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Catalina 10.15.6 keeps crashing

I have a problem. I updated to macOS 10.15.6 and now my system keeps crashing when I leave my computer for some time. Here is the crash report (some data removed for privacy concerns)


panic(cpu 2 caller ): userspace watchdog timeout: remoted connection watchdog expired, no updates from remoted monitoring thread in 69 seconds, 2219 checkins from thread since monitoring enabled 44430 seconds ago after loadservice: com.apple.logd, total successful checkins since load (44430 seconds ago): 4443, last successful checkin: 10 seconds ago
service: com.apple.WindowServer, total successful checkins since load (44400 seconds ago): 4431, last successful checkin: 10 seconds ago

Backtrace (CPU 2), Frame : Return Address
......
      Kernel Extensions in backtrace:
         com.apple.driver.watchdog(1.0)

BSD process name corresponding to current thread: watchdogd
Boot args: chunklist-security-epoch=0 -chunklist-no-rev2-dev chunklist-security-epoch=0 -chunklist-no-rev2-dev

Mac OS version:
19G73

Kernel version:
Darwin Kernel Version 19.6.0: Sun Jul  5 00:43:10 PDT 2020; root:xnu-6153.141.1~9/RELEASE_X86_64


Any idea what I can do? Please help, my system is unusable. I cannot restore my workspace every few hours when I leave my computer unattended.

MacBook Pro Retina

Posted on Jul 21, 2020 3:08 PM

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Posted on Jul 29, 2020 10:11 AM

Days ago while debugging crashes I was pretty sure there was a memory leak (https://discussions.apple.com/thread/251610118). Here is what I am seeing now....


Imac27(Late 2103... 24GB ram)... No crashes since purging 32 bit applications. Running Activity monitor and watching memory allocations... Memory ramps up under heavy use, but is (Mostly) returned when apps quit... If system left logged in and unattended, memory slowly builds... but the system has enough ram to swallow it. When system logged out, memory cleaned up and next log in looks ok. Not like a fresh boot, but lots more memory available then prior to log out. Anecdotally I would say that WindowServer process is suspect, as it's memory allocation keeps growing.. Long running apps (Carbon Copy Cloner directing multi GB network backups) cause memory usage to ramp up. But system stays together. Unfortunately, the system that is the target of the network back up crashes.....


MacMini(Late 2012.... 16GB ram).... Under light use, no crashes after purging 32 bit applications. However, crashes still occurring under 2 cases.... When a usb drive attached to the mini is being used as the network target of a multi GB backup (>150GB), and when running VMware Fusion.


When the usb drive attached to the MacMini is the network backup target, the machine crashes after it receives about 130GB of backup data. Seems very repeatable. System just drops dead. Looked at logs... See nothing posted in log files for minutes on end, until hardware reset button initiates forced boot. I don't think that the process which causes the crash is caught by the OS before the system goes down...


When the MacMini is running VMware Fusion... have not established a pattern other than don't turn your back on it... We only run Win10 using Quickbooks in Fusion... Generally stays up for 15-20 minutes of use, allowing quick things to be done... if interrupted and leave the machine without logging off, will find it has crashed if not attended to within 60 minutes or so...Unlike the crash when the system is a backup target, this one seems totally random. Probably because VMware and Wind10 are pushing the system harder and in random directions.


My bottom line....


  1. if you are upgrading or have upgraded, purge all 32 bit apps and their companion crud... The system is not stable at all if a 32bit app or its agents or daemons gets touched. Absolutely huge difference in machine stability.
  2. Memory Leak Work Around..... Be very careful with long duration or cpu/memory intensive processes. While you are running them, run activity monitor and watch the 'Memory Used" number. If that approaches 60-70% of physical memory, be prepared to stop your process and log out to reset memory if you can. Lots of people are reporting crashes with VMware or Virtualbox.... but I suspect that other memory intensive apps would also be having the same problem, as I see it in a long duration process on a MacMini just accepting network data and writing to disk.
  3. Hope, keep your fingers crossed, practice what ever superstition works best for you.... and hope that APPLE fixes this bug quickly....



195 replies

Aug 11, 2020 2:40 PM in response to pjholden

I had similar dialogue boxes come up and so I entered password. The next time I logged in to user account, I got new dialogue box messages that said “Receiver Helper” will damage your computer” or “Service Records” will damage you computer” both had “ This file was downloaded on an unknown date” then a checked box that says “Report malware to Apple to protect other users” and then blue box with OK checked.

that’s when I took it to MicroCenter because Apple is closed. So now had to reimage it twice and now trying to load from back up from Time Machine to see if my good profile can be loaded properly.

Aug 12, 2020 3:12 PM in response to DiegoIR

DiegoIR wrote:

Source? How do you know that?

Because I just finished installing it. Open System Preferences->Software Update. It has been announced on various Apple tech forums, like AppleInsider, MacRumors, and 9to5 Mac, which is how I found out about it.


It’s 2.8GB download so that might mean more is going on than VM crashes. We’ll see soon enough.

