Kernel Panic and Drive Issues

Hi Bob,

Thanks for taking the time to post such an extensive response. As noted, I had issues in trying to remove VirtualBox Kernel Extensions once I found they actually existed, but managed to find them and delete them. My system has been up in the Henge Dock with an External Touro 1Tb Time Machine USB3 HDD for over 5 hours now. That may not seem much, but compared to the last several days, it's a minor miracle.

To elaborate, as well as the kernel panics which suggest 5 attempts were made to write to a SATA HDD so giving up, there was also the freezing which happened in or out of the Henge Dock and with or without additional USB 3 drives attached. The freeze was repeatable and always behaved in the same manner:

1. Usually (not always) when I was using Chrome - I have now reverted to Safari
2. The mouse pointer would simply stop in the middle of doing something
3. The keyboard would be active for about another 15-20 seconds, it would then freeze
4. Attaching a bluetooth mouse would work and it would operate for about 10-15 seconds and freeze
5. The spinning rainbow may or may not be present
6. The MBP was still active (Fans rotating and TimeMachine HDD flashing as data is written) etc etc
7. The display on the screen remained as it was when the system froze
8. If the system was in the dock, then removing it and opening up the MBP showed a black/blank screen
9. The only way forward was to do a Hard RESET

WRT your specific comments:

1)

If you have a kernel panics, you could post a few of them as replies so someone can analyze them

Kernel Panic reports: Finder -> Go -> Go to Folder -> /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports

<http://support.apple.com/kb/ht2546>

Although I have had several/many kernel panics, most were of the latter variety (below link) which, after reboot, displayed the ...send to Apple... dialog which I did several times. I can only find one log file in the /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports folder. I have put that as a separate response to this issue.

<http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT200553>

As noted, I have sent the report to Apple via the dialog that appears on reboot several times

2)

You should also try an SMC reset and an NVRAM reset

<Reset the System Management Controller (SMC) on your Mac - Apple Support>

<How to reset NVRAM on your Mac - Apple Support>

I have actually done both resetting the SMC and NVRAM several times during the course of this exercise. I've also use the Disk Utility and Onyx and, at the time, to no avail.

3)

Please post the EtreCheck output as a "Reply" to this thread

<https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-6174> or <https://etrecheck.com>

Use the EtreCheck -> Edit -> Copy Report (See the image below)

And then Paste the report as a "Reply" to this thread.

If, AND ONLY IF, you get the error:

"The message contains invalid characters"

then try posting to PasteBin.com, and give us a PasteBin URL link.

<http://pastebin.com/>

See below :

1. I am unsure why it complains about the (lack of) SSD
2. Message -> This machine’s hard drive could be replaced with an SSD. This would dramatically improve your machine’s performance
3. The original 256Gb Apple SSD has been recently (last 6 months) upgraded with a 1Tb OWC Aura SSD

EtreCheck version: 4.1.3 (4A188)

Report generated: 2018-03-13 15:15:24

Download EtreCheck from https://etrecheck.com

Runtime: 3:45

Performance: Good

Problem: Other problem

Major Issues: None

Minor Issues:

These issues do not need immediate attention but they may indicate future problems.

Kernel extensions blocked - There are blocked kernel extensions awaiting user approval.

Upgradeable hard drive - This machine’s hard drive could be replaced with an SSD. This would dramatically improve your machine’s performance.

Heavy RAM usage - This machine is using a large amount of RAM.

Clean up - There are orphan files that could be removed.

Small backup drive - Time Machine backup drive is too small.

Unsigned files - There is unsigned software installed. They appear to be legitimate but should be reviewed.

32-bit Apps - This machine has 32-bits apps that may have problems in the future.

Hardware Information:

MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015)

MacBook Pro Model: MacBookPro11,4

1 2.2 GHz Intel Core i7 (i7-4770HQ) CPU: 4-core

16 GB RAM Not upgradeable

BANK 0/DIMM0

8 GB DDR3 1600 ok

BANK 1/DIMM0

8 GB DDR3 1600 ok

Battery: Health = Normal - Cycle count = 256

Video Information:

Intel Iris Pro - VRAM: 1536 MB

W2353 1920 x 1080 @ 60 Hz

Drives:

disk0 - OWC Aura SSD 960.04 GB (Mechanical)

Internal PCI 5.0 GT/s x2 Serial ATA

disk0s1 - EFI (MS-DOS FAT32) [EFI] 210 MB

disk0s2 [Core Storage Container] 959.18 GB

disk1 - M**************************B (Journaled HFS+) 958.81 GB

disk0s3 - Recovery HD (Journaled HFS+) [Recovery] 650 MB

disk2 - HGST Touro Mobile 1.00 TB

External USB 5 Gbit/s

disk2s1 [EFI] 210 MB

disk2s2 - T*********************e (Journaled HFS+) 999.83 GB

Mounted Volumes:

disk1 - M**************************B 958.81 GB (412.46 GB free)

