Why are kernel panics now happening?

I did more testing on my end. I can confirm that my kernel panics happen specifically after an APFS-formatted drive is completely disconnected and the computer wakes up from its next sleep. I connected and disconnected ExFAT, NTFS, and HFS+ formatted drives without any crashes, but one APFS connection later and I had another panic. It was from a full disconnection (plug pulled out), not just an unmount. I'm getting very tired of this, as I'm using that drive for larger projects.

Also from Bombich Software:

“It has also grown increasingly difficult to make a copy of the operating system. Starting in macOS Big Sur (11.0), the system resides on a cryptographically sealed "Signed System Volume" that can only be copied by an Apple-proprietary utility. That utility is very one-dimensional; choosing to copy the system requires that we sacrifice other backup features, e.g. we cannot copy the system and retain versioned backups of your data. Due to these changes and the limitations of Apple's new "Apple Silicon" platform, creating an external bootable device is not only less approachable for novice users, it's also less likely to serve as a reliable troubleshooting device.”

https://bombich.com/kb/ccc6/cloning-macos-system-volumes-apple-software-restore

I have this exact problem, been having it on my M1 Air since updating to 11.6.2. I have an external 2 TB hard drive with one HFS+ partition for storage and one APFS partition for Time Machine backups. The sequence leading to my kernel panics (which is also a 60-second busy timeout due to AppleAPFSMediaBSDClient) is as follows:

• I connect and use the drive.
• I eject and disconnect the drive.
• I put my computer to sleep, then wake it up again.
• About 60 seconds later, the system kernel panics. This is consistent every time I've done this.

I need to use the drive for a project I'm working on, so it's getting frustrating having this crash happen nearly every day. I would update to 12.1 Monterey if I could find any confirmation that all the memory leak bugs were gone, but until then I'm stuck with 11.6.2.

I've reported every crash to Apple, and I'm a bit surprised there hasn't been an update to fix it yet. 11.6.1 and prior versions were completely fine.

Hi Kit!

I had several kernel panics for a couple of months both in Big Sur and later in Monterey, but I think I know what caused them. I used to open Adobe programs from 'handmade' shortcuts in the ”dock” (don't know what the ”dock” is called in English, see inserted pic), and I mean alias/shortcuts that I had made myself :

When I updated Adobe programs via Creative Cloud I guess the shortcuts stopped syncing correctly, one by one. The system kept trying to find the older version of the program, and when that wasn't possible it probably caused the kernel panic. My crash logs always said: ”CPU Machine Check Architecture Error Dump”.

Since I removed the shortcuts I haven't had a single system krasch (kernel panic). The last one was almost 2 weeks ago, before removing those shortcuts. My Mac seems to be happy again, and so am I! =)

I hope this is a solution that can help others too! =)

Please post the entire panic log using the Additional Text area (document icon).

Kernel Panics are predominately caused by third-party kernel extensions or hardware faults.

The Panic log will list any third-party kernel extensions at the top of the loaded kexts section of the log.

Other things in the log can hint at possible hardware causes, but generally it's just a guess.

Do you have any external hardware attached when it panics?

There aren't any third-party kernel extensions loaded.

The last loaded kext and the panic signature seem to imply some problem accessing a storage device.

I am having the same issue unfortunately. Now causing kernel panics at least twice a day! Very frustrating for obvious work losing reasons. Crash report : "busy timeout[0], (60s): 'AppleAPFSMediaBSDClient'"

System is a M1 Mac mini 2020 running 11.6.2 - only started happening in the last few weeks.

Suspect it is a software issue - any eta on a fix Apple?

Richard

I have had the same kernel panic 3 times over the past 5 days. First 2 times were preceded by a screen flash before going dark. Only the most recent was after using TM and then waking from sleep. Mine did not begin until after my photos library became corrupted and I had to restore it from a backup. No third party kexts and using 11.6.2.

Same symptoms. Also started with the move to 11.6.2. Is there a way to back out that upgrade?

I have seen lots of related issues to M1 on the forums. Today we had the system just drop the Ethernet plugged into a belkin hub and refuse to reconnect until we restarted the computer.

i also has a crash when trying to run first aid on a Sandisk external SSD. If completed with no errors and then immediately panicked.

I removed the connection to my Synology backup since this was a third party tool.

For me it happens even if I haven't disconnected the drive when the Mac mini wakes from sleep. I have a APFS formatted data disk attached via USB-C that is permanently attached to the system. It only has user files on it.

My set up hasn't changed for the last year and the panic only started happening recently with the upgrade to 11.6.2.

I mentioned this on another thread from someone else who had the same problem, but for me, it's actually when I specifically make a Time Machine backup that the crash is set up to happen. Other APFS-formatted drives don't trigger it for me. I think this makes the situation worse because of how important backing up a computer is. Monterey doesn't have this bug, only Big Sur 11.6.2. I sent a report to their Product Feedback system, and I hope there will be a fix soon as I am not ready to update to Monterey yet.

Hi all!

I've had these kernel panics for a couple of months on my iMac 27 bought in September 2021, but now I think I know what caused them. I think it was because of corrupt (old) shortcuts in the dock below (don't know what it's called in English) that didn't sync correctly to programs that had been updated. I opened Photoshop, InDesign, Acrobat and Illustrator via those alias/shortcuts, and they were probably not OK as the system tried to link them to a previous version of the program. My crash logs always said: ”CPU Machine Check Architecture Error Dump”.

After trying soooooo many things that all failed (was it the external screen?, no, updates?, no, cables?, no, updating system?, no and so on), this was yet another test: perhaps I should delete all of those ”alias/shortcuts” in the dock (still don't know what it's called in English) and start opening programs by double clicking documents instead? And hey, since the I haven't had a single system krasch. My Mac seems to be happy again, and so am I! =)

I do hope this was it!

Just did my first TM backup since updating to 11.6.3 and the same kernel panic occurred after disconnecting the external drive, closing the cover and waking from sleep (2020 M1 MBP). Spoke to an Apple advisor who told me it was a known issue and the only fix is to upgrade to Monterey.