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I have bought a new iMac for my birthday. The weird thing was from the first day I am started seeing the kernal.log error running 24/7. I asked about this to my friend who also using the same system. He told me that he has no idea about this error and he didn’t see in his iMac. So I am worried now. I don’t know whether it is a hardware failure or software. Can anyone explain me how?
In Mac OS X v10.5 and later, if you see any kernel.log error, then there is a kernel panic executed on your system. When panic happens, the information is added to a log file and the file is stored in /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports (Mac OS X v10.6), or /Library/Logs/PanicReporter (Mac OS X v10.5).
The log includes date and time indicating about when the kernel panic was logged.
First of all you need to figure when and what moment you are getting this kernel panic or kernel.log error. Whether it is when installing OS or third party apps or connection to internet or installing new hardware or any other. If you can able to find the steps to reproduce a kernel panic, then make a note of it so that you can easily find out what is causing this. Also try in Safe mode.
The system log and kernel logs are very helpful in MAC. Because if any problems occur or your system is suffering from this, then these logs will help you to troubleshoot easily even if it is a difficult problem. But in some situation it may not be possible to see the kernel.log in Console, due to large logs. So in this situation use the following command:
The tail -f command will read and print the specified file on the screenCode:tail -f /var/log/kernel.log
Generally the causes of Kernel panics are as follows:
- Defective otherwise incompatible RAM .
- Some Incompatible kernel extensions which might be obsolete or corrupted. This usually happened with any third-party kernel extension.
- Due to faulty drivers or something related like third party hardware.
- HDD corruption, bad sectors, and other ills.
- Permission on System-related files or folders are not proper.
- Low on memory.
If you are going to find out what is causing this error on your iMAc, then you will see several reasons for this. Since you are not sure what is causing it actually. I hope that you can see the full log of the kernel panic. AS you said that you are getting kernel.log error. So I think that this should be stored somewhere. Locate that files and post the entire log in apple discussion forum. They will let you know what exactly the problem is.
The firm reasons for kernel panics or kernel error in Mac are as follows:
- Migrating from PowerPC to Intel
- Directory failures and kernel panics
- Drivers and Preference Panels
- Widgets
- Data corruption
- Permissions
- RAM and motherboards