Macbook Air M1 - kernel panic

Another day, another kernel panic with a pink flash before spontaneous reboot.

I did get through to Apple and they put me through to one of the senior technicians. He tried to blame it on peripherals or 3rd party software, of course. Which is pretty rich, as the computer is sold alongside a photo of a Thunderbolt adaptor made by Apple. A bit like a car company saying their product works fine, so long as you don't mess things up by using it to carry passengers.

I was also told this problem was entirely new and unheard of - which is odd as it's being widely discussed online. Many users are reporting similar issues - kernel panics, often with the pink flash. And the machine I'm using is actually Apple's replacement for another M1 that had exactly the same issues.

...today's trigger, by the way, was watching a video. Yesterday's - on a £2000 machine - was writing an email.

So, to briefly summarize what seems to have emerged from this now 10-page thread, is the following:

** The M1 MacBooks, both the Air and Pro models, exhibit kernel panics often preceded by a very brief screen freeze and then a pink flash. There have been some instances of similar behavior with the iMac M1, but possibly only one (not sure I've read that correctly). Possibly one MacMini M1 as well.

** A number of affected machines were replaced by Apple, and replacement models have often (usually? not always?) had the the same problem.

** A variety of user setups and activities were in place when the events occurred. Usually (nearly always?) the MacBooks were connected to an external monitor. Dell monitors are frequently mentioned, some but fewer LG monitors. Of course, the MacMini was running an external monitor, but the iMac was not (so it appears, based on account).

** Kernel panics have sometimes (not always?) noted something about power supply issues. Usually there are some other peripherals involved, such as a dock of one kind or another. In at least one instance, it has occurred with no external monitor or peripherals, however.

** Activites underway at the time of the events ranges from composing email to running multiple programs, including use of a browser with many tabs in use. Watching a video seems to be mentioned by several contributors.

** Frequency of the events ranges from only one every few weeks up to many times per day.

** Users seeking help from Apple have been told there is probably hardware fault with the machine, or it's the particular dock that is in use, or the cable is the likely culprit.

** There have been numerous different interventions that led to some limited success in reducing the number of events. Those include use of a different dock, or not using the dock, substituting a different monitor, and changing cables. Reinstalling the OS has generally not provided much help.

So, it seems there is little consensus on the cause of the kernel panic issue. It is not clear that any particular "fix" addresses the issue with any consistency, and such attempts have generally been unsuccessful.

Feel free to add/correct any of the above to more accurately reflect the information.

Yes, thanks - that's a very good summary.

In my case, the first machine crashed whether it was plugged into peripherals or not. I have screengrabs for when it crashed and rebooted while it was just on my laptop.

I think there's no consensus as it's some kind of intermittent fault. If it was about external monitors - which it evidently isn't exclusively - then I'd expect the machine to crash as soon as the monitor was used. But I've had the machine working for hours, with no problem, then crash spontaneously despite nothing new being plugged in (or out). I'm wondering: could this be a GPU issue?

One weird thing: the second machine ran pretty well for a fortnight, before succumbing to the same problem as the first. The only different in that first fortnight is that I was in a workshop space and was plugging my mac into the mains only rarely. So that suggests some interplay with power management too. But all of this is grasping at straws! Sometimes when there's an intermittent hardware fault, it's easy to try and attribute it to the last thing that happened. And I've realised that's got me nowhere so far.

I do, honestly, think it's disgraceful that every time I speak to an apple engineer, I'm told this is a one-off, they've never heard of this issue before. This is now starting to stretch credulity. A simple admission there's a huge problem, they don't know what it is, it's not down to third-party issues and they need to fix it - that would go a long way to help.

Hello everyone

I heard back from the senior support technician today. First thing he mentioned is that an update 11.5 appeared today and to try it for a few days in case it fixes it. Definitely worth a try!

No other useful info - in fact, the engineers he spoke to in Apple asked if I had put something magnetic on the outside of my computer (!). He thinks, quite honestly, they'd got me mixed up with another enquirer. That's reassuring - otherwise I was half-expecting the next question to be 'have you been dabbling in witchcraft?'

Once again I asked if he or the engineers were now willing to conceed this is a widespread problem - in at the very least a batch of M1 machines. And not down to a single issue on a single setup.

