Monterey crashes with WindowServer error after going full screen with YouTube

I am getting the same error as the message just above a number of times every day now.

I am running a MacBook Pro 16 2019 i9 8 cores 64GB.

It is happening not on YouTube or any other video type of applications, but just using regular office type apps. It has even happened when the system has been idle for 7 or 8 minutes with just Apple Mail left running. I do not believe it is resource starvation of any kind in my situation.

Looking for anything that can give me more context into this situation or a solution as it is becoming a serious issue at this point.

Exact same problem, on newest M1 16 inch macbook.

I have bowtie and hiddenbar running, which is similar to bartender. might that be the issue?

Also experiencing extreme lag spikes while using before my crashes, not sure if anyone else relates

Hi, i have a similar issue.

I'm running an iMac (Retina 4k, 21.5-inch, 2017) with a 3GHz Intel i5 processor, the only upgrade i've made is changing the stock HDD to a Firecuda Hybrid Drive (SSHD)... It's running Monterey.

The Mac crashes almost everynight multiple times, starts crashing around midnight and then it happens hourly.

I tried turning off a lot of things and removing external devices, I restarted/resetted SMC, PRAM (https://softwaretested.com/mac/how-to-fix-crashes-from-userspace-watchdog-timeout/)

It stopped for around a week, i started plugging somethings back and everything was OK. Also erased old states that where saved and run different diagnostics on my drive. Issues came back after a week or so.

My mac crashes when I'm sleeping or when I leave it alone for a little while.

Yesterday, it happened at 11:25 PM, and continued through today at 12:22AM, 1:07, 1:58, 2:39, 3:27, 4:37, 5:15, 6:09, 6:31, 6:47AM, and 8:32AM. But i've using it all day and it hasn't happened again.

Every console reports starts like this:

-------------------------------------
Translated Report (Full Report Below)
-------------------------------------

Process:               WindowServer [-1]
Path:                  ???
Identifier:            WindowServer
Version:               ???
Code Type:             00000000 (Native)
Parent Process:        ??? [Unknown]
User ID:               

Date/Time:             2022-06-17 08:32:40.6200 -0600
OS Version:            macOS 12.4 (21F79)
Report Version:        12
Anonymous UUID:        C26217CE-4DAB-41A1-E2E8-5D36D0FB69BD



System Integrity Protection: 

Notes:
This is a watchdog-triggered termination event, and not expected to be well-represented in the legacy crash format

Crashed Thread:        Unknown

Exception Type:        

Termination Reason:    Namespace WATCHDOG, Code 1 monitoring timed out for service
(1 monitored services unresponsive): checkin with service: WindowServer returned not alive with context:
is_alive_func returned unhealthy : WindowServer initialization not complete (post IOKitWaitQuiet)
80 seconds since last successful checkin, 195 total successsful checkins since load, 39 seconds since last crashed by watchdogd,  (1 induced crashes)

Error Formulating Crash Report:
This is a watchdog-triggered termination event, and not expected to be well-represented in the legacy crash format

Backtrace not available

No thread state (register information) available

Binary Images:
Binary images description not available

I'll upgrade to a 960GB ADATA Ultimate SSD SU630 next week, install Monterey and migrate my files.

Wish me luck.

Do anyone think that will help?

Do you know what may be causing the issue?

i haven’t heard back from Apple since I sent them reports, but I ran on 12.3 for a while and no issues.

I also was fine in 12.4 when I capped my game to 60fps and also haven’t seen an issue.

I am quite certain there is Something buggy with 12.4 now.

Hi, i don't know if i could rollback to 12.3... photos and music databases, compatibility of everything updated after 12.4, etc.

I tryied removing every USB-C and regular USB connection and stopped backups, the iMac still crashed.

I received my SSD and installed 12.4 in it and migrated my files (I'm using it with an external USB-C case for the moment). Everything runs really fast, but it still crashed the first night.

I had an error Disk Utility found on my previous Hybrid drive, it is not found on the new SSD.

I suppose there are only three options remaining:

• Monterey 12.4
• Mysterious Hardware issue
• Some app, extension o program i'm running that messes something up

I hope with a 12.5 update this thing is solved.

