Since installing Catalina yesterday, multiple crashes from userspace watchdog timeout

This problem only started for me with 10.15.4 beta. 10.15.4 final release as of yesterday did not solve the problem. Getting this crash a couple of times a day. Will read the whole thread and see if I can avoid it but if not will go back to Mojave.

Yes, it seems to me the problem is solved too. I haven't been able to spot the error for days.

Also I have helped myself before with QuickTime and terminal window. Doesn't seem to be necessary anymore.

Mein System:

iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2015)

4 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7

16 GB 1867 Mhz DDR3

AMD Radeeon R9 M395 2 GB

Second Monitor - Erazer 32 Zoll UHD per HDMI

I am getting the same crashing since I updated to catalina 10.15.4.

I never had an issue before with the previous catalina version.

Incredible you cannot downgrade to last installed version. This happens so often ( a version update messes up the computer), since forever it seems, every other time they release an update..., you'd think the option to downgrade to the previous version would be something that would be available already!!!!

"follow the advice of taking three backups on two different methods.

Upgrade, then test, then decide to either carry on or roll back. "

Sorry, don't really understand...

I know there's a way, its just not very easy to do at all.

Is there a way to install the previous version of catalina?

I was having the issue with my MacBook Pro 15’ 2019. Never used any external monitor.

The problem stopped when I switched to a MacBook Pro 16’.

Since 10.15.4 it happens now on my MacBook Pro 16’ for the first time, and impossible to understand what is causing it at the moment.

Can't fully agree with your rant. For the mobile devices Apple supports them longer than the rest of the industry. I have an iPad 2 (from 2012) at home that still has a value (but an old iOS) and the battery still works fine. iPad Air 2 from 2014 still works well and supports the latest iOS.

The smaller phone batteries gets worn out quicker, but that isn't something specific to Apple products. The batteries in the iPhones and iPads has never been user serviceable, but it's not a too big cost to let Apple or a service provider do it. It's also safer since the batteries in those devices is really crammed in there – accidentally puncturing a lithium battery isn't a good thing. :-/

True that Apple moves on pretty quickly when it comes to support for operating systems on the computers, but at the same time I can understand it – focus on technological progress. Being able to run Catalina on a MacBook Pro from 2012 (eight years old) I don't think is bad. The older computers you have could be used for Windows or Linux – they aren't useless. :) And I have a Mac Pro from 2010 which I still think is great. It also runs Catalina (although not supported).

Do agree software should in some cases be more stable since Apple are behind both the hardware and the software… But I do think bugs like the one in this thread will get fixed. 10.15.5 is in beta. Let's see what it brings.

Can also add I've been having stability issues in Windows 10 with my AMD graphics card, so it's not always that the grass is greener in the other side…

Agree about the 8 year old macbook pro.

I never had a windows laptop last more than 2 or 3 years anyway let alone run latest windows after 8 years.

The only mbp I broke was by running windows 7 in bootcamp and fried the GPU. Cant blame Apple for that. Even then I sold the carcase for more than many windows laptops can be bought for.

Many Samsung phones now have glued up bodies.

Apart from the T2 chips problem which now has an Apple Support article on refreshing, many many problems were caused by no longer supported peripherals or software not updated by the third party developers.

This has been an unfortunate period and Apple will come out of it stronger and more cautious I am confident.

So 36 Hours after the upgrade from 10.15.3 to 10.15.4 and struggling to make the Mac Pro (iBin) useful again. I was getting a crash every day or so with 10.1.5.3. Seen three since upgrading yesterday. Which is still better than the every hour I was seeing after initial Catalina upgrade!

Problem isn't only when in power save etc which other users are reporting. I always have something running and the machine never sleeps. Normally video rendering jobs, so even if screen is asleep disk/cpu/network/etc are all very much awake.

Given that 10.15.4 is the recent update I think I'm going to go try the Beta of 10.15.5 as we probably have another month or so before the next release.

"...I'm going to go try the Beta of 10.15.5 as we probably have another month or so before the next release...."

