iMac with macOS Monterey keeps crashing and restarting.

Not much information is useful in the log files that will help in determining the cause.

First remove all:

• Cleaners
• Optimizers
• AntiVirus
• VPN

Then post the free EtreCheck report here using the Additional Text option when posting. This will provide much more information on the files that are launching on startup that may be causing a conflict. It will also detail processes that have crashed and those consuming too many resources. The report does not contains any personal identifiable information and was developed by a fellow user here on these forums to aid in the diagnosis.

Using EtreCheck - Apple Community

CleanMyMac could very well be the culprit and has caused Kernel Panics for other users. This piece of software is not easy to remove and likes to remain on your system. Using the uninstaller from MacPaw is recommended to remove it, but I would also post a follow up EtreCheck report to make sure all of the fragment files that run on startup are removed.

The Kernel Panic issue can also point to a problem communicating with a connected external device such as a HD, external monitor or anything else connect externally. If possible also try removing any connected device if you have any.

The other concerning item in the EtreCheck report is:

Configuration Files:

File /etc/launchd.conf exists but not expected

It is unclear what is in this file and editing it usually involves Terminal commands. Other users may have more details about addressing this, but starting with the known issues of CleanMyMac is the best approach.

At this point I think a clean install is the best course of action to rule out a hardware failure. The computer has gone through many updates that have simply migrated old system files that may no longer be working correctly. Some examples noted are:

• Configuration Files:

File /etc/launchd.conf exists but not expected

• Unsigned Files:

Login Item: /etc/mach_init_per_user.d/com.adobe.SwitchBoard.monitor.plist

These modifications on the System are no longer used and require Terminal commands to change. I understand a clean install is a hassle, but if the computer is stable after performing the clean install, then you can start reinstalling software gradually to determine if there is anything that brings the Kernel Panics back. If you still get Kernel Panics after a clean install, then you know it is a hardware problem and a new Mac is probably the best solution. It would not make sense to continue to dump money into a 9 year old Mac when you are using some heavy duty software that would benefit greatly.

Good job on getting rid of CleanMyMac and you were successful. You are showing quite a bit of CPU usage for photo related tasks coming from iCloud Photos. If you recently added a large number of photos or made changes to your iCloud Photos settings, this is totally normal and should go away. These processes are responsible for finding faces and objects in your photos as well as interpreting the metadata.

Please follow up if you continue to see problems when coming back from sleep or errors when restarting. If those Kernel Panics continue we can attempt to address those problems with high CPU usage as well as the mysterious /etc/launchd.config file

Try one of these two…

You can use Drive DX to possibly get a better view of Drive health…

https://binaryfruit.com/drivedx

Thanks to Jack-19…

It may be wise to run SMART Utility to check the drives' health.

There are lots of panics here, which can indicate a low-level hardware (CPU, memory, SSD or HDD, USB, Wacom, etc) failure, or a very low-level software failure. And there’s a lot of low-level software here.

Not going to be fun to find, probably.

A re-install is a good next step, but I wouldn’t assume that’ll clear this.

This iMac i5 quad core is also heavily loaded, based on that 7.40 to 11.93 system load.

Lots of Audio plug-ins in the Etrecheck-report!

But they may be necessary?

I'm stumped, but pondering.