OS X kernel panic and other problems: readers offer potential solutions

Yesterday, we asked for advice, short of erasing a disk, for solving a data corruption problem that occurred after a kernel panic was triggered by launching iTunes. We received numerous suggestions:

Run fsck and/or Disk utility Several suggested running fsck at startup, which the user had apparently not yet tried. Similarly, you could start up from the OS X CD and run Disk Utility.

John Chapman adds: "Unfortunately, I suspect Kenneth's real problem is that there was disk/directory corruption prior to installing the upgrades. The 10.0.2 updater loads a ton of files and creates even more temp files while installing and optimizing. If the directory is already corrupt when those are written, you will exacerbate the problem to a point where the entire disk is pretty shot. Of all major utilities, only Disk First Aid (Disk Utility in OS X) and DiskWarrior are fully compatible with OS X disks."

Delete prefs One reader suggested deleting the LSSchemes, LSClaimedTypes and LSApplications files from the user's Preferences folder (as had been suggested in this TIL article).

Erase files and reinstall rather than erase volume David Ceretto offers: "You do not need to erase the whole disk. The problem is probably with the hidden files in OS X. I resolved this by starting in OS 9 and using a utility to make hidden files visible and then trashing all 1,500 or so OS X hidden files then reinstalling. If you know the offending file you can make only this one visible and trash it, but I know very little about the workings of OS X so I just trashed all hidden files and started from there. I didn't trash any of the visible files in OS X and then reinstalled OS X from the CD and that seemed to do it."

Back up Home directory Matthew Culmore advises, for the next time, keep a backup copy of your Users/Home directory. Then, if you need to erase the disk, at least most/all of your customized changes and additions will be preserved.

iTunes and kernel panics? By the way, we have had a couple of more reports of kernel panics associated with iTunes 1.1.1. This may turn out to be more common that we initially suspected.

Update: Chris Mason claims that these kernel panics occur if you install iTunes 1.1.1 before installing 10.0.2. To fix it, "remove the iTunes package from the Receipts folder, update to 10.0.2 only, reboot, and then re-install iTunes."

Aaron Smith believes that the install order does not matter. He has not seen these kernel panics no matter which order he installs the software. He suggests: "Perhaps file nodes are pointing to invalid locations on the hard disk. Try repairing the disk using fsck and/or DiskWarrior."