Random Kernel Panic and no idea what to do...

[tango76]

Hello everybody,

I am experiencing some very frustrating behavior from my 10.7.2 Lion Hackintosh, and I have no idea how to approach the problem... any help would be greatly appreciated.

Some background information about the system:

Gigabyte z68XP-UD3
Intel Core i7 - 2600k
16GB Corsair memory (2x8GB)
Gigabyte HD6870
Seasonic x750 Power Unit
Dell 3011 + Dell 2412 monitors connected via the two Displayports

Operating System on a Intel 80GB Solid State Drive
Data, including "user home" on a 2TB Seagate Hard drive
Another 1TB + 500GB old hard drives used for random stuff
Time Machine backups on a Hitachi 3TB drive

Wireless Apple Keyboard and Trackpad connected via a Belkin Bluetooth dongle (inserted in one of the Dell 30" USB ports)

Installed last spring following a tutorial, using Unibeast and then Multibeast. The system is recognized in About this Mac as a Mac Pro, early 2008.

The problem:

Kernel panics. I cannot find any single common element between the different instances when it happens. Sometimes it's just one hour between two kernel panics, sometimes the computer does not have any problem for a week. Lately it seems they are becoming more frequent though, hence I decided it's time to fix this. It's not temperature related (I checked temperatures) and does not happen more often when the computer is pushed (in fact I had a kernel panic while the computer was totally idle). Can't tell if it's a software problem or a hardware problem. Have no idea how to diagnose the kp. I did try to read up on the forum but with little success.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, because I now fear I might just be losing the patient (as I said, the kp seem to become more and more frequent).

I am still on 10.7.2 because I was working at something very critical and I really needed to minimize down-time risks. But ideally I would like to go to Mountain Lion now... but I do not understand if it would likely help solving the KP problem or instead make it worse or more complicated to diagnose...

Sorry for the noobness, it's my first OsX system and have still (very) little capacity to troubleshoot it.

 

[mike5065]

if i were in your circumstances, i would first try focusing on peripherals. you have quite a few. try a process of elimination.

for example, in the past, i've had issues with Dell monitor USB hubs acting up. in the end, i stopped using them and used the mobo ports, and disconnected the dell hub. the odd behaviour and lockups I had experienced went away. i concluded my dell 2408 hub, when used with specific USB devices, was the problem.

 

[SG-]

first you need to start booting with his kernel flag:

debug=0x144

it will print out the kernel panic on screen, take a picture of it and post it here. second of all, do you know if you installed the realtek driver for your network card or if you installed the Lnx2mac one? the realtek driver causes panics, regardless the kernel panic output will tell you if it is that once you start booting with that option.

 

[tango76]

first you need to start booting with his kernel flag:

debug=0x144

it will print out the kernel panic on screen, take a picture of it and post it here. second of all, do you know if you installed the realtek driver for your network card or if you installed the Lnx2mac one? the realtek driver causes panics, regardless the kernel panic output will tell you if it is that once you start booting with that option.

First of all, thank to both for answering.

I did install the Lnx2mac for the network card.

I would use the booting kernel flag you suggest... but I cannot find where/when to insert the line you provide.

Looking it up online I find suggestions for doing it through a terminal line, in order to always have it boot in such a way. Is it what i should do?

Forgive me again for my total cluelessness...

 

[SG-]

open up the Extra folder on your hard drive, there should be a file called "org.chameleon.Boot.plist", use text edit to open it or some text editor. near the top of the file, you should see a section that looks like this:

<key>Kernel Flags</key>
<string>npci=0x2000 debug=0x144 darkwake=0</string>

you might have different things in your <string> area right under <key>Kernel Flags</key> or you might have nothing or not even a <string></string> and just another <key></key> item.

If it's an empty <string></string> simply add debug=0x144, if you have anything just add it after a space like mine, if you have no <string></string> after <key>Kernel Flags</key> simply create it. Once added simply reboot and wait for it to kernel panic and take a picture.

 

[tango76]

open up the Extra folder on your hard drive, there should be a file called "org.chameleon.Boot.plist", use text edit to open it or some text editor. near the top of the file, you should see a section that looks like this:

<key>Kernel Flags</key>
<string>npci=0x2000 debug=0x144 darkwake=0</string>

you might have different things in your <string> area right under <key>Kernel Flags</key> or you might have nothing or not even a <string></string> and just another <key></key> item.

If it's an empty <string></string> simply add debug=0x144, if you have anything just add it after a space like mine, if you have no <string></string> after <key>Kernel Flags</key> simply create it. Once added simply reboot and wait for it to kernel panic and take a picture.

Just to be 100% sure...

Here's how mine looks like:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>EthernetBuiltIn</key>
<string>Yes</string>
<key>GraphicsEnabler</key>
<string>Yes</string>
<key>Kernel</key>
<string>mach_kernel</string>
<key>Kernel Flags</key>
<string>npci=0x3000 darkwake=0</string>
<key>Legacy Logo</key>
<string>Yes</string>
<key>Timeout</key>
<string>2</string>
</dict>
</plist>

...I should just add the line

<string>npci=0x2000 debug=0x144 darkwake=0</string>

between

<key>Kernel Flags</key>

and

<string>npci=0x3000 darkwake=0</string>

Correct?

Just making sure I don't create an additional disaster.

Thanks again so much for helping.

 

[SG-]

make it look like this:

<key>Kernel Flags</key>
<string>npci=0x3000 darkwake=0 debug=0x144</string>

furthermore, if you want to 'test' this, just type it in at the chameleon boot screen, you might have to hit f8 to get the menu to show up and then hit tab to go to the text menu, then just type in debug=0x144 and hit enter.

 

[tango76]

make it look like this:

<key>Kernel Flags</key>
<string>npci=0x3000 darkwake=0 debug=0x144</string>

furthermore, if you want to 'test' this, just type it in at the chameleon boot screen, you might have to hit f8 to get the menu to show up and then hit tab to go to the text menu, then just type in debug=0x144 and hit enter.

Perfect. Just done it. As soon as this bastard crashes again I'll post a screenshot...

 

[tango76]

There you go.

It happened while I was browsing the internet... and thinking back it seems it often ( but I am not sure, always and only) when I am switching between two tabs of Google Chrome.

I should also mention that before this computer I had another based on a x58 motherboard that my brother had installed OsX on for me. One day not only it stopped working, but was just impossible to reinstall. It would go into a kernel panic when booting, even if booting from the installation USB key. The two computers share no parts, but I kept the same monitors and use the same electricity plug.

I have no idea if any of this is relevant...

Thanks again for helping.

 

[SG-]

hmm, not a lot of information in that kernel panic. do you have any overclocking? does it happen at all in windows? might be worth seeing if you can disable some BIOS features and looking at a guide for your specific board. it doesn't look like a driver is causing it at least.