Apple Intelligence is now available on iPhone, iPad, and Mac!

📢 Newsroom Update

Apple’s new MacBook Pro features the incredibly powerful M4 family of chips and ushers in a new era with Apple Intelligence. Learn more >

📢 Newsroom Update

Apple introduces M4 Pro and M4 Max. Learn more >

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

New 2012 Macbooks, Google Chrome, and Kernel Panics

I recently purchased a new 15" Macbook, non-retina. I've experienced numerous kernel panics, sometimes giving me the "You must restart your computer" message, or sometimes it just freezes, causing me to restart.


They have all occured while using Google Chrome, and if memory serves I've had a YouTube or Newgrounds video playing during each one (flash related?), and upon starting up again I receive the same error report, each one including the line


"BSD process name corresponding to current thread: Google Chrome He"


I've seen a lot of other discussions and questions that have basically remained unresolved. Other users suggest stop using Chrome and wait for an Apple update, and others suggest taking advantage of the 14 day no-questions-asked return/exchange period.


My question is, is this a problem that is affecting all new Macbooks? Will getting a new one solve the problem? Is this problem fixable via an update, or is it a physical hardware issue or something?


The only solution I've heard is from another user who says they went to a Genius Bar and one of the employees said it was a problem between the Intel HD 400 graphics card and Google Chrome's flash and that it will be fixed in an update.


What should I do? Is getting a new one worth it? Or just wait for an update?

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.4)

Posted on Jun 19, 2012 3:05 PM

Reply
58 replies

Jun 20, 2012 7:26 PM in response to Yufeii

Hey,

Same issue here. 13inch mid 2012 MBP. It froze several times, a guy called me from Apple and asked me to send him some logs. I believe it's a software problem, maybe a new driver for Intel HD 4000 (?) or software update will solve this. During this last 3 days my MBP never froze, except once while I was playing Diablo 3 (the days before it froze many times while using just Chrome and even once while running Blizzard Launcher for Diablo 3)/

Jun 21, 2012 8:36 PM in response to iamjayse

Having the exact same issue. I originally purchased an 11 inch 2012 Macbook Air and returned it for the 13 inch model and both of them crashed multiple times when using Google Chrome. Seems like it is effecting all of the models with the HD 4000.


The 13 inch Air I have now straight up freezes and becomes unresponsive and I have to power it down. Here's the message that's in all of my error logs:


BSD process name corresponding to current thread: Google Chrome He


I had a quick chat with Apple support on the phone and was told to try Safari. Problem is Chrome is far better for development work and I use it every day.


Please come out with an update!!!!

Jun 21, 2012 9:04 PM in response to jw512

Please come out with an update!!!!


jw,


I'm not sure who is the 'guilty party' here - Apple or Google. If I were you guys, I'd fill out a bug report with both Apple and Google. Apple can be found here and here's a forum for bug reports for Google Chrome (does Chrome come with it's own bug reporter, a la beta versions of Firefox?).


Anyway - get the ball rolling!


Clinton

Jun 27, 2012 9:33 PM in response to iamjayse

This is an Apple software bug in the com.apple.driver.AppleIntelHD4000Graphics kernel extension.


Each of these panics is occurring at the instruction at offset 0x8a01 into the extension.


This is not the fault of Chrome or Final Cut Pro or of any other application, it's a bug in the kernel extension.


You can either wait for an Apple software fix or return your MBP for a refund - it's your call.


But there's no reason to debate it any further.


The software is broken, Apple needs to fix it and you can wait for a fix or not, period.


A different MBP will eventually trip over the same panic if it's simply a kernel software bug.

Jun 29, 2012 5:43 AM in response to clintonfrombirmingham

My brand new Macbook Air 2012 is going the same thing when I'm running Chrome. It happened to me 3 times yesterday, so as others have suggested I tried running the Canary build. That resulted in the 4th kernel panic.


Seems Canary isn't immune either.


Each crash report had this line listed:


"BSD process name corresponding to current thread: Google Chrome He"

Jun 29, 2012 7:22 AM in response to iamjayse

I have MacBook Pro 13', 2.9 GHz, 8Gb. Bought on June 2012.

I have the same issue with the line after the restart:


"BSD process name corresponding to current thread: Google Chrome He"


Sometimes it freezes and I have to force shut down and sometimes it restarts by itself.


I have tried to install Chrome beta and also Canary instead of regular Chrome but all 3 of them give me the same problem.

Jun 29, 2012 7:29 AM in response to iamjayse

GOOLGE CONFIRMED THAT THE ISSUE IS BECAUSE OF CHROME. PLEASE CHECK THE PRESS NOTE BY THEM BELOW


We have identified a leak of graphics resources in the Chrome browser related to the drawing of plugins on Mac OS X. Work is proceeding to find and fix the root cause of the leak. The resource leak is causing a kernel panic on Mac hardware containing the Intel HD 4000 graphics chip (e.g. the new Macbook Airs). Radar bug number 11762608 has been filed with Apple regarding the kernel panics, since it should not be possible for an application to trigger such behavior. While the root cause of the leak is being fixed, we are temporarily disabling some of Chrome’s GPU acceleration features on the affected hardware via an auto-updated release that went out this afternoon (Thursday June 28). We anticipate further fixes in the coming days which will re-enable many or all of these features on this hardware.

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5921609/new-macbook-air-crashing-blame-google-chrome-probably

New 2012 Macbooks, Google Chrome, and Kernel Panics

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.