2018 MacBook Pros crashing with "Bridge OS" error

[decisions]

Your issue is definitely weird and worrisome. The Kernel is the heart of the system and may have bursts of activity like you describe but it wouldn’t take the machine to a crawl.
You may have an extension installed on your system that causes the issue. If this happens regularly, I would wipe the machine clean and reinstall the latest macOS and see if it improves. If it doesn’t, have AppleCare look into it.
The BridgeOS issue is more sneaky than what you describe and there’s no way for the final user to fix it, so I think what you’re describing is a bit different. Try a clean wipe if this occurs again. You can also search in the Console app in the logs if you can find any mention of BridgeOS. Good luck and keep us posted 😉.

You have a thermal issue with it. Here is a support document from Apple to explain:

If kernel_task is using a large percentage of your Mac CPU - Apple Support

One of the functions of the kernel task process is to help manage the temperature of your CPU.

support.apple.com

You should get it looked at by Apple.

Thanks for the info guys. I was going to wipe it clean and reinstall, but I'll just back up what I need and get it looked at soon, since it's almost certainly a thermal issue. I'm still under AppleCare fortunately.

 

[Robotronic]

I’ve had no issue this past year on my iMac Pro or MBP 2018. Seems fixed to me...

So you had BridgeOS related crashes prior to that with both machines, and now both seem to be fixed?

 

[nickf1]

Yeah my iMac Pro, bought in April 2018 was horrible, Apple gave me a new one in July 2018, which never had any problem. My MBP 2018 had like 1 or 2 crashes in its whole life since July 2018 and I can't even remember when the last one was.
I think this issue was a combination of bad chips and bad software. Bad chips you could only get a new machine to fix it, bad software, they somehow fixed it now. What's your situation?

 

[DominicHong]

Not sure, but it usually says panic and flush timeout due to unresponsive processor

I'm having the same issue. I can't do anything at all because it just won't stop freezing, followed by a loud noise from the fan and restart.
Have you solved the issue?

 

[Robotronic]

Yeah my iMac Pro, bought in April 2018 was horrible, Apple gave me a new one in July 2018, which never had any problem. My MBP 2018 had like 1 or 2 crashes in its whole life since July 2018 and I can't even remember when the last one was.
I think this issue was a combination of bad chips and bad software. Bad chips you could only get a new machine to fix it, bad software, they somehow fixed it now. What's your situation?

I bought an iMac Pro in Jan 2018, and could consistently reproduce the BridgeOS crashes with an LG UltraFine 4K monitor attached; without the monitor attached it was fine. I even had two of the monitors and both caused it, so it wasn't a bad monitor. I, foolishly, bought a 13" MBP in the summer of 2018, and it would crash with BridgeOS error while asleep with the lid closed in my bag. Ended up returning the MBP within a couple weeks. I had an open support case with Apple for months for the iMac Pro, with no resolution. I finally sold it, and built a Hackintosh. I now have a 2017 MBP "Escape" non-TouchBar that I bought new just a couple months ago. Ridiculous that I had to resort to buying a 2+ year old laptop to get something reliable (except for the keyboard ). I refuse to buy anything with a T2 chip, it's cursed.

 

[warfed]

Just got bridge os error on wake from sleep on a 16" MBP that's less than 12 hours old... ugh.

 

[MikeVera]

Just got bridge os error on wake from sleep on a 16" MBP that's less than 12 hours old... ugh.

same, I got it twice on my 16. Along with the speaker popping, coil whine. Took it right back.

 

[warfed]

Did you replace it with a new one, and if so is it any better? I had to replace one that had some text ghosting issue when scrolling, confirmed with in store tech as a hardware problem. Really don't want to replace another, might just stick with my 2013 for another year or two...

 

[_Kiki_]

same T2 chip, same problems, Apple still on BETA T2 chip

 

[MikeVera]

Did you replace it with a new one, and if so is it any better? I had to replace one that had some text ghosting issue when scrolling, confirmed with in store tech as a hardware problem. Really don't want to replace another, might just stick with my 2013 for another year or two...

I went through 2.

first one was a i7 base config, had all the issues, and crashed once from BridgeOS.
Exchanged for a i9/1TB/16GB/5500m. It crashed twice with Bridge OS.

so i didn’t want to keep doing the dance. So I returned and am waiting to see if it’s ironed out.

 

[warfed]

I went through 2.

first one was a i7 base config, had all the issues, and crashed once from BridgeOS.
Exchanged for a i9/1TB/16GB/5500m. It crashed twice with Bridge OS.

so i didn’t want to keep doing the dance. So I returned and am waiting to see if it’s ironed out.

I might have to do the same. I have the coil whine and popping as well, but I don't mind that as much. Unstable hardware is a problem though. Talking to a senior support advisor he said apple is not aware of bridge os errors and there is no software update planned, not holding out hope it'll be fixed anytime soon.

 

[patwithamac]

I went through 2.

first one was a i7 base config, had all the issues, and crashed once from BridgeOS.
Exchanged for a i9/1TB/16GB/5500m. It crashed twice with Bridge OS.

so i didn’t want to keep doing the dance. So I returned and am waiting to see if it’s ironed out.

