How do I stop HS from having repeated kernel panics and other crashes?

Question

Level 1

20 points

How do I stop HS from having repeated kernel panics and other crashes?

I'm sorry if this is vague but I'm getting desperate and it's affecting all of my Macs.

Since High Sierra my Macs started restarting for no apparent reason, my desktop mac, an old 2011 27" iMac also started displaying video glitches specially more so when it was about to have a kernel panic.

I discovered that if I disconnected and connected again --oh, it has a Thunderbolt Display attached, I forgot-- the Thunderbolt Display the main display recovered its pristine image, no flicker or glitches, same thing on the external display. It didn't always work. And if you noticed I'm speaking in the past tense it is because I solved it...by switching to Microsoft Windows--Windows Server, actually, other than the two days that took me to set it up thanks to Apple's super custom kexts drivers and the Server OS that refuses basically everything you throw at it.

I work a lot with servers and virtualization anyway so it wasn't much of a disadjustment, mostly home control and little things like that but there's Alexa for that. Anyway, my real concern is actually because of home control/automation; for systems automation I use Indigo Pro, this only runs on a Mac, and the four Macs sitting on the server rack have become unreliable, the one on my desktop is now stable but no longer runs macOS and I don't have more desktop Macs left and even if ran to get a new Mac I'm sure the same would happen, my main portable a recent high-end retina is also doing the same thing! 😡 It's not an issue of tier, form factor or even generation; it's High Sierra that has finally "elevated" Apple to the lows of Microsoft OSes, unstable, glitchy, cumbersome and the worst of all: prompty. macOS now feels like Windows Vista with all the questioning and the incessant need for some pointless restart. I used to for more than half a year without a restart on the Snow Leopard era. Ironically Windows is the thing that's keeping my desktop alive. A very expensive server license. I would've liked better Fedora or maybe RHEL but I was thinking on regaining access to my iTunes Match library, there's no iTunes on Linux (for better or for worse) only to find out I reached the activation limit because I didn't deactivated iTunes on macOS. Apple has not responded my support request.

Where does Apple store the system files that could be affecting video? I'm sure it's something graphics related from what I experienced with the iMac. If macOS has BSD/UNIX underpinnings, do you think with zero programming experience or knoledge if I get very high and don't sleep for a week straight I could come with some kext of my own from what's available on sites like RPMFusion.org? 😂 I actually installed FreeBSD on a Mac and lasted for a good 20mins before I decided it was too ugly.

Months earlier ALL of my Macs were running super hot and after weeks of watching the processes on Activity Monitor and using Terminal I figured out it was yet another badly written program that syncs iCloud Keychain and to do so it encrypts data on the fly but it could finish or something, I just killed with a ton of Terminal windows and erased Keychain Access which wasn't fun either bc I have several custom certs for Profile Manager--it took me forever to work against High Sierra that wouldn't take them back until I reinstalled the whole OS. So much for allegedly glitch-free APFS. 😒

What happened to Apple. 😟

Posted on Feb 26, 2018 11:26 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Best reply

Kappy

Level 10

361,741 points

Feb 26, 2018 7:48 PM in response to VitaPrimo®

Why is it Apple? Why not just your computers?

A Troubleshooting Protocol to Identify Problems or Fix macOS El Capitan or Later

You should try each, one at a time, then test to see if the problem is fixed before going on to the next.

Be sure to backup your files before proceeding if possible.

Shutdown the computer, wait 30 seconds, restart the computer.
Disconnect all third-party peripherals and remove any support software like drivers and plug-ins.
Resetting your Mac’s PRAM and NVRAM
Reset the System Management Controller (SMC)
Start the computer in Safe Mode, then restart normally. This is slower than a standard startup.
Repair the disk by booting from the Recovery HD. Immediately after the chime hold down the Command and R keys until the Utility Menu appears. Choose Disk Utility and click on the Continue button. Select the indented (usually, Macintosh HD) volume entry from the side list. Click on the First Aid button in the toolbar. Wait for the Done button to appear. Quit Disk Utility and return to the Utility Menu. Restart the computer from the Apple Menu.
Create a New User Account Open Users & Groups preferences. Click on the lock icon and enter your Admin password when prompted. On the left under Current User click on the Add [+] button under Login Options. Setup a new Admin user account. Upon completion log out of your current account then log into the new account. If your problems cease, then consider switching to the new account and transferring your files to it - Transferring files from one User Account to another.
Download and install the OS X El Capitan 10.11.6 Combo Update or 10.12.6 Combo Update or Download macOS High Sierra 10.13.3 Combo Update as needed.
Reinstall OS X by booting from the Recovery HD using the Command and R keys. When the Utility Menu appears select Reinstall OS X then click on the Continue button.
Erase and Install OS X Restart the computer. Immediately after the chime hold down the Command and R keys until the Apple logo appears. When the Utility Menu appears:

Select Disk Utility from the Utility Menu and click on Continue button.

When Disk Utility loads select the drive (out-dented entry) from the Device list.

Click on the Erase icon in Disk Utility's toolbar. A panel will drop down.

Set the Format type to APFS (for SSDs only) or Mac OS Extended (Journaled.)

Click on the Apply button, then wait for the Done button to activate and click on it.

Quit Disk Utility and return to the Utility Menu.

Select Reinstall OS X and click on the Continue button.

Reply

Answer 2

VitaPrimo® Author

Level 1

20 points

Feb 26, 2018 8:01 PM in response to Kappy

Thanks for you suggestion,

I've tried all the basic troubleshooting though. All of the servers are NetBoot servers actually and on each new version of the system I create a new NetBoot image. I didn't before, I use to completely disable automatic updates because they always ALWAYS broke something, usually Profile Manager; also, I had been having issues with the computers joining and successfully modifying membership on Active Directory, on High Sierra this changed and suddenly updates weren't breaking Profile Manager or Active Directory (as much) anymore -- but in return now the system is highly unstable. :/ I haven't dialed automatic updates because I keep waiting for that perfect image that works but it's taking longer this time.

In the meantime I'm afraid to leave home when there will be no one else who can let me in or to whom I can if the Mac had a kernel panic and I can't open the garage doors. I no longer have keys nor remotes, just my phone. I found out that enabling performance mode felt like more time passes between each crash.

Using Safe Boot on the iMac when I first tried definitely was an experience though, it felt as if the system itself was on dial-up redrawing the screen took ages! Not so much with the other Macs.

Reply

Answer 3

Feb 27, 2018 3:11 AM in response to VitaPrimo®

Safe Mode is like that. It is not meant for normal use. It allows one to clear system caches, on the one hand, and run without third part kexts as a way to troubleshoot.

You could try doing a clean install of High Sierra on a separate partition and then gradually only install the software you really use. Your situation suggests some of the software you have (possibly installing kernel extensions) is incompatible and causes kernel panics.

Reply

How do I stop HS from having repeated kernel panics and other crashes?

Similar questions