Is this a Kernal Panic or hardware issue?

[gbaugher]

I have seen a lot of posts in this forum regarding kernal panics, but I don't think I have ever experienced one and honestly, I am not really sure what a kernal panic is.

Twice in the last week, I have been humming along using Parallels in full-screen mode and several mac apps open on an external monitor. I have a 15" MacBook Pro. Suddenly, the bottom of the Mac screen turns purple and it slowly creeps up the screen until the MacBook screen is completely black. The external monitor still functions and I can interact with the apps there, but I can't get to the Dock or Apple menus as the are on the MacBook screen. I have to do a hard shut down using the power button. Is this a kernal panic? Or, am I starting to have more issues with the hardware? I have already had the motherboard replaced due to the battery and heat sink issues.

Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

 

[palter]

This is not a kernel panic.

There are reports of problems with the MacBook Pro's builtin display when an external display is connected. Parallels is not the issue. It's likely a hardware problem. (At least one user's machine has been "captured" by Apple engineering to examine this further according to reports on the AppleInsider forum.)

You might want to call Apple and see what they suggest.

 

[xochi]

I have a MBP 17", and used to have the exact same problem. I'm 99% sure that (on my macbook at least) it's the result of a bug in the Airport hardware -- I would only see this after a combination of WiFi use, Parallels, and sleep / wake the powerbook.

I haven't had this happen in a while, which I attribute to one of the following things:
1. never sleeping my macbook
2. using wired ethernet as much as possible
3. upgrading to 10.4.8

I do think it's a hardware bug, and may require a logic board swap from apple. I've been to busy to deal with it, but may end up sending it in for repair eventually.