I have an IMac running the latest level of Lion. Since installing Lion and also being forced to replace the hard drive I have a problem with the screen intermittently go all white. Happens about 8 to 12 times a day. I am using Wild Blue as my ISP.

Question

I am looking for anyone in the west Tennessee area using Wild Blue along with Apple IMac who is having a problem with their screen going complelely white every so often.  Have had the maching into the Apple store in Memphis.  They could not get it to fail.  Help

Answer 1

TutorDaddy, if this Mac is still covered by the initial warranty or under AppleCare, take it in and have it looked at. As the old label used to say, there truly are "no user serviceable parts inside." Kernel panics very usually indicate failing hardware.
I have an older iBook G4 that started developing kernel panics and like you, despite reinstalling the OS from a freshly formatted volume, they kept continuing. I looked at the crash log and saw that in each instance of panic, the last bit of code to be accessed had something to do with AirPort. Knowing that the AirPort software was at then current levels, I surmised the problem to be a bad AirPort networking card which, on that particular model of the iBook, was a very small module attached directly to the logic board. Since the computer was out of AppleCare, I broke the machine down myself (I didn't realize that there could be so many barely visible screws in one machine) and removed the offending piece of hardware. My iBook lives but without WiFi, it now sits as a more or less desktop machine needing an ethernet connection to stay connected to a network.
I do not suggest you break into your iMac. First of all, I'm guessing one would need to be able to pull off the glass and have the necessary glue to reattach it, which is not really available to us consumers. If you're feeling adventurous enough to read the crash logs from each panic, you might be able to surmise the hardware component (or badly written application or library; it can happen) that's causing the panic. If it's a software issue, remove the offending software app and see if the panics return. If it's a hardware issue, it's best to let a competent service tech qualified on Apple hardware to handle it.
[edited to add:]
After browsing through related problems in the discussions, I saw this link to a third-party web site being handed out. Perhaps you'll find it useful: http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/kernelpanics.html
Message was edited by: Stephen Adams