Kernel Panics when using Airport Extreme Card...I think

Question

So I have been to the Apple store 7 times in the last three days...here are the problems I've been having and what they've done. Any advice is greatly appreciated!
All of a sudden I started having Kernel Panic crashes (a least 5 a day.) Seemed to mostly happen when I was browsing (using Firefox.) Also I would usually experience an intermittent connection to the internet before a crash. (i.e. I would be browsing, then the connection would be lost...I'd turn off Airport...turn back on...then a few minutes later while browsing...crash)
Here is what I've done:
- At first we thought it was software...after two erase/install, that wasn't it.
- Maybe the new RAM from OWC...re-sat the RAM, took RAM out and replaced with factory RAM...had OWC send new RAM, that wasn't it.
- Maybe it is logic board, factory RAM, or Airport Extreme card...Apple replaced today...and THAT wasn't it.
- Got home after all these new parts and it crashed again while browsing wirelessly. So, I thought, "Could my Qwest wireless network be doing this!?!?!"
Have tried some different settings with Qwest and am awaiting another crash.
Does anyone have any idea what else I could try? (2 erase and installs, a new logic board, new RAM, new AE card, didn't do it!)
I so appreciate any help or advice. I'm in the middle of a couple of major projects and cannot bear to go back to the Apple store for an 8th time!
MacBook Mac OS X (10.4.9) Purchased as refurb. - but has new logic board, new RAM (2gb), new AE card
MacBook Mac OS X (10.4.9)
MacBook Mac OS X (10.4.9)
MacBook Mac OS X (10.4.9)
MacBook Mac OS X (10.4.9)
MacBook   Mac OS X (10.4.9)  

Answer 1

I don't have any solutions, but I had been reading about some folks having airport related kernel panics in the MacBook discussion forum. As a matter of fact, I had a kernel panic a little while back on my MacBook, and the crash log pointed to some issues with airport drivers. Here is what Macfixit says about these drivers and I quote:
"Bad built-in hardware (including hard drives) Repeated kernel panics can be the result of incompatible, damaged or misconfigured built-in hardware. This includes built in AirPort, Bluetooth and other networking hardware, corrupt or damaged hard drives, faulty processors and more. Examine your crash log (as discussed in our tutorial "An introduction to reading Mac OS X crash reports") for clues as to which device is implicated.
Sometimes the fix is as simple as re-seating built-in hardware. Make sure any PCI, PCI Express, AirPort and other expansion-type hardware is firmly and properly seated in its appropriate port.
In other cases, the fix involves attacking the problem at a driver or kernel extension level. Again, examine your crash reports and look for components specifically linked to certain hardware. For instance, the following Mac OS X components are all used by Apple AirPort hardware, and can be implicated (by crash logs) in kernel panics:
com.apple.driver.AirPortAtheros5424(100.21)
com.apple.iokit.IONetworkingFamily(1.5.0)
com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily(1.9)
com.apple.iokit.IO80211Family(110.19)
After determining device-specific components, you can try re-installing them -- either by performing an "Archive and Install" of Mac OS X, or downloading and manually placing items."
http://www.macfixit.com/article.php?story=20060911080447777