2018 MacBook Pros crashing with "Bridge OS" error

[krispykres]

Made an account here just to comment on this forum. Also experiencing Kernel Error issues on less than 3-week old MacBook Pro, its happened twice now. Specs are 15" MacBook Pro 2.9GHz Core i9, 32 GB RAM, 1TB SSD, Mojave 10.14.

Error reads the following:
{"caused_by":"macos","macos_system_state":"running","bug_type":"210","os_version":"Bridge OS 3.0 (16P375)","timestamp":"2018-10-15 09:40:13.51 +0000","incident_id":"BC08FC67-E5D8-4E4E-A52E-C753EEC36861"}

When my computer is about to shut down from a Kernel Error the fans turn on full blast and then it shuts off. The first time it happened it did not restart on its own, second time it did restart on its own.

Both times I had plugged into power and the "VAVA USB C Hub, 8-in-1 Adapter with Gigabit Ethernet Port, 100W PD Charging Port, 4K HDMI Port, SD/TF Card Reader, USB 3.0 Port for MacBook & USB C Laptops" adapter connected.

Both times I had Microsoft Word and Chrome open working on my computer as normal when it just randomly dies.

This is a really annoying issue. Hopefully, it is not hardware and just a problem with Mojave, but considering this was first reported back in Jan as someone stated is concerning we might all be stuck with faulty hardware, past the 14day limit to return and get a new machine.

UPDATE: Everyone's error is rooted in "Bridge OS" which is the embedded operating system for the T2 chip. The T2 chip enables things like secure boot and better-encrypted storage. No conclusions being drawn yet, but this might be a universal hardware issue. Yikes.
via: https://www.theverge.com/circuitbre...pple-t2-chips-bridge-os-problems-kernel-panic
To check if you have the T2 Chip, click the Apple Logo > About This Mac > System Report > Controller (under 'Hardware' tab) and it will say if you have the "Apple T2 Chip"
For reference, my model does indeed have the T2 Chip

 

[Vilfredo]

It’s hardware element. Nonetheless, I think it’s a software root cause which react with this T2 chip. I hope they will fix it in a corrective update.

A question : After the 14 days return policy, if you still have issues after several replacements, is that possible to be refund ?

 

[Saeloe]

Got my second Bridge OS KP today, I've had this MacBook Pro 15" i9/32/1TB/560X for 13 days now, manufacturing date 2018-9-17. First one was yesterday during FaceTime call, but no trace of it was in the logs and no Diagnostic Info.

{"caused_by":"macos","macos_system_state":"running","bug_type":"210","os_version":"Bridge OS 3.0 (16P375)","timestamp":"2018-10-15 14:32:03.01 +0000","incident_id":"E70E3C9B-1855-45CD-9E98-592D3BF9CC49"}

I had only original 87 W charger and Belkin 1 Gbps USB-C Ethernet-adapter plugged in and I was browsing web with Chrome, no load or not doing anything special.

Before the total freeze of about 10 seconds, after the fans went 100 % for 1 sec and then reboot, I noticed few small 1 sec hangs on the TouchPad, while browsing the internet with Chrome. During the 10 seconds of freeze, also the TouchBar was frozen, showed the normal things but didn't react to touch.

I have FileVault and firmware password in use.

 

[hansenc]

Mine was good after the update a a month or so ago and now on the latest Public Beta it started again.

 

[SWJH]

After clean reinstall of HS I didn't see one for about 3 weeks. Low and behold just had one while working on power point while listening to music. Lost some work, bummer. Why isn't this issue getting more media coverage?

 

[pubmsu]

This issue is persisting so many days after the launch - does it mean it is not a good move to buy a 2018 MBP until the issue is fixed? Since the issue may start after the initial 15 days return period.

 

[e1me5]

Man, you guys are unlucky. I had mine for 6 weeks now and only one KP so far, and I haven't been able to reproduce it, despite doing exactly the same things while it ocurred. I have dongles attached to it, docks, multiple usb and TB harddrives and RAIDS mounted, I edit video every day, I watch films every other night, I take it home from the office and back again with out shutting it down, I even leaving it sleeping for a day or two in the weekend, and nothing. Stable as a rock. It's scary and I live in fear that one day the luck will run out, especially if I update. I hope they resolve this problem soon enough. Just my thoughts, take care guys...

