Kernel Panic - Tracking down issue?

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Level 1

14 points

Kernel Panic - Tracking down issue?

For the last few days I've experienced kernel panic crashes on my iMac and can't seem to pinpoint the issue. I've ruled out hardware and peripherals, and suspect it is an issue with a recently updated piece of software (Adobe Creative Cloud, Chrome and Dropbox are current logical suspects). The issue began under Catalina, and an update to Big Sur did not correct the issue.

Is there a method to determining what might be causing the issue. Can anyone here read into the crash reports with better clarity than I can?

Many thanks!!!

Crash Report

iMac 27″, macOS 10.14

Posted on Dec 2, 2020 12:42 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Wilddrums

Level 5

4,274 points

Dec 2, 2020 1:26 PM in response to Eric Strohl

Difficult to pin point the root cause from the crash report.

What makes you think it is not hardware or peripherals related?

You can try:

Boot in safe mode and see what happens.

Check the power management preferences. Try disabling.

What devices are connected to the Mac?

WD

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Answer 2

Eric Strohl Author

Level 1

14 points

Dec 2, 2020 1:46 PM in response to Wilddrums

Watchdog Panic

At the moment there is nothing connected as a peripheral - originally there were 2 Seagate external drive for Timemachine. I've since unplugged both.

I haven't crashed in Safe Mode, but its hard to tell since I'm not able to do most other tasks.

It also doesn't seem to crash when I'm disconnected from the internet, but also not tested.

The first crashes during a substantial change in Dropbox folder contents, giving the machine gigs of new files to sync. I've removed, reinstalled and experimented with Dropbox as well.

Previous crash reports more frequently mentioned a "watchdog" panic.

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Answer 3

Eric Strohl Author

Level 1

14 points

Dec 2, 2020 7:36 PM in response to Barney-15E

Thanks Barney - Your information was helpful in perhaps tracking down the issue. I ran EtreCheck and found a kext for a Wacom that is likely causing the issue:

Kernel Extensions:

/Library/Extensions

FTDIKext.kext (Wacom Technology Corp., 1.0 - SDK 10.11)

Full Etrecheck Report

This issue is, how does one delete the kext in Big Sur? I tried through the Terminal, but it says its an illegal operation.

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