M1 MacBook Pro crashes and restarts a few times a day

Maybe some success.... I had a call with Apple Tech Support. Amazingly patient. Here is my configuration that crashes:

1 USB-C port is connected to an Anker 8-in-1 usbc hub which has HDMI, 2xusbc 2xusba, sd-card, ethernet.

1 usb-c port connected to a Dell monitor via a usbc to display port cable. More on why the separate connection to external display.

His conjecture was that somehow the video processor in the hub was confusing the M1 coming out of sleep.

So I used a basic usbc hub with no video out (just usbc power in, usbc to M1, 3xusba, SD-card). I used the other usbc port on the M1 to drive the external monitor.

I have had no crashes over the last few days.

However, when I connected the HDMI out of the Anker hub to my monitor, it promptly crashed.

Suggestions:

(a) Try to use hubs that don't have video out.

(b) Use the M1's own usbc to drive external monitors.

I do realize that not all of you will have the configuration or the same crashes that I do. Apple is looking through my crash logs to determine the cause; no hub should crash an OS.

pdunkle wrote:

I deleted Clam X Antivirus & I have not had a crash in several days. I am not sure if it caused issues, but so far so good. If there are no crashes in a week or so I will reinstall it and see if the issue comes back.

These various third-party “Anti-Virus”, “Cleaner”, etc. programs are notorious, around here, for the way they cause trouble on Macs!

Welcome, kjloope, to Apple Support Communities!

No macOS updates will solve problems caused by old, incompatible software.

In this case, your «crash report» (a Kernel Panic report) indicates that:

«Panicked task 0xfffffe16724112a8: 50060 pages, 15 threads: pid 561: Microsoft PowerP»

I’m not at all surprised, since «MS Office 2019» is not compatible with Big Sur, let alone with M1.

You need to check your software for compatibility with this brand new Operating System (OS).

The best check is with the software manufacturers.

I deleted Clam X Antivirus & I have not had a crash in several days. I am not sure if it caused issues, but so far so good. If there are no crashes in a week or so I will reinstall it and see if the issue comes back.

I'm afraid I don't have a usb-c to HDMI/displayport at the moment. In any case I was able to learn of some third party app called SwitchResX in a MacRumours thread about this issue (MBA/MBP crashing when connected to a high res monitor), that seems to add some more screen configurations to the computer and helps with bugs. Been working with it since yesterday and the hub and have had 0 crashes this far. The screen blinked once today but no random rebooting or purple screens at all. Will keep on testing but this should land on Apple quality team. These are powerful laptops for professional use and they should've been tested for such, as well as Big Sur.

Hi Mac users ,

I already find a solution with my issue, I open the console, errors reports I find the cause that make restart my computer. In my case was the driver of the printer. Isn't runs for OS 11 and cause some conflict that make a pink screen/ crashing and restart the computer. It's that, I suppose lot of people installing third components as printers, screens, disk or whatever !!!

Please let console errors log .

carlmurr wrote:

i have done a clean install and still the same problem. purple screen than restart (minimum 2 times per day ) while only on safari. with nothing connected on the usb .

…

(emphasis added)

By «clean install», do you mean a clean install of Big Sur on a completely wiped system, with no restored or installed software, utilities, etc.?

You say you had «nothing connected on the usb». What about any other connections? What about BlueTooth?

Right at the beginning of your panic report, it states: «"busy timeout[0], (60s): 'AppleAPFSMedia'"»

Have you tried booting into Safe Mode?

Booting into Safe Mode, among other things, will perform a complete drive repair (this causes the boot time to be extra long, so be patient).

The «"busy timeout[0], (60s): 'AppleAPFSMedia'"» complaint suggests you have a filesystem problem. (It could even be Hardware related).

A Safe Mode boot would be a wise check.

I think my problems have gone away for now with the update to 11.2. That doesn't mean that it solves YOUR problem.

If you still see this or other problems, use sysdiagnose and call Apple support.

Sysdiagnose instructions: press the following as soon as the system starts hanging.

control-option-command and right-shift period (fullstop)

Essentially, the 3 keys to the left of the space bar and shift period

After some time a window will pop up and it will show you a compressed file with the diagnostics information.

Apple support will give you a portal link and you can upload the files there.

Edit: System has been running for 48 hours with no crashes or screen save popping up.

toffix:

That’s like Rajesh Kanungo’s “Crash.log”, that isn’t a “crash” log of your system, but only of the CVMServer process (part of the OpenGL.framework): it threw an EXC_BAD_ACCESS (SIGBUS) exception, with Code “KERN_PROTECTION_FAILURE at 0x000000010022c000”.

Basically, it tried to access memory it didn’t have access to.

I have found this:

«CVMServer -- Mac OS X Core Virtual Machine Server

CVMServer is a system daemon that handles generic task execution in a slave process.»

Do you have anything else that indicates a System “crash”?

