Mysterious kernel panic crashes

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Level 1

19 points

Mysterious kernel panic crashes

My Mac will take two to four days to freak out. When it does, Activity Monitor shows a spike in CPU usage, even if no apps are running.

Here's the latest.

Thoughts?

THANKS

(for a reason that makes no sense, this site won't let me post the 9,000 character kernel dump, so I had to post it as a page on my blog at https://www.seths.blog/kernel-panic

thanks

MacBook (Starting Late 2009)

Posted on Jan 2, 2019 10:57 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Grant Bennet-Alder

Level 10

140,843 points

Jan 2, 2019 11:10 AM in response to sethgodin

kernel panic, page fault (a reference to memory the current task does not own, or reference to a 'crazy' address)

kernel extensions present at the 'scene of the crime':

Kernel Extensions in backtrace:

com.apple.driver.usb.AppleUSBCommon(1.0)[...]

com.apple.iokit.IOUSBHostFamily(1.2)[...]

dependency: com.apple.driver.AppleBusPowerController(1.0)[...]

dependency: com.apple.driver.usb.AppleUSBCommon(1.0)[...]

BSD process name corresponding to current thread: kernel_task

So maybe a USB device? quite a few are listed:

USB Device: USB 3.0 Bus

USB Device: Internal Memory Card Reader

USB Device: USB3.0 Hub

USB Device: Drive Dock

USB Device: Drive Dock Bay 1

USB Device: Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad

USB Device: BRCM20702 Hub

USB Device: Bluetooth USB Host Controller

USB Device: USB2.0 Hub

USB Device: AudioQuest DragonFly Red v1.0

USB Device: Kensington USB/PS2 Orbit

USB Device: ORTEK KH12 USB Hub

USB Device: USB Hub/Keyboard

USB Device: Drive Dock

¿are any of these devices acting up in any way?

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Answer 2

Jan 2, 2019 11:24 AM in response to sethgodin

if you are up to it, older reports are stored at:

/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports

To reach that directory, copy the string above and paste into:

Finder > Go Menu > Go to Folder

The important reports have date&time and end in .panic

Please do not paste more than 20 lines of any other kind of report-- the information they contain is for the developer to debug right on your Mac and is not otherwise helpful (but certainly is voluminous).

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Answer 3

Jan 2, 2019 11:27 AM in response to sethgodin

If you prefer something a bit more "automatic" a little "discovery" Utility called etrecheck is available, and if run as an Admin, will look at all sorts of things, then towards the end, will summarize the last 7 days worth of panic reports:

Using EtreCheck - Apple Community

.

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Answer 4

sethgodin Author

Level 1

19 points

Jan 2, 2019 2:03 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

reinstall dropbox

get off the current SSD

with my new mac, walk away from all existing installed software (oy!) and just port the data

I've got software that's 25 years old... cruft.

that's the plan.

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Answer 5

sethgodin Author

Level 1

19 points

Jan 2, 2019 11:11 AM in response to sethgodin

Here's the Kernel text

Thanks to an alert poster, I discovered that there's a secret button down below, unexplained and unhelpful, that allows posting of the longer text.

There is, as above. Or you can visit my blog post.

Is it just me, or does Apple keep getting more difficult...

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Answer 6

sethgodin Author

Level 1

19 points

Jan 2, 2019 11:13 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

thank you! This is really quick, and I appreciate the generous reply.

There's only one USB hub, not three or four, I'm not sure why they're listed.

I switched it out and replaced it with a Thunderbolt hub, and get the same crash.

The thing is, because it takes two or three DAYS for it to crash, it's really hard to troubleshoot.

The only things hooked into the hubs are pretty normal. Keyboard, mouse, hard drive, DAC,...

I'm open to thoughts on what to try.

thanks

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Answer 7

Jan 2, 2019 11:17 AM in response to sethgodin

Is it just me, or does Apple keep getting more difficult...

computers keep getting more complex, and Apple along with them.

The original Mac had a whopping 128K of RAM and ran its complete OS off one single-sided floppy disk drive.

A Mac that does not have at least 6GBytes of RAM today will operate too slowly for comfort. MacOS takes up 30GB and contains over 350,000 files. Without at least 9GB of free space on the boot drive, your Mac will lock up.

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Answer 8

sethgodin Author

Level 1

19 points

Jan 2, 2019 11:21 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

thanks Grant

Guy Kawasaki handed me a Mac in 1983, and I was one of the first beta testers for ReadySetGo. Long strange trip indeed.

What I meant wasn't that they're way more complex, I meant that it felt un-Applelike get a curt warning in red that my post was too long, with no hint that there was a simple way to post the code.

And what I meant was that computers are now smart enough that the software itself ought to be explaining to me what's causing the crash, or at least giving me some really good hints.

Fortunately, there are smart folks like you.

But, alas, I still don't know my next steps.

Thanks

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