Journaled HFS+

Mount point: /

disk2s2 - T*********************e 999.83 GB (850.96 GB free)

Journaled HFS+

Mount point: /Volumes/T*********************e

disk3s1 - N*****t 42 MB (15 MB free)

HFS+

Mount point: /Volumes/N*****t

Network:

Interface en5: iPad

Interface en0: Wi-Fi

802.11 a/b/g/n/ac

One IPv4 address

Interface en4: iPhone

Interface en3: Bluetooth PAN

Interface bridge0: Thunderbolt Bridge

iCloud Quota: 1.68 GB available

System Software:

macOS High Sierra 10.13.3 (17D102)

Time since boot: About 3 hours

System Load: 3.27 (1 min ago) 3.49 (5 min ago) 3.33 (15 min ago)

Configuration Files:

/etc/hosts - Count: 1

Security:

Unsigned Files:

Launchd: /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.acronis.1_3.plist

Executable: /Library/Application Support/Acronis/Scheduler/schedwrapper -m retry -i 1

Launchd: /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist

Executable: /Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper

Details: Exact match found in the whitelist - probably OK

Launchd: /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.livescribe.PenCommService.plist

Executable: /Library/Application Support/Livescribe/PenComm/PenCommService --daemon

Details: Exact match found in the whitelist - probably OK

Launchd: /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.oracle.java.Helper-Tool.plist

Executable: /Library/Internet Plug-Ins/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin/Contents/Resources/Helper-Tool

Details: Exact match found in the whitelist - probably OK

Launchd: /Library/LaunchAgents/com.oracle.java.Java-Updater.plist

Executable: /Library/Internet Plug-Ins/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin/Contents/Resources/Java Updater.app/Contents/MacOS/Java Updater -bgcheck

Details: Exact match found in the whitelist - probably OK

32-bit Applications:

Kernel Extensions:

/Applications/Parallels Desktop.app

[Loaded] prl_hypervisor.kext (Parallels International GmbH, 13.3.0 43321 - SDK 10.9)

[Loaded] prl_netbridge.kext (Parallels International GmbH, 13.3.0 43321 - SDK 10.9)

[Not Loaded] prl_usb_connect.kext (Parallels International GmbH, 13.3.0 43321 - SDK 10.9)

[Loaded] prl_vnic.kext (Parallels International GmbH, 13.3.0 43321 - SDK 10.9)

/Applications/VMware Fusion.app

[Blocked] VMwareVMCI.kext (VMware, Inc., 10.1.1)

[Blocked] vmioplug.kext (VMware, Inc., 10.1.1)

[Blocked] vmnet.kext (VMware, Inc., 10.1.1)

[Blocked] vmmon.kext (VMware, Inc., 10.1.1)

/Library/Extensions

[Loaded] LogitechHIDDevices.kext (Logitech Inc., 3.9.3 - SDK 10.8)

[Not Loaded] LogitechUnifying.kext (Logitech Inc., 1.3.3 - SDK 10.8)

[Loaded] EnergyDriver.kext (Intel Corporation Apps, 2.0 - SDK 10.11)

[Loaded] LogiMgrDriver.kext (Logitech Inc., 6.40.1 - SDK 10.11)

/System/Library/Extensions

[Not Loaded] LivescribeSmartpen.kext (1.0)

System Launch Agents:

System Launch Daemons:

Launch Agents:

Launch Daemons:

User Launch Agents:

User Login Items:

Faviconographer Application (Thomas Osthege und Daniel Alm

(/Applications/Faviconographer.app)

Dropbox Application (Dropbox, Inc.

(/Applications/Dropbox.app)

Parallels Toolbox Application (Parallels International GmbH

(/Applications/Parallels Toolbox.app)

EvernoteHelper SMLoginItem (Evernote - installed 2018-02-14)

(/Applications/Evernote.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/EvernoteHelper.app)

J8RPQ294UB.com.skitch.SkitchHelper SMLoginItem (installed 2018-02-13)

(/Applications/Skitch.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/J8RPQ294UB.com.skitch.Ski tchHelper.app)

Internet Plug-ins:

FlashPlayer-10.6: 28.0.0.161 (installed 2018-02-07)

QuickTime Plugin: 7.7.3 (installed 2018-01-19)

AdobePDFViewerNPAPI: 17.012.20098 (installed 2018-02-24)

