Imac Pro Catalina Issues

Question

Level 1

11 points

Imac Pro Catalina Issues

After Catalina, my Imac Pro:

Will not shut down when "Shutdown" is selected (have to use power button on back)
Shuts down when "Sleep" is selected (intermittently)
The top menu bar takes minutes to show up on startup
Locks up when Restart is selected (Have to use power button on back)
"About this mac", "System Report" is completely blank in some areas
Mail locks up (will not close even with force quit)

I am assuming that these are generic issues in Catalina and are being worked on for a future update. Can anyone confirm that is the case? If so, I will wait for the fixes. If not, could use some help/advice.

Posted on Nov 29, 2019 2:40 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Best reply

John Galt

Level 10

141,228 points

Dec 4, 2019 5:27 PM in response to VARanger1

A Kernel Panic is usually caused by hardware: incompatible / defective, including the software drivers used for them. Are any external devices connected to that Mac, other than the usual input devices (keyboard and trackpad)?

If your Mac restarted because of a problem - Apple Support

Sending the report to Apple is useful but you won't hear anything back from them. If they determine the KP is something they can fix with a macOS update, they will. Otherwise you should Contact Support and tell them about it.

Reply

Answer 2

John Galt

Level 10

141,228 points

Nov 30, 2019 5:54 PM in response to VARanger1

None of those symptoms are normal, or tolerable.

Please determine if the same problems occur in "Safe Mode": Use safe mode to isolate issues with your Mac. Then, reboot normally and determine if they continue to occur.

Reply

Answer 3

John Galt

Level 10

141,228 points

Dec 1, 2019 12:32 PM in response to VARanger1

Booting "Safe Mode" performs a few cursory tasks that are not performed by rebooting normally. The Support document describes them. It has been known to fix problems such as you describe.

The SMC Reset you performed was also justified for some of those problems.

Reply

Answer 4

VARanger1 Author

Level 1

11 points

Dec 1, 2019 12:00 PM in response to VARanger1

Did 2 things:

Reset the SMC and separately Started up in Safe Mode. No changes were made while in Safe Mode.

These may have resolved the issues. The "system report" is now responding correctly. I went through several shutdowns and they have worked correctly. Mail has not yet locked up again. Will monitor over the coming days to verify.

Thanks for the replies to the problem.

Reply

Answer 5

John Galt

Level 10

141,228 points

Dec 4, 2019 4:17 PM in response to VARanger1

It's possible one or more programs remain open, preventing shutdown. A dialog is supposed to appear identifying the recalcitrant app but it seems that's not happening in your case.

What I do in that situation is this: prior to shutdown, use the Application Switcher (⌘ tab) to reveal all open programs, and then shut down each one using ⌘ Q, leaving only the Finder open. Then, choose Shut Down from the  menu.

If it still hangs with a black screen at shutdown, repeat the exercise but stop when only the Finder is open. Then open Activity Monitor to examine all active processes (View > Active Processes). At that point there shouldn't be too many to examine. One or more of them will be the culprit.

Needless to say, if you are using—or have used at any time in the past—any non-Apple "anti-virus", "cleaning", or "Internet security" junk, anything at all in that broad category of useless garbage, don't. A lot of things won't work if you do.

Reply

Answer 6

VARanger1 Author

Level 1

11 points

Dec 4, 2019 4:30 PM in response to John Galt

Thanks. I will try what you suggest.

(Please note that I have never installed or used any "non-Apple anti-virus, cleaning, or internet security junk".)

Also, upon restarting (using the Power button) following one of these episodes there is usually a long message displayed describing a kernel panic on shutdown. That information has been forwarded to Apple many times.

Reply