iPC 10.5.6 updated to 10.5.7 Crashes Every Night :(

brannfenix · #1 06-27-2009, 01:19 PM

Hi,

I have been lurking on this forum for a bit soaking up the great info that has helped me get my OSX86 box running 99% perfect... but I am running into an odd issue

Specs:

Mobo: GA-P35-DS3L
CPU: Intel 2.4Ghz Quadcore
Memory: 2GB
Video: MSI 8600GTS

OS: iPC 10.5.6 updated to 10.5.7 via the iDeneb updater.
Drivers & Patches: Only used the driver pack for my mobo from this forum(can't find the link at the second) and an audio patch.

Powersaver options: System set to never sleep and LCD sleeps after 10mins(turned this off after day#2 which allowed me to see that it was indeed locking up with the please hold in your power button error)

Issue:

My machine is working near perfectly with all 4 cores in dual monitor glory. However, every morning when I wake up my OS has died at the popup window that tell you to hold in the power button and reset. Forgive my lack of OSX buzz works, but I think that is the gray screen of death?

I have done the following to troubleshoot the issue:

1. I checked the system.log to see the last thing that ran before the time gap and the reboot to find a clue.

Day#1 I saw my time machine backup was running right as it died... So, assuming it was time machine I turned it off before bed and waited.

Day#2 Crashed again and this time the last entry was from a greasemonkey script in firefox that seems to write to the log all day. I did not think that could be the cause and decided to turn off the power saver on my LCD instead thinking maybe it was just my display not waking up.

Day#3 (Today) I woke up with my LCDs both on and my OS crashed @ 3:14AM. I went to bed the night before at like 11pm. The screen was on the please hold the power button to reset error. The last entry was the FireFox Script again.

====================

Today I plan to turn off FireFox to see if that script is what is causing my issues, but I would like input from anyone that has any ideas or has seen this before. I just find it VERY odd that I leave my computer alone for multiple hours during the day sometimes and it does not crash on me. I only seem to get this issue overnight anywhere from like 2am~6am. Maybe I am not leaving it idle for enough hours to reproduce the crash... I am not sure

Please forgive the long winded nature of this post, but I wanted to be sure to include all the details I could think of to better inform anyone that might have some Ideas. Please let me know if you would like to know more about my setup.

Thanks in advance,
Brann

brannfenix · #2 06-28-2009, 04:23 AM

Ok it seems i get the super awesome kernel panic if my computer just sits there idle. Anyone here heard of that? Does not crash as long as your using it... I think my OSX86 install watched the movie Speed one too many times.

I am going to leave it up with all apps closed and report back... fingers crossed

brannfenix · #3 06-28-2009, 04:15 PM

I left my box on all night with no apps opened after a fresh boot... Time machine was still running in the background and it did not crash. I am pretty sure it is FireFox and that GM script. Today I will try leaving everything on BUT that script to nail it down.

brannfenix · #4 06-29-2009, 05:00 PM

Last things before the crash today were:

Jun 29 09:06:40 TEST01 /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[3581]: Ejected Time Machine network volume.

Jun 29 09:20:40 TEST01 kernel[0]: zalloc did gc

so a full 16mins after time machine finished I get a dreaded kernel[0]: zalloc did gc panic... anyone wanna toss some ideas around or any I just writing about my adventure for future generates?

Thanks in advance,
Brann

brannfenix · #5 07-01-2009, 03:01 PM

Just doing my part in the event someone has the same issue and finds my thread...

VoodooPower.kext 1.2.3 seemed to be the cause. I have unloaded the kext and deleted the file... poof! problem solved. I woke up and for the first time my machine was still running. I wonder if this is what you feel like when you have a baby that sleeps through the night for the first time?

Anyways good luck to anyone with the same issue...
-Brann

Voyn1x · #6 07-01-2009, 09:16 PM

Hi, i've also experienced this 'zalloc did gc' kernel panic. I too narrowed it down to VoodooPower.

According to Superhai (maker of the above mentioned) -

Quote:

zalloc is kernel zone memory allocation. gc means garbage collection. if it fails to allocate memory it tries a garbage collection to free memory, if it still fails the kernel will panic. something is allocating more meory than the kernel can get. most likely a memory leak in the kernel or kernel extension.

I'm now looking to get vanilla speedstep working only using dsdt.

brannfenix · #7 07-01-2009, 09:49 PM

I have hooked up a killawatt meter to my box and noticed it only runs about 10~15ish watts higher with the module gone @140ish watts total as i type this post.
While this is a more than acceptable trade off for a stable desktop I would be interested in knowing how you make out with your tests. While a working speed step fix is not a huge deal on a desktop it would come in my handy on my hackbook pro I am testing

Thanks for the reply!
-Brann

elfspice · #8 07-29-2009, 02:03 PM

i just wanted to add to this thread as it led me to a possible cause for other people who may also have a osx86 system that is locking up with a display in suspend, i didn't find the voodoo power management kexts in my system but I did find AppleGraphicsPowerManagement.kext and AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement.kext both of which I am guessing are irrelevant on my m3n78-em based hackintosh, one due to the cpu being AMD the other due to the fact i'm running an nvidia card some NVDANVxxHal's and the corresponding ResMan (and QE/CI and QuartzGL all running). So I have deleted them. fingers crossed I've nailed the issue, as I am writing this after implementing and before rebooting.

Running 10.5.7 also, incidentally. iAKTOS v7. if that helps.

brannfenix · #9 07-29-2009, 03:43 PM

Well my problems have shifted a bit since removing that file so something is still wrong for sure... I am typing this post right now in slow motion waiting for the words to appear...
I have 6 GB of RAM and my box uses it up and will not let it go to the point where over night I will only have 17MB free and my OS will crawl until I reboot. Are there any memory clearing utilities out there I do not know of? Rebooting daily reminds me too much of windows