AdobePDFViewer: 18.011.20038 (installed 2018-02-24)

Flash Player: 28.0.0.161 (installed 2018-02-07)

EPPEX Plugin: 10.0 (installed 2016-05-23)

SharePointBrowserPlugin: 14.7.1 (installed 2016-12-16)

PepperFlashPlayer: 28.0.0.161 (installed 2018-02-07)

JavaAppletPlugin: Java 8 Update 151 build 12 (installed 2017-10-21)

User Internet Plug-ins:

CitrixOnlineWebDeploymentPlugin: 1.0.105 (installed 2013-04-26)

Safari Extensions:

3rd Party Preference Panes:

Flash Player (installed 2018-02-02)

Java (installed 2017-10-21)

Logitech Control Center (installed 2018-01-18)

Logi Options Launcher (installed 2017-02-02)

Tuxera NTFS (installed 2017-05-05)

Time Machine:

Skip System Files: No

Mobile backups: Yes

Auto backup: Yes

Volumes being backed up:

M**************************B: Disk size: 958.81 GB - Disk used: 546.35 GB

Destinations:

T*********************e [Local] (Last used)

Total size: 0 B

Total number of backups: 0

Oldest backup:

Last backup:

Top Processes by CPU:

Top Processes by Memory:

Top Processes by Network Use:

Top Processes by Energy Use:

Virtual Memory Information:

Software Installs (past 30 days):

Clean up:

/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.acronis.acep.plist

/Applications/Acronis True Image.app/Contents/MacOS/prl_stat

Executable not found

/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.crashplan.engine.plist

/Applications/CrashPlan.app/Contents/MacOS/CrashPlanService

Executable not found

Diagnostics Information (past 7 days):

2018-03-13 12:10:00 Last Shutdown Cause: 3 - Hard shutdown (once)

2018-03-11 18:49:59 Kernel Kernel Panic (once)

2018-03-08 16:56:28 Microsoft Excel.app Hang (once)

End of report

I'll reply to my own thread:

The VirtualBox KEXT files are not in either of the suggested locations, but are here:

Library/Application Support/VirtualBox

I deleted that folder and the kernel extensions NO LONGER get loaded at boot time. I am hoping this might also be the reason why i have been getting the system freezes (I doubt it, but who knows?).

Interestingly (or should that be uninterestingly) the system hangs in safe mode:

1. The screen goes black
2. The tracked is unresponsive
3. After tapping it for a while a mouse pointer appears, but is unresponsive
4. Hard Reset

In safe mode the Utilities page in launcher takes about 12 seconds to draw (it repaints itself twice slowly from top to bottom then bottom to top). Other scenes seen responsive, this one is always slow.

So further to my last, the symptoms now booting the MBP into safe mode:

1. Lasts about 30-60 minutes before freezing (sometimes less)
2. When it freezes the mouse is visible, but of course non-operational
3. Things are happening, fans speedup and slow down
4. The screen saver comes on (screen goes blank)
5. I press the trackpad and the screen (sometimes) reappears, so it's not completely dead
6. The mouse pointer is still frozen
7. I leave for a couple of hours
8. The fans are going full bore so something cranked them up
9. Tapping the trackpad does not bring back the screen
10. Hard rest is (again) the only option

In it's current state the MBP is useless.

I'm just typing this and the fans have taken off to warp speed both well over 5000 rpm.

Apologies for posting this stuff, it's mainly for me to keep a record of what's happening. I feel like going upstairs and trying out my new rectangular, aluminium frisbee. I really do want to physically harm the device, but the rationalist in me recognises it's an inanimate object and 'it' isn't doing it to spite me, but.....

I frustratingly digress, this has been going on and off now for 4-5 days. I thought I had the problem kicked yesterday, but now (and I have no idea why), it's freezing more regularly than ever. Could it be a deteriorating OWC SSD? Better hit 'reply' before it freezes again.

Hi,

MacBook Pro (Retina 15" mid-2015)

Display

Retina display, 15.4-inch (diagonal)

Processor

2.2GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor (Turbo Boost up to 3.4GHz) with 6MB shared L3 cache

Memory

16GB of 1600MHz DDR3L onboard memory

Storage1

1Tb OWC Aura SSD

Graphics and Video Support

Intel Iris Pro Graphics​

See below the contents of log file:

Kernel_2018-03-11-184959_MacBook-Physical.panic

The error that I have been consistently getting (see later in log file) is:

Root disk errors: "Could not recover SATA HDD after 5 attempts. Terminating."

This is the same error that appears when the system restarts and you get the ...do you want to send it to Apple... message. The error (to my untrained eye at least) is not very helpful in that it may be getting confused with my OWC Aura 1Tb SSD or it may have been the 2Tb Toshiba HDD I was using for TimeMachine (although I don't see why the failure of an external USB3 SSD should cause a kernel panic).

