Since installing Catalina yesterday, multiple crashes from userspace watchdog timeout

Since I installed Catalina yesterday, I have had around five crashes with the error:


panic(cpu 6 caller 0xffffff7f8879cad5): userspace watchdog timeout: no successful checkins from com.apple.WindowServer in 140 seconds


Any solutions. iMac Pro had been operating fine before update. Only apps running at the time were Chrome and TimeMachine backing up to a Drobo 5N2 (plus of course background apps like Google Backup and Sync, Dropbox, etc).

iMac Pro

Posted on Oct 8, 2019 9:20 AM

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Posted on Apr 14, 2020 1:23 AM

I solved! it was enough to start the PC and press cmd+R and keep it pressed until a screen appears to reinstall the operating system. I chose to reinstall it, and it was the correct choice, I have not lost any data, simply reinstalled the OS from the beginning. After 45 minutes the OS is back to 100% operational, it restarts and shuts down regularly, I don't tell you how happy I feel! try it too. i follow this instruction:

<< (Restart, while holding Command-R)

If you can, run Disk Utility, and try a Repair Disk.

If that completes with no problems found, Quit Disk Utility, which will return you to the recovery menu.

Then, you will likely want to Reinstall OS X. It will use your internet

connection to download the system, then will continue with the

reinstall. You won't lose your own files and apps, but the reinstall

will simply reinstall the system in place.

Assuming your boot drive is still good, that should fix your kernel panic issue. >>


Link: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/panic-cpu-2-caller-error.1961380/




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577 replies

Jan 16, 2020 3:17 AM in response to benM3

Did you do a restore with the new Pro? I was having these crashes and bought a new 16” and decided to try not restoring and used a usb-c data cable and transferred the files I needed and installed apps fresh. So far no crashing at all. So I wonder for those of you that bought a new laptop and have the crashes did you do a restore or start with a fresh os?

Jan 17, 2020 9:10 AM in response to gunsakimbo

Even registered for Beta software and found that 10.15.3 hasn't solved the problem. The only way I can stop the system from crashing is to select "Prevent computer from sleeping automatically when the display is off". This at least stops regular crashes, I do get the occasional issue following a reboot.


Apple, come on sort this please.

Jan 28, 2020 9:39 AM in response to guthrie66

Guthrie66, I know for a fact that this is not true. I was the originator of this thread which I started when Catalina first came out. Apple called and emailed me for more information. 10.15.1 fixed things for me. I have not crashed in months. 10.15.2 fixed things for others and the beta of 10.15.3 reportedly has fixed things for others.


My suspicion is that there are multiple processes that come alive during periods of inactivity that cause or trigger this class of problems. It never hurts to call Apple Support directly and it is also possible that since my problems went away (and they know this) that internally Apple has closed the issue.


But I can emphatically state that when I started this thread, Apple indeed was monitoring and took action.

Jan 31, 2020 1:17 AM in response to ProfessorScott

Am on 10.15.3, and the following has been the case on 10.15; 10.15.1; 10.15.2. I can stop the crashing in two ways.


  1. Set screen saver source to Catalina, it crashes. Enable in energy saver "Prevent computer from sleeping automatically when the display is off" crashes stop
  2. Change screen saver source to Landscapes and no crash


I have tried the terminal trick and makes no difference.


It is looking very much like it is a GPU, screen resolution, memory issue.


For reference I am on a Mac mini 2018 with 2 x LG 27" screens connected via Thunderbolt.

Mar 21, 2020 2:12 PM in response to andy_vzqz

All my Mac issues have disappeared after I downgraded to Mojave from Catalina. No hardware changes, mine is a late 2012 iMac and I had never had any peripherals other than external hard disk. It was crashing so bad I couldn’t get time machine to back up anything. Saved my important files onto the external drive and then followed the instructions on the macworld.uk site to download Mojave and create bootable installable on a flash drive and installed it and zero crashes in the last 24 hrs. It used to crash every 25 mins with Catalina.


[Edited by Moderator]

Apr 3, 2020 12:26 AM in response to Grobaouche

Same here.

