i am using a mac mini 1.5 GHz intel solo core with a 512MB ram. i bought the machine in early september for use at university, i havent had any problems with it until about 2 weeks ago when the machine started cutting out randomly and by itself, sometimes it will give me a warning with the tinted screen and tell me i need to restart my computer. i have updated my OS and i am now running on 10.4.8 and i have also done the latest firmware update, neither of these things recitified the situation so i called apple care 3 days ago, they sent me some walkthrough emails as i didnt have my machine with me. i have done all of the things they advised which include resetting the PMU and the PRAM and NVRAM. After i carried out the procedure to reset the PMU my fan will now not shut off and the little white light on the front of my machine will not come on. other than this the machine is working fine and so far has not cut off.....yet. i dont know what to do as i really need my machine for work and would prefer to try to fix the problem without having to send the machine off.

[Ryan]

What you're getting sounds like a "kernel panic" but I don't know how to help you.

At least you know what it's called now.

[starcat102]

Try starting the Console App (Cmd-Shift-U in Finder to locate it) and look through the various Logs there. They might give you a clue as to what may have went wrong.

[scrouds]

have you tried the hardware check cd, possibly?

[GladToBeHere]

Kernal panics can happen for many reasons. Your RAM could have gone bad for some reason (which you could check if you're willing to open it up on your own), or something even more catestrophic, like your logic board.

Considering the severity of what's happening, my unscientific opinion is that it's not something within your service. If you can, take it in to get checked by someone in person. The phone guys have a protocol to follow, but in this case, it's not a tiny issue. I have a feeling your logic board is failing bigtime.

Though I don't know what it means exactly, if there's another mac around, try to boot into target disk mode and see if you can backup your stuff if you haven't yet. On the good side, I doubt your hard drive is failing, so your data is ok, but it's better to be safe than (more) sorry...

Good luck.

[Ebby]

I would run the PMU and PRAM Resets again, test your system with the hardware diagnostics CD, and IF you are still getting kernel panics, archive and install the OS.

The light is not controlled by the OS so my hunch says it is a PMU thingy. And that may also explain the fan.