I assume (and that may be completely false assumption) that it was the 2Tb TimeMachine HDD.

I also at the time had some VirtualBox KEXT files loaded (even though VirtualBox had been installed) and it took me some time to find out how to get rid of them (from the kernel and SSD). They are highlighted in the log file.

BEGIN LOG FILE:-----------------------------------------------------------

Anonymous UUID: F471D86B-92CB-A3EE-6BAD-1AD6DAA7556F

Sun Mar 11 18:49:59 2018

*** Panic Report ***

panic(cpu 3 caller 0xffffff801cb6e339): Kernel trap at 0xffffff7f9f456564, type 14=page fault, registers:

CR0: 0x000000008001003b, CR2: 0xffffff81e4349118, CR3: 0x00000000206e1000, CR4: 0x00000000001627e0

RAX: 0xffffff80459eb000, RBX: 0xffffff81faa5bda0, RCX: 0xffffff81e4349100, RDX: 0x0000000000000001

RSP: 0xffffff81faa5bda0, RBP: 0xffffff81faa5bdd0, RSI: 0xffffff8046fa65c0, RDI: 0xffffff81faa5bda0

R8: 0x000000000000ffff, R9: 0x0000000000000001, R10: 0x00000000000e0b26, R11: 0xffffff802ce27900

R12: 0x0000000100000609, R13: 0xffffff801d067390, R14: 0xffffff8046fa6520, R15: 0xffffff7f9f47ee48

RFL: 0x0000000000010286, RIP: 0xffffff7f9f456564, CS: 0x0000000000000008, SS: 0x0000000000000010

Fault CR2: 0xffffff81e4349118, Error code: 0x0000000000000002, Fault CPU: 0x3, PL: 0, VF: 10

Backtrace (CPU 3), Frame : Return Address

0xffffff81faa5b850 : 0xffffff801ca4f606

0xffffff81faa5b8a0 : 0xffffff801cb7c654

0xffffff81faa5b8e0 : 0xffffff801cb6e149

0xffffff81faa5b960 : 0xffffff801ca01120

0xffffff81faa5b980 : 0xffffff801ca4f03c

0xffffff81faa5bab0 : 0xffffff801ca4edbc

0xffffff81faa5bb10 : 0xffffff801cb6e339

0xffffff81faa5bc90 : 0xffffff801ca01120

0xffffff81faa5bcb0 : 0xffffff7f9f456564

0xffffff81faa5bdd0 : 0xffffff7f9f46e98b

0xffffff81faa5be10 : 0xffffff7f9f46e619

0xffffff81faa5be30 : 0xffffff7f9f46e6a6

0xffffff81faa5be60 : 0xffffff801d067462

0xffffff81faa5bea0 : 0xffffff801d08ef2e

0xffffff81faa5bee0 : 0xffffff801d066500

0xffffff81faa5bf60 : 0xffffff801d0702a7

0xffffff81faa5bfa0 : 0xffffff801ca004f7

Kernel Extensions in backtrace:

com.apple.iokit.IOAcceleratorFamily2(376.6)[5F8F39B4-41AB-3263-9867-D0FAF9BBD2A E]@0xffffff7f9f43b000->0xffffff7f9f4d0fff

dependency: com.apple.driver.AppleMobileFileIntegrity(1.0.5)[498548AE-30A0-36C6-92F7-1714D0 1C0A98]@0xffffff7f9daa0000

dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOSurface(209.2.2)[AE58720D-7079-388F-AD95-FD2366F98F8D]@0xffff ff7f9e158000

dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily(2.9)[8E6C654E-4A8F-3C6B-BBFE-BA8A68C9C146]@0xffffff 7f9d334000

dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOGraphicsFamily(517.22)[2AEA02BF-2A38-3674-A187-E5F610FD65B7]@ 0xffffff7f9e2d0000

BSD process name corresponding to current thread: kernel_task

Mac OS version:

17D102

Kernel version:

Darwin Kernel Version 17.4.0: Sun Dec 17 09:19:54 PST 2017; root:xnu-4570.41.2~1/RELEASE_X86_64

Kernel UUID: 18D901F1-4A03-3FF1-AE34-C26B2732F13C

Kernel slide: 0x000000001c600000

Kernel text base: 0xffffff801c800000

__HIB text base: 0xffffff801c700000

System model name: MacBookPro11,4 (Mac-06F11FD93F0323C5)

Root disk errors: "Could not recover SATA HDD after 5 attempts. Terminating."