Fine, but use the Feedback Assistant for test results as per your NDA, not this or any other public forum, as beta versions equate neither to previous nor subsequent full releases.

If 10.15.5 beta was identical to final 10.15.5 then there would be no point in testing it.

I've been having this issue since October last year when I got my most expensive Macbook Pro 16' 2019. Been through multiple system patches - 10.15.2, 10.15.3, 10.15.4 - still waiting for Apple to get this problem fixed. I tried to reply this page or another one has similar issue reported and got deleted for various reasons.

I am wondering now if Apple is going to fix this or not.

16" MBP 10.15.4. So I no longer crash on wake from sleep with external monitors. Progress! However, I'll come into the room while the laptop is asleep attached to monitors and the fan is blasting and pouring out heat as if it were rendering a video.

Back to using Amphetamine so I don't burn out the computer

Doing all I describe in my previous message does nothing. The iMac demonstrates kernel panics even in Safe Mode or Recovery Mode.

I eliminated the USB drive from the equation by trying the same tar (or restic) operation of the Pictures folder, and still after a few hours - again EVEN IN RECOVERY MODE through the terminal - the kernel panic occurs with the same message.

I have now reinstalled the OS within Recovery Mode (Command-R, so still just Catalina) and I'm trying my backup again so I can downgrade to a different Mac OS release (which requires a total wipe of the drive, which is the reason I must get the backup to work first).

I picked up a late 2013 MacPro for a good deal, and I guess I know why now too..

I'm constantly getting these "no successful checkins from com.apple.WindowServer" crashes. I first thought it was me pushing the GPU too hard as after one of these I opened up the cylinder and it was insanely hot. I installed Macs Fan Control and set the thing to 100% fan which sure helped with the temperature, but the crashes still happen. It doesn't matter if I'm simply using a browser, staring at the desktop or even loading Kerbal Space Program it'll crash out hard.

Is this some Catalina thing? I'm already missing 32bit applications, did other things break hopelessly in this release??

This is anything but a “little inconvenience.” My iMac has been made so unstable by Catalina that it is completely unusable. I can’t do anything on it. It is totally unresponsive to user input and then panics. Don’t give me the hardware excuses either as it was rock solid in Mojave (I rebooted it about once every 3-4 months) and it still is totally stable in Windows 10 and Linux. This is a complete and total fail by Apple. They need to own it, apologize for it, and fix it! This reminds me of the first time I left Apple because of a horrible OS build (system 9). Please don’t make me go back to the dark side, Apple. But if your OS makes my computer a paperweight, do O have any choice?

Similar experience here. I run four machines;

• Macbook (On Catalina and behaving itself)
• Macbook Pro (Still on Mojave and still behaving itself)
• Mac Mini (Still on Mojave and still behaving itself. Although HD running very very slow for some reason I've not determined yet)

unfortunately my main workhorse is

• Mac Pro (iBin) which was upgraded to Catalina last year

The Mac Pro also initially saw the reluctance to come out of sleep. As you say, stop it sleeping and problem avoided. Now I just see the Windows Server / Display hanging issue. Which dropped to a couple of times a day and now seems to becoming more frequent with the latest updates.

It doesn't appear to be CPU load related (For example I can run video encodes in Handbrake no problem). Similarly moving large files across a GB network hasn't caused an issue.

I'd love to see something back from Apple on this. Anything. As you say bugs happen. Happy to test solutions / participate in tracking the issue down and discovering the poisoned recipe.

I've swapped screens, USB devices, clean reinstall ... starting to run out of possibilities to fiddle with.

Thought for a moment I'd spotted a pattern trying to work this morning (As per previous message, mail/safari/excel all day so far). As I'd experienced crashing at 35-45 mins consistently. However as I type this I reach 60 mins uptime. So another theory gone.

I could really do with a hardware upgrade but with people reporting similar issues on new kit there's no way I can throw £/$/€6k + without some confidence it'll work.