The last console entry contains this:

-------------------------------------
Translated Report (Full Report Below)
-------------------------------------

Process:               WindowServer [-1]
Path:                  ???
Identifier:            WindowServer
Version:               ???
Code Type:             00000000 (Native)
Parent Process:        ??? [Unknown]
User ID:               

Date/Time:             2022-06-25 22:39:47.2526 -0600
OS Version:            macOS 12.4 (21F79)
Report Version:        12
Anonymous UUID:        C26217CE-4DAB-41A1-E2E8-5D36D0FB69BD



System Integrity Protection: 

Notes:
This is a watchdog-triggered termination event, and not expected to be well-represented in the legacy crash format

Crashed Thread:        Unknown

Exception Type:        

Termination Reason:    Namespace WATCHDOG, Code 1 monitoring timed out for service
(1 monitored services unresponsive): checkin with service: WindowServer failed to send ping message, WindowServer watchdog request handling code likely hung 80 seconds since last successful checkin, 2 total successsful checkins since load, 39 seconds since last crashed by watchdogd,  (1 induced crashes)

Error Formulating Crash Report:
This is a watchdog-triggered termination event, and not expected to be well-represented in the legacy crash format

Backtrace not available

No thread state (register information) available

Binary Images:
Binary images description not available

Same thing happened to me with a m1 pro MacBook Pro when I was trying to full screen a youtube video on Safari. I was logged out, but the audio was still playing in the background. I tried to log in then the cursor turned into rainbow wheel, so I had to do a force shutdown.

Hi,

No I do not have any utilities such as bartender running on my system. I will look though in the few apps that I have that end up with a menu bar icon if one could cause the situation. I will let you know if I find anything.

I have a problem similar to this. I notice that it happens when I plug my macbook pro back into my docking station or sometimes when I undock it. I've attached the crash report here. I'm on a 2021 Macbook Pro (M1 Pro), 16-inch, running Monterey. I hope that Apple figures this out as its somewhat annoying and happening multiple times per day as I move from my desk and back.

I am experiencing this very same issue. After I set my Macbook Pro (2021 model) to sleep I get a "WindowServer quit unexpectedly" report and my external monitors lay out is scrambled and several apps relaunch ( even after I had force quit all of them before setting the computer on sleep mode).

This is both good news and bad news. Bad news, because that sucks for you, given that your MacBook is brand new. Good news, in that I've been having the same problem with my Late 2015 iMac, even after wiping my drive completely and starting from scratch. So with luck, Apple might actually recognize this is a real problem and actually take time to fix it since it's affecting new Macs as well.

I have a Windowserver crash everyday when exiting a full screen. I have reported it every time and updated my software, but it looks like it didn't get fixed. I have it on Safari and not using other apps. Is there a fix for this?

Same thing happened to me three times now - twice during MS Teams calls - and now while editing a MS PowerPoint presentation. See case: Microsoft Teams Call sometimes causes har… - Apple Community

Here's the Console Crash Report: https://www.icloud.com/iclouddrive/0fc-3zwlfxQbjYWyeCc1bAcuQ#WindowServer-2022-03-10-104540

So for me its slightly different. Every time I full screen anything (word, powerpoint, onenote, music, opera, photos) basically anything it logout crashes. I enter my password and everything reopens. If I make something important full screen again it crashes. Ive asked friends who own an Intel Mac and theirs is completely fine. And yeah I have a M1 Mac Air. If someone can help me out I can put in the Crash report.

I have same thing too and I found a temporary solution of this.

It happens when I play War thunder or other "heavy" games the image just freezes and sometimes the models in game blink.

So the solution that helps me: I press the power button so Mac goes to sleep mode and often the image stays how it froze so then you press "esc" so the monitor goes dark, then you log in and it seems to be ok but after a minute or less it can repeat, however sometimes the Mac freezes completely so I have to restart it.

And I have problem with YouTube too but it's a bit different, when I open a video in full screen half of the display starts to blink fas(it doesn't stay like that for a while) but it never shuts down by itself.

EDITED I have Istat menus

I use MacBook Pro13 2020 with Intel Core i5

this error appears when I am able to fix problem by shutting down the screen

And this when I can't

HOPE APPLE WILL FIX THAN IN NEXT MAC OS!

Yep. 2019 27" iMac running 12.2.1

Seems to happen when I'm editing with Lightroom Classic and/or using Google Chrome.

Everything simply hangs for a minute, then reboots. All software is up to date and am now about to install OS ver 12.4 and see where that goes.