System uptime in nanoseconds: 170994591651538

last loaded kext at 165868764146991: com.apple.driver.AppleXsanScheme 3 (addr 0xffffff7f9feb1000, size 32768)

last unloaded kext at 165998823668516: com.apple.driver.AppleXsanScheme 3 (addr 0xffffff7f9feb1000, size 32768)

loaded kexts:

com.parallels.kext.vnic 13.3.0 43321

com.parallels.kext.netbridge 13.3.0 43321

com.parallels.kext.hypervisor 13.3.0 43321

org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxNetAdp 5.1.26

org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxNetFlt 5.1.26

org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxUSB 5.1.26

org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxDrv 5.1.26

com.intel.driver.EnergyDriver 2.0

com.logitech.manager.kernel.driver 6.40.1

com.apple.filesystems.smbfs 3.2.1

com.apple.driver.AudioAUUC 1.70

com.apple.driver.AGPM 110.23.30

com.apple.driver.ApplePlatformEnabler 2.7.0d0

com.apple.driver.X86PlatformShim 1.0.0

com.apple.filesystems.autofs 3.0

com.apple.driver.AppleHDA 280.12

com.apple.driver.AppleUpstreamUserClient 3.6.4

com.apple.driver.AppleGraphicsDevicePolicy 3.16.21

com.apple.AGDCPluginDisplayMetrics 3.16.2

com.apple.driver.pmtelemetry 1

com.apple.iokit.IOUserEthernet 1.0.1

com.apple.iokit.IOBluetoothSerialManager 6.0.2f2

com.apple.Dont_Steal_Mac_OS_X 7.0.0

com.apple.driver.AppleHV 1

com.apple.driver.AppleIntelHD5000Graphics 10.3.0

com.apple.driver.AppleBacklight 170.10.2

com.apple.driver.eficheck 1

com.apple.driver.AppleThunderboltIP 3.1.1

com.apple.iokit.BroadcomBluetooth20703USBTransport 6.0.2f2

com.apple.driver.AppleLPC 3.1

com.apple.driver.AppleCameraInterface 6.01.2

com.apple.driver.AppleSMCLMU 211

com.apple.driver.AppleOSXWatchdog 1

com.apple.driver.AppleIntelSlowAdaptiveClocking 4.0.0

com.apple.driver.AppleIntelFramebufferAzul 10.3.0

com.apple.driver.AppleMCCSControl 1.5.3

com.apple.iokit.SCSITaskUserClient 404.30.2

com.apple.driver.AppleUSBCardReader 439.30.4

com.apple.driver.AppleTopCaseHIDEventDriver 127

com.apple.driver.AppleUSBTopCaseDriver 127

com.apple.driver.AirPort.BrcmNIC 1220.28.1a3

com.apple.driver.AppleAHCIPort 329

com.apple.AppleFSCompression.AppleFSCompressionTypeDataless 1.0.0d1

com.apple.AppleFSCompression.AppleFSCompressionTypeZlib 1.0.0

com.apple.BootCache 40

com.apple.filesystems.hfs.kext 407.30.1

com.apple.driver.AppleSmartBatteryManager 161.0.0

com.apple.driver.AppleACPIButtons 6.1

com.apple.driver.AppleRTC 2.0

com.apple.driver.AppleHPET 1.8

com.apple.driver.AppleSMBIOS 2.1

com.apple.driver.AppleACPIEC 6.1

com.apple.driver.AppleAPIC 1.7

com.apple.nke.applicationfirewall 183

com.apple.security.quarantine 3

com.apple.security.TMSafetyNet 8

com.apple.IOBufferCopyEngineTest 1

com.apple.iokit.IOUSBUserClient 900.4.1

com.apple.kext.triggers 1.0

com.apple.driver.DspFuncLib 280.12

com.apple.kext.OSvKernDSPLib 526

com.apple.iokit.IOSerialFamily 11

com.apple.driver.AppleSSE 1.0

com.apple.driver.AppleBacklightExpert 1.1.0

com.apple.AppleGPUWrangler 3.16.2

com.apple.iokit.IONDRVSupport 517.22

com.apple.iokit.BroadcomBluetoothHostControllerUSBTransport 6.0.2f2

com.apple.iokit.IOBluetoothHostControllerUSBTransport 6.0.2f2

com.apple.iokit.IOBluetoothHostControllerTransport 6.0.2f2

com.apple.driver.AppleHDAController 280.12

com.apple.iokit.IOHDAFamily 280.12

com.apple.iokit.IOAudioFamily 206.5

