Marine Aquarium 2.0 + 10.2.5 = Kernal Panic

Mediaman_12 · 04-15-2003, 05:02 PM

I am surprised that this hasn't been posted yet?
Yesterday there was a OSX update from Apple.
I noticed that the screensaver had swapped from Marine Aquarium to Flurry (the default), so I went to the Control Panel to switch it back. I clicked Marine Aquarium in the list and, bang! I see (for the first time) the OSX Kernal Panic screen (you must restart etc. in a variety of languages).
I restart and try again to make sure it's not a fluke, same again.
Is this a (new) bug, has anyone else had this (since the 10.2.5 update), or is it just me?

Spec: OSX 10.2.5, Twin 1GHz G4, 512Mb RAM.

mrtew · 04-16-2003, 04:58 AM

I think it's just you. My screensaver and program are fine after the 10.2.5 update. I'd remove any preferences that say prolific or marine or aquarium from your ~/Library/Preferences folder and try again. Bad prefs are the new bane of OSX I think... almost every problem can be solved by chucking preferences.... although a kernal panic is a pretty sever one to be caused by that.

05-29-2003, 08:36 PM

I get the same kernel panic after I wake up the screen saver or the computer is sleeping. This happens with Mac OS 10.2.6. I have 1.5GB of RAM with a Nvidia T4 128MB VRAM. Screen resolution of 1056x792 and millions of colors. This happens when the screen saver has been on for more than an hour or the computer is sleeping. I would love to use the Time MA but it's not working for me, what's odd if that MA version 2.0.4 doesn't give kernel panics.

Michael Babin · 05-30-2003, 09:48 AM

Thanks for the report. Sorry to hear about the kernel panics you have been experiencing.

In theory, it should be impossible for any application (or application plug-in, which is essentially what a Mac OS X screen saver module is) to cause a kernel panic, no matter how badly behaved the application (or plug-in). The worst problem that you should encounter is an "Application unexpectedly quit" problem. In practice, there are bugs in the OS and/or drivers that can cause kernel panics. These bugs tend to be intermittent, although they may be regularly reproducible on certain system configurations.

Please report the details to us (www.orderndev.com, via our feedback page) with as much detail on your configuration and the steps to reproduce as possible. I'd recommend also reporting the problem to Apple.

I take it from your report that this kernel panic is only triggered with MA Time, not MA 2, is this correct? Have you changed/updated the drivers for your video card or are you using the ones that came with your system?

05-30-2003, 04:46 PM

Aren't the drivers for the Nvidia cards integrated with the Operating System? If I am running 10.2.6, should I be running the latest driverr for the Nvidia GeForce 4 Ti?

tilapia · 05-30-2003, 05:09 PM

Michael Babin · 05-30-2003, 09:54 PM

You may or may not have the latest driver installed. If the card you are using came with your machine (from Apple) and you are using the driver provided by the latest system update, 10.2.6 (haven't installed a different driver), then you should be fine (as in, you have the latest driver available and recommended for your system, not that such a driver is guaranteed to be bug-free). The reason I brought this up was we just had a report of a problem (performance, not kernel panics) from a user with an ATI card who had updated his drivers using something released by ATI. When he went back and re-installed 10.2.6, the performance problem went away.

Apple has an article in their AppleCare Knowledge Base about NVidia GeForce 4 (MX or Ti) cards attached to an LCD display and problems when waking the computer from sleep (<http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=25434>). Doesn't mention kernel panics, but it's worth checking out.

One other general troubleshooting tip: try disconnecting all unneeded external devices (e.g., USB hub, external hard drive, Firewire devices, etc) and see if the problem still occurs.

Michael Babin · 05-30-2003, 10:07 PM

Here's a link to a good article in the discussion forums on Apple's support site covering good steps to help track down and eliminate kernel panics.

<http://discussions.info.apple.com/We...d3.8@.3bbb4a38>

tilapia · 05-30-2003, 10:10 PM

Thanks for the information provided, I'll definitely will try disconnecting my USB and Firewire devices as well as a SCSI device, maybe I have too many connected...Thanks

JimO'Connor · 05-31-2003, 07:55 PM

Apple has admitted to creating a lot of kernel panics with errors in the USB code. 10.2.5 was not a high point in Apple's history.

04-15-2003, 05:02 PM	#1
Mediaman_12 Registered Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Manchester UK Posts: 2	Marine Aquarium 2.0 + 10.2.5 = Kernal Panic I am surprised that this hasn't been posted yet? Yesterday there was a OSX update from Apple. I noticed that the screensaver had swapped from Marine Aquarium to Flurry (the default), so I went to the Control Panel to switch it back. I clicked Marine Aquarium in the list and, bang! I see (for the first time) the OSX Kernal Panic screen (you must restart etc. in a variety of languages). I restart and try again to make sure it's not a fluke, same again. Is this a (new) bug, has anyone else had this (since the 10.2.5 update), or is it just me? Spec: OSX 10.2.5, Twin 1GHz G4, 512Mb RAM.

