Recently i upgraded to Big Sur and i leave the computer for some time and came back and see that the system was rebooted with kernel panic. any help would be appreciated to fix the issue.
Here is the log i get when the imac pro is started
panic(cpu 4 caller 0xffffff800e153a13): userspace watchdog timeout: no successful checkins from com.apple.WindowServer in 120 seconds
iMac Pro
jlundell wrote:
I’ve been seeing the user-space watchdog panic on an iMac with 11.1. My conjecture is that it’s related to heavy Spotlight indexing (I’d cloned a user account, effectively, so lots to do).
That's not a bad theory.
Going by the message:
panic(cpu 4 caller 0xffffff800e153a13): userspace watchdog timeout: no successful checkins from com.apple.WindowServer in 120 seconds
what's happening is that WindowServer, which is the process that handles all graphics requests to display anything on your Mac on behalf of applications - draw a window, move a window, draw contents in windows, etc. - hasn't checked in with the kernel in two minutes.
Normally, this should never be the case, as when this is happening the screen can't update properly, even to draw the "beachball" cursor to note that an application is too busy to respond to events in its event queue.
For this to go on for two minutes has a few obvious causes:
1) The system is stuck/busy - say you were using a regular hard drive that was failing and all operations were retrying.
2) A bug such that WindowServer has not properly reset the watchdog timer
3) A bug such that WindowServer sent the command to check in with the kernel but the kernel never processed it
Regardless, the system is either really busy or thinks it is.
One example that seems to be something users were experiencing in macOS Catalina:
Was the dGPU out to lunch? Bug in the driver? In WindowServer? Impossible to say.
This obviously should never happen, so yes, keep sending reports back to Apple both via the normal mechanism and by contacting Apple Support directly if you feel up to the task.
Update: I have solved the issue for my setup.
Both external monitors had their color profiles set to "LG Ultra HD". That was the suggested default.
After setting the color profile of both external montiros to "iMac" I have not experienced a crash with - no matter what the energy saving options are set to.
rbmanian75 wrote:
Recently i upgraded to Big Sur and i leave the computer for some time and came back and see that the system was rebooted with kernel panic. any help would be appreciated to fix the issue.
Here is the log i get when the imac pro is started
panic(cpu 4 caller 0xffffff800e153a13): userspace watchdog timeout: no successful checkins from com.apple.WindowServer in 120 seconds
<Kernel Panic Log.log>
Kernel Panics are predominately caused by hardware faults or faulty third-party kernel extensions.
I would try and upgrade your Parallels Desktop or delete it using the official uninstaller and test.
You can trouble shoot further, as a test:
—Try a SafeBoot https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201262
Takes noticeable longer to get to the login screen, does a 5-15 minute disk repair before it fully boots up, and certain system caches get cleared and rebuilt, including dynamic loader cache, etc. Login and test. Reboot and test as caches get rebuilt.
In Safe mode third party system modifications and system accelerations are disabled, it removes malware, etc hampering smooth operation, however a reboot will put it back to normal mode.
This test will tell you if third party interference; extensions etc are not loaded in safe boot mode.
—Test issue in another user (or guest user) account https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204443
This will tell you if it a universal issue or isolated to your user/admin account.
I'm having the same issue on an iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2019).
The kernel panic only happens when the computer is asleep. I've tried different energy saving settings but can't confirm yet that this does not happen if only select the option to deactivate automatic hibernation.
There was no kernel panic while I'm working on the computer.
Things specific to my setup:
2 external monitors
128 GB RAM (Crucial)
Software which may be of interest: Parallels Desktop, ClamXav, Little Snitch, Dockers
High fan speeds come with the way Intel CPUs and "Turbo Boost" are designed, where basically the CPU is overclocked on tasks until its heat generation is too high and the system has to throttle it.
If you could post a panic.log someone might be able to analyze it for you, but ultimately only Apple Support can work and ultimately solve the issue, so you should contact them directly.
I have not had any more kernel panics since I updated to 11.1. The two places that Apple support has told me that Apple's engineers look is in feedback and bug reporting. I used both. You give feedback at https://www.apple.com/feedback/ and you can log a bug at https://feedbackassistant.apple.com/. I logged this bug, https://feedbackassistant.apple.com/feedback/8919606. Others have said that they couldn't see it and comment in it. If so, you can log another bug. I don't know whether they read the crash reports. They should have at least noticed that those reports spiked after production Big Sur was first released a few weeks ago.
From the many reports I have seen, I suspect there is more than one cause for kernel panics. I think mine, which started with Big Sur 11.01 and stopped with the 11.1 update, may have been resolved. I had no kernel panics when I was in Catalina, but many people say they did. About all you can do is to give feedback to Apple with diagnostic files and as much detail as you can about what was going on when MacOS panicked. I used to be better at reading system log files in UNIX (it's almost 10 years since I retired) than I am now, but the answers should be in those log files.