 

[jhoggatt1]

I'm definitely frustrated by the consistent crashes. I have my suspected reasons behind it including it being attached by USB-c to a thunderbolt display but I'm sure if Apple ever confessed to the issue and explained what they see is the actual problem, we'd all know better. Instead, they stay completely quiet about the issue and everyone that has a new MBP 2018 that already overpaid for a computer, is now dealing with a huge PITA problem. I think we're all just stuck at this point and waiting for the "fix" to come to us as I sit here almost obsessively checking my app store updates to see if anything is available yet. By the size of this thread and the amount of similar issues, I'm surprised that Apple has taken this long to address it....maybe it's because they don't know how to fix it?!

 

[bab5139]

Where is everyone getting the crash / error messages? I can only get info from this command
pmset -g log | grep -i failure


2018-09-28 08:03:35 -0500 Failure Sleep Failure [code:0x00000019]:

2018-10-02 06:33:32 -0500 Failure Sleep Failure [code:0x00000019]:

2018-10-03 07:15:58 -0500 Failure Sleep Failure [code:0x00000019]:

 

[semistandard]

Why not try to sue them as it was done with keyboards?
It seems like many people have the issue and it also seems that the issue is caused by the T2 chip. Since it is not even the first machine using T2 chip, as similar problems happened with IMP, why wait for the fix and not sue them already? It seems like the 2018 model could benefit from extended warranty program as well as 2017 and 2016.

 

[asiga]

I'm sure if Apple ever confessed to the issue and explained what they see is the actual problem, we'd all know better.

Well said. That's it. When some issue takes more than 2 months to get fixed, at least be transparent and explain what's the cause. But not even the staff at Apple shops knows what's going on. They just replace MBPs. Why replace them? Is it hardware? If it's not hardware, why replace them? If it's hardware, why do recently assembled units also suffer it instead of new units already coming fixed from factory by this date?

The most honest comment I've read that supposedly came from Apple staff is that the BridgeOS KP is not just a single issue, but a set of very different issues that might trigger it. This would explain the complexity of getting it fixed. But then, please be more transparent. At least the staff at Apple shops should have a clear idea of what the problem is: it's been more than 2 months now!!

 

[Ries]

Well said. That's it. When some issue takes more than 2 months to get fixed, at least be transparent and explain what's the cause. But not even the staff at Apple shops knows what's going on. They just replace MBPs. Why replace them? Is it hardware? If it's not hardware, why replace them? If it's hardware, why do recently assembled units also suffer it instead of new units already coming fixed from factory by this date?

The most honest comment I've read that supposedly came from Apple staff is that the BridgeOS KP is not just a single issue, but a set of very different issues that might trigger it. This would explain the complexity of getting it fixed. But then, please be more transparent. At least the staff at Apple shops should have a clear idea of what the problem is: it's been more than 2 months now!!

It's been way longer, the iMac Pro also has the issue.

 

[insol]

It occurs to me that many of the noted "triggers" for the KP imply some degree of increased processing (e.g. movie watching, code running, even power nap has been noted to increase CPU -- and thus sleeping, etc.). If this notion is deemed to be true, it would also explain Apple's original CPU throttling "bug" that they supposedly corrected.

Given my personal observations for my own MBP18 and certainly this forum-thread describing others' KP cases, it is not unreasonable to conclude that Apple not only knew a priori about this issue, but also limited performance to avoid it (e.g. the throttling "bug"). Further, it also reinforces the degree to which Apple understands and therefore has a solution for this issue.

If one accepts this logic, the case for a lawsuit(s) or a class action opportunity may have some grounding.

 

[n3t_runn3r]

As a datapoint, I was having KP each day on sleep to wake until I installed Majave on my '18 Macbook Pro 13". Zero KP's since.

 

[iZeljko]

Well said. That's it. When some issue takes more than 2 months to get fixed, at least be transparent and explain what's the cause. But not even the staff at Apple shops knows what's going on. They just replace MBPs. Why replace them? Is it hardware? If it's not hardware, why replace them? If it's hardware, why do recently assembled units also suffer it instead of new units already coming fixed from factory by this date?

The most honest comment I've read that supposedly came from Apple staff is that the BridgeOS KP is not just a single issue, but a set of very different issues that might trigger it. This would explain the complexity of getting it fixed. But then, please be more transparent. At least the staff at Apple shops should have a clear idea of what the problem is: it's been more than 2 months now!!

