PowerBook wake on Sleep-then kernel panic when re-mounting External Drives

Question

Hey all, I found a peculiar behavior with my PowerBook and my Lacie External Hard Drive. If I wake up my PowerBook from sleep, either by shaking the mouse, or opening the lid- the computer sometimes kernel panics when it attempts to re-recognize my partitioned 250 gig external hard drive. This seems to happen 1 out of every 5 times. The external is already mounted that I can tell upon waking; its just that it seems like it panics when it tries to recognize it again. Any one else experienced this? I've had this problem since I've had my external drive, and that probably dates back to 10.4.2. Thanks!

Answer 1

Hi, Zach.
You might want to try a different FireWire cable, a different FireWire port on your Mac (if available), or contact LaCie, the latter as the enclosure may be malfunctioning. Another potential problem area, although this also usually shows up as spontaneous dismounts of the FireWire drive, is the FireWire drive's power supply, i.e. its power brick, but that seems less likely here.
While it certainly seems like you've isolated the cause to the FireWire drive, you may also want to review my "Resolving Kernel Panics" FAQ. This FAQ includes step-by-step instructions for identifying and resolving some of the most common causes of kernel panics. The FAQ is a roadmap: start at the beginning and work systematically through the end, i.e. the "If all else fails..." section.
Good luck!
Dr. Smoke
Author: Troubleshooting Mac® OS X
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