SimMetalHost and WindowServer Crashes on Catalina are Happening Several Times a Day

@Starr.C Thanks for your reply, please see my answers below

It sounds like you've identified Google Chrome as an app that is crashing most often. I would like you to review and perform the suggestions found in these support articles, that can help identify and troubleshoot performance issues: See how apps affect Mac performance, battery runtime, temperature, and fan activity - Apple Support, and If an app freezes or quits unexpectedly on Mac - Apple Support. Let me know if this helps you further.

I have already read these articles and they are not of much help as I am unable to do anything when this happens. I tried opening ActivityMonitor but once the machine freezes, I cannot do anything and nothing is updated or shows in AM as suspicuous (no suprise here as entire system is unresponsive including AM). The other article suggest going to Apple menu and Force Quiting an app which does not work for same reason as system is unresponsive entirely.

If needed, we can continue isolating further using safe mode. It’s a way to start up your Mac so it performs certain checks, repairs, emptying of system cache, and prevents some software from automatically loading: Use safe mode to isolate issues with your Mac - Apple Support. Once in safe mode, check to see if the same behavior continues. Sometimes safe mode can successfully resolve some issues. With this being said, after testing in safe mode, restart and log in as normal to see if that helps resolve the issue.

I have tried this couple of times only and did not observe freeze while in safe mode but switching back to normal mode continues to hung entire system as described. So, safe mode did not solve anything. I also tried uninstalling Google Chrome, then installing it again, nothing resolved. I tried using Brave browser and I have also seen the system hung. Currently, I am using Firefox and havent so far experienced any system freeze but I also havent used system much this way as I was away. So, my guess is that I still have the issue even with Firefox but I have to yet confirm this.

Also, Apple Diagnostic did not discovered anything.

If the issue remains, I will have you test a new user account next, to isolate if this is a user-specific issue, or a system-wide issue. Here’s how: How to test an issue in another user account on your Mac - Apple Support. Based on the results in the new user, you could continue to the section titled 'If the issue doesn't happen in the other account' or 'If the issue happens in the other account' to continue troubleshooting.

This is something I have not tried yet.

@sterling r Please see below in bold. Thank you.

Thank you for your responses, and additional details. You likely would not hear back from Apple when you send over the error reports, as they might only be used for tracking and trending behaviors/issues, and not a means of requesting support.

Thanks for explaining

You mentioned you are unable to click on the Apple Menu to force quit applications when your Mac becomes unresponsive. This can be expected, however, I would also like you to try using the key combo Option+Command+Esc to see if this opens the 'Force Quit Applications' window: How to force an app to quit on your Mac - Apple Support. If it does, are you able to identify the applications that are unresponsive in the list? If you force quit those applications, does your Mac become responsive again?

Option+Command+Esc does nothing. Machine stays unresponsive as explained. I just tried it again, opened Chrome, opened 3 tabs to visit some pages the entire system froze again. The only option is to press and hold power button to shut it down, then press it again to start it.

You did not observe the issue while you booted your Mac into safe mode, but the issue did continue after restarting. This could mean you have incompatible login items. I would like to explore this as a possibility. Please test your login items by following these steps: If your Mac has a blue screen or other startup problems - Apple Support.

I have done this before and I removed all login items (Apple menu > System Preferences > User and Groups > Login Items). So, I have no login items in there.

Also, based on your description, it sounds like your Mac is only freezing up when you are using an internet browser. Is that correct? Or, does it happen while running other programs (non internet related) as well? If you were to open Safari, does the issue occur? If you were to uninstall the third-party browsers (leaving them uninstalled during testing) and use Safari only, does the issue occur?

I believe I saw this happen without browsers as well but I might be mistaken about this as I have them opened all the time. But one thing is sure, it is very obvious and easy to reproduce with Google Chrome. Sometimes it happens already on first tab, I just went to 'udemy.com' and it froze. Other times I open multiple tabs and it happens, I just opened 3 tabs (klix.ba, cnn.com, cbc.ca) and it crashed on 3rd tab but this time screen became red which is not what I saw before. I do not see this happening in Firefox or Safari even with installed Chrome. If I were to uninstall Chrome, what would be best way to do so (I am not worried about loosing anything like favorites or bookmarks there)?

If you are still unable to solve the issue based on what is provided above, please also test for this behavior in a new user account as suggested previously. Please reply back once you've completed all testing above, so we have all results in one reply back.

I created new user account, opened Google Chrome app, went to 'udemy.com' and it froze again. So it is happening with new user account as well. One thing is obvious, I can reproduce this issue reliably if using Google Chrome.

Best regards.

@Sharon_49

Thank you Sharon. Please see below in bold

Since you are not concerned about losing data within your Google Chrome browser, I would recommend the following: Clear cache & cookies - Computer - Google Account Help, and Clear browsing data - Android - Google Chrome Help.

Cleared both on Chrome on my Mac and on Chrome on my Android as suggested in the 2 links you provided.

macOS 10.15.3 is also available as of January 28, 2020. You should consider performing this update to see if it can help improve this issue: How to update the software on your Mac - Apple Support.

Updated to Catalina 10.15.3

The issue is still present. All I had to do is open Chrome, navigate to Udemy.com and system froze as described above.

... so during these last steps, my MBP literaly froze like 7-8 times while I was trying various things. The system froze only while on Google Chrome browser in each time.

I just restarted it and press and hold D key to start the hardware analysis and it completed without anything found. Reference code ADP000 "No issues found."

... btw, I have removed all extensions in Chrome (all I had is Google Doc extension) and still I go to 'udemy.com' and the system freezes. MBP is unresponsive, Opt+Cmd+Esc does nothing nor can I do anything else other than shut it down using power button. After 3-4 minutes, system shuts down by itself and asks me to send report to Apple.

I am seeing this consistently happening on udemy.com site. I have also see it on cbc.ca site but I think this is browser related rather than site related issue.

@i_rina

I Contacted Apple Support, they helped me reinstall macOS. After that, I logged in, uninstalled Google Chrome by dragging it from Applications to Trash bin, then installed it again, started it and it froze the entire system again. So, that did not resolve anything.

It appears that disabling hardware acceleration in Google Chrome Settings resolve the issue. I will keep updating here if the issue continues but so far, I am not seeing it after I disabled "Use hardware acceleration when available" setting.

Thanks to Fei Whang's answer on https://support.google.com/chrome/thread/25848566?hl=en

Turning Hardware Acceleration settings in Google Chrome has resolved the issue as explained above.

However, same issue is still occurring if going to Google Maps if opened in Firefox or Brave. No issues if doing so in Safari.

Disabling hardware acceleration in Firefox and Brave seam to resolve the issue with Google Maps crashing Catalina.

... I have also sent error reports to Apple multiple times but nothing from them so far