Fire wire drive problem

Question

Hey all,
I've got a problem when i plug in my firewire drive to my new MBP. It gives me the grey curtain of death. I've tried doing the usual like PVRAM and the PMU settings.
It started when I was trying to add a partition to the drive using disk utility. It got 90% of the way through and i got the curtain of death.
I've tried booting in Safe mode which won't appear to load, even after about 5 mins. I've tried booting of the CD, but when I plug the drive back in it just crashes again.
Basically I'd like to be able to stop it mounting so I can access it from the disk utility and try a repair. Failing that, a straight format.
Any suggestions welcome. Thanks in advance
Here is the error report:
Tue Dec 2 00:46:15 2008
panic(cpu 1 caller 0x001F9314): "jnl: mod block start: bufsize 512 not a multiple of block size 4096\n"@/SourceCache/xnu/xnu-1228.8.30/bsd/vfs/vfs_journal.c:2282
Backtrace (CPU 1), Frame : Return Address (4 potential args on stack)
0x2a3cb2a8 : 0x12b4c9 (0x45aaac 0x2a3cb2dc 0x1335ba 0x0)
0x2a3cb2f8 : 0x1f9314 (0x46c084 0x200 0x1000 0x0)
0x2a3cb348 : 0x332719 (0x4595d10 0x2bd46c30 0x0 0x200)
0x2a3cb3e8 : 0x33bb5c (0x6037804 0x1 0x0 0x2a3cb778)
0x2a3cb7a8 : 0x334123 (0x6037804 0x476e804 0x0 0x0)
0x2a3cb8b8 : 0x335b8b (0x0 0x60459a4 0x0 0x0)
0x2a3cb9a8 : 0x1f5c6e (0x4e5b260 0x6cd7510 0xbffffdd4 0x0)
0x2a3cb9f8 : 0x1df3e8 (0x4e5b260 0x6cd7510 0xbffffdd4 0x0)
0x2a3cbf28 : 0x1dfaa9 (0x4e8804c 0x2a3cbf48 0x60458e4 0x1)
0x2a3cbf78 : 0x3df09b (0x4e8804c 0x60458a0 0x60458e4 0x0)
0x2a3cbfc8 : 0x1a0767 (0x5c738c0 0x0 0x1a30b5 0x5c738c0)
No mapping exists for frame pointer
Backtrace terminated-invalid frame pointer 0xbffffe28
BSD process name corresponding to current thread: mount_hfs
Mac OS version:
9F2114
Kernel version:
Darwin Kernel Version 9.5.1: Fri Sep 19 16:19:24 PDT 2008; root:xnu-1228.8.30~1/RELEASE_I386
System model name: MacBookPro5,1 (Mac-F42D86C8)

Answer 1

SOLUTION for me from a number of folks at Apple Support (thanks Tim Curry).
Booted from MBPro installation disk, (OS 10.4.9 - perhaps OS 10.5 disk would work?). Launched Disk Utility, connected the external Seagate FreeAgent Desk 1.5T via the Firewire 800, and the drive and its 3 indented partitions appeared in Disk Utility's sidebar(no kernel panic). Two of the partitions had the new names I had assigned, but the third didn't, instead was a grayed out "disk5s4". Disk Utility verified the first two partitions, but the third yielded an error message "The underlying task reported failure on exit". Tim then had me erase and reformat only that partition, and all was well. The data in the first partition was available.
I have since erased and repartitioned the drive, just to start afresh, from the MBPro 10.5.6 Disk Utility with no problems.(not the installation disk)
So, I really do not know what went wrong...at first I assumed it was me, but Seagate says here http://seagate.custkb.com/seagate/crm/selfservice/search.jsp?DocId=204371
"Leopard (Mac OS X - 10.5) seems to be having problems reformatting external drives. This seems to be a common issue on Leopard that is seen on most brands of drives.
Note: This is not a problem with the External Drive. Rather, it is an issue with the Disk Utility found with Leopard." and goes on to suggest "Suggestions - If erasing/formatting the drive in Disk Utility fails, there are two options:
Note: If the Disk Utility Erase option fails, it may be necessary to move the external drive to a Windows system to repartition and reformat it. Click here to launch a video showing how to prepare an external drive using Windows Vista, or here for information in Windows XP.
Ensure that any/all installers (DMG) files are dismounted before trying to prepare an external drive. Simply drag these files to the Trash to proceed.
Reformat the drive on an older version of Mac OS X.
Boot off of the MacOS 10.4 DVD, access its Utilities Menu and prepare the external drive using Disk Utility.
Backup any data first, take the external drive to another Mac, launch Disk Utility and reformat the drive as Mac OS Extended or Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
If another version of Mac OS X is not available:
Open Finder > Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility
Click on the Partition tab
Click on the Current Volume Scheme drop-down menu and select One (1) partition.
Click Options. From the Partition Schemes provided:
Click on the GUID Partition Table radio button
-OR-
Click on the Apple Partition Map radio button
Click OK. Select other options as desired (e.g., Volume Name, Format, etc.).
Click Apply. The Partition Disk screen opens.
Click Partition. At this point, the volume dismounts from the desktop and the drive is partitioned and formatted.
Note: When Volumes are created, Time Machine may open asking if you would like to use the volume for backups. Click Cancel to proceed.
When finished, select the Disk Utility from the Apple Menu and choose Quit Disk Utility"
This morning, Apple http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2644?viewlocale=en_US
posted an article "Disk Utility: Unable to format disk 500 GB or larger" and gives the solution....
"Resolution
Format the disk in the following manner (as described in this article). Note: Simply erasing the drive without partitioning will not resolve the issue.
Back up your important data. Important: Partitioning a hard disk erases all data on the disk.
Open Disk Utility:
If you're started from a Mac OS X installation disc, choose Disk Utility from the Utilities menu.
If you're started from your computer's Mac OS X volume, open Disk Utility from the Utilities folder. You can get there by choosing Utilities from the Finder's Go menu.
Select the disk you want to erase.
Click the Partition tab in the Disk Utility window. If the partition tab is not visible, make sure you've selected the disk (not volume) in the left side of the window.
Tip: In Disk Utility, volume names are indented on the left side of the window. Disk names are not indented.
Choose the desired number of partitions from the Volume Scheme pop-up menu. It's OK to choose "1 Partition" if you only want one.
Click Options.
Note: On some Intel-based Macs, the Options button does not appear under the partition tab. Use the erase tab to erase the disk instead. This will change the partition scheme to the default "GUID Partition Scheme". You can then use the partition tab to create additional partitions if desired.
From the Partition Scheme pop-up menu, choose "GUID Partition Scheme".
Click OK.
Make any other changes you wish in the Volume Information section, such as partition size(s) or naming.
Click the Partition button to erase your disk and install the new partition scheme."
Cheers...Thanks for everyone's help....Don