Whenever Restarted -- Kernel Panic

Question

Hey there,
Just replaced my hard drive which was on its last limb. Got OS X installed and started going through the updates. After the first restart that was required I got a kernel panic. After I turned off the machine then back on it would boot. Now whenever I select restart, it kernel panics on the startup (gray spinning Apple screen). Shutting down then starting again seems to work every time. Also, choosing to shut down then starting up does not cause any problems.
Any ideas? Nothing else seems to be incorrect. Obviously it is easy to suggest that something with the hard drive is bad since that is what recently changed. Seems like weird behavior, consistent behavior though.
Thanks!

Answer 1

friedguy:
A couple of things suggest themselves to me:
• a problem with the installation of the HDD seems most likely.
• possible faulty HDD.
After installation did you boot from the install disk, format and erase the HDD before installation? Check out these directions and see if this is what you did:
Formatting, Partitioning Erasing a Hard Disk Drive
Boot from the install CD holding down the "C" key.
Select language
• Go to the Utilities menu (Tiger) Installer menu (Panther & earlier) and launch Disk Utility.
• Select your HDD (manufacturer ID) in left side bar.
• Select Partition tab in main panel. (You are about to create a single partition volume.)
• Click on Options button
• Select Apple Partition Map (PPC Macs) or GUID Partition Table (Intel Macs)
• Click OK
• Select number of partition in pull-down menu above Volume diagram.
(Note 1: One partition is normally preferable for an internal HDD.)
• Type in name in Name field (usually Macintosh HD)
• Select Volume Format as Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
• Click Partition button at bottom of panel.
• Select Erase tab
• Select the sub-volume (indented) under Manufacturer ID (usually Macintosh HD).
• Check to be sure your Volume Name and Volume Format are correct.
• Click Erase button
• Quit Disk Utility.
Installation Process
• Open Installer and begin installation.
• Select installation option
• Choose to Customize and deselect Foreign Language Translations and Additional Printer drivers.
Optional: Check box to install X11 (Tiger) BSD Subsystems (Panther & earlier).
• Proceed with installation.
• After installation computer will restart for setup.
• After setup, reboot computer.
• Go to Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility.
• Select your HDD (manufacturer ID) in left side bar.
• Select First Aid in main panel.
• Click Repair Disk Permissions.
• Connect to Internet.
• Download and install Mac OS X 10.4.11 Combo update (PPC) (Tiger) or
10.3.9 Combo Update (Panther)
Computer will restart.
• Repair Disk Permissions as previously.
• Go to Apple Menu > Software Update.
• Install all updates.
Computer may restart after updates.
• Go to Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility.
• Select your HDD (manufacturer ID) in left side bar.
• Select First Aid in main panel.
• Click Repair Disk Permissions.
Please post back with further questions or comments.
Cheers
cornelius