Daily kernel panic Mac Studio Ultra

I've had roughly ten kernel panics since getting my Mac Studio Ultra just under a month ago. The error reports range from LLC Bus errors to ApplePMGR errors or Sleep transition errors, but, regardless of what the error reports say, the kernel panics always happen at the same exact time — when my Mac is waking from sleep.

I don't have much of anything connected to the Studio besides my three 4K displays, a keyboard, a mouse and an OWC Thunderbay. Apple Support suggests the Thunderbay is the problem, but I've been using it for the past two years with my iMac without one single panic. And it's a critical part of my workflow since it contains all my work files so it's not exactly easy to test without it.

So, instead, I've replaced cables (even bought the ridiculously expensive Apple 4K Thunderbolt cable), changed how my displays connect to the Mac, even randomly changed which ports the displays connect to. Last night I even changed out my mouse. And while some of that seems to have helped, I do still get kernel panics every now and again. I had one this morning, in fact.

I've been using Macs since the 90s, and have owned a ton of different models over the years. But I'm not sure I've ever had one as unstable (or as expensive) as the Mac Studio.

While it is certainly possible that there are issues which may be solved only by a firmware update, kernel panics may also be due to third party extensions or daemons - and that is especially likely if one migrated old stuff to the new mac.

I recommend running Etrecheck and posting its report here, using the additional text button, so we can look for possible issues.

I made a little progress on this. In my case at least, it seems to be a combination of factors.

I have a Promise Pegasus2 Thunderbolt storage array from 2013 and I had my suspicions that it might have some challenge with the transition to Apple silicon. It seemed to work fine when I was using it, but again when the system was unattended it could kernel panic. So I unplugged the array when I was done for the day and there was no kernel panic!

Still, not a good solution. So I kept investigating, and I saw a reference (which I didn't save, sorry) to a similar complaint of panics when the M1 Mac went to sleep.

Two days ago, I disabled system sleep and left the array plugged in. No kernel panics since!

Want to share on record, for whatever it's worth.

That's because Apple starting let email and other system. to sync to email servers and if a user Sid for automatic downloading of upgrades in managed sleep! So sleep has changed over the years! your best bet is turn off sleep and just shutdown to stop this until a genus can figured put how change this change!

I disabled sleep on my Mac and that seemed to fix the panics as well. It also stopped my LG displays from moving my windows all over the place.

I realize that’s not a good long term fix but it’s better than the machine panicking every other day.

piplovesmacs wrote:

Well, my machine is out of the box, and I have not migrated anything over yet. Kernel panic this morning, one day after turning it on for the first time. Thinking of returning this machine.

If your mac is kernel panicking out of the box, then by all means return it.

My Studio Max restarts automatically after normal manual shutdown (right out of the box). I spent a day eliminating any software and hardware issues, clean installed OS 12.5, restored from backup, and still had the problem. Apple Store diagnosed it and replaced the logic board and power button. However, I still have the problem. Off tomorrow to the Store to get a replacement--hopefully without a lot of fuss.

Steven Schweizer wrote:

My Studio Max restarts automatically after normal manual shutdown (right out of the box). I spent a day eliminating any software and hardware issues, clean installed OS 12.5, restored from backup, and still had the problem. Apple Store diagnosed it and replaced the logic board and power button. However, I still have the problem. Off tomorrow to the Store to get a replacement--hopefully without a lot of fuss.

If you installed, and then restored EVERYTHING from backup, you got back to where you started, thus denying the benefits of the clean install.

You should only migrate the USERS, not settings, applications, or "other files".

If there was an old launch daemon from your previous mac that causes crashes in your Studio, you just reinstalled it!

T6002 is the Ultra chip, as far as I can tell. I'm guessing the crash has something to do with firmware. Might be fixed in 12.4 system update, but you may want to call Apple just to be safe.

Apple has not been very informational about macOS update fixes and let's hope there was a firmware update for the Studio, and other related operating system fixes that resolve your panic issues.

It's not just the Ultra, I'm seeing this on my Max as well.

I have only had two panics on mt Studio Max. There were different.

Let us know if 12.4 resolved the issue. This is totally unacceptable in a brand new machine.

Sadly no. I've got 12.4 and I had two panics today.

Before the most recent I had shut down most of my apps, so I think it's hardware. I do have a Pegasus 2 R4 array attached.