Catalina 10.15.6 Still Crashing Kernel Panic

You installed an update over a malfunctioning system. You should always fix problems before updating or upgrading.

A Troubleshooting Procedure that may Fix Problems with macOS El Capitan or Later

You should try each, one at a time, then test to see if the problem is fixed before going on to the next.

    If possible, backup your files before proceeding.

1. Shutdown the computer and disconnect all third-party peripherals.
2. Wait 30 seconds before you restart the computer.
3. Resetting your Mac's PRAM and NVRAM
4. Reset the System Management Controller (SMC)
5. Reset your Startup Disk and Sound preferences, if needed, after resetting the PRAM.
6. Test in safe mode to see if the problem persists, then restart normally.  Use safe mode to isolate issues with your Mac and Playing Safe - what does Safe mode do?
7. Repair the disk by booting from the Recovery HD. Immediately after the chime hold down the Command and R keys until the Utility Menu appears. Choose Disk Utility and click on the Continue button. Select the indented (usually, Macintosh HD) volume entry from the side list.  Click on the First Aid button in the toolbar. Wait for the Done button to appear. Quit Disk Utility and return to the Utility Menu. Restart the computer from the Apple Menu.
8. Reinstall a Combo Updater: macOS Catalina 10.15.6 Combo Update, macOS Mojave 10.14.6 Combo Update, macOS High Sierra 10.13.6 Combo Update, macOOS 10.12.6 Combo Update, OS X El Capitan 10.11.6 Combo Update.
9. Create a New User Account Open Users & Groups preferences. Click on the lock icon and enter your Admin password when prompted. On the left under Current User click on the Add [+] button under Login Options. Setup a new Admin user account. Upon completion log out of your current account then log into the new account. If your problems cease, then consider switching to the new account and transferring your files to it - Transferring files from one User Account to another.
10. Reinstall OS X by booting from the Recovery HD using the Command and R keys. When the Utility Menu appears select Install OS X then click on the Continue button.
11. Erase and Install OS X Restart the computer. Immediately after the chime hold down the Command and R keys until the Apple logo appears. When the Utility Menu appears:

     1. Select Disk Utility from the Utility Menu and click on the Continue button.

     2. When Disk Utility loads select the drive (out-dented entry) from the Device list.

     3. Click on the Erase button in Disk Utility's toolbar. A panel will drop down.

     4. Set the Format type to APFS (for SSDs only) or Mac OS Extended (Journaled.)

     5. Click on the Apply button, then wait for the Done button to activate and click on it.

     6. Quit Disk Utility and return to the Utility Menu.

     7. Select Install OS X and click on the Continue button.

With regard to kernel panics:

Dealing with Kernel Panics

Disconnect any third-party peripherals including any USB hubs. How to use safe mode on your Mac, Use safe mode to isolate issues with your Mac - Apple Support then boot the computer into Safe Mode: Use safe mode to isolate issues with your Mac - Apple Support and Playing Safe- what does Safe mode do? See Diagnosing problems- crash, freeze, panic, or spinning beach ball?, Don’t Panic! Understanding & Troubleshooting Kernel Panics in macOS, How to fix kernel panics after installing OS X updates | MacIssues, and If your Mac restarted because of a problem - Apple Support.

Kernel panics are indicative of possible hardware failure, so you should Check your Mac with hardware diagnostics or AHT. Kernel panic logs are found in: /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/ folder.

If you have no success figuring what is happening then you may need to examine the software you have running when the panics occur. Be sure it’s all current. If you must to resolve the problem erase the disk and reinstall macOS. Follow this outline to reset the computer to the factory-new state: Factory reset of your Mac - Apple Support.

Boot Into Safe Mode

1. If your Mac isn’t already shut down, then shut it down and wait at least 30 seconds before rebooting.
2. Immediately, at or before the chime, press and hold down the SHIFT key. 
3. Release the key after the Apple logo and progress bar appear.
4. Safe mode startup is much slower than normal startup, so be patient.
5. When the Login Screen appears enter your admin password. If you use automatic login, then this means you are in safe mode.

This procedure won't help people who have panics that are caused by *installing* Catalina (there are many of us). There's something common about our systems we haven't found, since most *didn't* have problems start after installing Catalina.

joxesCA wrote:

I was running for my business 6x 2020 MBPs and 8x 2020 MBAs. The employees complained. We are not running virtual machines on our laptops, just Apple with the office 365 and some adobe apps.