com.apple.vecLib.kext 1.2.0

com.apple.driver.AppleGraphicsControl 3.16.21

com.apple.driver.X86PlatformPlugin 1.0.0

com.apple.driver.IOPlatformPluginFamily 6.0.0d8

com.apple.iokit.IOSlowAdaptiveClockingFamily 1.0.0

com.apple.AppleGraphicsDeviceControl 3.16.21

com.apple.iokit.IOAcceleratorFamily2 376.6

com.apple.iokit.IOSurface 209.2.2

com.apple.driver.AppleSMBusController 1.0.18d1

com.apple.iokit.IOGraphicsFamily 517.22

com.apple.iokit.IOAHCISerialATAPI 267

com.apple.driver.AppleActuatorDriver 1204.13

com.apple.driver.AppleHSBluetoothDriver 127

com.apple.driver.AppleHIDKeyboard 203

com.apple.driver.AppleMultitouchDriver 1204.13

com.apple.driver.AppleInputDeviceSupport 1201.8

com.apple.driver.usb.IOUSBHostHIDDevice 1.2

com.apple.driver.usb.networking 5.0.0

com.apple.driver.usb.AppleUSBHostCompositeDevice 1.2

com.apple.driver.AppleThunderboltDPInAdapter 5.0.2

com.apple.driver.AppleThunderboltDPAdapterFamily 5.0.2

com.apple.driver.AppleThunderboltPCIDownAdapter 2.1.3

com.apple.driver.CoreStorage 546

com.apple.iokit.IOAHCIBlockStorage 301.40.2

com.apple.driver.AppleThunderboltNHI 4.5.6

com.apple.iokit.IOThunderboltFamily 6.6.3

com.apple.iokit.IO80211Family 1200.12.2

com.apple.driver.mDNSOffloadUserClient 1.0.1b8

com.apple.driver.corecapture 1.0.4

com.apple.iokit.IOAHCIFamily 288

com.apple.driver.usb.AppleUSBXHCIPCI 1.2

com.apple.driver.usb.AppleUSBXHCI 1.2

com.apple.filesystems.hfs.encodings.kext 1

com.apple.driver.usb.AppleUSBHostPacketFilter 1.0

com.apple.driver.AppleUSBHostMergeProperties 1.2

com.apple.driver.AppleEFINVRAM 2.1

com.apple.driver.AppleEFIRuntime 2.1

com.apple.iokit.IOSMBusFamily 1.1

com.apple.security.sandbox 300.0

com.apple.kext.AppleMatch 1.0.0d1

com.apple.driver.AppleFDEKeyStore 28.30

com.apple.driver.AppleEffaceableStorage 1.0

com.apple.driver.AppleKeyStore 2

com.apple.driver.AppleUSBTDM 439.30.4

com.apple.driver.AppleMobileFileIntegrity 1.0.5

com.apple.iokit.IOUSBMassStorageDriver 140.30.1

com.apple.iokit.IOSCSIBlockCommandsDevice 404.30.2

com.apple.iokit.IOSCSIArchitectureModelFamily 404.30.2

com.apple.driver.AppleCredentialManager 1.0

com.apple.driver.KernelRelayHost 1

com.apple.driver.AppleSEPManager 1.0.1

com.apple.driver.IOSlaveProcessor 1

com.apple.iokit.IOBufferCopyEngineFamily 1

com.apple.driver.DiskImages 480.30.2

com.apple.iokit.IOStorageFamily 2.1

com.apple.iokit.IOTimeSyncFamily 650.5

com.apple.iokit.IONetworkingFamily 3.4

com.apple.driver.IOBluetoothHIDDriver 6.0.2f2

com.apple.iokit.IOBluetoothFamily 6.0.2f2

com.apple.iokit.IOReportFamily 31

com.apple.iokit.IOUSBHIDDriver 900.4.1

com.apple.iokit.IOHIDFamily 2.0.0

com.apple.iokit.IOUSBFamily 900.4.1

com.apple.iokit.IOUSBHostFamily 1.2

com.apple.driver.usb.AppleUSBCommon 1.0

com.apple.driver.AppleBusPowerController 1.0

com.apple.driver.AppleACPIPlatform 6.1

com.apple.driver.AppleSMCRTC 1.0

com.apple.driver.AppleSMC 3.1.9

com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily 2.9

com.apple.iokit.IOACPIFamily 1.4

com.apple.kec.Libm 1

com.apple.kec.pthread 1

com.apple.kec.corecrypto 1.0

EOF

Hi Bob,

Again, above and beyond, an excellent analysis of what has been happening. I am a late entrant to the OSX world, so, like any good Windows user, looked around for cleaners and anti virus software only to find out that it is not necessary and not recommended.

