'Restart your computer' message

[porteous]

Has any one else had this since installing Tiger?

I can be doing anything on the computer when, for some reason, the screen dims (just like in Dashboard), and an official looking message appears on screen reading:

"You need to restart the computer. Hold down the Power button for several seconds or press the Restart button."

At the same time, I am unable to do anything else - either a mouse click, or obtain a screenshot by using a keyboard combination. The clock at the top of the screen also freezes.

The message is in four languages, and can appear at any time, no matter what I've been doing - browsing the Web, trying to configure widgets in Dashboard, or anything else.

This has happened several times now. I am avoiding using the Dashboard now, just in case it's a glitch connected with this, although it just happened a few minutes ago as I was surfing.

Does anyone know what is happening?

[fleur-de-lis]

Sounds like a kernal panic. Congratulations, you've crashed the uncrashable system .

It shouldn't related to dashboard, I don't think. It usually means that something is wrong with your Mac (be it hardware or software).

The most common experiences I've had with KPs were a result of either faulty RAM or bluetooth screwing things up. But on the other hand, OS X might need repairing or a reinstall.

[Lt Major Burns]

yup. that is a kernal panic. in plain english, a very hard crash. best to do what it says. i've had maybe three since owning this mac

[Qion]

I've only had those when I was screwing with a DWL-120 Wireless Adapter with my eMac in Panther. Never had one in Tiger. (knocks on wood) Have you intalled any new hardware lately?

[porteous]

No new hardware - just Tiger.

What's the solution? - as this seems definitely related to installing the new OS - would it be worth reinstalling?

What else can I do? - is it worth considering upgrading the machine - more RAM, new hard drive, etc - could it be that the machine's spec is just not up to handling Tiger? As you can see, the spec is fairly low by today's standards.

Is it safe to keep on using it?

[elander]

From the specs in your signature, you're really pushing your system. The most likely source to your problem is your hard drive as I see it. You have a 13 GB disk, and you need to keep at least a few GBs free for virtual memory (aka swap), especially since you're low on real memory (256 MB RAM is just within the requirements).

If you run out of disk space, you'll have no more room for virtual memory, and that can cause a crash.

The computer you have is just barely capable of handling 10.4, my suggestion is that you upgrade to a new computer. Considering what you have, I'd suggest a Mac mini. I bought one of those last week, and it's a really priceworthy 'puter. If you're strapped for cash, second best option is get a new hard drive and some RAM, and the third option is to just buy a new hard drive.

Then you need to be booting from the new drive, with the bigger disk, since the operating system will automatically store the swap files on the boot disk. You could move the swap to another disk of course, but that's pretty irksome, and the setting doesn't survive a system upgrade. You'd need to move the swap every time you update your system.

[ex2bot]

Getting more memory is definitely a priority for you. It'll speed up your machine.

As for the kernel panics, my flat panel iMac is doing that running 10.4.0 and it won't let me upgrade to .1. My other machines are not crashing with 10.4.1.
It's possible you (and I) have corrupted system files.

Doug

[steven_lufc]

Ever since upgrading my iBook G4 1.2 14" to 10.4.1 I have had three kernal panics, all when opening the lid from sleep. Previous to this I haven't had any with any version of OSX. I'm hoping 10.4.2 sorts it out.