iMac Pro restarting because of a problem?

I was getting kernel panics, mostly while using Premiere/After Effects, also my wifi would sometimes freak out.

Took to apple care, they replaced the logic board, didn't help. After chatting with Apple support technicians and giving them all kinds of logs from the computer, they said it was related to the software on the computer not being able to contact a server and freaking out, making it kernel panic and restart.

I have little snitch installed on my computer to monitor internet traffic, I uninstalled it and changed over to the open source software Lulu instead and it completely fixed my problem. The computer has not had a single kernel panic in over a week, it used to have a panic 2-3 times per day while doing video editing.

Other things that helped reduce panics before I got to this solution:

Disconnected a USB-C iMac Pro Hub

Turned off Filevault

Turned off power saving features

Hope that helps someone else.

Nick, Had the same thing happen to me about 6 months ago. What a nightmare. After working on the Mac Pro, along with Apple tech support, gave up. When I ran upgrade (I guess it was High Sierra) of course my internal SSD got reformatted to the new APFS. It took hours. Anyway, when I did the reboot the machine just went totally out of control. The display was flickering with some apps that were trying to load, the mouse was unresponsive, it was just insane. In the end, after trying everything under the sun, somehow I was able to clone back the old OS which was using the old HFS+ format and not wanting to play this game any longer decided to buy a new iMac Pro which I've been running ever since. Just the old MP basically as a glorified TV to display stock quotes, etc. What a waste. Jeeze.

At one point I was experiencing the random restarts on my brand new $5,000.00 iMac Pro! Somehow, purely by accident, I switched two of the USB plugs which were connected to external thunderbolt hard drives and the problem went away. Been okay ever since.

But believe me I feel your pain. Don't know what to say. Wish I had some wisdom to share, but hang in there and you will eventually prevail.

John

Ocean City, NJ

Thursday, February 21, 2019

Well, it's be quite a while now since I've noticed much activity on this thread, so I'm hoping that things have been resolved.

Was the "official" cause of the problems ever stated by Apple?

All the best,

John

Sadly the problem isn‘t solved since more than a year as it seems. Really bad experience for the current top of the line computer. I already bought a new imac pro and i am confronted with the same error. Currently i think its the xrite color profile wich causes this error.

I have an iMac Pro which I purchased last April and the last week I have noticed my machine crashing and rebooting. It happened about 7 times in one day and I did a PRAM and SMS reset which made it last of a day before it started again. I can't do anything to make it happen it just comes at random while working or even from when the computer has just been switched on.

I am really worried as only have a week or two left on my year warranty and had a really bad experience with Apple before getting this machine. I went through 5 MacBook Pro that would get stuck in Caps lock mode, wasted weeks instilling and installing software/ testing etc and was told by one guy in Birmingham store to deal with it or return it. So ended up returning it and as I need a Mac was forced to go for the iMac Pro as need the power.

Don't mean to be a wet blanket, but I've ALWAYS had my power settings this way, and still was experiencing the 210 Bug. I still don't know yet exactly what the problem is. Perhaps it is systemic and there's a software/hardware defect still lose. Sure hope I don't have to replace my iMac Pro, again!

John

Ocean City, NJ

High Sierra v10.13.4 (17E199) on a new (late 2017) iMac Pro, 3.2 HGz Intel Xeon W, 1Tb SSD (APFS)

Well, I hope for your sake that you are on to something.

In my case, I could have sworn the culprit was either Sophos or Code42 (Malware & Remote backup apps) running in the background, as, when I totally uninstalled both of these I had no more freeze/crashes, for . . . 2 days anyway. Although I did notice a slight uptick in performance, I now realize these apps were not (at least totally) responsible for all of the bug issues we are having on our iMac Pros.

The ONE thing that does seem to have worked, in my case, now going on three weeks I think, is installation of the very most recent (released a few weeks ago) 10.13.4 "Security Update" from Apple. I've got my fingers crossed.

Eventually, I'll reinstall, one at a time the Sophos app and the Code42 app to "prove" what's really going on.

Hang in there, and please keep the feedback coming. We're all in the same boat. Still could be a hardware/firmware/Software issue. Who knows.

ARE YOU RUNNING BUILD 17E202 or something else? I remember a while back there were "special" builds just for iMac Pros. This may be one of them, that works!

John

Ocean City, NJ

High Sierra v10.13.4 (17E199) on a new (late 2017) iMac Pro, 3.2 HGz Intel Xeon W, 1Tb SSD (APFS)

INvisibleART,

Interesting. Hang in there.

I was to the point of doing a "tear-down" to replug the memory cards, etc. However, the teardown process is destructive and would clearly invalidate my AppleCare contract. The display is "glued" to the backbox using special double-sided tape. Interesting though: iMac Pro Teardown - YouTube

Please keep us updated.

John

inVISIBLEart 😮

. . . thank you so very much for getting this escalated to engineering! 🙂

You have succeeded to getting Apple's attention on this issue and now the world is watching to see how tech support responds.

I've got (a few) some Mac Pros, iMac Pros, etc. so I'm VERY interested in seeing how Apple responds to these issues which can no longer go ignored.

We thank you.

All the best,

John

The Freeze/Crash/Restart [FCR] saga continues.

Interesting history of the photo of my home-office. Actually, I'm on my new iMac Pro (the one in the middle with the keyboard) only because my heretofore primary mission-critical machine is the one now on the left side of the picture with the double screens was rendered useless, so I just use it basically as a monitor for the stock market. It's an original early Mac Pro, SSD, loaded with memory. Was doing perfectly fine, UNTIL, I went to do the upgrade from Sierra to HIGH Sierra when all h**l broke lose. Thank God I had numerous redundant full clone external backups because during and after the process of the upgrade on the Mac Pro the system went entirely off the rails. Not to make any excuses for Apple, but in their defense my gut feeling is that I had one of the first Mac Pro Tubes off the assembly line with the earliest hardware configuration, albeit it did have an SSD, which went through many corrections and upgrades over the term of its life, which I understand is now over until at least 2019 when the new and improved Mac Pro will be launched.

