Level 1

5 points

Mac Pro 2023 will not boot with PCIe SSD installed.

I just spent all night setting my new M2 Mac Pro. Everything seemed OK. This morning I was ready to do the final steps and get back to work. The final steps included adding some additional storage for my audio projects. Something I've been doing for over two decades now and didn't expect that to be a showstopper.

As soon as I installed my previously working OWC SSD OWC Accelsior 4M2 the Mac Pro would NOT boot. This drive works and I put it back in my 2019 Mac Pro and there are no issues. Even if I put the OWC SSD in a Sonnet PCIe to Thunderbolt chassis, the same thing happens. No boot. If I connect the chassis when the Mac is booted, it freezes.

I had also purchased a new OWC Accelsior 8M2 and planned for it to be my main working audio drive but the issue also happens with that SSD, so it's safe to say it's not a faulty SSD.

OWC is a VERY reliable brand and widely used in the pro audio and video community. I've been using them over 20 years now without issue.

I am not using these drives to boot the MacOS from. These are just storage for my actual audio projects, which is common in audio studios to have a dedicated drive for all the audio work. No software runs from these drives. I am using the internal Mac SSD to boot from as you normally would and without the PCIe SSDs, the computer seems to run just fine. I was so excited to get to work but I can't use this machine and get by on just the internal storage. Additional PCIe storage is essential in a pro studio.

I chatted with Apple Support today and they are looking into it, but I don't feel too confident about it. The "senior advisor" was not even aware there was a new 2023 Mac Pro (LOL) and hadn't watched the WWDC yet. I thought he was joking. He was not.

I called OWC as well and they are not aware of any issues yet but the Mac Pro just started arriving yesterday so it's still new territory. I'm trying to find out if it's an OWC issue, or Apple.

I do have an OWC Thunderbay 8 with 8 HDD (my project archives) and that did work OK.

Something about the new Mac Pro is NOT happy with PCIe SSDs connected either internally, or in a Thunderbolt chassis.

After staying up all night and wasting about 10 hours of setting up the new 2023 Mac Pro, I am sadly back to working on my 2019 Mac Pro. All my OWC SSDs work just fine again when inserted in the 2019 Mac Pro.

This could be bad news for Apple if it's on their end.

Mac Pro

Posted on Jun 15, 2023 10:22 AM

Top-ranking reply

SoftRAIDSupport

Level 1

27 points

Posted on Jun 20, 2023 11:51 AM

We have seen about 10 instances. All have the following in the top of the panic trace:

dart-apciec3 (0xfffffe1b39d40800): DART(DART) error:

This is the same error as MacOS/M1 had up until 13.4 was released, which fixed this problem.

In case this is a MacOS issue, can you post the MacOS build number of your System? I am especially interested in build numbers for MacOS versions that are NOT crashing.

So far, I have seen this with RAID 0, RAID 4, RAID 5. All with 4 drives. This panic does not happen with RAID 0 2-drive volumes.

Apple RAID does not seem to be affected.

HFS and APFS will both panic a system, so it is not file system related.

One trick that MIGHT work, I would like any affected users to try this, is with the drives disconnected, launch SoftRAID and "uninstall SoftRAID" from utiliities menu. restart, and connect the drives. (or put them back in the Mac Pro)

Does this prevent the panic?

Your volume will still mount and be usable.

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Similar questions

119 replies

Oct 17, 2023 12:17 PM in response to Ray Maxwell

I am sure Apple has internal test tools that show the 26GB/s.

I use AJA System test, as it is pretty good at standardizing results.

Do not use the App store version, it is old.

https://www.aja.com/products/io-4k-plus#support

Click Software and download AJA. Do not install any options, like Adobe, they are not needed. You do not need the Kona app either, just delete it.

Run AJA, set resolution to any 8K video, set the Codec to 16bitRGBA, and file size to 64GB

In settings, enable Dual DMA engine.

You can optionally set it to run continuously.

See what results you get. You should see consistent 20GB/s to 24GB/s

This is a true test of writing video files to disk.

Jun 21, 2023 2:51 PM in response to Jperkins27

Can users with this kernel panic post their MacOS build number?

Jul 7, 2023 1:38 PM in response to Jperkins27

Received my new 4M2 (4TB) from OWC, formatted/striped with Apple Raid.. Works great, no boot up issues. Thanks! Now we wait for Apple to do the OS update so we can go back to using SoftRaid.

Jun 15, 2023 10:27 AM in response to Jperkins27

<< Something about the new Mac Pro is NOT happy with PCIe SSDs connected either internally, or in a Thunderbolt chassis. >>

it would be more accurate to say, "something about MY SAMPLE of Mac Pro 2023 ..."

This could be a hardware issue that applies only to the sample of the device you received, and no others.

Jun 15, 2023 10:32 AM in response to Jperkins27

When debugging, you need to try to be methodical and not jump to conclusions. This is not a pervasive issue for all Mac Pro 2023 until Apple acknowledges it is. So far, it is a failure in one Mac.

... and exchanging for a different sample is exactly what is done early on, because no one knows why yours does not work.

Jperkins27 Author

Level 1

5 points

Jun 16, 2023 7:47 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

I don't really know but I think it's software. It's my understanding that these larger capacity OWC SSD are a few smaller SSDs that can be configured as RAID, or one big drive. I set mine up as one drive and don't use any RAID features.