I asked him for the third time to send my question up the line to the Apple engineers. I said some transparency about this issue i.e. an acknowledgement there's a fault (hardware or software), they haven't fixed it yet but are working on it - would go a long way to reassuring people. At the moment, we're all getting the run-around and being treated as isolated cases or people who are using things they shouldn't on their machines - there's a breakdown in trust.

If any in-house Apple engineers are reading this - apologies if I've missed that above (I rarely use this forum) - a note from one of you acknowledging the pink screen kernel panic in on your to do list would be really welcome. Thanks!

Thanks for your efforts Harmonia55. I did the update today, while hoping that there would be no paralysing crash in the middle of it. I came through unscathed but it is too early to know if it helped. I am a person who went from multiple panics per day to about one every day or two by unplugging my key board and leaving the top closed.

For me if I don't unplugged the hdmi cable plugged with the adaptateur device it's find . I didn't have any trouble yet of purple screen with automatic restart. Will see ... Just to remind you , my Mac is plugged in with a LG ultra wide screen.

"It seems Apple isn't making this a priority to fix."

Or they can't fix it. The tech at my Apple Store had seen the issue with other M1 Macbook owners and told me I can wait for a firmware update to fix it or I can get my money back. However, he added that such a firmware update would be 'miraculous'.

Have you kept a record of all the kernel panics? On both M1 Macbooks I kept detailed logs of software installed, panics, software crashes, and the process of elimination I went through to determine the HDMI connection to the external monitor was the (principal) cause. I suspect just digging up your panic logs from Diagnostic Reports in Console (or your Library folder) and creating a quick timeline would suffice. I visited two different Genius Bars and both times they were pretty chilled and offered me replacements or refunds.

How many of you who report it this happening very frequent when a screen is connected tired to use the screen without *any* adapter?

USB-C cable directly. And power directly.

No other externals? (internal keyboard or Bluetooth when on the two port air)

Maybe it is connected to a power issue that causes more frequent issues when more power is drawn from one port?

Same thing here. Frozen -> black/pink screen -> reboot. M1 Macbook, connected to an ASUS monitor via an Apple adapter and an HDMI cable. In the beginning, it crashed once per week. Now once per day, usually in the afternoon when I am typing very fast...

Yesterday’s security update from Apple, 11.5.1, had one detail that made me wonder if it might apply to this problem. There’s something mentioned about handling memory better. I’m curious if any of you are still experiencing problems after installing Yesterdays update.

I have had a new M1 since March and had no issues until about a month later. I've been using an old Hanns-G monitor and thought maybe these new chips aren't happy with older monitors. So I purchased a Samsung 34" Ultra-Wide instead of running a dual monitor hack with the adapter, thinking this will be the best solution. Laptop ran great for weeks but started crashing again randomly. Always seemed like when I was hitting backspace (coincidence?).

I setup an appointment with a nearby authorized retailer whom couldn't duplicate the concern after having it for 2-3 days. I recommended to send it to Apple regardless where they replaced the logic board and shipped it back. Seemed to be working great for about another month then again, crashing. I just got it back today from Apple's repair facility where they replaced the logic board for the 2nd time. I'm hoping the new logic board in conjunction with the latest update will stop this issue as it is interfering with my work.

"The apple senior advisor wants me to do a complete reinstall of the system without using the time machine"

There seem to be a lot of folks working at Apple who genuinely don't know about this problem - I was told the same thing regarding clean reinstall on a number of occasions.

Have you considered installing Monterey beta?

Not that I've seen. All, I ever get from Senior Advisors at Apple is their engineers are aware of the issue and are working on it. They've been telling me that since March. I installed the 11.5.1 update and it's crashed twice since then, so apparently it was nothing more than a security update.

This has been happening to my 2020 Mac book pro with the m1 chip I got it in December. The problem first started happening around early may. Its august now still no improvements. I have tried reinstalling OS and going in to apple. Nothing seems to help improve the issue. The crashes happen infrequent so I feel like its hard to find out what is causing the issue. It will happen when I am just watching a YouTube video to editing a file in photoshop. It seem as if there is no real trigger. Maybe it has something to do with 3rd party products not Running well on the M1 chip. Also, it happens when everything is up to date too.