2020 iMac screen distortion and kernel panic

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Level 1

5 points

2020 iMac screen distortion and kernel panic

I've had issues with this August 2020 iMac since I purchased it. Screenshot has system info. Two main things:

Screen distortion: sometimes when I move my cursor, the screen distorts in something I can only describe as smeared geometric forms. See screenshot. The red blocks are not part of the distortion -- I had to block out identifying info as this was work for a client. The weird black lines are the distortion, and they aren't always black when this happens. This particular screenshot is from Adobe Illustrator, and I've only noticed this issue in Adobe. I mostly use my computer to work in Adobe InDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop.

Kernel panics: they come in waves, and have since the beginning. I got one today, and report is attached.

I brought my computer to the Genius Bar in December; they kept it for a week and said their tests were all fine when using my original Apple ram, but when they installed my 3rd party ram (OWC), the tests failed. I sent my ram back to OWC, and they responded that the ram passed their tests, but they sent me new ram as a courtesy.

Yet, my problems with screen distortion and kernel panics are still happening.

Does anyone have any sense of what might be going on with this machine? Thank you for your time and thoughts.

Attached:

System info
Screen distortion screenshot (Adobe Illustrator)
Kernel panic report from today

2/3/22 crash report

iMac 27″, macOS 11.6

Posted on Feb 3, 2022 9:09 AM

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Answer 1

rkaufmann87

Level 10

143,098 points

Feb 3, 2022 10:12 AM in response to amvent

It will help us get a good idea of what is causing your problem if you provide a report of your system, that way we do not have to play 20 questions with you. The report we are requesting does NOT provide any personal information and is extremely safe to use. Please navigate to www.Etrecheck.com and download the free version of EtreCheck. Once you have you downloaded the app and installed it, please run the report and save it.

When you have your report, you can attach it when you reply to this message and we can then review it and help you determine what is needed to get your system running well again.

Also, I did notice on your KP Report that you have Endpoint Security installed. Please read the information below:

The best antivirus, cleaning app, and overall maintenance app for Mac OS is Mac OS itself. All you need to do with Mac OS to keep it secure and running well is to keep it up-to-date and do periodic (about 1x per week) restarts. Other than that, leave it alone. Adding third party antivirus, cleaning, security and other types of maintenance apps to Mac OS adds no additional level of security. The only thing these apps do is have the opposite affect users want. They make Mac OS slow, unstable, generate odd behavior (much like you are experiencing) and make Mac OS appear buggy.

Please locate the developers uninstall instructions for EndPoint Security and any other similar antivirus or cleaning apps and follow to the letter. Then restart in Safe Mode per the directions in Use safe mode to isolate issues with your Mac and then restart normally.

For instructions on how to download your EtreCheck report and attach it to your reply to this message please click https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-250000211

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Answer 2

amvent Author

Level 1

5 points

Feb 3, 2022 12:46 PM in response to rkaufmann87

Thank you, rkaufmann87, for your reply.

I have attached the Etre report below. (Weirdly, it says there is no Time Machine backup, but I do have one installed and it is running.)

I actually have no idea what Endpoint Security is, or why it's on my computer. I'm very skeptical of those types of programs, having uninstalled Clean My Mac years ago based on the prevailing wisdom in this forum. And I'm very careful of downloading anything from the internet and installing it. Do you know if it's that something that could be part of another program, such as the Adobe programs? Or something Apple repair might have installed when they were examining my machine? I'm concerned that it's installed and I don't know how/where/why it's there.

I googled Endpoint Security and found this page within Apple's developer documentation:

https://developer.apple.com/documentation/endpointsecurity

It's not, by any chance, part of the Apple framework, is it?

Thank you again for taking a look at this and responding.

Etre report

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Answer 3

rkaufmann87

Level 10

143,098 points

Feb 3, 2022 12:56 PM in response to amvent

I may have errored on the Endpoint security, please don't touch it. I was expecting to see something in the EtreCheck report. Perhaps another user sees something in the report I am missing.

I noticed your iMac has a 128GB of RAM, what brand of RAM did you use when upgrading or did you buy the computer with 128GB directly from Apple? RAM is a major cause of KPs so if you upgraded yourself, please remove the upgraded RAM and run the computer with the original RAM for a few days and see if the KP's go away or not. If they do go away, then you know it's the RAM you used.

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Answer 4

amvent Author

Level 1

5 points

Feb 3, 2022 1:01 PM in response to rkaufmann87

Thank you again, rkaufmann87, for replying

.

RAM is OWC. I mentioned above that:

"I brought my computer to the Genius Bar in December; they kept it for a week and said their tests were all fine when using my original Apple ram, but when they installed my 3rd party ram (OWC), the tests failed. I sent my ram back to OWC, and they responded that the ram passed their tests, but they sent me new ram as a courtesy."

So, I've had these issues with original Apple RAM (I went back to it for a while in November to troubleshoot), the earlier OWC RAM, and now the new replacement OWC RAM.

I'm really at a loss as to what's going on. Even though Apple tells me my system failed with the earlier set of OWC RAM, it really doesn't seem to be the RAM.

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Answer 5

rkaufmann87

Level 10

143,098 points

Feb 3, 2022 1:07 PM in response to amvent

You can test with the original RAM to verify if its the OWC RAM or not, however some users have had problems on 2020 27" iMacs with 128GB of OWC RAM. When they switched to Crucial it worked okay. Personally on my 2020 27" iMac I added an additional 32GB of OWC RAM and now have 40 GB, my system is stable.

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Answer 6

amvent Author

Level 1

5 points

Feb 3, 2022 1:26 PM in response to rkaufmann87

Interesting -- thank you.

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2020 iMac screen distortion and kernel panic

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