I've called Apple support to talk specifically about KP before buying the machine. I do not live close to AS so return in 14 days is not really an option for me.
Anyhow, their replay to the Q was pretty much blaming third party app developers, their software and external TB3 devices for causing KPs.
I've mentioned that people's Macs are crashing with only the power charger connected and watching Youtube on Safari... and got no answer to that question.

I have to admit that I gave Apple a call specifically to find some excuse to but a new MPB but the chat got me even more suspicious. Calming, but suspicious.

I feel stuck with my 13" 2013 machine. Way to underpowered for what I want to do with it, my only option looks to be a Hackintosh build now. Or a hackintoshed xps15 laptop

 

[RobbieTT]

It occurs to me that many of the noted "triggers" for the KP imply some degree of increased processing (e.g. movie watching, code running, even power nap has been noted to increase CPU -- and thus sleeping, etc.). If this notion is deemed to be true...

I don't see this correlation at all. None of those tasks are CPU intensive and, as noted by many, these KPs can happen when transitioning from sleep to awake or in the middle of a sleep period.

The bug with throttling is a bit of a stretch. The T2 KPs existed before, during and after that particular bug so there is no observable link. The KP issue exists even when the CPU architecture is completely different.

 

[onelm]

I don't see this correlation at all. None of those tasks are CPU intensive and, as noted by many, these KPs can happen when transitioning from sleep to awake or in the middle of a sleep period.

The bug with throttling is a bit of a stretch. The T2 KPs existed before, during and after that particular bug so there is no observable link. The KP issue exists even when the CPU architecture is completely different.

Yeah, not only did the KP issue exist with other CPUs, it existed (though less commonly) with the T1 chip as well which ran "eOS", the precursor to BridgeOS... But back then eOS didn't capture/report KPs the way BridgeOS does now.

I've gone dark in this thread for the last month or so, not much changed but I've noticed the conversation has drifted back to the narrower focus on BridgeOS... It's been explored a lot in the thread, but I wanted to repost what I posted (slightly edited) way back on pg51 of the thread:

I think it may help for people experiencing crashes to also start finding the TID/name of the offending thread as suggested by user 'bigcat' earlier in the thread.

If you have the text of your crash log in a text editor, search for "Panicked thread:" and move a bit forward from there you'll see a thread id e.g. "tid: 368".

Then search for "<found_tid>", inclusive of quotes, where <found_tid> is the number you just found. From the point in the file where that string is found, move forward and look for the thread "name" attribute.

It appears that the majority of the people experiencing the problem here are crashing with the thread named "AppleSMC", and AppleSMC appears to be a macOS driver that communicates with the T1/T2 chip in the machine.

For what it's worth, I've let my 2018 MBP sleep for long periods while running Windows (boot camp) and haven't had any crashes, but all of my work is in macOS so admittedly I haven't spent _too_ much time testing in Windows.

Also, I never had _any_ crashes during regular use--only during sleep, and only with external displays connected and in power save mode. Nowadays I just turn the displays power off at the switch, leave them connected, and I have no problems--16d uptime at the moment. In any case, it all still smells like driver stack to me...

 

[SDColorado]

I've called Apple support to talk specifically about KP before buying the machine. I do not live close to AS so return in 14 days is not really an option for me.
Anyhow, their replay to the Q was pretty much blaming third party app developers, their software and external TB3 devices for causing KPs.
I've mentioned that people's Macs are crashing with only the power charger connected and watching Youtube on Safari... and got no answer to that question.

That’s funny since the first KP I ever had was right after doing the initial setup and with nothing whatsoever attached. I did the initial setup, took a break to let my dogs out, came back to a BridgeOS KP. No third party’ apps, no external TB3 devices. Just MacOS and the power cord. Apple wanted to collect that machine.

They known darned well it isn’t 3rd party app developers or external TB3 devices causing the problems. In some cases they may be the trigger for a problem, but not the cause.

 

[iZeljko]

That’s funny since the first KP I ever had was right after doing the initial setup and with nothing whatsoever attached. I did the initial setup, took a break to let my dogs out, came back to a BridgeOS KP. No third party’ apps, no external TB3 devices. Just MacOS and the power cord. Apple wanted to collect that machine.

They known darned well it isn’t 3rd party app developers or external TB3 devices causing the problems. In some cases they may be the trigger for a problem, but not the cause.

Thanks for sharing your experience mate.
I'm very suspicious about their honesty at Apple Support.