At one point you have managed to have 3 virtual machine apps on your Mac. I assume VirtualBox has been uninstalled, but you still have Parallels and VMware Fusion. VMware is listed as Blocked by EtreCheck, so it is most likely not active.

Correct, we develop in Parallels VMs and have taters who use VirtualBox and VMWare FUSION/Player so I have to be able to advise if they had installation problems. VirtualBox was deleted, but left behind the KEXT files, VMware is likely still around. I do use the latest of everything that is supposedly High Sierra Compatible (for example Parallels 13).

com.macpaw.CleanMyMac3.Agent.plist (MacPaw Inc. - installed 2017-06-20)

The long time forum contributors are not a fan of any Mac cleaners. We have seen too many incidents of these tools doing damage.

I thought I had deleted this, I have only seen bad things WRT cleanlmymac, I'll look again.

This kernel backtrace indicates you were in the graphics driver stack "com.apple.iokit.IOGraphicsFamily", so it is possible you are having GPU issues. Or as I said, if the disk is providing corrupted code (just 1 bit changed), it could cause anything to go bonkers.

I seem to recall I was doing stuff in Chrome most of the time the crashes occurred, so that was painting web pages etc, so what you say/have found makes perfect sense. I will look to passing this info on to OWC. Their SSD was in excess of $1k in my money and it's something that's getting used 8-10 hours a day.

But based on your "root disk errors" and the kernel backtrace being in the graphics stack, I'm leaning towards maybe it is hardware.

It's very hard not to draw that conclusion. My confusion was that the system discusses a SATA drive when it is clearly NOT, but if the root drive is, well, the root drive that pretty much points to the OWC drive.

SNIP.....

See if your system remains stable. If it does, add in the most essential additions. The ones that allow you to get your work done. Anything else leave it out. And add things back in one at a time, making sure they are up-to-date High Sierra compatible versions.

Excellent advice, I have already removed the VirtualBox KEXT files and the system has now been up for almost 24 hrs without going splat, that's a bit of an indication that they were probably not doing anything any good. Having said that I also have abandoned Chrome in lieu off Safari (Chrome just does inline images in Gmail better than Safari). Regardless, I do lean towards a hardware issue as you suggest and will follow up with OWC.

Look, these are not trivial answers, you have obviously gone out of your way to look in detail at the logs I have sent and then to analyse and respond. Please understand that I really appreciate the time and effort you have put into responding to my issues and thank you once again.

And just to update, it's now an hour downstream and the system (from safe mode) is locked again. Screen was visible, mouse pointer visible, system frozen.

It's sort of unworkable. I cannot see anything of note in the logs. I've run EtreCheck again, see below. It says that the process took a lot longer than it should. I think it's time to take it into the Apple people (I'm waiting for OWC to get back, the local vendors said to contact them directly).

EtreCheck version: 4.1.3 (4A188)

Report generated: 2018-03-14 18:05:32

Download EtreCheck from https://etrecheck.com

Runtime: 3:19

Performance: Good

Problem: Other problem

Major Issues: None

Minor Issues:

These issues do not need immediate attention but they may indicate future problems.

Upgradeable hard drive - This machine’s hard drive could be replaced with an SSD. This would dramatically improve your machine’s performance.

Small backup drive - Time Machine backup drive is too small.

Unsigned files - There is unsigned software installed. They appear to be legitimate but should be reviewed.

Hardware Information:

MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015)

MacBook Pro Model: MacBookPro11,4

1 2.2 GHz Intel Core i7 (i7-4770HQ) CPU: 4-core

16 GB RAM Not upgradeable

BANK 0/DIMM0

8 GB DDR3 1600 ok

BANK 1/DIMM0

8 GB DDR3 1600 ok

Battery: Health = Normal - Cycle count = 258

Video Information:

Intel Iris Pro - VRAM: 1536 MB

Color LCD 2880 x 1800

Drives:

disk0 - OWC Aura SSD 960.04 GB (Mechanical)

Internal PCI 5.0 GT/s x2 Serial ATA

disk0s1 - EFI (MS-DOS FAT32) [EFI] 210 MB

disk0s2 [Core Storage Container] 959.18 GB

disk1 - M**************************B (Journaled HFS+) 958.81 GB

disk0s3 - Recovery HD (Journaled HFS+) [Recovery] 650 MB

Mounted Volumes:

disk1 - M**************************B 958.81 GB (413.09 GB free)

Journaled HFS+

Mount point: /

Network:

Interface en5: iPad

Interface en0: Wi-Fi

802.11 a/b/g/n/ac

One IPv4 address

Interface en4: iPhone

Interface en3: Bluetooth PAN

Interface bridge0: Thunderbolt Bridge

iCloud Quota: 1.68 GB available

System Software:

macOS High Sierra 10.13.3 (17D102)

