How can read an OS X crash report that has panic and Kernel trap in it?

I have macbook model 2009 that is crashing. I dont' understnad why is this happening

Sun Jul  7 00:28:01 2013
panic(cpu 0 caller 0xffffff80084b8655): Kernel trap at 0xffffff8008462af0, type 13=general protection, registers:
CR0: 0x0000000080010033, CR2: 0x000000011cad0160, CR3: 0x000000006116f000, CR4: 0x0000000000000660
RAX: 0x0000000000000014, RBX: 0xffffff800eabe6c8, RCX: 0xf7ffff801f1abc40, RDX: 0x0000000000000821
RSP: 0xffffff80e8fcbda0, RBP: 0xffffff80e8fcbf20, RSI: 0x00000000030bf000, RDI: 0xffffff801f1abc40
R8:  0xffffff80e8fcbee0, R9:  0xffffff80e8fcbed0, R10: 0x0000000000001002, R11: 0x0000000120254000
R12: 0x0000000040000800, R13: 0xffffff801f1abc40, R14: 0x00000000030bf000, R15: 0xffffff800eabe704
RFL: 0x0000000000010246, RIP: 0xffffff8008462af0, CS:  0x0000000000000008, SS:  0x0000000000000000
Fault CR2: 0x000000011cad0160, Error code: 0x0000000000000000, Fault CPU: 0x0

Backtrace (CPU 0), Frame : Return Address
0xffffff80e8fcba40 : 0xffffff800841d626 
0xffffff80e8fcbab0 : 0xffffff80084b8655 
0xffffff80e8fcbc80 : 0xffffff80084ce17d 
0xffffff80e8fcbca0 : 0xffffff8008462af0 
0xffffff80e8fcbf20 : 0xffffff80084b8aa0 
0xffffff80e8fcbfb0 : 0xffffff80084ce0a1 

BSD process name corresponding to current thread: mdworker

Mac OS version:
12E55

Kernel version:
Darwin Kernel Version 12.4.0: Wed May  1 17:57:12 PDT 2013; root:xnu-2050.24.15~1/RELEASE_X86_64
Kernel UUID: 896CB1E3-AB79-3DF1-B595-549DFFDF3D36
Kernel slide:     0x0000000008200000
Kernel text base: 0xffffff8008400000
System model name: MacBook6,1 (Mac-F22C8AC8)

