Help with recurring kernel panic

Question

Hello,
I am a relatively new Mac user (past 8 months) and have had this MacBook Pro for the same amount of time. I am having a problem lately (w/in the last few months) where many different apps (Firefox, Parallels, Photoshop, Smultron, etc) that I run shut down intermittently and without warning. Also, now, several times a day, I will get a kernel panic. I am not sure what is causing this, and would appreciate any help you can offer. I thought this may have been caused by Parallels or Firefox, but I see this occur even when I don't use Parallels all day long.
Here is the latest kernel panic:
Wed Apr 29 12:43:43 2009
panic(cpu 1 caller 0x001A9C68): Kernel trap at 0x0017847c, type 14=page fault, registers:
CR0: 0x80010033, CR2: 0x00000008, CR3: 0x015c2000, CR4: 0x00000660
EAX: 0x00000000, EBX: 0x087277a8, ECX: 0x005232a0, EDX: 0x093c74d8
CR2: 0x00000008, EBP: 0x5b70bab8, ESI: 0x09404870, EDI: 0x07a27324
EFL: 0x00010206, EIP: 0x0017847c, CS: 0x00000008, DS: 0x00000010
Error code: 0x00000000
Backtrace (CPU 1), Frame : Return Address (4 potential args on stack)
0x5b70b8a8 : 0x12b4f3 (0x45b13c 0x5b70b8dc 0x1335e4 0x0)
0x5b70b8f8 : 0x1a9c68 (0x464700 0x17847c 0xe 0x463eb0)
0x5b70b9d8 : 0x1a038d (0x5b70b9f0 0x5b458c4a 0x5b70bab8 0x17847c)
0x5b70b9e8 : 0x17847c (0xe 0x8720048 0x5b700070 0x190010)
0x5b70bab8 : 0x39b243 (0x87277a8 0x0 0x1 0x0)
0x5b70bad8 : 0x1db4a9 (0x9404870 0x0 0x0 0x2)
0x5b70bb28 : 0x1db6d1 (0x9404870 0x1 0x5b70bb78 0x1f5e32)
0x5b70bb78 : 0x1db979 (0x0 0x7a27324 0x5b70bbb8 0x5b70bbf4)
0x5b70bb98 : 0x1db9af (0x9404870 0x7a27324 0x5b70bcdc 0x95085f0)
0x5b70bbb8 : 0x1e6ee6 (0x9404870 0x7d1d0a0 0x5b70bcb9 0x1b)
0x5b70bf78 : 0x3df460 (0x78adedc 0x7a27220 0x7a27264 0xb01229d0)
0x5b70bfc8 : 0x1a0887 (0x7749820 0x0 0x1a30b5 0x7749820)
No mapping exists for frame pointer
Backtrace terminated-invalid frame pointer 0xbffffbd8
BSD process name corresponding to current thread: SFLSharedPrefsTo
Mac OS version:
9G55
Kernel version:
Darwin Kernel Version 9.6.0: Mon Nov 24 17:37:00 PST 2008; root:xnu-1228.9.59~1/RELEASE_I386
System model name: MacBookPro4,1 (Mac-F42C89C8)
Here are some specs on my MacBook:
Hardware Overview:
Model Name: MacBook Pro
Model Identifier: MacBookPro4,1
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.6 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 6 MB
Memory: 4 GB
Bus Speed: 800 MHz
Boot ROM Version: MBP41.00C1.B03
SMC Version: 1.27f1
Serial Number: W88260V** <Edited by Host>
Sudden Motion Sensor:
State: Enabled
Let me know if you need anything else.
Thanks!

Answer 1

Hi, just to update what happened.
I ran through a lot of suggestions listed by nerowolfe and just couldn't get it figured out.
I went back finally and did another Apple Hardware test, this time using the one that comes on the Apple install disc. (Previously, the TechTool Deluxe one did not detect any problems.) The Apple Hardware test finally found a bad RAM stick, so I removed the first stick of RAM and rebooted. No problems since then, so I am replacing it (still under warranty) with another memory stick.
Thanks for the links, and this is another example of the kernel panic being the cause of bad RAM. If nothing else, just do the obvious, remove one stick at a time, to see if that fixes the problem.