The text above is an update as I received it from the Apple Support Desk team a few days ago.
I am very hasitant to take their explanation for a face value at the moment. The Support team and their engineers suggest that my Kernel Panic issue derives from external USB periphal like a display or a hard disc drive. It seems a rather reasonable explanation but for the record since I purchased the MBP on May 2020 I changed three different displays (the latest one -LG display 27UL850- was purchased a month ago), and I bought two brand new external hard disck drives.
If the issue derives from the operation system. as some users suggest, then this is beyond my remit.
Here's my kernel panic log. Apple Tier-2 wouldn't even look at it. They were ready to have my bring in my laptop to fix.
It took a kind CalDigit support engineer to look at it and suggest AdGuard might be the issue (as well as the way I disconnect and connect my dock).
I would appreciate someone who knows how to read this giving me their impression...
Has anyone had any support on this issue from Apple, happening here too? They just removed my post where I said I had tech support for 2 and half hours on a phone call and they have not helped me fix it but basically said I need to pay for support for a £4k machine I bought. :-(
It's not Macbook-specific. I have an iMac. See my post from Feb 23, 2021 2:46 AM. Mind you, it still hasn't crashed since, so it looks more and more like this is indeed related to a USB-connected device.
Hi guys,
I've got an early 2015 MacBook pro which keeps restarting on daily basis since last November after updating it to Big Sur. I called apple support for a few times and they remotely connected to my MacBook looking at the error logs and doing some trick assuring me that this time should be fin, but no luck so far. I'm really annoyed about this situation. I've attached the error logs which I can't understand myself. Is someone able to tell me what's wrong with this junk ? Thanks in advance.
Is it possibly some MacOS to monitor awake event? Have you tried disconnecting the monitors and resetting the some Mac initial settings? Have you tried resetting the perimeter RAM? This is a great list of startup key combinations - https://support.apple.com/en-gu/HT201255.
Once you reset the pram, set the LG profile and apply "disable monitor" energy saver to test. Typically, articles might suggest resetting the System Management Controller... usually for power management... seeing that this is a "power" type event, you might just try SMC reset... take a look at https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201295
Hope this proves helpful
If you want to install Mojave while waiting for a Big Sur update, these links could be useful:
How to get old versions of macOS: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT211683
How to create a bootable installer for macOS: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201372
Installing macOS on a separate APFS volume: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208891
You don't need to delete the Big Sur partition, just keep it waiting for an update to be able to test it.
Ran all day, as usual, with nothing plugged into the back of the machine except a short Ethernet cable to the modem. On manual shutdown, the screen went dark but not black for a long time, which I guess is the period causing the panic because of the failure of watchdogd to check in. The machine restarted itself because of "a problem." Here's the report. Where's the bad hardware, and why didn't it upset Mojave? Thanks.
Ash_Smith,
It is worth of mentioning that for the last (almost) 12 months and since my initial purchase of MacBook Pro (16-inch, 2019), the product has been experiencing, among others, Kernel Panics of the following nature:
The Mac Support team adviced to replace the MacBook Pro since it was falling within the first 30 days of warranty. The product was replaced twice but that it self did not resolve the Kernel issue.
I was also adviced to isolate the issue by doing manual back up in the light of a malicious software causing the Kernel issue - The mac was formatted and the data was tranfrerred mannually several times.
On a later correspondence with the support team, I was adviced to isolate all the external hardwares, on a one by one basis, that may be the source of the Kernel Panics.
Later, I was adviced that the external monitor shoud not have VGA type cables and buses but an up to date one like HDMI and/USB-C's. It is suffice to say that I replaced the extenal monitor with brand new one that connects with USB-C and HDMI (LG 27’’ UHD 4K Monitor). Of course, I replaced all the external hard disc drives within the last 3months and I keep updating the product with the last operating system update - currently is up to date with Big Sur 11.2.3 (the initial purchase was on Mojave).
After executing all those actions the product still experiences a Kernel Panics and particularly when an external drive has been connected and disconnected from the mac. Since May 2020 I have recorded approximately 40 Kernel Panics.
A couple of days ago, on the 13th of April 2021, I spoke with a senior Support team member after a thorough and documented email I had sent to the Support team the week before. I requested an explanation and the senior member confirmed that he would escalate the issue once again to the engineer's team and they will come back to me within the next five working days - so, I am on standby now.
My view is that as a users we should keep evidence and track of any issue with our mac product and provide the documentation to the support team. They are supposed to do their best and resolve the issue - this is what they are supposed to do.
If the issue comes from their own operating system/ software then they may have to take ownership of the issue and fix it - I trust.
Big Sur kernel panic
