Since installing Catalina yesterday, multiple crashes from userspace watchdog timeout

Now that the new M1 macs have the exact same issue maybe some thing will happen. I've seen 4 people now return there M1s because of the watchdog failure. If this is a hardware problem then Apple carried over to the new architecture. Its pretty clear that after a year and new hardware this is a software issue with Macos.

Exactly BradSP. I have no doubt that it’s all related to the OS ever since Catalina was released. I guarantee it’s not hardware related. If all of us downgraded our older AND newer machines to Mojave, the watchdog errors would mysteriously disappear.

Had this problem for almost a year, it would happen when I connected my LG C9 to imac2019 with vega48.

It was finally solved for me with latest security update for 10.15.7 and I can now use my thunderbolt double hdmi dongle without windowserver crashes.

My iMac is finally running as it should, hope that helps.

Best regards.

For me, the problems didn't start UNTIL I installed the latest Catalina Security update for 10.15.7. It was sporadic at first, then it occurred daily, now it's happened 6 times in the last hour. I've been all over the internet reading support threads at Apple and discussions elsewhere....Since this is also happening on the M1 Macs and Big Sur, Apple must surely understand this is a real issue, no?

My set up is quite complex as I'm running a recording studio with all kinds of hardware and multiple monitors connected to an iMacPro 10 core 64gb /4TB machine. Because of that, I do not expect Apple Support to be any help whatsoever; There are too many other things to point to. I don't know...could be legit, but the thing is: It was stable and operating near perfectly before this latest update. Now, I'm afraid to walk away from it for more than 10 minutes....

I know what you mean, I am also running Ableton with a lot of plugins, Rme Ucx, Elektron ARmkII with Overbridge, 7 Behringer analog synths for which I started using midi just to rule out IO overloading, on top of that I am doing video editing and color grading in Davinci Resolve with Micro Panel and animation in AE and Cinema 4d. Also I have TB Dual Hdmi output to LG C9 and old Apple Cinema display... lots of things that could go wrong...

What first helped was disconnecting C9, but I needed that display for clients so I found out that if I dont use hidpi settings it would work for longer... I tried everything but it would just beachball and restart after a min... I just refused to think its a hardware problem, because all this shouldn't be a problem, I am running Macs for the last 15 years and I know this should be capable computers.

I noticed lots of time it crashed while editing clips in Resolve that had Neat Video OFX plugin so I removed it. Haven't crashed since then so thats something to think about.

My main problem now is with its P3 display and color management problems for color critical work. Its a huge mess...

Some hopeful news on my front!

My crashes were coming like clockwork every 760 seconds or so. I want to restate: It was nothing like this before the last Catalina security update I installed a few days ago.

I started disconnecting items. Disconnecting my Drobo 5c made no difference. Disconnecting my external drive enclosure (OWC TB3 ThunderBay 8) made no difference. Disconnecting 2 of my 5 monitors by removing an OWC Thunderbolt 3 Mini Dock w/HDMI 2.0 made no difference. (I have worked with three monitors with this iMac from day one with no problems, but I recently added 2 more monitors in other parts of my studio for ergonomics.)

However, I have a UAD card in an external closure (Sonnet Echo Express SE1 Thunderbolt 3 Expansion Chassis). I removed that, and there have been NO crashes overnight!! I suspect this may be the issue as running the UAD card in the enclosure has mostly been set and forget, but there is the occasional unexplained “hiccup.” But again, nothing like constant crashing before the Apple Catalina security update the other day.

My game plan now is to begin reattaching things one at a time to test for stability. I am going to start with an update of the UAD software to the latest version and reattach the enclosure to see what happens. I really don’t want to have to walk away from my UAD plugins considering their utility and the investment!

Even if I get that to work, I’ll detach it and connect another piece solo to test. Once I’m sure which ones work ok in isolation, I’ll reattach those. (Well, at least I know what I’ll be doing most of Christmas Day!)

I don’t know if you have an analogous piece of equipment but, if you do, give it a hard look!

Best regards, George

Soooooo....

I downloaded the new UAD software and reattached the Sonnet echo express. No crash for over an hour. I then reconnected the OWC mini dock and two monitors. No crash for over an hour. I then reconnected the OWC Thunderbay 8...and all **** broke loose.

Near as I could figure at the time, it’s was coming down to one of two things: A particular drive in the Thunderbay appears to be problematic and may be causing an issue, OR the fact that the Sonnet and Thunderbay are daisy chained may be causing an issue. I decided that I would explore both options the next day and unplugged the Thunderbay leaving only the Sonnet box attached.

Everything was solid. I was just about to go to bed when suddenly the computer restarted. After 7.58 hours, the panic and crash happened. I shutdown the machine, restarted logged in...and a few minutes later it happened again.

The only thing connected or powered up is the Sonnet box. Why would that configuration have been stable for 8 hours then suddenly start being flaky? It makes NO SENSE.

I disconnected the sonnet box and rebooted and logged in to see if the iMac Pro could make it through the night by itself. It didn’t. So this isn’t about just connections to external gear. Apparently I could fix all of that, and it wouldn’t matter because with no external gear attached/powered on it will still re-boot.

I’ve owned Apple products since the early 90s. I sold Apple computers 20 years ago. Buddies accuse me of being a fanboy. But this is fast becoming my worst Apple experience to date.

Ok. Another update.

I replaced the problematic drive in the Thunderbay 8. I attached it back to the iMac. I also reattached my Drobo 5c so I could clone the content of the old drive on to the new one.

All of that proceeded without a hitch. So I decided to leave the set-up running to find out how long it would operate without a kernel panic.

Directly attached to the computer and operational is the Thunderbay 8 via TB3, a CalDigit TS3 Plus 15-Port TB3 Dock, a MOTU 1248 via TB2/TB3, an OWC TB3 dual HDMI mini Dock. There’s also a USB 3 hub and various USB devices (mostly synthesizers and modules) connected to the iMac. Essentially, the only thing NOT attached is the Sonnet Echo Express SE I.

So far this set up has remained up and operational with no reboots for over 12 hours.

I’ll leave the Sonnet box disconnected and see how long this lasts, but if it stays stable then my investment in UAD gear may be toast...

Hi everyone, I'm experiencing this since a few weeks with my 2020 iMac 27 - AMD Radeon Pro 5700 XT 16 Go.

Sound remains ok when glitches come, but the iMac completely freezes and I must restart (hard reboot)

NVRAM, PRAM, SMC done but nothing changes.

Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

I can repro reliably, Multiple crashes, I have external monitors

Turns out it was an SMC thing. Reset SMC and see if it continues to happen. I recently did this and it's been solid ever since.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201295

I'm having this problem too everytime I dont put the macbook to sleep manually (usb-c screen attached).

here's my crash log:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/251140242

Has anyone tried the below options of resetting system controls and nvram.

secondly does anyone know when a Catalina update will come out to fix this?

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/8237517