Mac Mini keeps telling me to restart

[Peder]

Hi guys

Well out of the blue this morning my mac mini stopped rendering(closed FCP automatically) and then just wouldn't open any programs it just kept telling me the software stopped working no matter what i did.

Eventually i restarted my mac and it still wouldn't open anything so i thought ok lets try once more, and once i opened software update lo and behold it also wouldn't work, and just after it told me that it told me i need to restart the system in many languages.

I restarted the system and it kept giving me the same message over and over eventually it went in, but just after i logged in i got the same message.

Eventually i thought ok lets try fixing the harddrive it must be corrupt, insert OSX CD nope it won't repair the disc it also again threw me a message to restart so i thought ok must be the ram cause that is all i changed in it lately, took out one ram module same thing, tried the other same thing.

Could it really be the ram or the harddrive? or was the harddrive just fragmented?

I reformatted the HDD on my pc and it seems to be totally fine its copying stuff by the speed of light.

What could it be? and how do i run a service on my mac (like defrag, error check etc)?

Regards
Peder

 

[d0b33]

Weird..

Maybe you need to run Permissions repair or disc check? you can run it via console at boot up.

 

[bwana]

For future reference try starting up in SUM (+S) and enter fsck -fy at the prompt and keep doing it until it says no errors were found.

 

[Peder]

it seems to be installing now, could it possibly have been a virus that caused my mac to do this?

Thanks for all the help i will definately have a look at fsck'in(just sounds wrong but yeah) my mac

 

[bwana]

it seems to be installing now, could it possibly have been a virus that caused my mac to do this?

Thanks for all the help i will definately have a look at fsck'in(just sounds wrong but yeah) my mac

I havent heard of any mac viruses in the wild yet.

Apart from repairing permissions etc an application you might want to look at is DiskWarrior.

 

[Peder]

Seems this mac is working now, one thing i am suspecting is that i didn't do error checking or the drive was fragmented as i use most of the free space of the mac at least once per week is there a specific way to do a "software service" on mac?

 

[syntax]

Hi guys

Well out of the blue this morning my mac mini stopped rendering(closed FCP automatically) and then just wouldn't open any programs it just kept telling me the software stopped working no matter what i did.

Eventually i restarted my mac and it still wouldn't open anything so i thought ok lets try once more, and once i opened software update lo and behold it also wouldn't work, and just after it told me that it told me i need to restart the system in many languages.

I restarted the system and it kept giving me the same message over and over eventually it went in, but just after i logged in i got the same message.

Eventually i thought ok lets try fixing the harddrive it must be corrupt, insert OSX CD nope it won't repair the disc it also again threw me a message to restart so i thought ok must be the ram cause that is all i changed in it lately, took out one ram module same thing, tried the other same thing.

Could it really be the ram or the harddrive? or was the harddrive just fragmented?

I reformatted the HDD on my pc and it seems to be totally fine its copying stuff by the speed of light.

What could it be? and how do i run a service on my mac (like defrag, error check etc)?

Regards
Peder

Firstly, ur using FCP on a mac mini??? u must have patience....
Secondly, it sounds like ur machine was/is kernel panicking...
this is not a good sign and is most likely a sign of a hardware fault.

If you still have the original disks that came with the mac mini, there should be an apple diagnostics utility if u select optional boot. It runs diagnostics on all the hardware and usually tells u the issue.
Kernel panicking is very rarely a software issue, even though ur machine seems fine now, I would probably do the test anyways. The most likely cause would be RAM/Logic board..

 

[syntax]

Seems this mac is working now, one thing i am suspecting is that i didn't do error checking or the drive was fragmented as i use most of the free space of the mac at least once per week is there a specific way to do a "software service" on mac?

disk utility will do what u need, otherwise try Onyx

 

[Peder]

i have only got the new mac osx leopard cd not the original cd's. will the utility be on there?

FCP runs better than adobe premier on the mac so yeah i don't need that much patience.

 

[syntax]

i have only got the new mac osx leopard cd not the original cd's. will the utility be on there?