I experienced lots of weird problems with my old macbook 15" with crashes every hour after I updated to 10.15.3 (combination of different things, there was the sleep issue, but also some other kernel panics (always "kernel userspace timeouts" but then different messages, sometimes talking about gpu, sometimes about disk), sometimes, just using Safari without any device plugged, however I did experience that when using extensive use of memory (working on big word documents), hard disk (time machine backups) and external displays (maybe linked to the "memory" issue), the probability of kernel panics was MUCH higher).

It was so terrible that I bought a new macbook pro 16" in February. Everything was fine UNTIL I updated to 10.15.4. From that moment on there was back the sleep panic. I tried different things, and it is 3-days now that I have not experienced new crashes. What I did and so far is working is changing the configuration of Notifications in System Preferences, in particular I TURNED ON "DO NOT DISTURB" in the checkboxes "When the display is sleeping", "When the screen is locked" and "When mirroring to TVs and projectors". Not sure if checking all 3 checkboxes is necessary, may be it will be enough to check the one about "when display is sleeping", but for now I want just a few days of productivity before further testing :)

Please, let me know if this also works in your case.

Jun 10, 2020 7:15 AM in response to Draisma

Ok, I have been able to resolve the issue:


First of all, when I detach my 4 LG 4K screens, the system does not cause to "panic" and the restart does not occur.

That is obviously not a solution, as I have these screens for a reason.


Step 1:

I have reset the SMC & the Pram (or whatever these things are called).


Step 2:

I have opened the Terminal application and have typed: "Caffeinate -u -d" as per suggestion of somebody above.


As long I don't close the Terminal application, the system does not "Panic" and doesn't restart.


I think it is quite klunky that a solution like this is necessary, but it works for me...

Jun 11, 2020 9:56 AM in response to SteppingHat

So this seems like a consistent problem w/o a real workaround besides either not using clamshell mode and two monitors simultaneously or only using one monitor with clamshell. There's a thread about it on Macrumors. I think this is an issue w/ Catalina as I can use clamshell and two monitors on my Mojave mac without issues. Has


https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/16-inch-mbp-10-15-4-crashing-2-displays-clamshell.2232755/

Jun 18, 2020 11:54 AM in response to Jim @ ttop

Thanks - looping a video "fixes" the issue. No more crashes. I'm running in Clamshell mode with one Dell 2K monitor with 10.15.5. Was rebooting / crashing with the userspace watchdog timeout. I had already unchecked "Enable Power Nap..." - that had improved things but was still getting crashes. I also have "Prevent computer from sleeping..." checked. All of the problems started to occur when I upgraded to Catalina - especially around 10.15.4. At least the crashing / reboot stopped for now.

Jul 4, 2020 1:24 PM in response to anony m ouse

anony m ouse wrote:
1. I have a MBP 16. I can reliably reproduce this crash like clock work in seconds.
...
All I have to do is setup a hot corner to sleep my mac and then go to that hot corner (or I can just wait for it to sleep based on a time out)
My MBP16 is connected to a CalDigit TS3+ dock exactly like the one apple sells in it's store. It has the Apple Magic Wireless Keyboard with Numeric Keypad attached as well as a Microsoft blue tooth mouse. It's connected to ethernet and a Dell 3008WFP monitor via DisplayPort. In this configuration it crashes every time the computer goes to sleep.

If you unplug everything, disconnect from your Bluetooth devices, can you still reproduce it by hitting the sleep hot corner?


I'm am just asking for experimental data.


If it is not reproducible when you remove everything, would you try adding in a single item and repeat the experiment, add another item, test, etc...


It might be interesting to identify a component that seems to trigger the event.


Obviously if it is reproducible with nothing connected and not Bluetooth devices, that says it is all macOS software (well I think it is all macOS software, but I'm interested in identifying any triggers; and it seems there are people that can have this happen, with no external devices, but this panic is defying user generated solutions).

This thread has been closed by the system or the community team. You may vote for any posts you find helpful, or search the Community for additional answers.

Since installing Catalina yesterday, multiple crashes from userspace watchdog timeout

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