random kernel panics

I got my macbook pro about three weeks ago, and I totally love it so far, but I have been having some problems. this morning I had my fourth kernel panic happen. it was totally random, all I was doing was chatting and browsing the internet (this site I believe) and my screen kind of faded to black from the top down and I got the message to power down my computer. all the times before that were similar, sometimes I was doing something more processor-intensive like photoshop and lightroom and it just popped up telling me to power down. the first day I had the laptop when I was just messing around with the OS and installing some apps I got my first kernel panic.

now, I know this isn't normal, and I will be going to the apple store the first chance I get (luckily there's one near me), but I was wondering what could be the cause of this. at first I thought it was lack of ram as it only had 1gb, but I recently got another 1gb stick of crucial and it kernel paniced this morning.

lastly, I have no idea if this is related, or if this is normal, but when I boot up my laptop the hard drive stays clicking doing something for like 5 minutes after it boots to desktop. it's actually pretty loud and annoying. not sure if normal or related....


thanks for any help/insight.

 

You may have a bad hard drive if it is making that much noise, and that could cause kernel panics. Bad RAM could as well. In fact there are a limitless number of things. I would try the Apple Store. Other things to try are different user accounts, or doing an archive and install of OS X. Also, try using just your new RAM and leave the old out, your Apple RAM could be bad.

 

well if I had bad ram I'd think that it would be constantly unstable... the thing is that 99% of the time it runs like a dream, and then totally randomly, out of nowhere I'll get a kernel panic. I've only had four in about three weeks, so it's not that many, but I know I shouldn't have had any...

 

No, RAM issues can indeed cause very intermittent kernel panics. There are many possible explanations for a kernel panic though, as cashmonee said.

The steps you can try on your own and that I would recommend for troubleshooting a kernel panic:
1) Try different combinations of your ram, meaning pull one out and try, pull the other one out and try, switch places, etc.
2) If happens in all permutations of ram configurations, create a new user account and see if it happens there also.
3) If so, backup and do an erase & install - archive & install if you wish first, but to be certain I would definitely do an erase & install.
4) If it still occurs after an erase & install, take it to the Apple Store.

Or you could just go there straight away and let them do it, but remember to take a backup of your stuff first.

 

is there a utility I can download to test out the ram? something like memtest86, but for mac? or will that work on mac too?

I'd rather not go through testing all that because since the kernel panics are totally random, it could be weeks before I actually see another one, and even then I won't know for sure that I had fixed the problem...