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Resolved Question

MacBook appears to have a kernel panic? Looks different.

Mar 7, 2013 5:58AM PST

I left my MacBook open, plugged in, and playing music through iHome speakers all night. When I woke up the next morning it was displaying a gray screen with some lines of code in the upper left corner starting with the word "panic". It looks like the normal kernel panic screen with the darker box in the middle over the big power symbol and the words "You need to restart your computer. Hold down the Power button until it turns off, then press the Power button again." In English, then French, Spanish, German, and I think Chinese... The thing is that the wording in the box doesn't match what apple says it should say, http://support.apple.com/kb/ts3742 the wording is clearly different - and I am running OS X Lion. I suppose it could be a virus imitating a kernel panic? I haven't had much virus experience so I am pretty much shooting in the dark here.
I've already tried re-booting in both regular and safe mode, removing the battery for a day, letting it drain and trying again, which apparently has worked for some people. <div>
I am volunteering in Costa Rica, and I would really love to be able to fix this myself without having to take it to a specialist in the city. Any input or troubleshooting advice is greatly appreciated.
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Discussion is locked

iL_Verita has chosen the best answer to their question. View answer

Best Answer

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Kernel panic
Mar 10, 2013 5:07AM PDT

A kernel panic USUALLY is a sign of a hardware problem more than a software one.

Try taking the RAM chips completely out and reseat by putting them back in. That is the usual hardware problem. Heating and cooling makes them "loose."

The suggestion to boot from a system disk is a good idea because that will either it is one or the other. If it boots, it is software and you should reload. If it doesn't, if it hardware of some kind.

You said you do not have a startup disk but it looks like you DO have internet access. IF you have leopard (10.6) then you have the apple store. Go to the Apple store and buy Lion or Mountain Lion, $29 and you can download and burn it to a DVD or USB disk by making an emergency boot disk.

Good luck

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thank you
Mar 11, 2013 6:15AM PDT

My system is running Lion, but I can't turn on the computer to get to the mac store in the first place, and there isn't another computer to use to burn another boot disk, I guess I have to hope someone at a tech store has one. There are like no macs in this country so that worries me - I guess I could have it mailed from home. If that doesn't work I will try re-seating the RAM.

Thanks for the suggestion!

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Answer
Clear up something here.
Mar 7, 2013 11:03AM PST

Does it boot OK the next time?

Can you boot from your OS X media?

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Well...
Mar 7, 2013 4:49PM PST

If I reboot normally, the gray screen shoots back down (it's almost like a PowerPoint animation where it folds down from the top of the screen) and if I try to reboot in safe mode (holding shift) it just stays on the boot screen with the apple logo for ever. It doesn't even show the loading wheel.
Also I'm not sure what you mean by being able to boot from my OS X media. If it's anything to do with using the software disc or something, no I don't have anything but my laptop and MagSafe charger...
Haha sorry I can't quite clear up the one thing you wanted.

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Well ...
Mar 7, 2013 4:55PM PST

I think Bob's answer above implied you might need the OS install disc to fix this. Let's hope the specialist in the city has one.

Kees

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Yeah,
Mar 8, 2013 1:24AM PST

I was afraid that might be the only fix - thank you though