Got an OS X machine that spewed on itself. We're thinking it's mobo related, but not 100% sure as to the cause.
Here's a "screenshot":
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=30882035&l=60b39&id=77602296
William,
When does this happen, when you boot up? What version of the OS? (can you get that far?) Normally the new-ish ones (10.4 and later maybe?) don't show the screenful of junk like that, but I see that the kernel says it's from 5/23/08.
Normally, you can reboot and open up the Console (normally at /Applications/Utilities/Console). All of the various system logs are shown there. On the left, click the triangles to open up /Library/Logs (note no ~, there should also be one for ~/Library/Logs but that's not the one you want) and then under that open the one for PanicReporter. Click the date and time of the particular kernel panic you're interested in, and see what it says at the bottom of the backtrace.
However, in this case there's a backtrace right on your screen that says something about the Power Management driver, so... Do this:
* IF you are on a laptop, you want to do what we called "resetting the power manager" in the olden days, and is now called "resetting the System Management Controller." For pre-Intel laptops (PowerBook or iBook), go
here, for Intel laptops (MacBook, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air) go
here.
* Regardless of what machine you're on, reset the NVRAM. On any Mac, this is done by shutting down (NOT restarting), and then hold Command-Option-P-R. You'll hear the chime as the system reboots itself - Go ahead and hold the keys through 3-4 chimes, let go, and it'll boot up.
If that doesn't do it, general troubleshooting procedures apply. Boot off the OS install disc, and run Disk Utility. Repair the disk, and repair permissions. See if that fixes it. If not, make sure it's backed up (Time Machine is also on the install disk). Reinstall the OS, and make sure you choose "Archive and Install" under Options. That will leave your old OS files in an inactive folder ("Previous System" IIRC) in case you need anything out of it later.
EDIT: I just spoke to William, and it hangs really quick when booting off the hard drive, but boots OK off the system DVD. I'm guessing that either the OS is severely corrupted, or he has a bad hard drive. He's reinstalling now... If that succeeds, it was the OS. If it fails, probably a bad hard drive.
And they do care about such things - They used Western Digital hard drives very briefly, and upon discovering an unacceptable failure rate, ditched 'em. (*I* could've told 'em that! Western Digital is crap.)
