Kernel panic won't go away and can't boot?

Question

I am not sure what OS I have. It's an iMac and only a year and a half old. I know it doesn't have leopard and that's about it. Anyway, my problem started two days ago. I got the notification that updates were available so I went ahead and did it. I walked out of the office while it did its thing. Then I heard it say something like "Can't install updates". I was 2 rooms away so that may be wrong. Then it went to restart like normal but it did not boot up. It went to a gray screen with a black box in the middle that said you need to restart your computer in about 4 languages. Well, I did that seemingly a million times and it's still doing it. So I asked someone for help and he gave me these instructions,
1. Restart, and hold down AppleOption+PR to reset the Pram
2. Restart and hold down Apple+S once it brings you to a command prompt, type this:
/sbin/fsck -yf
This command will run a file system check and repair any problems.
3. Restart and hold down AppleOption+OF
when command prompt shows up on screen type:
reset-nvram (then press Enter)
set-defaults (then press Enter)
reset-all (computer will reboot)
The problem comes at step two.. it will not allow me to type anything it. I get something that says "Package 0 didn't get HPET". I can type about 4 letters in and then it restarts that "package 0 didn't get HPET" so I actually can't get the /sbin/fsck -yf part in to even attempt step 3. I bought this computer from someone so I have to disc with it. I've left a voicemail to see if he can fix it or if he has the disc still.
I've never had an issue with this thing before and I've had it since August. It's been an awesome computer and then, this. I can't afford to have it fixed for a few weeks yet and I really need to be able to use it. Classes just started and I need access to my online ones. I was lucky to be able to use what I am on now but I've had to go to someone else's apartment to do so. ANY help would be wonderful. I'm ready to shoot the thing. LOL.

Answer 1

You will need the original OS X installer disc that came with the computer or the installer disc you used for the version of OS X presently installed. Since you've provided no machine information other than "iMac" and no information on the version of OS X you are using this advice may or may not work:
How to Perform an Archive and Install
An Archive and Install will NOT erase your hard drive, but you must have sufficient free space for a second OS X installation which could be from 3-9 GBs depending upon the version of OS X and selected installation options. The free space requirement is over and above normal free space requirements which should be at least 6-10 GBs. Read all the linked references carefully before proceeding.
1. Be sure to use Disk Utility first to repair the disk before performing the Archive and Install.
Repairing the Hard Drive and Permissions
Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger.) After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported, then quit DU and return to the installer.
2. Do not proceed with an Archive and Install if DU reports errors it cannot fix. In that case use Disk Warrior and/or TechTool Pro to repair the hard drive. If neither can repair the drive, then you will have to erase the drive and reinstall from scratch.
3. Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When you reach the screen to select a destination drive click once on the destination drive then click on the Option button. Select the Archive and Install option. You have an option to preserve users and network preferences. Only select this option if you are sure you have no corrupted files in your user accounts. Otherwise leave this option unchecked. Click on the OK button and continue with the OS X Installation.
4. Upon completion of the Archive and Install you will have a Previous System Folder in the root directory. You should retain the PSF until you are sure you do not need to manually transfer any items from the PSF to your newly installed system.
5. After moving any items you want to keep from the PSF you should delete it. You can back it up if you prefer, but you must delete it from the hard drive.
6. You can now download a Combo Updater directly from Apple's download site to update your new system to the desired version as well as install any security or other updates. You can also do this using Software Update.
If you cannot start the computer from an installer disc without getting a kernel panic, that means you have a hardware failure - most likely bad RAM.