FCP runs better than adobe premier on the mac so yeah i don't need that much patience.

afraid not, the generic leopard disks dont have the util. I reckon run onyx/disk util in the meantime, if it kernel panics again take it to a mac shop

 

[bwana]

Seems this mac is working now, one thing i am suspecting is that i didn't do error checking or the drive was fragmented as i use most of the free space of the mac at least once per week is there a specific way to do a "software service" on mac?

Glad to hear its working again - I've had the odd kernal panic over the past decade or so and it's never been a hardware issue - of course I'm not saying it doesnt happen but its not the only cause. There's a good chance you've sorted it out.

It's a good idea to run a fsck every once in a while from SUM as well as repairing disk permissions - particularly before you install anything like a system update or security update. I wish they'd bring out a SL compatible Applejack already!

Maybe download a copy of SMART Utility and see if the drive is reporting any errors.

 

[Peder]

Glad to hear its working again - I've had the odd kernal panic over the past decade or so and it's never been a hardware issue - of course I'm not saying it doesnt happen but its not the only cause. There's a good chance you've sorted it out.

It's a good idea to run a fsck every once in a while from SUM as well as repairing disk permissions - particularly before you install anything like a system update or security update. I wish they'd bring out a SL compatible Applejack already!

Maybe download a copy of SMART Utility and see if the drive is reporting any errors.

I used the smart util on my pc (took out the drive and it says the drive is 100% so lets hope i sorted out the problem.

 

[bwana]

I used the smart util on my pc (took out the drive and it says the drive is 100% so lets hope i sorted out the problem.

Good job.

Pity you dont have a copy of spinrite - every time I take a drive out of anything I run it just to be on the safe side.

 

[Peder]

it seems not to have kernel panicked again, lets hope it doesn't in the next 16mins...

I was thinking maybe i should get a 7200rpm drive for the mac mini (320GB) am i going to have an increase of speed do you think, even 25mins shaved off from FCP rendering will be lovely

 

[bwana]

it seems not to have kernel panicked again, lets hope it doesn't in the next 16mins...

I was thinking maybe i should get a 7200rpm drive for the mac mini (320GB) am i going to have an increase of speed do you think, even 25mins shaved off from FCP rendering will be lovely

It should help. You can then put the old one in a FW enclosure and use it for storage.

 

[Synaesthesia]

SSD FTW

 

[Peder]

seems it was the RAM after all!

I noticed suddenly when checking activity monitor that it only had 1GB Ram and i thought but thats strange i still remember buying 2 GB but i must be mistaken so i checked and i bought 2GB and when i took out the chips earlier and reseated them i didn't put the top RAM properly into its slot which made that i only had 1GB ram but a computer that didn't throw a kernel panic lol

So in a way i am glad it is ram just frustrated though that the ram went, though i don't understand how

 

[Peder]

could the ram cause the hard drive to be corrupt to such a point as that the fsck can't fix the data on the hdd?

why i ask is because mac osx starts but then some of my applications are gone, i can find them in that little search but they are no longer in my applications folder.

Peder

 

[d0b33]

And I was originally going to suggest you run rember
http://www.kelleycomputing.net/rember/

But I took your word on checking your ram.

 

[syntax]

seems it was the RAM after all!

I noticed suddenly when checking activity monitor that it only had 1GB Ram and i thought but thats strange i still remember buying 2 GB but i must be mistaken so i checked and i bought 2GB and when i took out the chips earlier and reseated them i didn't put the top RAM properly into its slot which made that i only had 1GB ram but a computer that didn't throw a kernel panic lol

So in a way i am glad it is ram just frustrated though that the ram went, though i don't understand how

I am not exaclty sure what u mean here, but the RAM usually has a lifetime warranty, return to sender and get a new chip..

could the ram cause the hard drive to be corrupt to such a point as that the fsck can't fix the data on the hdd?

why i ask is because mac osx starts but then some of my applications are gone, i can find them in that little search but they are no longer in my applications folder.

Peder

I highly doubt it, what errors are you getting when running the fsck ? are u getting errors at all? does disk util throw up errors?
Is it possible you MOVED the applications out the app folder by mistake?