Are you, by chance, trying to run some integrated development environment (IDE)? XCode? Or something else? (I ask because this has been reported elsewhere: “MacOS BigSur 11.2 (Apple Silicon) - CVMServer crash with every IDE start”.)

adyav wrote:

<Crash Log / CVMServer keeps accessing invalid addr.log>

My M1 Air was reinstalled from scratch after formatting the SSD as it was crashing several times a day. I also cleared the SMC with a M1 approved sequence, but it crashed promptly within a few minutes of booting up. I hope you can help me diagnose what's broken?

This “Crash.log” is very much like toffix’s: it is not a log of a system crash, but only of the CVMServer process.

When you say «reinstalled from scratch after formatting the SSD», did you only reinstall the Operating System (OS), or did you restore your Apps, etc., before trying to see if your system worked any better?

Have you ever tried using a clean system (some refer to it as a “virgin” system): an install of the OS (Big Sur) «from scratch after formatting the SSD», with no additional Apps, hardware add-ons (including Bluetooth or USB devices: these cause the system to download and install driver software), etc.?

Such a clean system is the most tested system! There have been no issues found on such! (Well. With the exception of cases with hardware issues.)

(Admittedly, almost all of us want to run with our preferred add-on hardware and software. This is simply a test to make sure all works well, before adding other factors.)

If your system runs well in this clean state, then you can know that the issues are with something else, that you’ve added, before (and probably want to add back in, again).

If not, then you can know that there is some sort of hardware issue involved.

I had the same problem on my macbook pro M1 . TRIED everything, called apple support 30 times . the only thing that worked . is to completely erase with first aid kit both parts of the hard disk . keep pressing the power button. go to disk utilities and erase both parts you see. YOU CAN RESTORE from BACKUP i restored the computer after a backup on an external hard disk . IT WORKED ! since then all the programs i was suspecting to be the problem were reinstalled and NOT ONE CRASH .

don't try any of the steps they tell u about . i tried resetting SMC , resetting PRAM , reinstalling os (not the clean install),i removed all the startup programs , i sent 100 reports to apple . NOTHING WORKED until i FULLY ERASED everything from the disk utililty . Reinstalled from scratch and restored the backup . STOP WASTING YOUR TIME WITH SOMETHING ELSE. its the only way believe me

Your antivirus is causing the crash. Please uninstall and reboot. That will fix the issue.

Here is the evidence from your report:

Panicked task 0xfffffe166dd2f1c0: 19316 pages, 4 threads: pid 318: clamd

Hubs are a problem that should not be. A usb device should not be able to crash a computer.

hubs can be complex: one of my hubs has ethernet, usbc, usba, hdmi connections. Connecting the external monitor to the hub crashes the computer.

Apple told me to not use any external monitors via the hub or directly via usbc.

I just had fewer crashes without the external monitor.

I have just given up on talking to Apple. They want me to help them find problems but they chew up so much of my time. It is almost 4 months.

Hey Alex,

Same error here. It has already happened to me like 12 times since I got it a month ago (both on Big Sur 11 and 11.1) and I could isolate the error: it happens when the laptop is connected to an external display. Happened with a Belkin USB-C hub (authorized by Apple) and now I am doing some more tests with a different one (the official Apple adapter) to confirm this but yes, it is quite a headache of a bug and it seems that many more users are suffering it. These machines are amazing but they should fix this soon or face some serious backlash over the lack of reliability.

Rajesh Kanungo wrote:

An OS should not be that easy (impossible?) to crash by any apps. …

By Apps, you are quite correct, since they can do nothing down at the Kernel level.

However, not all “apps” are strictly Apps. All to often, they come with a host of system, users, and other modifications.

What’s at the User Interface (UI) level is, all too often, only the “tip of the iceberg”, so to speak.

… In my case, all the KEXTS belong to Apple. It is a big Apple screwup.

Even if that were demonstrably the case, there are more than just «KEXTS» that can affect the kernel level.

While the Operating System (OS) does try to provide some “segregation” of drivers, of various kinds, from the kernel, drivers are one of the principle “weak links” for any OS: they often link at a rather low level.

Hence, drivers are required to be particularly well written.

Nonetheless, drivers are, typically, specific to an OS! A Catalina driver is highly likely to have trouble on Big Sur (and vise versa).

That’s why a clean install test is the ultimate test of whether any issue is due to the Hardware-OS combination.

Not coincidentally, this is exactly the principle test that is repeated most often for new Hardware and new OSs!

So. Both the OS and the Hardware have already passed this test—repeatedly.

That’s why, unless there is a Hardware failure, we already know that there must be an issue with some third-party software.

This difficulty is in tracking down the culprit.

(Really, no one should ever upgrade [not just update] their OS without checking the compatibility of their software and add-on hardware, for the new OS.

Note: the distinction between OS updates vs. upgrades is an important one:

• Updates can only have compatible OS changes.
• Upgrade can, and often do, have incompatible OS changes. In fact, this is almost the only reason for upgrades!)