Mac claims to have been shut down due to error

I don't see anything concerning regarding the third party software which launches automatically (at least for your current crashes) although there is one item I've never seen before. I'm not a macOS software expert although I familiar with some of the common software known to cause problems.

Those "ProxiedDevice-Bridge" panic logs usually indicate a bad Logic Board. The "ProxiedDevice-Bridge" stuff has to do with the T2 security chip on the 2018-2020 Intel Macs. The T2 chip gets special software uploaded to it and this software is crashing. At least that is my understanding anyway since I haven't seen to much mentioned about it. Other than seeing lots of these types of crash reports on the 2018-2020 Intel Macs.

Try running the Apple Diagnostics to see if any hardware issues are detected. Unfortunately the diagnostics rarely detect hardware issues, but it never hurts to try. Showing Apple the diagnostics reported a problem will be the easiest way to convince Apple a hardware issue exists.

However, if the diagnostics do not report any issues, then I would suggest creating a new APFS volume on the internal SSD. Then install macOS to the new APFS volume so you can dual boot this laptop with a "clean" install of macOS which sits right beside your current installation. Using another APFS volume will allow you test a "clean" macOS installation without disrupting your current OS so it won't interfere with any work. An APFS volume acts like a partition where items within it are separate from other volumes (can be mounted & unmounted), but does not require resizing any storage areas since a new APFS volume shares the same storage pool as all the other volumes within the same APFS Container, yet each volume is separate. Apple takes advantage of this feature with macOS 10.15+ where the OS is actually using about 6 volumes itself.

And it is easy to remove the new OS by deleting the APFS volume when done. Just make sure after installing the clean OS to the new APFS volume that you do not install any third party software, do not restore from a backup, and do not sign into your AppleID or iCloud. You want to test the clean OS in as simple a way as possible to see if you can reproduce these crashes. If you can show Apple a clean install has these crashes as well, then it will make it so much easier to convince Apple a hardware repair is needed.

Apple will insist on testing a clean install of macOS if the service diagnostics do not report any issues. Once third party software is involved, Apple will put the blame on the software, so it is best to truly test and try to show a failure with a clean install of macOS when the diagnostics don't report any issues. Unfortunately Apple doesn't usually train their techs to look at or examine crash logs like some of the forum contributors do. Hopefully you get lucky and get a tech who does.

Personally I would question if it is economical to put any money into a hardware repair. Keep in mind the keyboard on this model is known to have issues as it is the dreaded butterfly keyboard where is has design & manufacturing issues (there is a free keyboard repair program which is only valid for up to four years after purchase). You also have to consider the battery may need replacing in the next couple of years (about a $250 US repair)....many batteries tend to start needing replaced around 4-5 years old, but some may work fine for some people for longer (depends on the battery and also user workloads & expectations of battery life). Most likely this laptop will become "Vintage" sometime in mid to late 2024 since the laptop will have been discontinued for five years at that point (the normal support period for Apple hardware). That also may mean that macOS 14.x Sonoma may be the last supported version of macOS for this laptop (no way to know until next year though). Third party software like MS Office won't receive any new app updates once Apple stops supporting the OS which theoretically will be in late 2026 if Sonoma is the last supported OS.

Normally I am all for keeping older computers running, but with some devices it is a bit hard to justify with these issues & considerations, especially due to the cost of a Logic Board repair and how many of these 2018-2020 Logic Boards my organization has had to replace (plus all the posts I've seen on this forum as well). Just wanted to give you something to consider since I don't want you to be blind sided by needing further repairs a year or two later.

Good luck.

Sounds like it may be a Kernel Panic. See if you have any Kernel Panic logs which would be located in "/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports". The kernel panic file names should begin with "kernel" or "panic", and end in ".panic" usually. If none are in this folder, then check the "Retired" subfolder. Post several of them if available and use the "Additional Text" icon which looks like a piece of paper.

It is good you are cautious with using unknown third party software. The EtreCheck app is developed by a long time respected forum contributor and is used by thousands of users so that we can get enough system configuration details to assist users here since we have no other easy of a quickly getting the necessary details. Many users tend to omit very critical details even when we ask specific questions. The EtreCheck app can be run from the Downloads folder and won't actually install anything into macOS, although it will create a .plist preference file since it asks a few questions when launching the app, just like any other app.

