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

I formatted my Mac and reinstalled macOS, the solution I was hoping to frequent freezing (after about 30 minutes of normal use). To my terrible surprise, my Mac still froze. A hard shutdown and restart and here I am.


The log says this: "BAD MAGIC! (flag set in iBoot panic header), no macOS panic log available"


I'm at a loss. I haven't installed any software and it froze. A quick hardware diagnostics didn't find anything wrong with my hardware. This is a new 2018 MacBook Pro. It was working great until Catalina.


This is terrible. I place myself in the helpful hands of the internet in the hopes of solving this.

MacBook Pro 15”, macOS 10.15

Posted on Nov 5, 2019 6:04 PM

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Posted on Jan 12, 2020 9:51 AM

This question has already been answered in the thread, this bug has no regional limit.


What defines this kernel panic :

  • Recent hardware with T2 chip on MacOs Catalina (starts late 2018, includes new MBP16 & new MacPros) Some reported the same bug with a different name on HighSierra
  • Common triggers : sleep-wake mode + external devices connected (any device, from hub, to screens and hard drives)
  • Some have short burst of high temperature + maxxed fans + global freeze, right before sudden reboot
  • Non working fixes : Flashing T2 firmware / Changing unit or motherboard
  • Short lived fixes : SMC + PRAM reset / T2 security disabled / HD encrypting disabled
  • More solid fixes : Disable all HD & Screen sleep (energy saver panel) / Screen sleep via shortcut or hot corners works / Disconnect all external devices if you don't disable the energy saver mode while away
  • Note : passes the Apple Service hardware tests but is easy to reproduce once you are plagued with it and know how to trigger it
414 replies

Jan 28, 2020 10:58 PM in response to sea206

sea206 : I tried what you did and it worked for a few weeks, after that the kernel panics resumed as usual with external devices + sleep mode.


Test of the moment : another thing that seems to reduce crashes is to keep the fan at medium / high speed* to avoid the sudden flash overheating that happen always right before the "Bad Magic" reboot. (MBP users can feel it right above the touch bar when a crash happen, this zone is very hot and after reboot the CPU temp is around 100°, the unit is still unstable at this point)


* with the help of iStatMenus App



Jan 29, 2020 2:02 AM in response to Shreyas Ravindra

That's a good question and the answer is tied to the real world configuration of your office people computers, that thing, none of us here can check.


I worked with my unit (MBP15 2019) for 4 month everyday without any problem, how ? The devil is in the small details, i only used it traveling with just a mouse and a small external hard drive. After that time i used it as my main computer with 2 usb-c screens and a Lacie DAS, and then, only then all **** broke loose. If you read my past posts in this thread you know the rest of the story...


So if you want to answer your own question and have time, here is a quick check list of tests you can do :


  • Randomly select a couple of computers that have a T2 chip. It means they where built and sold after 2018.
  • Check those computers have MacOS Catalina (any version is ok)
  • Be sure to have at least 1 or 2 screens connected to it and another external usb-c device (hub or harddrive, something that draw power from the unit)
  • Let it have a normal day of work or at least some CPU action
  • Put it in sleep mode for the night (no power off) - screens must stay connected and will shut off automaticaly
  • Next morning, move a mouse or press a key : here you wake the unit and will propably have the dreaded reboot, let us know.


All parts of this test are mandatory if you want a thorough result. As far as i understand this bug, T2chip+Bridge and software power management are the culprit.

Jan 30, 2020 3:32 PM in response to Shreyas Ravindra

Shreyas, can you please check and share two things for me?


1) Make a list of your friends’ and your unit’s t2 chip hardware and software version (Go to terminal and type the following)

/usr/libexec/remotectl list

2) Any peripheral that you use specifically and different than others in your office.


Once again all of my own findings indicate this is a hardware issue. In the root of the cause lies the t2 chip, because never ever before had anyone tried to put a supervisor chip (t2 is ARM based) in between the data pipeline and the Intel chip which uses a completely different command set and language.

Feb 7, 2020 5:56 AM in response to pedro-ale

I do a lot of Apple repairs and the constant I keep seeing with this issue are Thunderbolt accessories like monitors and docking stations.


