Encore/ST G4 upgrade and Marine Aquarium

tilapia · 08-31-2003, 11:05 PM

Have anyone in this forum had kernel panics when using any of the screen savers using a Sonnet Tech Upgrade card? I don't know for sure if it is the upgrade card or other peripheral. I have been trying to make this screen saver work but nothing I have done have worked for me. The funny thing is that it works fine for about and hour or so then it crashes. I installed the screen saver in a clean OS 10.2.6 system and I still get kernel panics. I have the following hardware:
Firewire:
(Maxtor 160GB HD, Lacie CDRW, Lacie 80GB HD)
USB:
Kensington Expert Mouse Pro Trackball
Adaptec USB Hub
Imation Floppy Drive
Iomega 250MB drive
SCSI:
Adaptec 2930 SCSI card
Iomega 1GB Jaz drive

Please e-mail me if you have any ideas at msanta@optonline.net

Michael Babin · 09-01-2003, 08:48 AM

You didn't mention the type/model of system to which you added the upgrade card. Also, what video card do you have?

Generally speaking, there are some tips for trying to isolate the cause of a kernel panic. Apple has a document on their support web site that covers these tips. My first thought when looking at the system information you provided was to disconnect/remove all external devices (Firewire/USB/SCSI) and get back to as plain a system configuration as possible (Apple keyboard & mouse only) with the processor upgrade and see if the kernel panics go away. If they do, start adding things back one or two at a time and see if you can isolate the cause of the kernel panics. (Similar to extension conflict testing under Mac OS 9.)

The most likely suspect is the USB hub and/or one of the USB devices. I've seen several anecdotal reports from users who traced the cause/trigger of kernel panics to a USB hub and/or device. These reports were about kernel panics in Mac OS X in general, not related specifically to Marine Aquarium.

tilapia · 09-01-2003, 08:04 PM

I have a PM G4 Digital Audio(733MHZ) upgraded to 1.2 GHZ with a Sonnet Encore. I also forgot to mention my sound card(Revolution by M-Audio) and 1.5GHZ of Memory

tilapia · 09-02-2003, 05:56 PM

I disconnected all the devices(USB, Firewire, SCSI) and only had the keyboard and mouse and two hours later I got the dreaded kernel panic.So I am under the impression that is the upgrade card. What do you think? Can anything else be causing it? I have two more IDE hard drives(internal and one 4GB internal also, connected to the scsi card. I don't know what else to do, I feel hopeless, I don't want to loose my fishies! Can an Airport card or base station cause this crash?

Michael Babin · 09-04-2003, 09:06 AM

It could very well be the upgrade card that leads to the problems. One other possibility I can think of is that you may have one or more kernel extensions (.kext) installed to handle your various external devices. If so, they may be the cause of the trouble you're seeing. Kernel panics can only be caused by low-level software (the OS, kernel extensions, etc). Applications, such as MA, may trigger such problems (through calls to system API's) but cannot cause them directly.

If you find that kernel extensions have been added to your system for your external devices, try removing these extensions and see if the trouble persists.

tilapia · 09-04-2003, 08:01 PM

Hi,
I am most certain that what you are mentioning about the kernel extensions is what's happening with my system. Is there an application that can manage those types of extensions like Conflict Catcher did on OS (? That would help me! Thanks very much for taking time and replying to my postings, I really appreciate it!

Michael Babin · 09-05-2003, 03:25 PM

There is a freeware product called Diablotin which supposedly allows you to manage items in your /Library and /System/Library folders (look on VersionTracker for a product description and download link). I've never used it myself. The real trick will be to recognize which kernel extensions have been added to your system, distinguishing them from the numerous ones which are installed as part of the system install. You may need another Mac with 10.2.6 installed to compare against.