Time since boot: Less than an hour

System Load: 2.68 (1 min ago) 4.38 (5 min ago) 2.38 (15 min ago)

Configuration Files:

/etc/hosts - Count: 1

Security:

Unsigned Files:

Launchd: /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist

Executable: /Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper

Details: Exact match found in the whitelist - probably OK

Launchd: /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.oracle.java.Helper-Tool.plist

Executable: /Library/Internet Plug-Ins/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin/Contents/Resources/Helper-Tool

Details: Exact match found in the whitelist - probably OK

Launchd: /Library/LaunchAgents/com.oracle.java.Java-Updater.plist

Executable: /Library/Internet Plug-Ins/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin/Contents/Resources/Java Updater.app/Contents/MacOS/Java Updater -bgcheck

Details: Exact match found in the whitelist - probably OK

Kernel Extensions:

/Library/Extensions

[Not Loaded] EnergyDriver.kext (Intel Corporation Apps, 2.0 - SDK 10.11)

System Launch Agents:

System Launch Daemons:

Launch Agents:

Launch Daemons:

User Launch Agents:

User Login Items:

Faviconographer Application (Thomas Osthege und Daniel Alm

(/Applications/Faviconographer.app)

Dropbox Application (Dropbox, Inc.

(/Applications/Dropbox.app)

Parallels Toolbox Application (Parallels International GmbH

(/Applications/Parallels Toolbox.app)

Internet Plug-ins:

FlashPlayer-10.6: 29.0.0.113 (installed 2018-03-14)

QuickTime Plugin: 7.7.3 (installed 2018-01-19)

AdobePDFViewerNPAPI: 17.012.20098 (installed 2018-02-24)

AdobePDFViewer: 18.011.20038 (installed 2018-02-24)

Flash Player: 29.0.0.113 (installed 2018-03-14)

EPPEX Plugin: 10.0 (installed 2016-05-23)

SharePointBrowserPlugin: 14.7.1 (installed 2016-12-16)

PepperFlashPlayer: 29.0.0.113 (installed 2018-03-14)

JavaAppletPlugin: Java 8 Update 151 build 12 (installed 2017-10-21)

Safari Extensions:

3rd Party Preference Panes:

Flash Player (installed 2018-02-24)

Java (installed 2017-10-21)

Logitech Control Center (installed 2018-01-18)

Logi Options Launcher (installed 2017-02-02)

Tuxera NTFS (installed 2017-05-05)

Time Machine:

Skip System Files: No

Mobile backups: Yes

Auto backup: Yes

Volumes being backed up:

M**************************B: Disk size: 958.81 GB - Disk used: 545.72 GB

Destinations:

T*********************e [Local] (Last used)

Total size: 999.83 GB

Total number of backups: 18

Oldest backup: 2018-03-13 17:26:51

Last backup: 2018-03-14 09:51:57

Top Processes by CPU:

Top Processes by Memory:

Top Processes by Network Use:

Top Processes by Energy Use:

Virtual Memory Information:

Software Installs (past 30 days):

Diagnostics Information (past 7 days):

2018-03-14 17:57:35 Last Shutdown Cause: 3 - Hard shutdown (once)

2018-03-14 14:12:18 Dropbox.app Crash (once)

End of report

Hi Bob,

What you say makes perfect sense. I’ve also done some research on failing SSDs and particularly the symptoms. It appears there are two major scenarios:

1. It fails catastrophically and the system does not start

2. Apps start crashing and you get hangs/freezes

I qualify for the latter I suspect. The latest is that I’m getting the rainbow wheel of death, with a blank screen, not restoring. The mouse is not frozen it moves around the black screen, but clicking it does nothing.

I await a response from OWC, I posted a link to this thread.

Bob,

I've found OWC's customer service to be very good over the years. So hopefully they will be able to offer some SSD insight I have missed.

After some to-ing and fro-ing with OWC tech support (and they have been party to this discussion so your comments in no little way assisted in their decision making), I have received this email:

Dear Kevin,

Thank you so much for the detailed information. At this point, I think we will look into replacing the drive.

We can do one of two options, if you would prefer to go to Click Spot and see if they will return the drive and replace it, that would be the easiest and fastest for you. If they are not able to, we can replace it here if it's under warranty (which I believe it is), we would send you an RMA number for you to return the drive to us and then we would ship out the new drive once we receive the old drive.

To do the second option, I would just need a copy of your original sales order with them and then to verify the shipping and billing information for you.

Sincerely,

Dena S.
Customer Experience

OWC

So as you pointed out, OWC tech support is indeed pretty good.....