So you'll probably need to update your sig...
From
16 inch RMBP (2.3 GHz i9, 16 GB Ram, 1TB SSD, 5500M)
To
Defective 16 inch RMBP (2.3 GHz i9, 16 GB Ram, 1TB SSD, 5500M) returned for a refund

 

[MikeVera]

So you'll probably need to update your sig...
From
16 inch RMBP (2.3 GHz i9, 16 GB Ram, 1TB SSD, 5500M)
To
Defective 16 inch RMBP (2.3 GHz i9, 16 GB Ram, 1TB SSD, 5500M) returned for a refund

Lol

 

[MacNut]

Defective or new feature?

 

[Nacho98]

I am surprised this is year 4 (?) of the T2 chip, apparently unchanged

 

[g75d3]

Do new 16 inch MacBook Pros have newer revision of T2 chip?

 

[donawalt]

Do new 16 inch MacBook Pros have newer revision of T2 chip?

I don't know - this is what mine has:
Firmware Version: 17P1600

 

[appleuser181]

I don't know - this is what mine has:
Firmware Version: 17P1600

Interesting, my 2018 MBP (15") running the latest macOS shows Firmware Version: 17P1081

So is it possible that the 2019 MBP (16") is using a new type of T2?

 

[Spyroprmd]

Has anyone else been getting this error?
Should I return it to Apple?

It's a MBP 15" 2018 i7 with 560X graphics card

 

[mdesta]

For MBP16 people with the crash at wake up time issue, does this issue happens only when waking up while having a second screen plugged? (Which is the case with my MBP16 i9 AMD 5500 8gb).

I shared a couple crash reports on this thread: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/mbp-16-crash-with-second-screen.2213091/

Would love to hear if others experience the same issue. Doesn't seem to be T2 but looks like the crash comes from the AMD driver, related to the ACPI.

 

[matram]

I got a crash with a CalDigit TS3+ connected via Thunderbolt cable but no Display connected.

 

[mreg376]

I might have to do the same. I have the coil whine and popping as well, but I don't mind that as much. Unstable hardware is a problem though. Talking to a senior support advisor he said apple is not aware of bridge os errors and there is no software update planned, not holding out hope it'll be fixed anytime soon.

They don't know about it because they don't care to. Many people have returned or brought in for service MBP's because of the Bridge OS errors. Even if it was JUST the people on this forum, the odds of which are zero, how can they not know? I returned two 13" 2018 MBP's because of freezing. I bought them from Apple by mail, and when I filled out the return requests they didn't even ask the reason. So how much can they care?

 

[cap7ainclu7ch]

For MBP16 people with the crash at wake up time issue, does this issue happens only when waking up while having a second screen plugged? (Which is the case with my MBP16 i9 AMD 5500 8gb).

I shared a couple crash reports on this thread: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/mbp-16-crash-with-second-screen.2213091/

Would love to hear if others experience the same issue. Doesn't seem to be T2 but looks like the crash comes from the AMD driver, related to the ACPI.

Nope, I've had mine crash once while it was asleep. Just opened it up and found it restarting. Reported the crash to apple.

Do we know that those crashes are related to the T2? I love this computer but I'm still pretty nervous about these critical issues.

 

[mbguercio]

For MBP16 people with the crash at wake up time issue, does this issue happens only when waking up while having a second screen plugged? (Which is the case with my MBP16 i9 AMD 5500 8gb).

I shared a couple crash reports on this thread: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/mbp-16-crash-with-second-screen.2213091/

Would love to hear if others experience the same issue. Doesn't seem to be T2 but looks like the crash comes from the AMD driver, related to the ACPI.

I'm noticing the issue AFTER I use my laptop not plugged in and then plug it into two LG Ultrafine 5K monitors. The 16" MacBook Pro freezes and the only way to get it unfrozen is to hard power off or pull the Thunderbolt cables for the monitors from the laptop and then the fans run super fast for a second before powering down. Then the computer restarts and I get the "BAD MAGIC! (flag set in iBoot panic header), no MacOS panic log available" prompt. Super great for a brand new $4700 laptop.

 

[matram]

I have actually gone through this thread from the start and there are some good suggestions that may have gone lost in the volume. So please let me summarize my conclusions.

The "BridgeOS" message is a bit of a side track. The T2 acts as a watchdog for the system and will report issues with the main processor or system HW. You should look at the "PanicString" which provides a better description of the root cause of the problem. Many user only provide the first lines of the log so we cannot see the "PanicString".

There seems to be a category of panics caused by time out, e.g. of thunderbolt. Noting what kind of HW you have connected and, if possible, try without that HW for a few days can help pin point the problem.

There is possibly a problem with some kext, e.g. there has been some reference to audio drivers earlier in the thread. At least in one case that was stated in the panic information.

There are some type of errors where we really do not get more information we can act on, like:
- CPU Core, time out when waking from sleep
- CATERR - Intel CPU catastrophic error
- BAD MAGIC - I interpret this, as the log information the T2 is expecting from the Intel CPU is missing

The first 3000 posts in this thread, was from 2018 July - December. So it seems, this is less of a problem today. I guess what we think of as one problem, the T2, is really a number of different problems reported by the BridgeOS. Apple has fixed some of these, but some still remain.

May I suggest we try to be as specific as we can when posting to help solving the problem.