 

[SDColorado]

Thanks for sharing your experience mate.
I'm very suspicious about their honesty at Apple Support.

I don’t know if they are intentionally dishonest. I think the folks who you end up talking to just repeat what has been told to them more often than not and are simply not well informed on the issue and the causes. Higher ups tell us it’s 3rd party apps, so that’s what we tell the customer.

When I called Apple the first thing they did was have me visit my local store for a hardware diagnostic. The tech at this store was well versed on the issue from reading this forum, discussions.apple.com and Reddit.

He told me that Apple was well aware of the issue and was tracking units for build date, configuration, factory in which they were built (apparently more than 1?), etc. and hoped it was just a batch or series of affected computers. Obviously it was not and if you are aware that the issue has also not been resolved with the iMac Pro, there was really no reason to believe it ever was.

Maybe he was just talking **** as well, but Apple did collect the machine all the same. Probably took it to Dreamland for an autopsy.

 

[maflynn]

Dumb question but with 2,320 posts, I don't know if my question was talked about. I'm running my MBP in windows, does this issue present itself in windows? I know "KP"s don't exist in windows persay but does the T2 cause instabilities in windows?

 

[aleks1]

Hello everyone, good news! (Relatively speaking).
TL,DR:
It’s a hardware failure in some models and Apple will exchange the lemon for a good one if you insist enough.



Long version:
I posted on this forum in the last month.
This will hopefully be my last post.
After keeping my MBP for a week in an apple store on repair and arguing several times about the problems that Genius Bar technicians said did not exist, I got called for a pickup. Turns out they did nothing to my mbp, since it “passed all diagnostics”. We fired it up together and voila! It crashed in the store right after boot into the first steps of the “installation from scratch” process. Then it happened again and a technician found 3 logs of KP in a system that was just initialized. The technicians were embarrassed (clearly they did not look at KP logs for the whole week, just reformatted and did diagnostics) and at that point I got a replacement; the replacement never had a KP in the first week of use. All good so far!
I am optimistic because my girlfriend also bought a 2018 MBP and in 2 months she never had a KP, so not all batches of MBP have this problems (maybe some T2’s are built slightly differently, especially in the last cycles of production - my MBP was one of the very first). Finally, the Genius Bar guy said he saw cases like this even in 2017 MBPs.

 

[SDColorado]

Dumb question but with 2,320 posts, I don't know if my question was talked about. I'm running my MBP in windows, does this issue present itself in windows? I know "KP"s don't exist in windows persay but does the T2 cause instabilities in windows?

That is a really good question. I am not sure that I have seen any posts indicating that it does. It would be interesting to hear others experience with running Windows if they are having KP's in MacOS.

 

[maflynn]

It’s a hardware failure in some models and Apple will exchange the lemon for a good one if you insist enough.

The issue is that its affecting iMac users, and the problem has been improved for some people via software updates. I'm not sold that its defective hardware, but that doesn't explain why my MBP is stable,yet other people's MBP crashes. That does point to hardware, but apple seems convinced its software.

tl;dr I don't know

 

[iZeljko]

Hello everyone, good news! (Relatively speaking).
TL,DR:
It’s a hardware failure in some models and Apple will exchange the lemon for a good one if you insist enough.



Long version:
I posted on this forum in the last month.
This hopefully my last post.
After keeping my MBP for a week in an apple store on repair and arguing several times about the problems that Genius Bar technicians said did not exist, I got called for a pickup. Turns out they did nothing to my mbp, since it “passed all diagnostics”. We fired it up together and voila! It crashed in the store right after boot into the first steps of the “installation from scratch” process. Then it happened again and a technician found 3 logs of KP in a system that was just initialized. The technicians were embarrassed (clearly they did not look at KP logs for the whole week, just reformatted and did diagnostics) and at that point I got a replacement; the replacement never had a KP in the first week of use. All good so far!
I am optimistic because my girlfriend also bought a 2018 MBP and in 2 months she never had a KP, so not all batches of MBP have this problems (maybe some T2’s are built slightly differently, especially in the last cycles of production - my MBP was one of the very first). Finally, the Genius Bar guy said he saw cases like this even in 2017 MBPs.

That is very convincing for the folks who live in a reasonable reach of the Apple Store.
I still do not want to take the risk of having to book a flight just because someone is selling a computer that did not pass QC before being packed.
Makes me even more mad at Apple as they were not able to fab a test software that would allow QC to fail the machines that are clearly prone to KPing.