Macbook Air M1 - Kernel Error code 86

I have only used my own new Mac Mini but I believe ALL M1 Mac's will have this in the Console logs if you go looking for it. There is nothing wrong with your (my) computer. It is the sort of thing that slips-by with a xx.0.1 OS release. I respectfully suggest we don't panic and give Apple time to fix this minor, obscure annoyance. Since I updated the firmware of my external SSD my new Mini has been flawless.

I have two Mac m1 both have the issue. Bought a month apart. Likely macOS.

im using macs for 2 decades. I love macOS because I like that it’s Unix / BSD. But it sure is sub optimally performing these days.

I'm getting the same errors on my Air 16GB / 512GB. I've only had it a couple of days so don't know if it's affecting the battery life yet.

I googled how to reset the SMC and the answers said the M1 Macs don't even have an SMC which is confusing?

I have a new M1 (so that makes two M1 machines that I own). They both have this error in the logs.

The new M1 is about 40 minutes old (outside of its box), and has no software installed yet.

This IS a macOS issue.

Hi John. I appreciate your confidence, and FWIW I don’t disagree!

However, your replies don’t answer the quandary of why ALL M1’s (including 3 identically spec’d laptops received the same week) don’t see the issue. I’m the curious sort and I look forward learning why :-)

In the meantime my updates are meant to help others seeing this issue who want reassurance based on some fact-based testing and feedback from Apple.

Best wishes.

Is the SSD directly plugged into the Mac? I have been having these issues with dongles I've been using, especially with HDMI and DP, seems to have trouble.

I'm swapping to a full thunderbolt 3 dock as I think it will work a bit better for peripherals.

Not had bluetooth issues, yet. I've removed the cheap (£33 ugreen dongle) and things feel a lot better.

Still got the SMC error, but my wife's new m1 arrived last night, so will see if she gets the same error.

These are messages appearing constantly in MacBook Air M1 console app under errors and faults

error 18:52:01.227560-0500 kernel Failed to write key 1950826800 to SMC with error code 86

error 18:52:01.227729-0500 kernel Failed to write key 1950826829 to SMC with error code 86

error 18:52:01.227960-0500 kernel Failed to write key 1950826801 to SMC with error code 86

error 18:52:01.228117-0500 kernel Failed to write key 1950829892 to SMC with error code 86

A contributor in another forum suggested that unplugging my M1 Mac Mini from power for several seconds would have the same effect as an old-fashioned SMC Reset. Thinking about that, I realized I hadn't unplugged it since I first set it up under MacOS 11.0.1 weeks ago. So I unplugged it, waited a bit, then plugged it back in. Maybe it's just psychological but it does seem to be more stable now. The pointer (brand-new Magic Trackpad 2) seems smoother and more responsive and I've had no bluetooth disconnects since. This infernal Kernel Error Code 86 continues to spam my Console logs at a rate of 4/sec and my WiFi DL speed is still one-third of what it should be. But overall things are going in the right direction. I believe the MacOS 11.1 update was mainly focused on under-the-hood Rosetta 2 improvements and I'm optimistic that whatever comes next will address these other issues. Fingers crossed!

FWIW, I was surprised and confused to see this thread as “solved” because it is anything but “solved”. The problem still very much exists (in Big Sur 11.1 too) and there is no confirmation from Apple on the cause. There is significant weight behind the consensus this isn’t faulty hardware, but nothing is confirmed or solved!

Indeed I am having this trouble too. What started my search today was that I was browsing the web and all of a sudden my keyboard and mouse stopped working. I figured it was just Bluetooth malfunctioning like it had done a few times prior but it was not that. After a minute or two, the system reset itself. It got me looking in the console for errors. I saw the SMC error and started looking. I also noticed that before on previous days the GPU would rarely show much usage (I am using iStat menu) and it shows 6-10% CPU and bouncing around 25-30% GPU usage. I wonder if it just updated for me to the new version. I will have to find out, but previously, I would not see much data there. Now there is consistent usage showing.

I’m not sure that nobody checked it. It probably happens in certain situations that we are all common to but those situations might not have arisen during testing.

though, it should be acknowledged and investigated properly.

Same here on MBP M1 BigSur 11.1

[57069.221495]: Failed to write key 1950826800 to SMC with error code 86Failed to write key 1950826829 to SMC with error code 86Failed to write key 1950826801 to SMC with error code 86Failed to write key 1950829892 to SMC with error code 86

Apple articles says that SMC is reset automatically and there is no manual process to reset it. Anyway, it's still confusing seeing such an error messages.

My understanding is, that all Apple Computer with Apple Silicon processors (including the M1) do not have a SMC controller anymore. This is something that is only used with the Intel ones. It seems that macOS Big Sur is not 100 % compatible with the new processor and is still running a task that can't be completed. This should be fixed in an upcoming update.

I think the error message itself is not too much of a problem on MacBooks with the M1 processor. Everything works normally. Therefore, I can imagine that the error has not been noticed or the fix has been postponed to a later update.

Saw the exact same error msgs 3+/second in Console. Own the brand new M1 Air just the past Christmas and upgraded to Big Sur 11.1 for one week.

What I am troubleshooting is, VPN connection dropped every 5 to 10 minutes, but no drops in Windows at the same time for whole day, in the same WIFI network.