This might actually contain a hint to what's causing the issues so many users have:

• I have a 2020 MBA as well (4 weeks old now, Core i5 version)
• I get the same random kernel panics …
  • … even after installing the 10.15.6 supplemental update
  • … even after wiping the HD and performing a clean reinstall of Catalina 10.15.6
  • … even after wiping the HD again and performing a clean install of the Big Sur public beta (!)
• I do not run any virtualisation software
• I do not have memory issues; the panics seem to be random and often happen when the machine is not actively used (just running on idle)
• I do not have any external hardware attached
• As I do not have much third-party software installed, I was able to limit the group of suspects to a handful of programs, including Microsoft Office (16.40 Business Pro) and Adobe CC / Photoshop (21.2.2).

Though it seems unlikely that these programs are causing any trouble, they do install half a dozen background processes that run all the time.

I just wiped my entire HD again, reinstalled Catalina (10.15.6), but this time left the system completely untouched. I let it play videos for ~24 hours now -- no panic so far. Based on the problems of the past weeks, it should panic soon. If it doesn't, we can be quite certain that against all odds, some third-party software is causing the trouble.

Hi, since I updated to 10.15.4 and even now with 10.15.6, Catalina crashes from time to time.

I discovered that it happens when I upload a big amount of data to Drive, Dropbox or pCloud or event to an external Hard drive. That is to say, when I am transferring a lot of data, after few minutes it gives a Kernel Panic. So I try to avoid such sort of operations . It has not been solved with 10.15.6 so ... I guess that Apple has not found the way to solve it.

I as posing to move back to Mojave that worked like a charm but it would take me a lot of effort so I will wait...

Yeah, I've tried all these as well. My kernel panics happen specifically regarding my peripheral audio interface, and it would seem that any peripheral, including my iPhone, will cause kernel panic. I've gone through these steps with multiple apple care people, and I'm always told that since the peripherals involve 3rd party manufacturers, there is nothing they can do, as if the new OS update has nothing to do with the issues. Frustrating and confusing and destroys work flow.

It sounds that you're using the original build of macOS 10.15.6.

Installing the supplemental update might resolve the watchdog timeout issue.

From what I've heard from many other users the problem persists even after applying the kext fix - though personally I didn't tested the updated build with any virtualization app yet to determine if the kernel panic is related with the virtualizers.

I installed the complementary patch, and I'm not running any virtualization software on my 2020 MBA.

I'm using the Apple OEM USB-C to HDMI adapter. After 30 mns of usage, when I turn off the MBA. The MBA will always reset. When I looked for the reason of the crash: Kernel panic.

I followed and called so many times apple support line. They gave me all sorts of explanations.

The best one was: "why do you use a monitor when you are using a laptop?" I'm not joking here. I nicely said to the lady that I will look in the Apple Forum for a solution.

I did a clean reinstall, waited patiently for the new updates. As soon as a new updates came, installed it and did a clean reinstall after. Same issue with the Kernel Panic.

Like I mentioned, I did install the complementary update and same issue. So I did a clean reinstall, same issue with the Kernel panic.

I was running for my business 6x 2020 MBPs and 8x 2020 MBAs. The employees complained. We are not running virtual machines on our laptops, just Apple with the office 365 and some adobe apps.

Right now I just have the MBA left and I moved the rest of my team to an other platform to work. I'm still trying to figure out what's going on with all those 2020 MBP and MBA?

Apple keeps taking my posts down about this SAME issue because they "aren't productive." Yeah, my computer crashes every single day, there is no solution, no one has any ideas, many people having the same issue. Sorry I can't be "productive" in my posts.

From this I would deduce there are far more people with this issue than meets the eye.

joxesCA wrote:

We are not running virtual machines on our laptops, just Apple with the office 365 and some adobe apps.

frtzn wrote:

I was able to limit the group of suspects to a handful of programs, including Microsoft Office (16.40 Business Pro) and Adobe CC / Photoshop (21.2.2). Though it seems unlikely that these programs are causing any trouble, they do install half a dozen background processes that run all the time. …

I just wiped my entire HD again, reinstalled Catalina (10.15.6), but this time left the system completely untouched.

Over the weekend, I reinstalled more apps to my Mac except Microsoft Office and Adobe Creative Cloud. The system runs perfectly stable so far. Could it really be one of these two highly popular software packages that is causing the kernel panics?

I will use the Mac for at least a couple more days and then reinstall just one of the two (probably Office) to see if it's causing any trouble.