"BAD MAGIC! (flag set in iBoot panic header)" — Catalina freezing all the time!

It's just such a weird problem... I'm going right now to return my machine even if it crashed just once. It just bugs me that I'm going to have to wait god knows how much time for apple to actually fix this with an update or replace the T2 chip... I'm seriously thinking about switching to windows.

My MacBook Pro 16 base model also have the "Bad Magic" crash at least once a day, sometime random crash even not doing anything nor connecting to any external drive. I had tried reset SMC / PRAM, disabled prevent hard disk sleep mode, turned off graphic card switching, none of them help stop the crash!

Last night I installed the macOS 10.15.3 beta, and when I booted into Windows 10 via Bootcamp, it crash and restart by itself suddenly when the machine was idle. Boot back in macOS and it shown "Bad magic"!

Now I am guessing, will that be caused by the Bootcamp Windows partition that not working well with the T2 chip / bridgeOS?

I am using another Macbook pro 16 at work, and it never crash, hang or acting weird like that, the only thing is this work machine doesn't use Bootcamp windows..

Apple store staff offer me to replace the logic board, but I don't think it will help.

Could someone from Apple could give us some feedback on this issue please?!

Well I notice between all my macOS based devices, the ones without a T2 chip are running Catalina fine.

That's why I was confident in my 2019 16" macbook purchase, but it seems to be unstable with the T2 chip. I also see this on others T2 based machines on Catalina.

Using apple care for the first time because of "BAD MAGIC!", I got to see how much background control apple has over the OS, with apple tech support sending me remote control notifications to my macbook etc during a call. Able to target my device etc.

The above statement makes me think the BAD MAGIC error could be somewhat related to apple performing background tasks, a precursor of things to come in relation to the T2 chip perhaps. I think this, because I am subscribed to a few forums including this one related to the BAD MAGIC error, and I notice whenever I sporadically suffer the error (after not experiencing it for a couple weeks), the forums I am subscribed to receive waves of new posts complaining of the error again.

It would be interesting to see the timings of the BAD MAGIC error, and if it is indeed triggered by remote actions, please stop lol.

FYI. My Macbook Pro 16" Bad Magic:ed about once a day when it was connected to two external HiDPI displays via Thrunderbolt. Now I have disconnected one of them and it has only Bad Magic:ed once in 10 days.

My money is on the problem being related to Thunderbolt and/or extra displays. I do however also have Parallels installed, but it has rarely been running then I got the Bad Magic.

If your macbook were to be older than 15 days, get ready for a customer “support” that is like a nightmare.

I am sure they are well aware of the issue. But the denial is what kills my trust in these products.

@orcoonx

i am grateful to the dutch customer support team who said just go for a replacement since it is a new machine. Yeah i know that after 15 days you are eligible for a refurbished device :-(. Before that you still get a new device.

Has anyone from this thread returned their computer for a new replacement only to have the same issue arise on the new computer? If its not a hardware issue, then not sure what an exact duplicate replacement would accomplish?

Well to be really honest I will know that in a few days from now. I am not going to settle for a crappy system since I paid €2000.

Now apple is not willing to accept that it is a problem with Catalina OS. They said it is a hardware problem and the new one shouldn’t have it. Also, in the thread I see that for everyone, this problem occurs at different times.

Most common being connecting external display. For me the problem occurs when I get into Netflix ! Sometimes Youtube. Otherwise it is perfect. Works fine.

when I called apple support they said they DO NOT HAVE A SINGLE CASE OF THIS IN THEIR DATABASE. I was surprised too. I really think the dutchman was lying 🤥

when I called the 2nd time they just said not worth solving over phone we offer you a replacement.

l will keep you guys posted. Don’t worry. If on the new macbook I don’t see it, then 100% is a hardware problem.

Also when you see the issue occur, the system would have restarted right. Just power off normally and power on again. Then frequency of reproduction reduces.