04-16-2003, 04:58 AM	#2
mrtew Registered Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: michigan Posts: 109	I think it's just you. My screensaver and program are fine after the 10.2.5 update. I'd remove any preferences that say prolific or marine or aquarium from your ~/Library/Preferences folder and try again. Bad prefs are the new bane of OSX I think... almost every problem can be solved by chucking preferences.... although a kernal panic is a pretty sever one to be caused by that. mrtew

05-29-2003, 08:36 PM	#3
msanta Guest Posts: n/a	Kernel Panic I get the same kernel panic after I wake up the screen saver or the computer is sleeping. This happens with Mac OS 10.2.6. I have 1.5GB of RAM with a Nvidia T4 128MB VRAM. Screen resolution of 1056x792 and millions of colors. This happens when the screen saver has been on for more than an hour or the computer is sleeping. I would love to use the Time MA but it's not working for me, what's odd if that MA version 2.0.4 doesn't give kernel panics.

05-30-2003, 05:09 PM	#6
tilapia Registered Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Merrick, New York Posts: 6	Latest Nvidia Geforce 4 Ti drivers with Mac 10.2.6 Card Type : NVDA,GeForce4Ti \| \| Card Name : NVDA,Parent \| \| Card Model : GeForce4 Ti 4600 \| \| Vendor ID : 10de \| \| Device ID : 250 \| \| ROM# : 1105 \| \| Revision : a3 This is what I have...Is this the latest driver?

05-31-2003, 07:55 PM	#10
JimO'Connor Mac Development Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Kenai, Alaska Posts: 678	Apple has admitted to creating a lot of kernel panics with errors in the USB code. 10.2.5 was not a high point in Apple's history. Jim O'Connor Order N Development

05-30-2003, 09:48 AM	#4
Michael Babin Mac Development Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Rowlett, Texas Posts: 199	Thanks for the report. Sorry to hear about the kernel panics you have been experiencing. In theory, it should be impossible for any application (or application plug-in, which is essentially what a Mac OS X screen saver module is) to cause a kernel panic, no matter how badly behaved the application (or plug-in). The worst problem that you should encounter is an "Application unexpectedly quit" problem. In practice, there are bugs in the OS and/or drivers that can cause kernel panics. These bugs tend to be intermittent, although they may be regularly reproducible on certain system configurations. Please report the details to us (www.orderndev.com, via our feedback page) with as much detail on your configuration and the steps to reproduce as possible. I'd recommend also reporting the problem to Apple. I take it from your report that this kernel panic is only triggered with MA Time, not MA 2, is this correct? Have you changed/updated the drivers for your video card or are you using the ones that came with your system?

05-30-2003, 04:46 PM	#5
msanta Guest Posts: n/a	Aren't the drivers for the Nvidia cards integrated with the Operating System? If I am running 10.2.6, should I be running the latest driverr for the Nvidia GeForce 4 Ti?

05-30-2003, 09:54 PM	#7
Michael Babin Mac Development Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Rowlett, Texas Posts: 199	You may or may not have the latest driver installed. If the card you are using came with your machine (from Apple) and you are using the driver provided by the latest system update, 10.2.6 (haven't installed a different driver), then you should be fine (as in, you have the latest driver available and recommended for your system, not that such a driver is guaranteed to be bug-free). The reason I brought this up was we just had a report of a problem (performance, not kernel panics) from a user with an ATI card who had updated his drivers using something released by ATI. When he went back and re-installed 10.2.6, the performance problem went away. Apple has an article in their AppleCare Knowledge Base about NVidia GeForce 4 (MX or Ti) cards attached to an LCD display and problems when waking the computer from sleep (<http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=25434>). Doesn't mention kernel panics, but it's worth checking out. One other general troubleshooting tip: try disconnecting all unneeded external devices (e.g., USB hub, external hard drive, Firewire devices, etc) and see if the problem still occurs.

05-30-2003, 10:07 PM	#8
Michael Babin Mac Development Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Rowlett, Texas Posts: 199	Here's a link to a good article in the discussion forums on Apple's support site covering good steps to help track down and eliminate kernel panics. <http://discussions.info.apple.com/We...d3.8@.3bbb4a38>

05-30-2003, 10:10 PM	#9
tilapia Registered Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Merrick, New York Posts: 6	Thanks for the information provided, I'll definitely will try disconnecting my USB and Firewire devices as well as a SCSI device, maybe I have too many connected...Thanks