Kernel Panic at boot – Xserve G4

[dom9inic]

Hi all,

I recently did a clean install on our original Xserve G4 / 512MB SDRAM / 2 x 120GB Module Drives and immediately on reboot a kernel panic. More specifically just as the spinwheel kicks in.

Cannot get past this screen unless booting from a CD. Cannot get into Single User mode, can only get Open Firmware mode by using the Xserve controls.

Have reset NVRAM, zapped PRAM, TechTool’d it, Diskwarrior’d it, removed RAM put it back in. Unplugged all devices, clean installed again, checked install media on another machine.

Still cannot get past kernel panic.

Of note is that Diskwarrior determined critical errors and said it had fixed them. I’ll post the saved fix log if anyone is interested.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to what to do next? Or can point me in the right direction?

Much appreciated.

[andrina]

Have you tried the hardware test that came with your xserve? Also, when you say you removed RAM and put it back again, did you try testing with just one piece of RAM alone to try and narrow down the issue? If you have another drive module, try installing a clean OS onto it, and see if that will boot – or perhaps try booting off an external firewire drive for testing.

[dom9inic]

Hi,

thanks for the quick response. Yes I have tried the Hardware disc unfortunately. I have tried all possible configurations with the 2 Module Drives I have, i.e. erased both, clean installed OSes on both. Had them in at the same time, one at a time, in different bays, no joy.

Haven’t started from external firewire yet, so I might give that a go, but I’m not sure how I could ascerain what the problem was from doing that. I guess I could atleast pull over the system logs and kernel panic logs to get more of an idea.

Thanks for the help. I’ll let you know how I get on.

[dom9inic]

Oh and, I only have one stick of RAM for the Xserve, so I have no way of testing the RAM in trial and error mode. Yes, I ought to try and request more RAM from the department, but money doesn’t come easy in education.

This was an unused Xserve I’ve just inherited walking into the job, typically on my first re-install to start from scratch and truly use the thing, all went wrong.

Convincing them I need to have budget money just to help solve the problem may sound sensible to us computer types, but somehow management don’t like it.

[andrina]

Ok, so if you boot from a fw drive that you know will boot another machine, you can narrow your issue down to a hardware issue – rather than being a duff install, or bad hard drive. What version of Server are you trying to install?

[dom9inic]

10.2 Server (flat)

As soon as I get my hands on a Firewire HD I will do as you suggest. I really need to get another RAM DIMM to conclusively confirm if that is an issue or not, I know the hardware test can miss patchy RAM.

I sincerely hope it’s not the logic board as it’s clearly out of warranty.

The only other thing I can think of is, it has an OEM Radeon 8500 and I have seen that that card has a firmware update available to it. One of the issues with that card that called for a firmware update was kernel panics. Or am I clutching at straws?

Lots to do obviously, all will have to hold until I can get either another DIMM or borrow a Firewire HD.

I suppose I should install another OS to check if that is bizarrely an issue.

Thanks again for the input.

[andrina]

Have you tried pulling the video card then? You should be able to see if the server comes up soundly without the card using another machine to simply ping it’s IP, or if this is as fresh install try using the setup assistant software (on the same subnet) to see if the machine is out there. Any “Bonjour” (zero-conf) network utility will see the machine on the same subnet if it is waiting at the “set up your server” screen.

[dom9inic]

Pulling the card is the next option I was going to go for, just (and you’ll laugh), as I mentioned I inherited this machine. It’s not been racked and I cannot find the racking components, so getting the card out will be no easy task.

I shall try getting the video card out tomorrow and let you know where I am.

Thanks again for your continued help.

[dom9inic]

Okay, pulled the card, could not ping the server, yellow system light on front panel of Xserve. I’ve ruled out the GPU.

So I’m back to RAM, Drive modules (although I can’t imagine 2 being affected at the same time), logic board.

Off to install another OS now, and see what happens, hey, it can’t hurt.

[dom9inic]

Alright, I’m welcome to learn.

So, even though my server Jaguar install discs worked fine on a regular G4, I just managed to install Jaguar client perfectly on the Xserve. It would seem that the Xserve is just sensitive to my server discs.

Now, can anyone tell me why that might be?

I’m praying that using someone’s elses server media will do the trick.

[dom9inic]

I would think AppleCare would tell me to get knotted as the Xserve is out of warranty with no premium care.

Still, worth a go.

[andrina]

Depends how old your server disks are I suppose… Otherwise, good to hear things are looking up – out of curiosity, have you tried the server media on another machine?

[dom9inic]

Hi Adnrina,

Yeah, that (unfortunately) is one of the reasons I didn’t try the different OS install sooner, I had installed Server onto a regular G4 733MHz and it worked perfectly. Not sure why the Xserve is sensitive to the discs. I could try gently washing the media, but I’d sooner try some new discs.

But yes, things are looking decidedly up, I was fearing having to spend money on parts, which at the moment, doesn’t look necessary.

I shall drop back in when I get hold of the new media and give it a good going over. In the meantime you’ve all been great, so thanks for the moral and intellectual support.

Oh, and the media is 10.2 Jag Server, so what’s that, 2002/2003? I rather expect that the discs have had a rough life, they’ve been shipped round to various campuses and probably not been loved.

[dom9inic]

Hi all,

So I finally received a copy of the 10.2 Server media and it installed perfectly and the kernel panic is gone.

So for whatever reason, the Xserve is sensitive to my media.

I’m a happy camper now.

[Author]

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