“We have no such case” is a coverup protocol that they are using, or else their share prices would drop drastically. Thinking shareholders are more important than customer satisfaction is the shortest way to failure of a company. But guess what? Even other Apple customers do not listen to you if they do not experience the BAD MAGIC problem.

This problem is there since 2018, units shipped with High Sierra before Mojave launch. ( It was called Bridge OS kernel crash) With Catalina name has changed to Bad Magic. I own an imac pro and a macbook pro (2018) I have been experiencing the issue since day one...

People including myself often times thought that the crashes were a one off issue, you say “ It will be patched in the next update” But unfortunately that never happened.

I am writing in ALL CAPS so EVERYONE notices. this:

“IF THEY COULD HAVE FIXED IT VIA SOFTWARE UPDATE, TWO MAJOR UPDATES PASSED. THEY WOULD HAVE DONE IT”.

ABOUT SOCIAL INFLUENCERS: (In short, cowards only talk if this hits the news)

Once you make money out of displaying these items, you become their sort of “employee”. I have contacted all big names. None of them even commented about the issue.

So far since disabling graphics card switching i have had no issues... going on three days now... and i have connected via 3rd part hub to a TV and a projector for work with no problems in this period.

I give up ... now that I have the 4th MacBook Pro 16 "device (three replacements) fully equipped.

That is not possible.

I tried a lot/everything... over several weeks = no chance that the MacBook Pro 16" works reliably in conjunction with an external Thunderbolt display (not Apple Thunderbolt Display and not Apple Pro Display XDR).

I keep my Apple Pro Display XDR and am currently operating it with 5K on my Mac Pro (Late 2013)... until Apple can deliver a working MacBook Pro 16".

=== German ==

Ich gebe auf... nachdem ich jetzt das 4. Gerät (dreimaliger Austausch) des MacBook Pro 16" in Vollausstattung habe.

Das geht so gar nicht.

Ich habe vieles/alles versucht... über etliche Wochen hinweg = keine Chance, dass das MacBook Pro 16" in Verbindung mit einem externen Thunderbolt Display (nicht Apple Thunderbolt und nicht Pro Display XDR) zuverlässig funktioniert.

Mein Pro Display XDR behalte ich und betreibe es derzeit mit 5K an meinem Mac Pro (Late 2013)… bis Apple ein funktionierendes MacBook Pro 16" liefern kann.

Another Update

Guys I just checked the laptops which are used at work. All of them are Macbook Pro 2019 models with Catalina OS. They are 15" variants.

None of those devices have a problem reported. I checked with all of my colleagues. They have never seen it happen. So I don't think this is a software problem. Also a lot of people have mentioned that they don't see it on work macbooks. So I am suspecting this as a BAD BATCH of productions. Nonetheless Apple should accept this fault.

It amazes me how many are affected by this.

I have a 2018 13" MBP. And, I also experienced the Bad Magic issue. Thankfully, after installing Catalina from scratch, the issue was resolved. In my own humble opinion, I think this issue goes far beyond what Apple can understand. I spoke to various support reps and none were able to help. In my case, it all started after upgrading to Catalina and using two HP monitors. When the monitors were unplugged, the MBP worked perfectly. Now, the MBP works fine with the two monitors plugged and left over night for days at a time.

Has anybody here EVER had this panic header message and freezing with a Mac computer in standalone mode? Meaning - no other device plugged in? Because I have freezes and shutdowns very regularly and I had major very (!!!!!!) time-consuming issues about one year ago... It never was completely solved. Though: I also never had any issues with my MacBook alone. It was ALWAYS (no exception!) when I had my external display and several other devices such as hard drives, printers and card readers et cetera pluged in (via powered TH3-Hub or direct - this seems not to make any difference).

Therefore: I know that my mac will freeze/crash almost everytime I want to wake it up from standby mode if these devices are still connected. Though I have not found (nor do I really search any longer) a solution. I just decided to live with it - since my Mac otherwise works just perfectly... It's not really fun - but I don't know any better alternatives (definitely not switching back to MS products).