itunes 4.7, ipod and kernel panic

[SuperBoy]

ever since i updated to itunes 4.7, when i plug my ipod in itunes stalls then i get a kernel panic. this only started happening since i updated iTunes yesterday, help me please

[MadDrHrothgar]

I've experienced the same thing with my 3G iPod - most disturbing.

At first, I wasn't sure what was causing the panics - I think I had iTunes open with my iPod plugged in, well before the first panic, but I can't now be sure. I was ready to blame the rarely-used (but then-running) Microsoft Word, or the recently-installed WindowShades, for the seemingly-random kernel-hiccup. Today, however (with both of those possibilities disabled), the system froze, without even a grey screen of multilingual death, when iTunes was opened with the iPod already plugged in. Restarting, I successfully opened iTunes without the pod. Plugging it back in, the expected Babel-box of woe presented herself.

I know no remedy, I continue its pursuit.

[Craig R. Arko]

Moving to the iPod forum...

[hayne]

I know no remedy, I continue its pursuit.
The first thing you should do is look at the panic.log that should have been written to /Library/Logs/panic.log
This will contain info about all of the kernel panics that you have experienced.
Assuming you are on Panther (please give info about your OS version & version of your iPod software), you can use the Console application (under the Utilities folder) to look at this log. (Press the "Logs" button at top left and then open the arrow to see the /Library/Logs section.)
Copy and paste the info from the most recent ones here so we can see and possibly get a clue from them.

You should also use Disk Utility to "Repair Disk" on your iPod's disk.
And restart your Mac from the Install CD and use the Disk Utility on the CD to "Repair Disc" on your internal drive.

[MadDrHrothgar]

Well, now.

First off, the problem appears to have vanished. The only Change I made was the un-hiding of the iTunes Music Store. Subsequent plugs/openings of my iPod/iTunes have not reinstated the panicked behavior, with iTMS on or not.

This doesn't seem like it's enough to make a difference, but perhaps iTunes 4.7 wanted to secretly add a magical iTMS-related DRM something to my pod, but couldn't because I had preferred not to access the store. A long shot, but not wholly improbable.

I had checked the logs, after the first iTunes-identified panic.
panic.log hadn't shown anything interesting, a screenful of hex without context, but checking again (after my test-panics) revealed references to IOKit:

Unresolved kernel trap(cpu 0): 0x300 - Data access DAR=0x000000000000000C PC=0x00000000008CA2EC
Latest crash info for cpu 0:
...
Kernel loadable modules in backtrace (with dependencies):
com.apple.iokit.IOATABlockStorage(1.3.0)@0x8d4000
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOStorageFamily(1.3.3)@0x8bb000
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOATAFamily(1.5.5f1)@0x39e000
com.apple.iokit.IOStorageFamily(1.3.3)@0x8bb000
com.apple.driver.AppleKauaiATA(1.0.5f1)@0x3af000
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily(1.4)@0x394000
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOATAFamily(1.5.5f1)@0x39e000
com.apple.iokit.IOATAFamily(1.5.5f1)@0x39e000

Which is no surprise, as the problem is with the presence of an IO device, the iPod.

The system.log had little of interest to say, nothing special before the reboot, and only these tidbits struck me from the subsequent startup:

Nov 6 10:38:48 localhost kernel: IOKit Component Version 7.5:
Nov 6 10:38:48 localhost kernel: Thu Aug 5 19:23:49 PDT 2004; root(rcbuilder):RELEASE_PPC/iokit/RELEASE
Nov 6 10:39:18 localhost /usr/libexec/panicdump: Error (-1) setting variable - 'aapl,panic-info'
Nov 6 10:39:21 localhost kernel: File console.log.9 is too fragmented to save

CrashReporter's logs don't include an entry for iTunes, nor should we expect such a record after a panic.

Anyhoo, the problem has resolved itself, through happy coincidence.
May the same fate come to you.

[Jacob Spindel]

This is just a guess, but I had LOTS of kernel panics under 10.3.5. Upgrading to 10.3.6 seems to have helped.