This is only related to WoW as much as I sometimes play the game on the machine, but I’m posting here because there are smart people who actually read these forums.
My iMac kernel panicked this morning when I woke it up from sleep. It had probably been asleep for a week and a half.
Every time I turn on/restart the computer it will kernel panic. I let it kernel panic in a loop enough times this morning that I eventually saw a prohibitory symbol (
). I have not seen that symbol again. I have not been able to get past a kernel panic or a hung loading screen (from trying to boot it up in other modes) a single time today.
I have tried:
- Resetting the SMC.
- Resetting the NVRAM/PRAM.
- Running the Apple Diagnostics test. It finished with no issues found (code ADP000).
I have also tried booting into: 1) safe mode, 2) recovery mode, and 3) internet recovery mode. All hang up and will not complete. Internet recovery does let me select a network but hangs afterward. I am not able to access Disk Utility to check the drive for errors because of this.
Finally, I have tried to use a bootable installer with macOS Catalina on it. I get an immediate kernel panic when I select the drive to boot with.
I don’t think I’ve installed any new software or updates within the past month.
I’m out of ideas. I thought it may have been the new-ish hard drive I put in 7 months ago, but I can’t access Disk Utility in any form to check. Not even being able to boot onto a USB drive without a kernel panic is throwing me through a loop.
It’s a late 2013 27” iMac. The model identifier is 14,2.
Thanks for reading!
I myself have no idea (I would have been certain it was something hardware related, but the diagnostics test came back okay), but I’d post this in the Apple forums to see if anyone has ideas there.
Open up the iMac and check both the drive connection and RAM seating. If it isn’t working even with a bootable USB installer, you have a hardware issue and those are the first two things I’d check.
I’ve checked the RAM hatch and none of the modules feel loose. I’ve cycled through my RAM per stick and per slot to see if I could successfully log in without success. What’s the likelihood 4 modules all went bad at the same time?
Where does Internet Recovery download and save its data to? The internal drive or to the RAM?
Even if the internal hard drive went bad or the connection was loose, shouldn’t I be able to at least boot off a USB stick? Does that point to some other hardware failure on the logic board that’s beyond my ability to repair without new hardware from Apple? I’ve run the Apple Diagnostic test a few more times and it always comes back with no errors.
I’ve ordered replacement adhesive to glue the screen back on, so I suppose I’ll cut it off and check the drive seating and then swap the old drive back in just to check that. I was hoping to avoid it because it’s such a hassle to do.
Since this machine is now nine years old, you might also consider looking at the CMOS battery. A dead battery has nearly always prevented Macs from booting. I’d forgotten about this until I re-read your OP and saw the year. Since I don’t have the service manual handy for that model I don’t know if you can get to the battery without disassembling the whole thing.
If a new battery doesn’t solve the problem and the drive connection reseating also doesn’t solve the problem, then it may be that some of the BGA solder joints have finally cracked and rendered the machine totally dead. That’s the worst case scenario and I hope it isn’t what’s causing this.
I’ll check that out as well. It’s on the back side of the logic board so it’s a full tear down to get to it.
Thanks for your suggestions!
I hate that the CMOS battery is an afterthought for manufacturers. It’s why my PS2 is dead currently and my PS3 will likely die soon too. both require a full teardown to get to it, and the PS2’s is soldered on there in an odd fashion. Would it kill them to have a door to the battery you can take off with a torx screwdriver?
at least on PS4 they finally realized that they could software solution it. IE it’s not bricked when it dies, something that got a lot of press year or two ago and as a result sony did a firmware update so system could function without it.
I’m surprised that can’t be done for the PS3 as well. Would save a really frustrating teardown.
Video card on the logic board died. RIP.