Colonel Panix

[fauch]

For the past day or so I have gotten several freezes or terminal beachballs which have ended in kernel panics. (especially when watching movies in VLC)
I've never had this problem before and the panic logs all show the same thing.

I have a G4 Mac Mini 1Gb of RAM with a USB Keyboard and Mouse hooked up to a 4 port hub.
A firewire drive and a USB drive.

I ran Rember all night to test my RAM and it showed no errors. (I would pull the stick but I don't have one to replace it with)

I will try running without the drives and see what happens. Are a faulty mouse or keyboard likely candidates????

Here is one of the Panic logs, maybe someone can decipher it (it looks like a HD problem)....

Mon May 12 14:17:21 2008


Unresolved kernel trap(cpu 0): 0x300 - Data access DAR=0x0000000000000004 PC=0x0000000024F916BC
Latest crash info for cpu 0:
Exception state (sv=0x246f3a00)
PC=0x24F916BC; MSR=0x00009030; DAR=0x00000004; DSISR=0x42000000; LR=0x24F91658; R1=0x24A8BD80; XCP=0x0000000C (0x300 - Data access)
Backtrace:
0x24F91658 0x24F9197C 0x24F91A90 0x000B05D4
Kernel loadable modules in backtrace (with dependencies):
com.apple.iokit.IOATABlockStorage(2.0.1)@0x24f84000->0x24f96fff
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOStorageFamily(1.5.2)@0x24f27000
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOATAFamily(1.7.3f1)@0x24793000
Proceeding back via exception chain:
Exception state (sv=0x246f3a00)
previously dumped as "Latest" state. skipping...
Exception state (sv=0x1e50d780)
PC=0x00000000; MSR=0x0000D030; DAR=0x00000000; DSISR=0x00000000; LR=0x00000000; R1=0x00000000; XCP=0x00000000 (Unknown)

BSD process name corresponding to current thread: kernel_task

Mac OS version:
9C7010

Kernel version:
Darwin Kernel Version 9.2.2: Tue Mar 4 21:23:43 PST 2008; root:xnu-1228.4.31~1/RELEASE_PPC
System model name: PowerMac10,1
panic(cpu 0 caller 0xFFFF0003): 0x300 - Data access
Latest stack backtrace for cpu 0:
Backtrace:
0x0009B478 0x0009BE1C 0x00029DD4 0x000AF210 0x000B2A78
Proceeding back via exception chain:
Exception state (sv=0x246f3a00)
PC=0x24F916BC; MSR=0x00009030; DAR=0x00000004; DSISR=0x42000000; LR=0x24F91658; R1=0x24A8BD80; XCP=0x0000000C (0x300 - Data access)
Backtrace:
0x24F91658 0x24F9197C 0x24F91A90 0x000B05D4
Kernel loadable modules in backtrace (with dependencies):
com.apple.iokit.IOATABlockStorage(2.0.1)@0x24f84000->0x24f96fff
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOStorageFamily(1.5.2)@0x24f27000
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOATAFamily(1.7.3f1)@0x24793000
Exception state (sv=0x1e50d780)
PC=0x00000000; MSR=0x0000D030; DAR=0x00000000; DSISR=0x00000000; LR=0x00000000; R1=0x00000000; XCP=0x00000000 (Unknown)

BSD process name corresponding to current thread: kernel_task

[Acer]

The panic log suggests bad RAM, but it could still be drive related.
I've never had much luck with ram testers even when the ram turned out to be bad.
How about the Apple Hardware Test CD? Or was that what you meant?

I'd suggest reseating the ram chips as a "never-hurts-to-try, " but you have a mini and that's a big pain. Still worth a try if you are not afraid to open the case.

A bad drive or even a bad cable might be the problem, too. If you can isolate it to a particular drive, try swapping in a fresh cable before trashing the drive.

[Acer]

BTW, make sure none of the ventilation ports are blocked on your mini. I had a Windows unit crash at random times with cryptic messages, and it turned out to be a bad CPU fan...