Level 2

257 points

iMac keeps crashing after Catalina upgrade

I have a 2019 iMac (Core i9, 64GB of RAM, Radeon Pro Vega 48, 2TB SSD) that I upgraded to Catalina. I thought everything was working fine until I stepped away from my computer for about half an hour and came back to the log in screen; upon logging in, it said my computer had restarted. Submitted the crash report to Apple. I thought it was a glitch. Kept working, then later on, same thing happened. Stepped away, and came back to the same thing. Submitted the crash report to Apple again. Then it happened again. And again. And again. Today, same thing; computer keeps crashing, over and over and over.

I've changed nothing in terms of hardware or software between yesterday and today (or since I set up this iMac a few months ago), except for upgrading to Catalina. Under Mojave, there were no issues.

If anyone has any idea how to resolve this, that would be greatly appreciated!

Below is one of the many, many crash reports, but they all look similar in terms of it seeming to be related to com.apple.WindowServer:

Crash log

iMac Line (2012 and Later)

Posted on Oct 8, 2019 5:53 PM

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drdaz

Level 1

4 points

Posted on Oct 12, 2019 9:25 AM

If you have the same issue as OP (the machine crashes reliably when you leave it alone for about 10 minutes, you probably have multiple external screens), I've made some progress. If your problem isn't like that (most of the comments here don't seem to be) YMMV, but I wouldn't expect this to help you.

The short version is, that I've made the crashes stop by deleting my Google accounts (and a weird looking null 'Contacts' account that was in the same list) from System Preferences | Internet Accounts. I'm currently re-adding my email addresses one by one to see if the crashing starts again. But there are thousands of mails to download, so it'll take a while before I can say whether that's safe.

I came to this conclusion by installing a fresh version of Catalina next to my main install. I couldn't reproduce the issue in the fresh install; no crashing. Then I gradually added apps and services one by one, leaving the machine alone for a while after each thing. If I came back and the session was still alive, I knew that app or service hadn't caused the problem. The crashing only started when I enabled my email accounts on that Preferences screen. Deleting them stopped the crashing (disabling them wasn't enough).

I hope this helps somebody out.

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1,351 replies

brian273

Level 1

9 points

Dec 10, 2019 2:54 PM in response to MacF

Now terrified of Apple updates! Will the update make my problems worse i.e. instead of annoying restarts, will it get bricked? It's a huge gamble!

Dec 10, 2019 3:46 PM in response to HighAttendance

Apple does not know we exist? I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.

What phone number do I call to open a ticket? I’ll do it tomorrow.

JasonJoo

Level 1

9 points

Dec 10, 2019 5:18 PM in response to mrbofus

Hi folks,

10.15.2 is available now and I will try it to verify if it has been resolved.

Dec 10, 2019 7:17 PM in response to michaelypes

What frustrates me is I have 2 Mac Pro 2013. Both are the same, one is working perfectly on Catalina the other not.

Why?

drdaz

Level 1

4 points

Dec 11, 2019 6:03 AM in response to JasonJoo

JasonJoo wrote:

Hope that they have added the dual display cards scenario into their test case library..........(joking? haha)

Test case library? 😂

JasonJoo

Level 1

9 points

Dec 11, 2019 6:29 AM in response to drdaz

Because it's such an easily reproduced issue......At first I can't believe it's not a developer preview but a release......

Oh days' struggling and doubting😰

drdaz

Level 1

4 points

Dec 11, 2019 7:10 AM in response to JasonJoo

No it's been working fine so far🤞🏼! 2019 15 inch MBP with Vega 20.

Have you tried doing a clean install?

Dec 11, 2019 9:13 AM in response to JasonJoo

Please Dear all,

Update Catalina to 10.15.2

Then lets observe

cfe

Level 1

8 points

Dec 11, 2019 12:32 PM in response to EmmanuelAdeyemi

Here breaking news for Catalina. Codeweaver now has broken into a new Windows crossover Software to run any Windows application on Catalina. Here the info https://www.codeweavers.com/store

drdaz

Level 1

4 points

Dec 14, 2019 5:07 AM in response to jrpmedia

jrpmedia wrote:

If this were a beta I would report it through the feedback app, but believe I cannot?

Nope, you can always make reports using the app.

Dec 14, 2019 5:50 PM in response to mrbofus

I downgraded to mojave and all freezing issues have stopped for me. Has anyone with freezing after sleep issue have luck with the new 10.15.2 update?

Dec 14, 2019 7:50 PM in response to dmott1

That’s the problem. The Catalina interface was amazing when working, but the freezing issue is a deal breaker for me. I’ve been really happy with the revert.

MacF

Level 1

4 points

Dec 15, 2019 2:18 AM in response to mrbofus

So 10.15.2 seemed to work without freezes for a week, until I used VLC and switched to the AMD. Within minutes the freeze/restart occurred. Monday I continue with the ticket @Apple Support.

Dec 16, 2019 3:23 AM in response to drdaz

It looks like the watchdog timeout has been extended from 90s to 120s, if I remember the earlier reports correctly.

Hardly a fix. Just wait longer with a stalled system before crashing.

dmott1

Level 1

4 points

Dec 16, 2019 8:01 AM in response to dmott1

I reverted back to Mojave and no sleep problems. Plus iTunes is back, so I got that going for me, which is nice.

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iMac keeps crashing after Catalina upgrade