08-31-2003, 11:05 PM	#1
tilapia Registered Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Merrick, New York Posts: 6	Encore/ST G4 upgrade and Marine Aquarium Have anyone in this forum had kernel panics when using any of the screen savers using a Sonnet Tech Upgrade card? I don't know for sure if it is the upgrade card or other peripheral. I have been trying to make this screen saver work but nothing I have done have worked for me. The funny thing is that it works fine for about and hour or so then it crashes. I installed the screen saver in a clean OS 10.2.6 system and I still get kernel panics. I have the following hardware: Firewire: (Maxtor 160GB HD, Lacie CDRW, Lacie 80GB HD) USB: Kensington Expert Mouse Pro Trackball Adaptec USB Hub Imation Floppy Drive Iomega 250MB drive SCSI: Adaptec 2930 SCSI card Iomega 1GB Jaz drive Please e-mail me if you have any ideas at msanta@optonline.net

09-02-2003, 05:56 PM	#4
tilapia Registered Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Merrick, New York Posts: 6	Sonnet Upgrade culprit I disconnected all the devices(USB, Firewire, SCSI) and only had the keyboard and mouse and two hours later I got the dreaded kernel panic.So I am under the impression that is the upgrade card. What do you think? Can anything else be causing it? I have two more IDE hard drives(internal and one 4GB internal also, connected to the scsi card. I don't know what else to do, I feel hopeless, I don't want to loose my fishies! Can an Airport card or base station cause this crash?

09-01-2003, 08:48 AM	#2
Michael Babin Mac Development Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Rowlett, Texas Posts: 199	You didn't mention the type/model of system to which you added the upgrade card. Also, what video card do you have? Generally speaking, there are some tips for trying to isolate the cause of a kernel panic. Apple has a document on their support web site that covers these tips. My first thought when looking at the system information you provided was to disconnect/remove all external devices (Firewire/USB/SCSI) and get back to as plain a system configuration as possible (Apple keyboard & mouse only) with the processor upgrade and see if the kernel panics go away. If they do, start adding things back one or two at a time and see if you can isolate the cause of the kernel panics. (Similar to extension conflict testing under Mac OS 9.) The most likely suspect is the USB hub and/or one of the USB devices. I've seen several anecdotal reports from users who traced the cause/trigger of kernel panics to a USB hub and/or device. These reports were about kernel panics in Mac OS X in general, not related specifically to Marine Aquarium.

09-01-2003, 08:04 PM	#3
tilapia Registered Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Merrick, New York Posts: 6	I have a PM G4 Digital Audio(733MHZ) upgraded to 1.2 GHZ with a Sonnet Encore. I also forgot to mention my sound card(Revolution by M-Audio) and 1.5GHZ of Memory

09-04-2003, 09:06 AM	#5
Michael Babin Mac Development Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Rowlett, Texas Posts: 199	It could very well be the upgrade card that leads to the problems. One other possibility I can think of is that you may have one or more kernel extensions (.kext) installed to handle your various external devices. If so, they may be the cause of the trouble you're seeing. Kernel panics can only be caused by low-level software (the OS, kernel extensions, etc). Applications, such as MA, may trigger such problems (through calls to system API's) but cannot cause them directly. If you find that kernel extensions have been added to your system for your external devices, try removing these extensions and see if the trouble persists.

09-04-2003, 08:01 PM	#6
tilapia Registered Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Merrick, New York Posts: 6	Hi, I am most certain that what you are mentioning about the kernel extensions is what's happening with my system. Is there an application that can manage those types of extensions like Conflict Catcher did on OS (? That would help me! Thanks very much for taking time and replying to my postings, I really appreciate it!

09-05-2003, 03:25 PM	#7
Michael Babin Mac Development Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Rowlett, Texas Posts: 199	There is a freeware product called Diablotin which supposedly allows you to manage items in your /Library and /System/Library folders (look on VersionTracker for a product description and download link). I've never used it myself. The real trick will be to recognize which kernel extensions have been added to your system, distinguishing them from the numerous ones which are installed as part of the system install. You may need another Mac with 10.2.6 installed to compare against.