Macbook Air M1 - Kernel Error code 86

Same issue daily since I got my M1 Mac Mini last week. It just happened again which is what sent me here. I have the base M1 MM with a 1TB Samsung NVMe M.2 SSD @ 10 Gbps USB-C for external data storage. Tonight I was running Photos (master photo library on the external) when Photos beachballed and froze, the external SSD was rudely ejected followed by a disk ejection warning. I checked the Console and found 2,000+ of these Kernel SMC messages. They are still filling my Console at a rate of about 5 new ones per second, all exactly the same.

I realize this is 1.0 release hardware and 1.01 release MacOS and I'm not prepared to say it will never get better. However I'm hoping this particular problem is addressed by Apple quickly because for the first time in 20+ years of Mac ownership -- I now feel as if I can't trust this one to work reliably for me.

No my external SSD is non-bootable, data storage only; I keep my Music, Photos, and Movies/TV directories there. The drive is a new ORICO TCM2-C3 with a Samsung 1TB 970 EVO Plus. The SSD seems rock-solid and super fast while being used via either USB-C (10 Gbps) or USB-A 3.1 (5 Gbps) mode. I just woke-up to another kernel panic restart notice and I'll post the crash log below. This time the SSD was connected via USB-A, mostly to test if it would still crash as previous connections were via USB-C.

Next I'll pull the ORICO SSD and try a different one to see what happens...

same issue on a fresh out of the box M1 Pro (16GB / 1TB)... noticed it when i was trying to see why my external USB-C backup drive refuses to mount or prompt for password.

drive light is constantly flashing but never mounts. additionally the top (closest to screen) won't mount *anything*... it'll do power but no drives. tried 4. 3 worked on the bottom port without issue. the 4th being the encrypted backup drive I was hoping to migrate from.

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.

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.

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.

For what it's worth, I am in this thread earlier - I had an M1 MBP, saw this error. I returned that machine and purchased the M1 MacBook Air (same 1tb hd, 16 mb ram) and the same error appears in console at the same regularity, seemingly doesn't impact performance.

I would say (for now): try to ignore it, since it doesn't seem to make an impact on performance.

I have also talked about this with Apple Support (NL), but the engineer was so honest to reveal he didn't know what to do about this (besides the obvious tips like re-installing macOS, creating a new user and checking if I had installed the latest update). At the end of our chat he said Apple Support doesn't support console error messages.

I'm seeing the same issue on my M1 MacBook Air.

I've tried restarting, this hasn't worked to resolve the issue.

My next step is trying the Big Sur beta; will update if this resolves the issue.

I am getting the same error on my Mac mini(16gb). Activity monitor shows sometimes up to 20gb memory usage for kernel_task and then I have problems with stuttering video playback in Safari.

Same problem here after migrating from iMac on High Sierra to MacMini M1:

Even after Reinstalling Big Sur 11.1 again-still the same log.

Is there a solution? Or do I just ignore it?

I'm on Big Sur. No available update (just checked). Still having the same issue.

Hello All,

Did anyone find a definite answer as to why the "Failed to write (code) to SMC. Error code 86." error is appearing? I have a new MacBook Pro M1 less than an hour old and it has the same issue. I'm finding it hard to believe it is a hardware issue but with this thread being the only evidence I can find of the issue (and only 46 "Me Too's" against it) if it were Big Sur it seems bizarre more people aren't reporting the issue?!

Without a definitive answer I'm probably going to return this under the 14-day guarantee :-(

Thanks.

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?

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.