I've just worked out a GENUINE SOLUTION TO THE missing ACPI kernel panic error.

Background:
on my intel macbook pro 2 GHz core duo, an update to Tiger 10.4.10 failed, with a grey "reboot your system now" screen.
upon rebooting i booted upto the grey apple logo screen, then a kernel panic error message was shown which indicated that the ACPI driver could not be loaded.
I tried reinstalling the OS using archive/install, resetting PMU, P-RAM, verbose mode, single user mode etc, none of which worked!

you will need:
an external HDD (or a CD-R *should* work)
your installation DVDs (mine were Tiger v 10.4.5)
the latest comboupdate DMG file from http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/
mine was called "Mac OS X 10.4.10 Combo Update v1.1 (Intel).dmg" approx 220 Mb of download!

Using a working computer, download the comboupdate file and copy it to the external HDD
On the mac with Kernel Panics, insert the install disk 1 and reboot, holding down the "C" key until you reach a language menu; choose english.
plugin the external HDD, and wait until you think the external HDD has been loaded.

select Utilities > Terminal from the menu at the top of the screen.
1) work out what where your internal and external HDD's have been mounted to:
type df -h
/dev/something1 -- -- -- -- /Volumes/My Book << this is my external HDD
/dev/something2 -- -- -- -- /Volumes/MacBookPro HDD << this is my internal HDD

2) mount the comboupdate DMG image; type:
hdiutil /Volumes/External HDD/MacOSXUpdCombo10.4.10Intel.dmg
3) where was this mounted to? type:
df -h
mine was mounted to /Volumes/Mac OS X 10.4.10 Combo Update v1.1 (Intel)
4) install the new update
/Volumes/Internal\ HDD/usr/sbin/installer -pkg /Volumes/Mac\ OS\ X\ 10.4.10\ Combined\ Update...pkg -target /Volumes/Internal\ HDD
5) if this finished successfully, exit terminal
Utilities > Startup disk > Choose the internal HDD and hit restart a few times.

success!

That trick is commonly referred to as "reapplying the combo updater", and can often solve a problem that would otherwise be solved by an "archive and install". It fixes a variety of basic OS malfunctions because it reinstalls about 40% of the operating sytem and has good odds of overwriting the damaged file that is causing your problem. As you have found, sometimes you can't get far enough to run the installer. Your idea is not unique, there are a few other variations.

You can boot off an external hard drive that has the OS installed onto it. (you can use your restore CD to install an OS on an external hard drive "for just such an emergency", highly recommended) Then run the combo update and do it to the boot drive.

You can also boot your mac in firewire target mode, turning it into an external hard drive. Then boot up a good mac, cable them together, run the updater on the other mac, and select your mac's hard drive to install to.

It's also possible to boot a different mac in firewire target mode and treat it like an external hard drive, cable to your mac, and then boot your mac off the other mac's hard drive, like the first suggestion, but this can be confusing for some users to try.

right you are;
not much help though when its midnight and there's no damn firewire cables in the house! D'oh

I couldn't find any instructions on howto do a manual installation of a dmg from a command line when booting from the installation DVDs, thus the post

I hope it works out for others,
Mark

don't forget if you have an external isight camera you have a firewire cable.

handy buggers, small, I like small cables. Firewire cables can be like a coiled up garden hose in your bag otherwise.

Thanks for the solution. However, I am having a problem. Terminal seems to hang up at the point of install. It seems to not like the paranthesis in the path name. I am new to Unix terminal syntax, so I could be making a simple mistake. I have tried to browse the mounted image (in order to look for the pkg name), but terminal gives me the same error when using the ls command.

here is what i am typing (path names are what i found when using df -h) and the error that I receive:

type:

/Volumes/Macintosh\ HD -pkg /Volumes/Mac\ OS\ X\ 10.4.10\ Combined\ Update\ (Intel) -pkg - target /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD


error:

syntax error near unexpected token `('


I would love it if anyone could help me out here. I hope I am just making a simple error...

Thanks again for starting this thread.

Steve

You must "escape" a parenthesis the same way you "escape" a space, by putting a \ in front of it. So it should read:

/Volumes/Macintosh\ HD -pkg /Volumes/Mac\ OS\ X\ 10.4.10\ Combined\ Update\ \(Intel\) -pkg - target /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD

Bigggg Question here, all current files on the system will still be there right? or is this a fresh install of the whole system, because this just happened to me and i can't destroy the files on my computer

Re-applying the Combo Update, whether through the GUI (Finder) or the CLI (Single User Mode) should leave all user directory files untouched......in other words, if you haven't messed with how your computer stores things by default, all your data should be in a safe place during a system update.

Thanks alot for the info! Hopefully I'll get it fixed tonight, the Apple store is a longs way away

Hey I've come across another problem, I'm running the computer in firewire target mode, but when i try installing the new OSx update it says it can't be installed into this volume, any thoughts?