The USB cable is the same one used to plug into a printer. I had been connecting to a commercial coffee roaster via MODBUS RS485 USB interface. While troubleshooting for the past several days, today I noticed that the roaster does not even need to be plugged in or on and the Mac reboots if plugged into the roaster and to the MacBook.
MacBook Pro Retina
Uninstall the Norton software according to the developer's instructions. Norton and other anti-virus software is not needed on Macs and more often than not compromise system and application performance. Norton is one of the worst offenders.
Also download and run Etrecheck. Etrecheck is a diagnostic tool that was developed by one of the most respected users here in the ASC and recommended by Apple Support to provide a snapshot of the system and help identify the more obvious culprits that can adversely affect a Mac's performance.
Copy the report
and use the Add Text button to include the report in your reply. How to use the Add Text Feature When Posting Large Amounts of Text, i.e. an Etrecheck Report
IMPORTANT:
Before running Etrecheck assign Full Disk Access to Etrecheck so that it can get additional information from the Console and log files for the report:
ALSO IMPORTANT:
Then we can examine the report and see if we can determine the root of the problem.
What happened when you tried to remove that Norton keto file? Where is it located?
Boot into Safe Mode (Use Safe Mode to isoloate issues with your Mac) and try removing it from there. Then reboot normally.
NOTE: Safe Mode boot can take up to 10 minutes as it's doing some system cache cleaning, volume verifying and directory repairing.
No it does not reboot on its own, I changed cables and that didn't help. Today was the first time I noticed that as soon as I plugged it in with either end of the cable without the roaster plugged into an outlet that it still caused the re-boot and error message. Ive sent all of the error reporting to Apple each time it has occurred. I tried using a PC and it was fine?
Went back through and started removing anything from the report that looked suspect. I went out this morning after another script to remove Norton and a reboot.
SUCCESS
Screen Shot of the roaster software and the BT and ET readings which match the roaster.
Happy Happy Happy
Thank You
First of all Thank You for having interest in helping me try to resolve this issue.
Yes I tried both USB ports and the same result. In the error report there is a lot of reference to Norton Symantec kernel ext.
I uninstalled Norton and did a file removal in the terminal however some files stayed behind. I also noted that there is a NortonForMac.kext file in finder that can't be removed and shows in use?
Okay OT,
I started in safe mode and no issues. I restarted from safe mode and the issue came right back. I went into users and removed all startup programs under my name. there was only one and the problem still persists?
Making progress?
The fact that the problem doesn't exist in Safe Mode tells us there's some 3rd part software that's interfering and part of the problem.
Next log into another user account and see if the problem persists there in Photos. (This tells us if the problem is limited to your user account or is system wide).
I created a new user account tonight and made it a simple standard profile. I logged in under the new account and as soon as I plugged it into the usb port it rebooted and does the same thing where it won't truly reboot until I unplug the MacBook from the USB.
If that unremoved Norton Kernel Extension, which is dynamically loaded into the Kernel — is triggered by the USB MODBUS connection event, then it would remain to be seen if the MODBUS connection with the Norton Kext removed, would still force the operating system to reboot. As do you, I too suspect that the MODBUS RS485 is incompatible with Catalina, but the Norton Kext could remain as a contributing actor.
It worked originally and I am 99% sure that was under the Catalina OS. The only thing I can think of is that the Norton Software did an update which made it incompatible. I have done a Re-install of Catalina but that didn’t cure the problem. I am close to just starting over with a Re install of the original OS Yosemite with a HD format and see if that gets back working??
Norton software is a know PITA for Macs and should be uninstalled according to the developer's instructions.
When uninstalled reboot and test again.
Different system, different results. You can always revert back to the proviso system which worked: Revert your Mac to a previous macOS version - Apple
If the roaster is not connected to the Mac does the Mac reboot?
When did the rebooting start?
Have you tried changing ports on your MBP and/or cables?
My MacBook with Catalina installed won't allow a USB cable to be plugged in.