The older 1TB might not be available anymore, but here is the current model that you can order:

[Link Edited by Moderator]

Jperkins27 Author

Level 1

5 points

Jun 16, 2023 8:04 PM in response to Jperkins27

I should mention that my goal is not to get my older drives that worked fine in the 2019 Mac Pro to work in the 2023, even though they should. That is a lost cause at this point.

My goal is just to understand what PCIe SSDs I can buy and safely use in the 2023 Mac Pro.

The new Mac Pros seem to be VERY picky about formatting and specs as there are numerous reports of issues like mine, and other external drive related issues that you just wouldn’t expect from a new professional machine from Apple.

Hopefully it’s something they can address ASAP with a firmware or software update.

I understand perhaps not being able to read drives formatted a certain way but the fact that these drives which again, worked flawlessly in the 2019 Mac Pro are grinding the new Mac Pro to a halt and preventing them from even booting is pretty crazy.

Jperkins27 Author

Level 1

5 points

Jun 17, 2023 6:14 AM in response to David K. Gross

Yes, sorry for the blurry screenshot but I'm now just using a small old TV for that computer since I'm now using the 2023 Mac Pro in my main setup.

Attached is a picture of my older 4M2 that worked in my 2019 Mac Pro, but not only didn't work in the 2023 Mac Pro, prevents it from even booting up. I tried putting it in a Sonnet Echo Express SE I but even that prevents it from booting up and if I connect the Sonnet Echo Express SE I (with this SSD in it), the 2023 Mac Pro freezes instantly.

Jun 17, 2023 11:03 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

@Grant, TBH..I'm not sure. I't was the first one of these card I've had..got it in 2019.. I really think I just put it in and it worked. It's a single chip..so it would have made sense to format with Disk Utility as APFS. Of course, it will show up as a drive in SoftRaid..but I don't know enough to make an informed comment. Does the 4kb sector size (or anything else in the screenshot) give you a hint?

Jperkins27 Author

Level 1

5 points

Jun 18, 2023 6:49 PM in response to David K. Gross

That is funny. For me, the 3.5" spinning HDD disks in my Thunderbay are for my finished mastering projects. I like to have them easily accessible in case I need to revisit something. One data cable and one power switch and I can get at all my archives quickly and easily.

I have a bare 3.5" HDD that mirrors each drive in the Thunderbay 8 and I keep those in a fireproof safe, and just connect them via an OWC bare drive dock every few weeks to keep them in sync with the "master" archive disk in the Thunderbay. Things don't really change much on those drives, aside from adding newly finished projects to them every month or so.

All the disks in the Thunderbay 8 are sync'd up to Backblaze for total worst case scenario, and my little pocket 1TB OWC Envoy Pro mini is what I keep in my pocket for my total worst case scenario back up for active working projects...so if the house blows up while I'm gone, all my active projects are up to date in my pocket and in Backblaze, and all the archives are in the Backblaze cloud too in case the fireproof safe doesn't survive.

I'm a worst case scenario-ist.

Jperkins27 Author

Level 1

5 points

Jun 19, 2023 12:45 PM in response to Jperkins27

Also, in all the chaos I got confused and just realized that it's my brand new FOUR TB 42M that is working just fine in the 2023 Mac Pro. That was the drive that was intended to be the backup to my brand new 2TB 82M which did not work.

I will be very curious to see what happens tomorrow when the new 2TB 42M arrives, or if I hear anything back from Apple after the holiday weekend.

Jun 19, 2023 2:23 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

disk10 looks goofy. It has an APFS partition, but it has no GUID partition Map.

compare to any of the (external, physical) drives listed after it.

Is that the problem drive, or is this just a red herring?

[Expression: red herring is something that misleads or distracts from a relevant or important question.]

Jperkins27 Author

Level 1

5 points

Jun 19, 2023 2:24 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Disk10 is the 4TB OWC 4M2 SSD that is for some reason working in my 2023 Mac Pro without issue.

It's a very similar drive to the other PCIe OWC drives that myself and others are reporting as not working.

Jun 19, 2023 2:30 PM in response to Jperkins27

Jperkins27 wrote:

Disk10 is the 4TB OWC 4M2 SSD that is for some reason working in my 2023 Mac Pro without issue.

It's a very similar drive to the other PCIe OWC drives that myself and others are reporting as not working.

then perhaps that is the way SoftRAID sets up the drive when you use SoftRAID to set up a bare drive.

Okay, now how about the reverse?

suppose SoftRAID wanted a completely bare drive and the GUID partition map is messing it up?

--- I am guessing here, so feel free to tell me to sit down and be quiet.

Jperkins27 Author

Level 1

5 points

Jun 19, 2023 2:37 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Perhaps. That's beyond the scope of my knowledge at this point, but everything is working and SoftRAID and Disk Utility report no errors with that drive.

Maybe somebody from Apple and/or OWC is monitoring this thread and the info will be helpful.

A 10k computer should be able to host a PCIe SSD that its predecessor did. I didn't see Apple list any exceptions or exclusions about PCIe storage in the new Mac Pro.

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Mac Pro 2023 will not boot with PCIe SSD installed.