I keep finding personally that this issue relates to something with the thunderbolt 3 buses. Its not a logic board or graphic card issue as replacing them doesn't change the symptoms. It could be a software issue that releases to thunderbolt 3, but so far there has not been a good solve for it. If it was the T2 chip then turning off SIP and removing security restrictions should help ease this, which I also don't see resolving the symptoms. When I send in my BAD MAGIC crash log to apple I try to always add my computer specs, as well as my thunderbolt peripherals attached at the time, and I attach my email address in hopes the engineers reach out to actually try to solve this, but alas still no communication or resolve.

Feb 10, 2020 10:30 AM in response to ChrispyT

Just happened to me last night. 1st time (Only time-So far). My post is ^ 1 er 2 above your's.

Also a 2019 16" Macbook Pro.

I hope it's not as bad as this thread makes it sound :/ I don't seem to have as much trouble as others, yet anyway.

Maybe I'm being naive ??

...but I chatted with Apple last night. They had me do a SMC Re-set. The tech seemed to know what prob I was talking about right away....and was confident in the fix. Here's the instruction link >> https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201295

My only concern is this thread....if a permanent fix was as easy as that....why all the trouble ?

There's folks on here having to have their computers rebuilt ... maybe I'm being led down the primrose path ? I'm not sure ?

..but it hasn't happened to me again/since.

Nov 22, 2019 2:09 PM in response to VikingOSX

I would advocate that everyone screen capture the crash message after reboot, otherwise i'm not sure how to find history of the crashes. I also suspect the more people that report the issue the faster (if ever) apple will get RCA and fix/improvement ..etc out.


for what its worth, I've been going down that path, and it hasn't been a good example of apple care/support/experience. but keep your head up and keep pushing on them.


I made a genius bar appointment, had to be about five days out to get first available appointment that was at a location that was an apple store, since I guess they are busy with all the broken stuff sold to customers.


I checked in 10 minutes early. was told wait at a table. 25 minutes after my appointment start time I asked where I was in the queue. that seemed to get someones attention to go track down why I wasn't been helped.


eventually a tech came to meet with me. he was rude, imo, and talking to others while I was trying to answer his questions. He did not give me the impression that he was at all listening to the details of what I was telling him, just going through some motions. but maybe that not considered rude anymore.


he ran the fast hardware check (reboot holding the d key) with their tools ..etc didn't find anything he felt was meaningful. told me that we would wipe my machine and if it happens again call phone support. Also to call phone support to report the issue and any other issues I might be having. Once the reinstall of 10.15 start he left and told me someone else would be checking me out since he was leaving and there wasn't anything else he could do, but to call in or come back if the issue continues. He then went to go chat with the young women in the store who were looking at various items. He was still there when it finished.


I did call phone support, they are looking into it for me, however I'm not hopeful there. I can hardly hear the tech who calls me, his voice always sounding very faint and choppy. but at least he is calling me daily with 'I haven't heard back from engineering' updates thus far. I keep asking him when he expects to hear back and he keeps saying within another 24-48 hours, although it's been longer than that.


after going home and manually resetting up my computer (rather than migration assistant from an old one, or restoring of a timemachine backup since when i tried that it would just reboot in the middle of it without warning or error message) it still crashes with the same message. the same crash is not logged in console. which I tried to report to phone support, but i'm not sure they understand what i'm trying to explain. (e.g. that ALL crashes of the OS should get logged to the "console" app)


I went back to the apple store after I figured that phone support was a non-starter the next day. The young lady I suspect is the genuis bar manager recongsed me and was able to find me a tech although I didn't have an appointment since I think she was trying to make up for the last time. The new tech was far more helpful. She listened to my issue, made sure she understood the steps that had already been taken to dianose or fix it, ran a few more checks and then accepted my laptop to ship out for more in depth hardware analysis and repairs. She , IMO, is the only person in the whole process of 5 techs who appeared to me to take real ownership of the issue with me. She told me me what she thought were reasonable options and asked me which one I wanted to pursue. e.g. Rather than telling me that the next step was to wait for a call back, or to go back to phone support ..etc ..etc.


So despite my poor expedience I would recommend everyone who has this problem go in, reboot and hold down the d key till it reboots and runs the dianostics, assuming that clean, make a genuis bar appointment, and ask for the 90 minute hardware test see if anything comes up from that. have lots of screen shots of the crash message ..etc ..etc ..etc



best of luck everyone - will report back if they do or don't find anything with my machine.


(p.s. it may be note worthy to know that my 2014 MBP doesn't have this issue.)

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

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