#SWINSIAN REVIEW UPGRADE#
In spite of my willingness to voluntarily endure some level of computing hardship in the name of helping Apple improve its products, I finally decided that I had had enough, and purchased the ATI Radeon HD 5770 upgrade kit myself. But the fact remained that the kernel panics were still there in the final version of OS X 10.8.4. As I indicated at the time, it looked like Apple was working on the problem, especially since “ graphics drivers” was listed as a focus area during the testing of early builds of the update. In June 2013, Apple released the final version of OS X 10.8.4, and it still did not fix the kernel panics. This remained true with the final OS X 10.8.3 update, and with early builds of the OS X 10.8.4 update. Personally, I went back to using my two GeForce cards when Apple started seeding OS X 10.8.3, which enabled me to continue to monitor the situation, but of course also meant that I continued to experience the kernel panics, albeit less frequently. Some people in the Apple Discussions thread also mentioned that replacing one of the GeForce video cards with an ATI Radeon HD 5770 appeared to provide a permanent fix for the problem. This eliminated the kernel panics altogether, but it also had a noticeable impact on video performance and general system responsiveness, undoubtedly due to the fact that my system now only had half as much VRAM and video card processing power available. I purchased an expensive Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapter, which enabled me to connect both of my Apple Cinema 30-inch displays to the same GeForce video card and stop using the second card. I myself provided a hack that offered temporary relief, at least for some people.
#SWINSIAN REVIEW PRO#
Meanwhile, Mac Pro users managed to identify various ways of dealing with the kernel panics. Again, while it included updated versions of all three kernel extensions involved in the kernel panics, it failed to completely eliminate the kernel panics. In March 2013, the final version of OS X 10.8.3 came out. But it failed to eliminate them completely.
#SWINSIAN REVIEW UPDATE#
The update did appear to have an impact on the frequency of the kernel panics, at least on my machine. It included updated versions of all three kernel extensions involved in the kernel panics. In late 2012, Apple started seeding early builds of the OS X 10.8.3 update. Sadly, it quickly became apparent that the supplemental update did not fix the kernel panics. In October 2012, Apple released an update called OS X 10.8.2 Supplemental Update, which updated one of the kernel extensions involved. Meanwhile, a thread discussing the issue appeared on the Apple forums, and it quickly became apparent that the problem could be narrowed down to people running Mac Pro computers with multiple GeForce video cards driving multiple monitors, and involved a few kernel extension files that were updated in OS X 10.8.2. Around the same time, Apple sent me a response to my bug report indicating that the problem was a “ known issue” and closing my bug report as a “ duplicate”. In September 2012, the final version of the OS X 10.8.2 update came out, and the kernel panics were still there. I of course immediately filed a bug report on these kernel panics. I quickly noticed (as one would) that they introduced a serious new bug that caused frequent kernel panics on my Mac Pro, up to several times a day. As a member of the AppleSeed program, I was able to test these early builds. In the summer of 2012, Apple started seeding early builds of the OS X 10.8.2 update.