I am not a very tech-savvy person, but I have tried everything I know to fix this issue, which is basically running Disk Utility First Aid, updating system software and apps and reinstalling Creative Cloud. Here is my Etrecheck report. I appreciate any help!
iMac 27″, macOS 12.3
Welcome!
I don't see any big red flags. Your Fusion drive is running within nominal values although the Write speed is slightly slow. IMHO it is not slow enough to cause Etrecheck to throw that "long time to run" alert
The kernel panics are likely related to the "watchdog timeout" errors. The entire watchdog thing is not uncommon but is very vague. Some sources say it can be a hardware error within the Intel processor. Others blame Apple's FileVault being enabled or using Google File Systerms. I see neither noted in your report.
Suggestions posted include:
If you do the Safe Mode boot, let the computer sit for maybe thirty (30) minutes in safe mode without using it. That gives the system plenty of time to clean up stuff. Then reboot normally and test.
I was going to post some links but one of the sites I found in searching gave me a fake "Apple support" virus alert popup so I stopped looking!
If this continues that could suggest a potential processor fault which you will not be able to fix at home. If the computer is still in warranty, I would have Apple evaluate as soon as possible.
The next time it shuts down by itself first try rebooting with the Power button. If that doesn't work unplug the power cord from the back of the iMac for about 10 seconds or so. Then plug it back in and try booting up again with the Power button. If it powers up immediately you may have a failing power supply.
I don't see any of the usual suspects in the report.
However, I'd first try booting into the Recovery volume (boot with the Command + R keys held down - Intel Macs) or (How to Boot an M1 Mac into Recovery Mode), elect Disk Utility and run First Aid on all possible volumes.
If the problems persist reboot into the Recovery volume and reinstall the system. It will not overwrite any of the user data. However, as good practice recommends, make sure you have a full and current backup of your boot drive beforehand.
Try running DriveDx to check the health of the hard drive. With a Fusion Drive setup the fast SSD can mask the performance of a bad hard drive. Post the complete DriveDx text report here using the "Additional Text" icon which looks like a piece of paper. You may as well post the report for the SSD as well just to be complete. Usually an "Warning" or "Failing" notices on a hard drive indicate a worn out or failing hard drive respectively. The same does not always apply to an SSD, so it is always best to manually review the health reports for an SSD.
+1 on running DriveDX, get the trial version and run it on the Fusion drive, I suspect the HD might be failing. If it is then my suggestion is to get a https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/owc-envoy-pro-fx and connect it to the new machine.and clone your internal drive using either Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper! to the new external SSD. Then use your new SSD as your startup drive.
iMac is PAINFULLY slow, randomly shuts down and is tough to restart