System uptime in nanoseconds: 505020014105
last loaded kext at 282811440391: com.apple.filesystems.msdosfs 1.8.1 (addr 0xffffff7f8a3ec000, size 65536)
last unloaded kext at 466200391898: com.apple.filesystems.msdosfs   1.8.1 (addr 0xffffff7f8a3ec000, size 57344)
loaded kexts:
com.apple.driver.AppleHWSensor  1.9.5d0
com.apple.driver.AudioAUUC  1.60
com.apple.iokit.IOBluetoothSerialManager    4.1.4f2
com.apple.iokit.IOUserEthernet  1.0.0d1
com.apple.driver.AppleUpstreamUserClient    3.5.10
com.apple.driver.AGPM   100.12.87
com.apple.driver.AppleMikeyHIDDriver    122
com.apple.GeForce   8.1.2
com.apple.driver.AppleHDA   2.3.7fc4
com.apple.Dont_Steal_Mac_OS_X   7.0.0
com.apple.driver.AppleMikeyDriver   2.3.7fc4
com.apple.driver.AppleBacklight 170.2.5
com.apple.nvenet    2.0.19
com.apple.iokit.BroadcomBluetoothHCIControllerUSBTransport  4.1.4f2
com.apple.driver.ApplePolicyControl 3.4.5
com.apple.driver.AirPort.Brcm4331   615.20.17
com.apple.driver.ACPI_SMC_PlatformPlugin    1.0.0
com.apple.driver.AppleLPC   1.6.0
com.apple.driver.AppleMCCSControl   1.1.11
com.apple.driver.SMCMotionSensor    3.0.3d1
com.apple.filesystems.autofs    3.0
com.apple.driver.AppleUSBTCButtons  237.1
com.apple.driver.AppleUSBTCKeyboard 237.1
com.apple.AppleFSCompression.AppleFSCompressionTypeDataless 1.0.0d1
com.apple.AppleFSCompression.AppleFSCompressionTypeZlib 1.0.0d1
com.apple.BootCache 34
com.apple.iokit.SCSITaskUserClient  3.5.5
com.apple.driver.XsanFilter 404
com.apple.iokit.IOAHCIBlockStorage  2.3.1
com.apple.driver.AppleUSBHub    5.5.5
com.apple.driver.AppleSmartBatteryManager   161.0.0
com.apple.driver.AppleAHCIPort  2.5.2
com.apple.driver.AppleUSBEHCI   5.5.0
com.apple.driver.AppleUSBOHCI   5.2.5
com.apple.driver.AppleEFINVRAM  1.7
com.apple.driver.AppleRTC   1.5
com.apple.driver.AppleHPET  1.8
com.apple.driver.AppleACPIButtons   1.7
com.apple.driver.AppleSMBIOS    1.9
com.apple.driver.AppleACPIEC    1.7
com.apple.driver.AppleAPIC  1.6
com.apple.driver.AppleIntelCPUPowerManagementClient 196.0.0
com.apple.nke.applicationfirewall   4.0.39
com.apple.security.quarantine   2.1
com.apple.driver.AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement   196.0.0
com.apple.iokit.IOSerialFamily  10.0.6
com.apple.iokit.IOSurface   86.0.4
com.apple.nvidia.nv50hal    8.1.2
com.apple.NVDAResman    8.1.2
com.apple.driver.DspFuncLib 2.3.7fc4
com.apple.iokit.IOAudioFamily   1.8.9fc11
com.apple.kext.OSvKernDSPLib    1.6
com.apple.iokit.IOBluetoothFamily   4.1.4f2
com.apple.driver.AppleBacklightExpert   1.0.4
com.apple.iokit.AppleBluetoothHCIControllerUSBTransport 4.1.4f2
com.apple.driver.AppleHDAController 2.3.7fc4
com.apple.iokit.IOHDAFamily 2.3.7fc4
com.apple.driver.AppleGraphicsControl   3.4.5
com.apple.iokit.IONDRVSupport   2.3.7
com.apple.iokit.IO80211Family   530.4
com.apple.iokit.IONetworkingFamily  3.0
com.apple.driver.NVSMU  2.2.9
com.apple.driver.IOPlatformPluginLegacy 1.0.0
com.apple.driver.AppleSMBusPCI  1.0.11d0
com.apple.driver.IOPlatformPluginFamily 5.3.0d51
com.apple.driver.AppleSMBusController   1.0.11d0
com.apple.iokit.IOGraphicsFamily    2.3.7
com.apple.driver.AppleSMC   3.1.4d2
com.apple.kext.triggers 1.0
com.apple.driver.AppleUSBMultitouch 237.3
com.apple.iokit.IOUSBHIDDriver  5.2.5
com.apple.driver.AppleUSBMergeNub   5.5.5
com.apple.driver.AppleUSBComposite  5.2.5
com.apple.iokit.IOSCSIMultimediaCommandsDevice  3.5.5
com.apple.iokit.IOBDStorageFamily   1.7
com.apple.iokit.IODVDStorageFamily  1.7.1
com.apple.iokit.IOCDStorageFamily   1.7.1
com.apple.iokit.IOAHCISerialATAPI   2.5.1
com.apple.iokit.IOSCSIArchitectureModelFamily   3.5.5
com.apple.iokit.IOUSBUserClient 5.5.5
com.apple.iokit.IOAHCIFamily    2.3.1
com.apple.iokit.IOUSBFamily 5.6.0
com.apple.driver.AppleEFIRuntime    1.7
com.apple.iokit.IOHIDFamily 1.8.1
com.apple.iokit.IOSMBusFamily   1.1
com.apple.security.sandbox  220.3
com.apple.kext.AppleMatch   1.0.0d1
com.apple.security.TMSafetyNet  7
com.apple.driver.DiskImages 345
com.apple.iokit.IOStorageFamily 1.8
com.apple.driver.AppleKeyStore  28.21
com.apple.driver.AppleACPIPlatform  1.7
com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily 2.7.3
com.apple.iokit.IOACPIFamily    1.4
com.apple.kec.corecrypto    1.0

What is going on with this report?

Solution 1:

The why is quite simple from a high level detail. The kernel is dumping a bunch of diagnostics since one of the hundreds of processes that run all the time had a hiccup and the system couldn't tell you anything more helpful.

It's easy to have a language where you can describe nonsense or illogical ideas. Computers are math based, so if you tell them to divide 5 things by 0 an error arrives. Unless the programmer has considered that this error could happen and writes code to handle those exact errors, the kernel is the last line of defense and it has told you it's giving up and dumping information an engineer might be able to use to debug the problem.

If I was that engineer, I would notice that spotlight's mdworker process might have been the last one in the vicinity where the crash was logged and that the last change to the kernel was unloading MSDOS extension, so I would ask you if you have any PC drives connected or ejecting and if this crash was actually within 8 minutes (505 seconds) from the time the Mac was started.

Another high level analogy is if your car stalls, try starting it up again. Only if it's stalling in a repeated way or you have other needs (like you're driving the president around) would you try to fix it yourself or hire a team of engineers to know what to do. In your case, we would need to know a lot about what you have connected to the Mac, if you can boot from a clean install of the OS, if you have expertise or time to troubleshoot this or if you just want assurance on what to do next.

From a user level perspective, here are tips you can take to know how to handle them:

• OS X: About kernel panics - http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3742

Feel free to ask a follow on question if you have more context to this one panic dump or have questions how to use the article above to solve your dilemma.

We also have a few threads that might help you narrow down some options:

• OS X Mountain Lion - Kernel Panic and Restart after Sleep
• How to debug and solve an OS X 10.8 kernel panic which appears quite often, sometimes twice a day?
• computer sleeps, then crashes later