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mister790
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Hardware or software causes for kernel panic on startup?

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I have a shot at picking up a MacBook 2.0 GHZ Intel Core Duo that goes into kernel panic at startup. Seems like an easy fix if it's software related. And replacing the harddrive or RAM would be pretty easy for me, if necessary. But I'm holding back for fear that the kernel panic is related to a bigger hardware issue. To help me gauge the risks here, I'm curious if anyone knows how common it is for logic board or other hardware issues to cause this kind of kernel panic. (And alas, no, I can't test the machine before picking it up.)

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Evgeniy
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The fastest way to diagnosis hard drive is to boot from external hard drive. To chek RAM, you can take off one of memory module and try to run with only one module and vice versa

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mayer
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Can you ask the seller to boot from the installation DVD. This would tell you if it's hardware or software.

Just ask the seller if the original installation disk comes with the computer and if it is bootable.

mayer,

Yeah, that would be ideal. But the listing says he doesn't have the installer disk. No return, natch. It's tempting, but probably too big a risk, huh?

mister790,

Glad I could help.

mayer,

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