Black window, you need to restart your computer

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Three times when I was on the internet using Safari the screen went dark and a black window came on and said I need to restart my computer. Nothing would work unless I pushed the power button and held it to shut down and then restart. Please help me to understand what this means.
Thank you,
 

pigoo3

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This sounds like a a kernel panic. Many times kernel panics are due to a hardware issue. And very commonly it is due to installing defective or non-compatible ram.

But kernel panics can be caused by other things as well.

- Nick
 

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Agreed with Nick.

First,what Mac is this? Model and CPU speed, RAM? What version of OSX is installed? Is the RAM the stock RAM (Memory) that came with the Mac or was it upgraded later?
 
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Sorry, I don't know what you mean by a "Karnel Panic"?

Hi, thank you for answering. I don't know what that is. I installed 4 more GB of ram about 4 months ago but all seams to be ok with it. It reads 8 GB in my system and I bought them from the Apple store. Any other help would be appreciated.
 
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Snow Lep

Hi, I'm using the operating system before Lion, I have 8 GB of ram. iMac OS X 10.6.8
 

pigoo3

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Hi, thank you for answering. I don't know what that is. I installed 4 more GB of ram about 4 months ago but all seams to be ok with it. It reads 8 GB in my system and I bought them from the Apple store. Any other help would be appreciated.

You don't have to be familiar with the term "Kernel Panic"...I just mentioned it for reference sake & for other folks reading/helping in this thread.

The important thing is that we accurately understand what's going on with your computer...so we can make suggestions.

If you upgraded your computer to 8gig of ram months ago...then the problem "most likely" isn't the ram...but that doesn't mean that we can eliminate the ram as a problem area. Any sort of hardware can go "bad" at any time...so even though some of your ram is "new"...it can still go bad.

The most straight forward way to eliminate the ram as a possibility is to remove all the ram...and only install 1-2 sticks of ram at a time...and use the process of elimination to see if any of the ram is bad. If all the ram is good...then we would have to try other ideas.

- Nick
 

pigoo3

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I would also mention that if you still have Applecare coverage on this computer...Kernel Panics can be a serious enough matter to just head straight to your local Apple Store (hopefully you have one).

If something hardware related is "bad" (other than the ram or maybe the hard drive)...the Apple folks are the one's to see.

- Nick
 

pigoo3

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I installed 4 more GB of ram about 4 months ago but all seams to be ok with it. It reads 8 GB in my system and I bought them from the Apple store.

Too bad you bought the ram from the Apple Store...they charge about 4x more than other places for ram. A 4 gig ram upgrade from Apple (currently)...is about $200. From an online store...about $50-$60 bucks.

- Nick
 
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Have you noticed if the kernal panics happen when your on a certain wifi network? I ask because my MBP had the same type of problems when i was accessing the internet on my universities old g-network.
 

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to the OP, are you able to get the Kernel Panic log and post it here?
 
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Hi, thank you for answering. I don't know what that is.

It's not a "Karnal Panic". That's something else entirely. ;)
 
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Thanks for all the help

To all who have responded to my posts yesterday, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all. I'm not that well versed in the terminology necessary to completely understand all the acronym's that are being used to describe an issue or remedy to my problems. However, this will give me an opportunity to look up those that I don't know and increase my knowledge bass. So, please don't become frustrated if I ask a question that is very basic to most of you.
I will try to get more info the next time I get this black screen problem and be able to offer more clues.
I will be upgrading to a paid member after the first of the year as I think this will be a wise investment.
Thank you all,
Joe Amora:)
 

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