> Date: Thurs, Oct 22 2009 5:15 pm > From: Bruce Johnson > > On Oct 22, 2009, at 2:47 PM, Jeffrey Engle wrote: > >> On Oct 22, 2009, at 12:51 PM, Bruce Johnson wrote: >> >>> If it *STILL* KP's after that, you have a hardware fault. >> >> I wonder when Apple will make a computer that "just tells me" what's >> the matter with it? > > Seriously, it's because of the nature of a Kernel Panic, which happens > when some process accesses memory it's not been allocated. The Unix > kernel is a pretty simple thing; at it's heart it's a traffic cop and > supply clerk: it tells processes when thye can use the CPU and what > memory they can use. > > When some process steps out of line and writes to memory that doesn't > exist, or is not it's own, the kernel essentially pulls the big red > switch and kills everything, because letting the errant process > continue can produce more data corruption than just immediately > shutting down.
But surely *just* before it does this, it knows it is going to do this and so this could trigger some information, perhaps worded much like your explanation here, perhaps even suggesting things like to look in logs etc to the machine user or at least to name the last instruction in plain English that is causing it to pull the plug. Even the Rain Man used to say things before a big panic: "Uh oh, uh oh!" > > <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kernel_panic> > > The OS doesn't KNOW why it crashed, only that the panic condition had > occurred. We won't get the kind of information you want until > thiotimoline based interface circuitry is developed. > -- dorayme --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are a member of G-Group, a group for those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