You can see there are tons of results when searching this forum for "EtreCheck". You can review some of those posts to see exactly what information the app will collect which is just essential information about the hardware, software configured to launch during boot & login, performance metrics, and summaries of system logs.

https://discussions.apple.com/search?q=etrecheck&page=1&perPage=20&content=filterDiscussions&sortBy=relevance&source=aml&origin=asc_serp&searchId=tjFengNAQD2JP7xYvYMqVw

The EtreCheck app is recognized by macOS Gatekeeper security as being from a registered Apple developer so there is no need to even make any exceptions to macOS security to run it.

This is not meant to push you to use the app, only to provide a bit more information. However, without the results of this report, you may find you will receive only the most generalized of suggestions and many regular contributors may skip your thread because there is not enough details being given to assist since they may not want to play 20 questions game.

benyochanan wrote:

My Macbook Pro (2018, Intel, latest version of Sonoma) shows a message at startup that claims my computer was shut down because of a problem. The mystery here is that I have no idea what it means, as I just shut it down as I regularly do. This is now going on since several weeks. I did find this in the sytem.log concerning the the last shut down of the computer:

sessionlogoutd[3998]: DEAD_PROCESS: 175 console

Anyone know what is going on?

Not really

Download the Application Etrecheck directly from the Developer.

The Application is Not a " Silver Bullet "  and is  only a tool to examine the Hardware / Software used on this computer 

This is a Diagnostic Tool that makes no changes to the computer Hardware / Software used on this computer 

The application is free or paid from added features. 

The Report will Not Reveal Any Personal Information. 

Post back the Full Report - copy and paste - >>>> using the Additional Text Icon ( 3rd Icon to last ) <<<<

In Good Faith.

I am suppling a Actual Etrecheck Report incase this easies some apprehensions what Is and is Not Included in the Report

At one time there was an  Etrecheck Application available on the Apple Apps Store.

Due to certain constrains place upon the Developer by APPLE, the developer chose to remove it from the Store and make is available Directly from them.

This specific application is well known,  on these Forums,  as a Go To for trouble shooting and avoiding all the question / answer and question / answer to finally get the issue pinned down.

It is also known and reported by Reliable Sources that,  sometimes APPLE SUPPORT has invoked using this same Developer Distributed Version of Etrecheck application to trouble shot computer issues 

If you do a quick search on the Front Page of there Forums using "  Etrecheck " you may find about 287 Posting related to the usage of this application

PS - I am not affiliated with nor do I receive any compensation from the Developer for suggesting or using this application - Incase that may also be a concern you have 

Sometimes the files may begin with "panic" as well. With the 2018+ models, many times their are "ProxiedDevice-Bridge" .ips logs.....usually they indicate a Logic Board issue and seem to be common with the 2018-2020 Intel Macs (especially the 2019 models).

You don’t have to install anything. Someone already asked you to post the panic log, but you haven’t. Kernel panics are primarily caused by third party system modifications and hardware faults. The panic log will indicate if a third party kernel extension might be involved.

The EtreCheck report will show what you have installed.

I have no desire to play 20 questions and if you don’t want to do any troubleshooting, live with the panics or take it in to an Apple Store Genius Bar or Authorized Repair Center.

Your are welcome for the previous suggestion.

Should you decide to install and run the Etrecheck Application at a later time.

Please do post the full report as per previous instructions.

Perhaps another Contributor may or may not choose to pick this question and offer some help in working though the details and suggest some worth while help

Best of luck

It was Not intended as a Negative remark directed to anyone.

Sharing the Etrecheck Report on these Forums is sometimes an intimidating experience for some.

By sharing my report it was hoped to show what Etrecheck Application does and what information it does reveal

benyochanan wrote:

I'm not sure what ticked you off, but as I said in reply to HWTech here is no panic log. I also provided some information as to why it may not have shut down properly and gave a solution, which in my book would qualify as 'troubleshooting'. Sheesh.

It may have been a mistake. The forum has been updated today and the posts are now sorted by "Best" by default, so that totally mixes up the order of the posts here so they may not have noticed. I just realized this as I was replying to another thread.

As my Learned Colleague @HWTech has rightly taken the Lead on this question at this time.

I think it is better if I stand down on the EtreCheck Report analysis

Too many fingers in the pie could cause as mess.