Aug 13, 2020 2:56 AM in response to akashthomas43

Curious @akashthomas43, I've been running the update on 2 systems for > 6 hours and neither have leaked any kernel memory that I can determine from watching the wired memory counter.


Perhaps you have a different problem. Watch the "wired memory" number in the memory tab of "Activity Monitor" to check whether it gradually grows over the space of an hour.


[edit: I'm running VirtualBox on both with different uses in the VM's, different disk & network configs. My MBP panicked during the install phase of the update but recovered and completed ok - it was a watchdog timeout in the SMC driver. Another person at work reported a panic during install.]

Aug 13, 2020 9:00 AM in response to ulogan

This is a little off topic, but very interesting to me. Concerning the just released update, I have an old late 2009 iMac (in addition to two recent ones) which runs the High Sierra OS. I understand that High Sierra is no longer supported. However, yesterday it updated itself. Totally unexpected. That tells me that Apple must have determined that this update was badly needed to fix something. It speaks well for them, in my mind.

Aug 13, 2020 3:42 PM in response to obscurebug

Thanks for the help but I unfortunately I saw your message too late. I actually just wiped my drive clean after saving my important files, and downloaded a clean os install. Then I reset my nvram/pram to get my Touch Bar to work again. The OS is actually a bit different now because now the log in page after a restart comes instantly and then after I unlock the computer, the loading bar shows up. Kind of strange because that's never how my computer was before, but so far I'm having no issues. Hopefully this isn't like the other 10 things I've tried and it stays fixed.

Aug 14, 2020 1:20 AM in response to lkrupp

lkrupp wrote:

"macOS Catalina 10.15.6 Supplemental Update" released this afternoon. Hopefully it will fix at least some of the issues reported in this thread.

A bit offtopic (sorry!), but the size of that „supplemental update“ really surprised me: 2.82 GB for a mere bug fix. I remember when Mac OS X required 1.5 GB of disk space -- for the whole OS.


That aside, I guess we are all hoping for Catalina's different kernel panic issues to be resolved with that update. It seems to have successfully fixed the memory leak which affected VMWare users. But there is no evidence yet for the random panics that usually come late at night, and for the panic-on-wakeup issue.

Aug 15, 2020 8:38 AM in response to frtzn

frtzn wrote:

Here we go again: My MacBook Air just had another kernel panic. So apparently, the 2.82 GB „supplemental update“ did not solve the issue. What a disappointment.

What this says is that your kernel panics are unrelated to the memory leak fixed with the update. It means you could have a hardware issue or you could have a third party kernel extension that is misbehaving. My first suggestion would be to take your machine for a hardware diagnostic. Or you might download and install Etrecheck to run a system check for problems that might cause a kernel panic. I apologize if you have already done this.

Aug 15, 2020 10:47 AM in response to frtzn

Thanks for that clarification.


My only option is to stick with 10.15.5. Until I see positive reports that the problems are fixed. From this forum or Apple itself. It's a shame that Apple has never said anything to this problems.


I once had a hardware defect, mad memory chips, lead to kernel panics, too. And these crashes finally destroyed the hard drive. Not the drive itself, but the content was messed up. Lucky for me, in times when TimeMachine was already invented.


A kernel panic is for sure something you should avoid. Yes, journaling file system, but that helps not always.


That said, I still don't trust 10.15.6 and the supplemental update. For me the system crashed when 10.15.6 was installed. With and without running Fusion. During the night, when in idle. During the day when I was running Fusion.


Pretty worse. So I keep 10.15.5. Because I need the machine.



Aug 15, 2020 11:33 AM in response to TomHaukap

TomHaukap : Since installing the supplemental update on 3 different machine (2 Mac-mini, 1 Imac27) when it first came out, I have not had any kernel panics or other issues. One machine is now running VMware Fusion with no issues. I have my Imac27 grinding out a TM backup to one of the Mac-Mini's over the network. It has been running successfully for hours now. The other machine, basically pure vanilla, is not having any problems connecting via our network with data stored on the other 2 machines.... This is all a huge difference since prior to 10.15.6 supplemental....


In looking at the posts, I did not see a troubleshooting report on your system so pardon me if you have already done this previously... when I first upgraded to 10.15.5, then upgraded to 10.15.6, I did not even get to the situation where I was seeing crashes due to memory leaks, etc. My systems were totally unstable. What I discovered was that when I upgraded, even though I had obsoleted all 32 bit apps from my workflow, they were still loaded on the systems, and their associated crud (launch agents, daemons, etc) were trying to start up. After meticulously removing all vestiges of the 32bit apps, the system was able to achieve "stability" to the point I could see the kernel panics and memory leak issues that were in the system. if you have already cleaned out all of the 32bit apps and their detritus, then you can ignore this comment. If you have not... give that a try before you give up on 10.15.6...

Aug 16, 2020 10:30 PM in response to alekseyfromsan francisco

I have the same problem. But I found a wonderful solution which permanently fixed my problem and now I am completely frustration free. The solution: I went back to using my PC laptop with Windows 10, which never crashed once in all the years that I owned it. Apple used to make good stuff but nowadays Apple has become synonymous with crap and utter frustration.

Catalina 10.15.6 keeps crashing

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