How to troubleshoot a kernel panic

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How to troubleshoot a kernel panic

#15 TheFLP

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Posted 08 February 2013 - 06:18 AM

I had a LOT of problems with kernel panics this past year but had a hard time pinning it down. It would frequently panic coming out of sleep, as often as once a week and sometimes multiple days in a row. (In the midst of it all one of my RAM modules went bad, complicating matters.) The usual advice about NVRAM resets and whatnot didn't help, so I ripped out a lot of software (particularly the ones using kernel extensions) with no luck. Very frustrating.

A month ago I had a hunch and turned off the Sudden Motion Sensor (I've replaced all of my mechanical disks with SSDs so I don't need it anyway). I rebooted my computer yesterday — something that rarely happened because the machine would panic long before I had a need to restart it myself. That right there is a major victory.

Having an all-SSD machine now, I've been in the habit of closing the lid and immediately shoving it into my bag instead of waiting for disk activity to stop. My guess is that I sometimes tripped the SMS, interfering with the sleep process (I have Safe Sleep turned off, but still) and causing the machine to freak out on waking.

#16 thisusernamenottaken

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Posted 09 February 2013 - 12:35 PM

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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.

#17 thisusernamenottaken

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Posted 09 February 2013 - 12:36 PM

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keithnteri 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. 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.

#18 thisusernamenottaken

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Posted 09 February 2013 - 12:43 PM

#19 jpmhughes

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Posted 10 February 2013 - 07:31 PM

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What? What virus or rootkit can OS X get? Or malware for that matter? Never mind the fact that "malware" is too generalized of term. Your statements are also contradictory. On the one hand you are saying that you are currently not using any antivirus software but it is good as insurance.

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#20 bastion

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Posted 11 February 2013 - 08:16 AM

jpmhughes, on 10 February 2013 - 07:31 PM, said:

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What? What virus or rootkit can OS X get? Or malware for that matter? Never mind the fact that "malware" is too generalized of term.

I'm not sure why you say that "malware" is "too generalized of term." Too generalized for what purpose? The context is malicious software that runs on, or depending on other concerns may merely pass through, a Mac OS X system and Mac -hosted software that can detect and eliminate it. The number of known pieces of malware for OS X is low but not zero. The number of known pieces of malware that may be hosted and passed along by an OS X system is in the vicinity of 20 million.

Quote

Your statements are also contradictory. On the one hand you are saying that you are currently not using any antivirus software but it is good as insurance.

Nothing contradictory about the prior poster's comment. Most Mac OS X malware today relies heavily on social engineering. An astute enough and cautious enough user can easily be their own best first line of defense against Mac-hosted malware, and such a user might legitimately feel that *they* wouldn't realize a net benefit from running anti-malware software on their machine. Others who are less astute and might actually run across a bit of malicious software might see value in having something better than themselves watching out for known threats or suspicious activity.

#21 thisusernamenottaken

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Posted 11 February 2013 - 03:04 PM

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jpmhughes said
Currently not running any antivirus on my Mac mini. Think of Antivirus software as insurance. It can be a really time consuming process to get the Mac running again if you have to format the hard drive and reinstall "everything". I agree that Antivirus software does slow down the Mac and PC's. Mac's are really popular and you can get a virus or rootkit. Malware is the most common infection. What? What virus or rootkit can OS X get? Or malware for that matter? Never mind the fact that "malware" is too generalized of term. I'm not sure why you say that "malware" is "too generalized of term." Too generalized for what purpose? The context is malicious software that runs on, or depending on other concerns may merely pass through, a Mac OS X system and Mac -hosted software that can detect and eliminate it. The number of known pieces of malware for OS X is low but not zero. The number of known pieces of malware that may be hosted and passed along by an OS X system is in the vicinity of 20 million. Your statements are also contradictory. On the one hand you are saying that you are currently not using any antivirus software but it is good as insurance. Nothing contradictory about the prior poster's comment. Most Mac OS X malware today relies heavily on social engineering. An astute enough and cautious enough user can easily be their own best first line of defense against Mac-hosted malware, and such a user might legitimately feel that they wouldn't realize a net benefit from running anti-malware software on their machine. Others who are less astute and might actually run across a bit of malicious software might see value in having something better than themselves watching out for known threats or suspicious activity.

#22 thisusernamenottaken

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Posted 11 February 2013 - 03:06 PM

Quote

Currently not running any antivirus on my Mac mini. Think of Antivirus software as insurance. It can be a really time consuming process to get the Mac running again if you have to format the hard drive and reinstall "everything". I agree that Antivirus software does slow down the Mac and PC's. Mac's are really popular and you can get a virus or rootkit. Malware is the most common infection. What? What virus or rootkit can OS X get? Or malware for that matter? Never mind the fact that "malware" is too generalized of term. Your statements are also contradictory. On the one hand you are saying that you are currently not using any antivirus software but it is good as insurance.

#23 thisusernamenottaken

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Posted 11 February 2013 - 03:23 PM

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I was running an Antivirus program but was getting kernel-panics. So I uninstalled it and the Kernel-panics stopped. When I was doing research on what could be my second and third choice antivirus product, I found people were complaining on how difficult it was to uninstall. The instructions were very complicated, for me. I then realized how lucky I was because the antivirus I used had an uninstaller. Since I don't have any antivirus on my Mac-mini I have been using it 99% of the time for simple high definition tv recording via the two Hauppauge tv tuners I have connected to it. I am actually using a PC to write this comment and for all my web surfing and downloading. Even my Mac downloads are done on a pc. Anyone who says Macs can't get a virus is wrong. Once I figure out which antivirus programs have a good uninstaller I give it a try. I'm not in any kind of hurry. I find the text quality on the Mac is inferior to my PC anyway.

#24 thisusernamenottaken

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Posted 11 February 2013 - 03:48 PM

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thisusernamenottaken 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.

Any good antivirus program is going to make it very difficult to uninstall for obvious reasons. If the antivirus program doesn't have an uninstaller you have to go through many steps to remove it. Prior to purchasing this Mac-mini, I purchased an inexpensive pc last summer, 2012. The pc had Mcafee that I couldn't uninstall. The Windows uninstaller didn't work. I tried a dozens of times. I'm a firm believer of not putting up with crap on something brand new. So, I returned the pc for a refund. I then waited several weeks for the new Mac-mini with USB 3 to come out. This is my first Mac. Am very happy with my Mac-mini except for the text quality. They did have a firmware update on the HDMI / Intel Graphics, that did improve text quality among other issues. But, text quality is still below my PC.

#25 stevekay

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Posted 15 February 2013 - 11:45 AM

I have been having kernel panics 2 - 4 times a week for months.
In the last few days, I removed unecessary apps from my system (either not compatible with Lion and Mountain Lion or no longer used. I updated all other apps, that I regularly use, to latest versions. I also upgraded the firmware on my router.

The only time I have seen kernel panics before this past 6 months, was on Windows machines at work, and this was over 8 years ago. I had never seen this problem on a Mac before.

I have taken to make sure that no apps are running when I put the machine to sleep at night. Of course, Time Machine does run as necessary and the router is still attached.

I still am having the issues but not as often.

Questions: My iMac has only 4gb of memory, could this be part of the problem? Are there any other things to try.

The software I regulary use is Firefox, MS Office 2008 (Word Excel and Entourage), Adobe Reader, Adobe Elements (but not usually active when panics occur), ITunes synchronized with an iPad.