Kernel Panicing Killed My New Mac Pro

Question

Hi,
Okay so I had a good solid reliable iMac G5 computer for almost three years and decided to upgrade to a Mac Pro because I edit using Final Cut Studio and wanted something with more power behind it. Everything started smoothly enough when i first plugged it in. Then I started getting the dreaded grey shield coming down over the screen and a message saying I had to restart, (basically crashing and losing any information I hadn't saved previously). The panic.log would sometimes list a kernal panic but occasionally say just something like....
Maaaaaccccchine ckkkkaaaeck capaaaaabilitiiiiiiiiies
....all misspelt. I carried on using the machine and it would kernel panic more and more so called Apple Tec and went through EVERYTHING to try to get it working again. This included the Hardwear test, resetting, reloading the Operating System...I mean everything! Memory RAM was taken out swapped around, different hard drives used for the main drive.
Eventually sent to an Apple Service centre, who thought it was one of the drives, replaced it, sent back...turned on and guess what?! Kernel Panic again!!! So sent back, they checked everything, the Bluetooth adaptor, Airport card, memory, drives, even the logic boards....still panicing. So finally after 3 WEEKS of this back and forth the Mac was sent back to Apple and a completely new one is hopefully not far away. This will have basically taken a month out of my work, and I've lost several high paid jobs from it....A COMPLETE NIGHTMARE! So if you start having Kernel Panics, and you get that strange message, just beware. You may be in for trouble.
My question is, has anyone else had this problem ?

Answer 1

I think I read about problems with 8-core model lately, which in some cases, can have a later OS build than even 10.4.10 and I would not be surprised to see a 10.4.11 even.
When the Mac Pro came out there were 3 different builds until we all got to update to a common 10.4.8 which really helped and improved performance. And some SMC and EFI updates thrown in, and one for Nvidia.
Could be somewhat similar for the 8-core is my thought.
As for power requirements, the PSU may be 'asking' for more than needed on wake from sleep, and of course the 4-core * 2 Xeon is 'efficient' but still asks for more than 200W. Add in 10W for each DIMM, some more for each drive, 75-130W for Radeon. Then throw in disk drives, modem/router and a couple displays!
Enough so that finding a reliable UPS was as hard as finding one for a Quad G5. Not easy for some, but 1000VA or above. (I have no idea what type of current UK is on either).
I run with all the fans kicked up to 800 rpm (default is 499-599) which keeps things ventilated and brings DI(MM temp down 10ºC.
I would be worried about the LaCie.
Early on a few people had a USB problem on the back port of their keyboard. (The other left side was okay). So it seems even USB cables sometimes don't work.
Firewire drives and devices have been a problem; or it was the FW ports, either front or back, or running slower than they should. Consumer electronics on Firewire can be troublesome. Maybe one reason why Apple moved to USB2 on iPods, though might have been more about market and cost and more systems have USB.
Because it happens at home and not Apple Store is why I would focus on the wiring and current, and find a circuit just for the Mac Pro for now. Maybe get something to test outlet, ground, and a Kill-A-Watt or something.