[Macworld]

Post your comments for How to troubleshoot a kernel panic here

[bastion]

Failing or marginal RAM is, in my experience, so frequently the cause of kernel panics on the Mac that IMO it really should be the first thing one looks at.

[Artiste212]

Bad USB devices are right up there with bad RAM. Unplug everything first - it's quickest.

[Dotkhan]

I use OSX 10.5.8 and never get kernal panics. I've resisted upping to Snow Leopard due to some programs I use, but will do so this month. I used to get KPs in some of the very early OS including on a just out of the box Macbook Pro. Since many say Mountain Lion isn't as stable as SL, I wonder how often each OS suffers from KP.

[bastion]

Dotkhan, on 07 February 2013 - 08:33 AM, said:

I use OSX 10.5.8 and never get kernal panics. I've resisted upping to Snow Leopard due to some programs I use, but will do so this month. I used to get KPs in some of the very early OS including on a just out of the box Macbook Pro. Since many say Mountain Lion isn't as stable as SL, I wonder how often each OS suffers from KP.

Frequency of kernel panics doesn't really vary much from one OS version to another. It's much more affected by hardware and the occasional 3rd-party driver.

[thisusernamenottaken]

My antivirus program was causing the kernel panics. After I uninstalled the antivirus the kernel panics never came back.

I want to install a different brand of antivirus software but Macs don't have a real uninstaller like Windows. I'm afraid if I install my second or third choice antivirus software I won't be able to uninstall it if I have issues.

[keithnteri]

Quote

My antivirus program was causing the kernel panics. After I uninstalled the antivirus the kernel panics never came back. I want to install a different brand of antivirus software but Macs don't have a real uninstaller like Windows. I'm afraid if I install my second or third choice antivirus software I won't be able to uninstall it if I have issues.

Why would you need to run an AV program on a Mac? They do nothing but slow your system down and provide no benefit to the user. That is one of the reasons that I gave up PC's a long time ago.

[FCB1948]

Quote

My antivirus program was causing the kernel panics. After I uninstalled the antivirus the kernel panics never came back. I want to install a different brand of antivirus software but Macs don't have a real uninstaller like Windows. I'm afraid if I install my second or third choice antivirus software I won't be able to uninstall it if I have issues.

In my experience, if you just drag the program from the Application folder to the trash most of the files get removed. Most any files left, again in my experience, are plist files and other minor files. I have tried several different AV programs and never had any problems deleting one and installing another.

[FCB1948]

Quote

I use OSX 10.5.8 and never get kernal panics. I've resisted upping to Snow Leopard due to some programs I use, but will do so this month. I used to get KPs in some of the very early OS including on a just out of the box Macbook Pro. Since many say Mountain Lion isn't as stable as SL, I wonder how often each OS suffers from KP.

The only kenel panics I have had were caused by non-compatible drivers on my sierra wireless dongle from AT&T when I upgraded from SL to ML. I am a late arrival to OS X and my only experience is with SL, Lion, and ML.

[alex_santos]

The article at the very end reads
"if that doesn’t work, erase the disk and reinstall everything from scratch."

I have a bit of advice regarding Time Machine which was completely overlooked. To be honest I skimmed over the article looking for some little secret but found nothing new here other than an omission.

If you have read the entire article and you've concluded that your mac starts up from the recovery partition or an external drive with a clean OS X installation then ask yourself, when was the last time my mac started up and did not kernel panic?

If you know the answer, then start up from the recovery partition and restore from your time machine backup to the date nearest to the time your mac ran without issue.

You'll be up and running as soon as the back up is restored.

Time Machine works, use it and you can avoid regrets.

Refer here for more:
http://support.apple...US&locale=en_US

https://support.appl...U6&locale=ru_RU

[alex_santos]

Quote

My antivirus program was causing the kernel panics. … I'm afraid if I install my second or third choice antivirus software I won't be able to uninstall it if I have issues.

I encourage you to contact the manufacturer of the original AV program to consult them on how to completely uninstall their software. You should also search for "completely uninstall <the name of the AV software>". You should find the steps on the developer's site.

If you do consider another AV app, seriously consider ESET. It's very good, I don't work for them but it's quality AV software.

See http://www.eset.com/home/ and http://www.eset.com/...ee-facebook-app

[bastion]

thisusernamenottaken, on 07 February 2013 - 01:37 PM, said:

My antivirus program was causing the kernel panics. After I uninstalled the antivirus the kernel panics never came back.

I want to install a different brand of antivirus software but Macs don't have a real uninstaller like Windows. I'm afraid if I install my second or third choice antivirus software I won't be able to uninstall it if I have issues.

Windows doesn't have a "real" uninstaller either. The difference is that Apple doesn't pretend to. A vendor who creates a piece of software with a complex enough installation to require an uninstaller is also the only entity with sufficient knowledge to actually create a reliable uninstaller for that product. There's no way to write a reliable generic uninstall process without placing ridiculous and unenforceable restrictions on what is allowed to be placed on the disk in the first place.

[bastion]

keithnteri, on 07 February 2013 - 01:45 PM, said:

Quote

My antivirus program was causing the kernel panics. After I uninstalled the antivirus the kernel panics never came back. I want to install a different brand of antivirus software but Macs don't have a real uninstaller like Windows. I'm afraid if I install my second or third choice antivirus software I won't be able to uninstall it if I have issues.

Why would you need to run an AV program on a Mac? They do nothing but slow your system down and provide no benefit to the user. That is one of the reasons that I gave up PC's a long time ago.

You need to run anti-malware software on your Mac if you're subject to some authority telling you you must. I, for example, have anti-malware software on my mini because it's required in order for me to be allowed to work from home. For some people that "voice of authority" can just be one in their head telling them that, e.g., it's irresponsible to act as a carrier for Windows malware.

[dseher]

Quote

My antivirus program was causing the kernel panics. After I uninstalled the antivirus the kernel panics never came back. I want to install a different brand of antivirus software but Macs don't have a real uninstaller like Windows. I'm afraid if I install my second or third choice antivirus software I won't be able to uninstall it if I have issues.

For uninstalling, I have found that AppCleaner (free!) meets my needs.