Long story short, nothing on the MP worked after the upgrade. The upgraded MP limped in pain just to get to the new HS desktop, then went totally goofy. Flashing screens, freezes, hangs, crashes, total chaos. I went through a few days of agony with Tech Support (who honestly did their best) which went nowhere. Having done the upgrade I was now stuck in APFS-file-format land with no easy path back to restore to LOW Sierra (which was stable) from my external clones. During the restore, I blew up (it actually started smoking) an external SSD clone drive, and then destroyed yet another spinning external clone drive! God. Unbelievable. As a last resort, ended up having to reformat the SSD back to HFS and to an on-line restore of the prior OS. After literally days of tinkering with the restore I finally realized the machine had been rendered unusable as it was not stable, hence the emergency replacement purchase of the next best thing, my new iMac Pro. So that's the story of how I ended up with an iMac Pro. Would have bought a new MP if they were available, but won't be until next year, if then.

So, you are not alone. We are all watching to see how Apple responds to our systemic freeze/crash/restart (FCR) issues on our iMac Pros. I'm hoping Apple's tech support can pin down the problem to a particular production "lot" via serial numbers, after identifying the problem if indeed it's the hardware, which it certainly would appear to be. Then again, who knows. Let's give APPLE A CHANCE and see how they respond to your case ticket next week.

Hang in there!

All the best,

John

Ocean City, NJ

From 2001, another FCP setup . . . .

Hi INvisibleART,

Thank you for keeping us posted on your trouble ticket. Let's give Apple the benefit of the doubt, that they are obviously aware there's a problem with some or all iMac Pros, and they realize it's got nothing to do with any peripherals or third-party software as posted here even a virgin iMac Pro out of the box is experiencing the Freeze/Crash/ReStarts, and that engineering is working feverishly to resolve this. It's in their best interests to push this issue to the very front of the line in terms of priority.

In Apple's defense, and please don't mistake my kindness for weakness, I should mention that although I have not yet contacted Apple (and I have AppleCare) about this issue, that an Apple representative called me out of the blue on the phone and emailed me with the following message: "I'm reaching out to you on behalf of Apple who would like us to gather additional details/data about the issue you've reported to Apple Discussions." I didn't have the opportunity to talk as I was busy on another call, but they left a voicemail message, as well as emailing me.

Now this is the Apple I "remember." Going the extra distance. The Culture. The Experience.

I've been sooooooo loyal to Apple for decades now, evangelizing for Apple all along the way, with total purchases probably nearing 6 figures, and fully embedded into the Apple "experience" in every way. I am an Apple user because I have always trusted them to do the right thing and to always resolve any issue I've ever had to my complete satisfaction.

So, THIS IS A REALLY REALLY BIG DEAL to me (and obviously everyone else).

At least Apple has acknowledge there is a real problem here (potentially monumental in terms of recalls, refunds, compensation, PR, etc.), and I'm still betting they'll get to the bottom of this. They simply have to. They know that once reference to this issue gets into the "wild" the press will incinerate them. So, as much as my blood is boiling, and as is everyone's, I will remain gracious with Apple for a "reasonable" time, whatever that might mean.

I've lost time and money over this. Everyone affected has as well.

Let's wait until Tuesday for Apple to explain themselves and what their policy will be. I'm counting on a victory, but this would be a total deal-breaker for me if not, sorry to say.

All the best,

John Hay

Ocean City, NJ

INvisibleART,

I think you really hit the nail on the head in saying "It would break my heart to see Apple descent into mediocrity."

Beyond fixing these vexing issues on our iMac Pros, my greater interest is in Apple's overall response and in their attitude.

I can deal with the truth, no matter how bad it may end up being. I'm ready and open to any explanation provided and expect to be treated with dignity and fairness in a timely manner. That's all.

If I were Apple right now I think I'd be working 24/7 throwing all available resources at this before it all ends up in the press. A delay over the weekend waiting for a response from Apple is disheartening but not the end of the world. Tuesday we will know more.

Until then, I remain a loyal Apple customer. I think they will figure this out, and I hope they are quick to respond.

John

Thank you INvisibleART for keeping us all updated.

This is great news. Let's hope the engineers find the problem and can come up with a fix.

I'm desperately ready to start loving Apple again.

All the best,

John

Ocean City, NJ

High Sierra v10.13.4 (17E199) on a new (late 2017) iMac Pro, 3.2 HGz Intel Xeon W, 1Tb SSD (APFS)

Besides the Vega64-card potential problem, my system information indicates that on my entry-level iMac Pro the graphic's card is a Vega56 as indicated in the below screen shot. Not certain of the significance of this, but hope this information might provide more insight into what's going on.

John

GREAT IDEA, the Data Capture that is.

I will participate as needed, although, to be honest, after UNinstalling Code42 and Sophos and installing the last Supplemental update in 10.13.4 (now I'm running 10.13.15) I've had no ReStarts.

I was having a little buggyness with my keyboard input, but it's a third party. Now swapping it out for and older one that I know worked fine, so we'll see. To be fair however, I have too many input devices running simultaneously. A wired keyboard, a wired trackpad, a wired Wacom Pro tablet, and a BT mouse! Oh boy! But I use them all.

High Sierra v10.13.5 (17F77) on a new (late 2017) iMac Pro, 3.2 HGz Intel Xeon W, 1Tb SSD (APFS)

John