From 10.8 onwards, you will not see the classic grey display, but your Mac will spontaneously restart or shut down. Here are the details, and what to do next.
kernel panic
The release of Sierra seems to have gone smoothly. Was it really a major release, though? What does it get wrong? What about third party support?
After a near-panic and interminable spin, it proved impossible to get useful diagnostic information. Here are some tools and techniques which should still be useful.
Sometimes you can’t use the menu command, or it doesn’t work. What do you try next?
Handling of kernel panics shows a series of fundamental flaws in El Capitan, which can occur on any Mac.
Does El Capitan suffer the most evil bug of all, which suppresses the normal kernel panic process?
Was that crash a freeze, a panic, or just a spinning beachball? And what do they mean?
After installing additional memory, my iMac keeps falling over, usually with a kernel panic. Is this a problem with Yosemite?
The computing sense of crash lacks onomatopœa, is gross hyperbole, and is far too widely encompassing to be meaningful.
Memory capacity is a major determinant of your Mac’s performance, and a significant proportion of its cost. But how complex it has become…
The Eclectic Light Company 