you must turn of the computer. Press and hold the power button"

The model of Mini is a 2ghz, Core 2 Duo with 2gb Ram.

I originally thought it was the hard drive, so i have replaced it.

i then thought it was only when it was watching TV/Movies, but it started to do it when i was just reading emails or had walked away it was sitting idle.

i thought maybe its lack of air flow, so i have been running it with the cover off even, and it has been OK for a few days, but then this arvo i walked up to it and pressed the space bar and up came the message.

I have reset the PMU and when i power it back on the Fan is running flat out. So I'm wondering if maybe the PMU is corrupt? as from what i understand the PMU controls the fans etc? as i have been playing Grand Theft Auto on the Mini and you can feel the heat coming out the back, but the fans dont seem to speed up. only when i do a PMU reset the fans go flat out.

any ideas would be great.

I will be buying a new Mac Mini soon to do a different job, but still want this one to work, as I'm trying to learn as much as i can about the Macs and OSX.

cheers,
Dreama

Hi Dreama and welcome to the forums.

What your experiencing is what we call a Kernel Panic.
Kernel Panic ~ Read up.
There are a few things that can cause these, as in third party Applications. Peripherals such as external keyboards or anything plugged into your USB ports.
So the question is have do you have USB ports being used ?? If so one by one disconnect them until you find the culprit.
Have you downloaded and installed any new Apps of late ??
So a few things to think about.
Or you can just follow the Kernel Panic Troubleshooting that is supplied in the link i just put up.
If you have any more questions be sure to return and we will see what we can do for you.

HTH

Cheers

EDIT : What is this PMU you speak of ?? Are you thinking of SMC and PRAM??

hi,
thanks for the link, i will work through it.

Originally it started when i bought a 2nd hand eyetv and i installed the eyetv software. but i havent used this in a long time and it still happens (it now has a new HDD and obviously fresh install of OSX).

at the moment I am using a small Apple bluetooth keyboard, a no-name brand mouse and a monitor. so not much connected.

i do have a wireless network, but dont think that would be the problem

cheers

Dreama said:

hi,
thanks for the link, i will work through it.

Originally it started when i bought a 2nd hand eyetv and i installed the eyetv software. but i havent used this in a long time and it still happens (it now has a new HDD and obviously fresh install of OSX).

at the moment I am using a small Apple bluetooth keyboard, a no-name brand mouse and a monitor. so not much connected.

i do have a wireless network, but dont think that would be the problem

cheers

Click to expand...

No worries. The problem with these Panics is it really is a step by step fault finding excersise.
Good luck with it all and give us a report if you find the culprit.
I had one when i first got my Mac and after a lot of trouble i found it was a Safari Extension, and another i had was the wireless dongle i was using. That was a simple one because it happened whenever i took the dongle out. The Safari Extension took a while longer mind you.

Cheers