Intermittent Kernel Panic - RAM, Kernel Extension, or something else?

Question

Intermittent Kernel Panic - RAM, Kernel Extension, or something else?

Hi everyone,

Hoping to get some ideas on tracking down the cause of intermittent kernel panics. I've added the EtreCheck report to this post. I also added the report to a Github gist if you'd prefer to read it in a browser. Github - Etrecheck Report Gist

Issue:

Mac mini has starting experiencing intermittent kernel panics. This issue began earlier today.

Configuration/Setup Notes

This machine is about 2 weeks old. I did't migrate anything from my old Mac, and instead chose to start fresh. I did install 2x16GB RAM modules (in an ESD safe environment) from OWC last week

Steps to Reproduce:

Very difficult to reproduce kernel panics. This morning, the machine kernel panicked 4 or 5 times in one hour. The machine eventually booted into Panic Boot mode, which brought that number down to 1-2 times.
Kernel Panics tend to happen immediately after booting, but have occurred during normal usage a few times

Troubleshooting:

Booted into safe mode - machine worked normally, but since the issue is intermittent I don't know how useful that step is
Removed all USB/Thunderbolt peripherals - machine kernel panicked about 45 minutes later)
Ran built in Apple Hardware diagnostics twice, which reported no issues (and then immediately kernel panicked while booting back into the OS)
Ran EtreCheck, which showed that MacOS had disabled 3 kernel extensions - one for Parallels 15, and for SoundSource Pro, and one for Logitech Options
To test I uninstalled Parallels, which *seems* to have resolved this issue.

I thought about reinstalling the original Apple memory - but the the machine has been stable and has not had a kernel panic for a few hours. Besides uninstalling Parallels, all the peripherals are reconnected and I've been pushing the machine pretty hard. Maybe uninstalling Parallels solved it, but I'd like to know if anyone sees something else in the EtreCheck report that I should look into.

Thanks!

Mac mini, macOS 10.15

Posted on Oct 15, 2020 12:13 PM

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Answer 1

Oct 16, 2020 12:20 PM in response to Pierre Meystre

Another note for anyone following:

There is a large discussion around these BridgeOS/Error 210 Kernel Panics in the Mac Mini forum. As far as I can tell, there doesn't seem to be a clear fix in that thread

Apple Discussions - Mac Mini 2018 Kernel panic bug_type 210 after Security Update 2020-002

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Answer 2

Oct 16, 2020 11:08 AM in response to Pierre Meystre

Update for anyone following this:

I uninstalled Logitech Options yesterday, just to remove kernel extensions from the equation
The machine kernel panicked overnight, but has been running without issue for several hours now
All the panic logs from yesterday and today reference 'bug type 201" - though I have don't know if that is useful information. I did a some Googling, but couldn't find anything conclusive.

{"caused_by":"macos","macos_version":"Mac OS X 10.15.7 (19H2)","os_version":"Bridge OS 4.6 (17P6610)","macos_system_state":"running","incident_id":"9D1FA345-CDCA-4ED2-BB64-16223A25772C","timestamp":"2020-10-16 04:53:32.00 +0000","bug_type":"210"}

To summarize, neither third party kernel extensions or USB/Thunderbolt peripherals seem like the root cause. The issue seems to occur most often after the machine wakes from sleep. My best guess is that a faulty RAM module(s) is corrupting the sleep image.

I'm going to try to reproduce the kernel panics with the stock Apple RAM installed.

Thanks

Edit: Here's the full Panic log: Github Gist - PaniclogOct16

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Answer 3

Oct 19, 2020 9:09 AM in response to Pierre Meystre

Another update for anyone following this thread:

I removed both 16GB OWC RAM DIMMs and reinstalled the the original Apple RAM this morning. The machine was pretty stable over the weekend, and only kernel panicked once.
Apple Diagnostics passed with the new RAM installed, and the machine is running smoothly.
Since the machine is less than 14 days old, I decided to return it and purchase a new Mac Mini. I felt that this was the safest option given the intermittent nature of the crashes.
I also ordered 32GB of RAM from Crucial, just in case the memory was indeed the cause of these issues
I'll continue to run the current machine for a few hours with the Apple RAM installed and report back if any more kernel panics occur

I also encourage you to read the thread in the Mac Mini forum (linked above) for much more details

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Answer 4

Barney-15E

Level 10

112,452 points

Oct 15, 2020 2:58 PM in response to Pierre Meystre

Logitech hasn’t been particularly successful at writing kernel extensions, so I’d suspect that as the cause.

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Intermittent Kernel Panic - RAM, Kernel Extension, or something else?

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