What is SOCD report detected: (AP watchdog expired)?

Wrong, try again.

In your arrogance, you overlook that FACT that I solved the issue on my M1 Mac by changing the USB externals. Read again closer and show some reading comprehension Mr Not-A-Guru. In addition to troubleshooting the hub, I also reported the issue with one USB-A ext drive.

Currently, I have the same USB-A hub plugged into a Thunderbolt port using a USB-A to USB-C adapter with two externals plugged into it and have not experienced the issue in weeks.

There may actually be multiple causes.

Move along if you've nothing to actually contribute.

It seems that this is a pretty complicated situation and what works for some people doesn't work for others. I can tell you're frustrated (I would be too if I were still having this issue) but lashing out at everyone else who has managed to solve it for themselves and are sharing their solutions isn't helping matters.

Sounds like you have misunderstood me @fluffy. I have no frustrations at all. Nor am I "lashing out" at other users. In fact, what I am doing is letting Apple know that the issues identified by other users to be fixes, are in fact, not fixes. If you are debugging code, you need as much help as possible. Since this is such a new issue, I would assume that Apple techs are monitoring this thread and using feedback to try and identify the issue. With all these "random" fixes listed by users, the techs are on a wild goose chase. So I am just trying to help those folks figure it out more quickly.

But thanks for letting me know how you perceive my input and please consider my motivation. Cheers!

Just happened to me for the first time while my #MBAM1 was idle.

Been using this powered Anker USB-C hub since November. When the problem occurred, I only had one USB-A device connected (Presonus AudioBox iTwo).

No external drive.

macOS Big Sur 11.3.1

this is a logic board issue. watchdog is a component in the processor which resets after a period of time. Usually processor takes care of that. However when the system/processor fails to reset the watchdog, the timer expires and the system reboots which resets the timer. This can happen at anytime. No connection to what you might be doing. I suggest take video when this happens & submit this video at apple store/service centre. They will replace logic board like they did for me. Hope this helps the affected users!!

A watchdog timer (WDT) is a hardware timer that automatically generates a system reset if the main program neglects to periodically service it. It is often used to automatically reset an embedded device that hangs because of a software or hardware fault.

That is incredibly untrue. While some systems do have hardware watchdogs, that is generally not the case in consumer electronics, and in this context the watchdog is probably a kernel process that keeps track of other kernel processes to ensure there's no deadlock or crash.

Software watchdogs are used pretty much everywhere that things need to keep running, and this is almost definitely a software watchdog. For example, launchd (which MacOS uses to keep system services running) is a watchdog.

Even if the M1 has a hardware watchdog there's no evidence that this is a logic board issue. In fact, even if this specific watchdog is a hardware watchdog, that still doesn't mean it's a logic board issue that's causing the system reboots — it could very well be a software fault that's leading to the watchdog timer not being serviced in time.

I'm running the latest BigSur 11.4 and it just happened to me again. I had the issue once before and I had read previously that it was suspected to be related to having USB-A port hub connected, so I was able to disconnect that. I have had a month or so without reboots, but last night, it happened at 3:26am while I was asleep. I still have a 1TB external SSD connected for TimeMachine via a Thunderbolt port and an external monitor connected via the other Thunderbolt port with a USB-C to HDMI converter cable.

I did have some Bluetooth sputtering yesterday which appeared to be related to the CONWIN headphones I had connected that had most likely just run out of battery. Once they were disconnected, all the other Bluetooth devices remained connected and behaving properly again. And that was without rebooting or power down.

I just received one myself. I got a green screen, then it rebooted. The first thing I thigh was OMG I have the green screen of death, then I remembered I am on a MAC and it was a blue screen of death on my windows PC. I have a network in the house with a a number of devices. I have run into issues with software over the years but based on what I am reading it may be the external USB hub. Does that mean they under powered the Mac mini? It seems to be going on since 11.2, so that tells me Apple does not give a care on fixing it or even acknowledging the issue. I'm on 11.4.

