If Zoom is crashing your Mac

Yes, an external webcam fixes it for me, as described just above on page 7 of this thread-- it's better to read backwards to get the latest info rather than responding to the original post.

Thx

There is no fix as of yet. The only work-around is to use a USB camera. Using the MacBook camera will cause the crash, even with most recent OS updates.

For me the problem was solved when I upgraded to macOS Catalina.

Its already known that an external web cam will work but its absolutely unacceptable that this issue is a month old and I have to tell my attorneys to use a $20 clip on webcam to make their $3000 MacBook pro work for web conferences. We are a virtual law firm and use Zoom a lot and to have to outfit 50+ laptops because of a kernal panic that Apple could fix with a supplemental update is ludicrous.

Apple just now released a supplemental update for 10.14.6 which is supposed to fix sleeping Mac's that crash and other things. Installing it right now, will report in a couple of days if it fixed the issue for me.

After installation: macOS 10.14.6, Build 18G95, T2 firmware was updated to 16P6571, Boot ROM stayed at 220.270.99.0.0.

We already did a full wipe and re-install on an affected 2018 a few weeks ago, but to humor your Apple support person's suggestion, today I rebooted into Recovery mode and reinstalled Mojave (an "in-place" reinstall as suggested), and it crashes just like before after an additional restart. It didn't crash in 2-3 minutes with the first test post-reinstall, but I remembered a previous trial worked once but then not after a restart, so I restarted it, logged in, and joined the Zoom meeting again, froze and restarted within 30 seconds, exactly like before.

Can anyone else with a repeatable crash in Zoom try plugging in an external webcam as I mentioned above and joining a meeting, but still just using the the built-in Facetime camera? As I described, that was the most odd thing about this: I didn't even have to utilize the external webcam, just having it plugged in seemed to "fix" the crash issue. I suppose it might do the same for those using Facetime, etc. I would love to hear your results.

Thanks

There is another thread were people reported the same issue: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/250524925

I've exactly the same kernel panic mentioned in that thread. Many people is experiencing the same issue: after a Mojave update Zoom and other video call system crashes (note system crash != app crash, a system crash is caused by a kernel issue and it could be because of a kext).

If the stack trace in the kernel panic log is the same, the chances are that the problem cause is the same.

I was able to reproduce the problem consistently (in my case I don't use FaceTime, but Zoom and Hangouts): create a Hangouts or Zoom video call, keep your camera one. Keep connected to the call for a time (it could be 10min or more). The system crashes.

Think that probably causes are the same, but I agree with you that these discussion threads probably doesn't reach the right people.

I've been tracking this and of our 144 MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2018) in my org, 11 of them are confirmed to have these exact same issues. They crash constantly in Slack video calls, WebEx video calls and even FaceTime. They are all on the latest build of 10.14.6 (18G95) and on Boot ROM 220.270.99.0.0 (iBridge: 16.16.6571.0.0,0).

This issue is definitely specific to T2 chip enabled Macs.

I tried finding some kind of commonality among the 11 known cases and they were all purchased from CDW within 3 months of each other... That being said, I am typing this up from my MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2018) which was also purchased around then and has had zero freeze ups or crashes so, there has yet to be any real rhyme or reason as to why it is crashing.

If anyone else has any insight of things to look for between a known good unit and a known bad unit, I am all ears because I'd LOVE to get to the bottom of this and file an enterprise bug to get this patched.

I think this is actually something wrong with your Mac as the issue users in this thread are facing correlates to macOS and BridgeOS which is part of the T2 chip found in 2018+ models not communicating properly when the camera is called for use thus triggering a kernel panic.

Hi. I experience the same as described above and I have tried to create a new user on my Macbook Pro 15 (2019) and it still crashes (I have also tried to reset about everything Apple Support told me to without luck. Even tried to reinstall without luck). Apple then asked me to use the Activity monitor app to do a system diagnostics. I did it and sent them the file that was created. They sent the file to their engineers and the support consultant got back to me about a week later by phone. He said that the issue is not a hardware problem, but a software problem - and that I just have to wait for a fix to come (he could not give a time line). Later I have asked if they can give me the description of the issue in writing, but they say they cannot do that. I have asked why they can´t tell and I still haven´t got an answer on that.

This happened to me yesterday too. It's exactly like others have described.

Using an app (any app, including Apple's apps) with the built in webcam on my MBP (15-in 2018 model, purchased only a few months ago refurbished) - causes a freeze within a few minutes, then the laptop powers off and restarts without warning (a kernel panic). This is preventing me from joining via webcam to video conferences (I'm a remote trainer, so my life revolves around video conferences).

This is not a third-party issue, it's a MacOS issue as it's happening across apps.

I can't believe a bug of this size got past QA, absolutely appalling and irresponsible on Apple's front.

I have found a workaround in the meantime - plugging in my USB mouse (Microsoft standard USB bluetooth mouse with an adaptor for the USB-C on my MBP) seems to keep the system stable and not cause a crash. while using my webcam in Zoom (going on 34 minutes now, before it was crashing within a few minutes).

Hopefully this gets fixed soon...

This issue has been raised with Apples engineers by Zooms team and Apple is working on a supplemental update to address the issues. ETA is Unknown at this time.

Recent update fixed the issue for me 100%. Not a single kernel panic since the update to build 18G95 even while doing long video-chats.

Same here. I've experienced the problem with FaceTime calls since the Mojave 10.14.6 update. The system freezes at random, e.g. it may not happen during a short (2 minute) FaceTime call. Shortly after the system freezes, the fans start spinning fast and the computer restarts.

I doubt this is a hardware issue since the system worked flawlessly prior to the update. Also, Apple Diagnostics did not detect any issues. The camera itself seems to be working well, i.e. the FaceTime video quality is great.