If Apply care monitors this can you address this please. Please do not tell us to reboot. One reason we paid so much for the Apple is because we did not want Microsoft resolutions ("When in doubt reboot"). If there is a known issue then state what it is and when your estimated fix time is.

Regardless of whether you are using a Windows Box or a Mac, a restart will always be one of the first troubleshooting steps to resolving an issue!

We have had a number of ideas as to the cause of this, it isn't peripherals and it isn't software. No software updates will solve this.

It's a logic board fault. Check out sajal101's comments towards the bottom of page 3 of this thread.

Your best bet for a solution is to take a screenshot of the report that you see after your Mac restarts two or three times to show to an Apple tech. Then make a Genius Bar appt for warranty repair. When you get to the appt show the tech your screenshots as well as this Apple Support Communities thread, pointing out sajal101's comments and request a new logic board.

The tech at my local Apple Genius Bar has ordered a new logic board for my Mac mini. I custom ordered a mini, so the board isn't one they usually have in stock at the store.

hey gang, had a mini breakthrough if you've ever gotten stuck in the rebooting cycle of death like I had happen last night where it rebooted 15 times in a row before I gave up and went to bed.

When it reboots, it will give two options, can't remember them off the top of my head. But the blue button on the bottom right (I think) essentiually reopens everything that was previously open, trying to get you back to where we were.

DO NOT SELECT THAT OPTION.

For whatever reason that option will also recreate the problem that crashed our computers, and then it will continue to reboot over and over again.

As soon I selected the button on the bottom left (which is esentially a clean restart), it stopped doing it.

Hope this helps people until Apple can deliver us a fix.

I have never seen those two choices. I see the GSoD for a couple of seconds and then a restart that is much quicker than a usual restart, which ends with the login for my account. When I login, I see the report with just the one issue; SOCD report detected: (AP watchdog expired). You are the first to report this multiple restart issue. Do you see this report after the restart?

As was established by Apple as reported by sajal101 towards the bottom of page three of this thread, this is not a software issue, this is a logic board issue. The only way that Apple will fix it for you is by you making a Genius Bar appt for Apple to install a new logic board under the warranty.

I wished I was more aware of what I was doing in the moment. I believe it's after typing in the pasword, it asks us if we'd like to reload everything that was previously open. Choosing to do that just reloads the bug apparently. I haven't had an issue so far today since I hit the other option.

I had the issue previously that did go away with an update.... though I haven't done the most recent to 11.4. I'm still sitting on 11.3 and haven't had the issue since getting to 11.3. I do believe that this could be caused by a faulty logic board but it is also possible that it could be problem with the software mismatching where it's sending data. That also depends heavily on the particular reason your Mac crashed as the same error could result from multiple different locations depending on what that particular feature interacts with.

Most often though I'd look at an erase and reinstall first. Reinstall is good and all but it'd be more efficient to just run a Time Machine backup, and then erase and reinstall clean. Test for a bit, then migrate data with Time Machine if the issue doesn't occur after the regular interval.

Most often I've found that crashes along these lines have more to do with installed programs and how they interact with hardware than actual hardware issues. If the issue occurs after an erase and set up as new install then I'd swing by and see about getting the logic board sorted out. There are a whole bunch of other steps Apple Care will have you take, they are important and should be done, but the be all end all if it keeps happening is an erase and reinstall. So if you're up for it then.... yeah.

That has not actually been established. sajal101 was speculating based on a misunderstanding of what a watchdog timer is. This could very well be a software issue. For some folks it's cleared up due to software updates, while for others it hasn't. It's possible that there's issues with third-party drivers causing issues, like if people have VPN clients installed or are using slightly-out-of-spec USB devices.

What other devices do you have connected to your computer? Also, maybe in System Information you can find something about a bad kext, like by going to Software > Extensions and then sorting the list by 'obtained from' to see if there's any non-Apple extensions which are loaded.