Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Heat_Fan89

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Feb 23, 2016
2,885
3,743
I left for about an hour, came back and my 2018 Mini had the message that it restarted unexpectedly. I checked to see if I had a power interruption and everything else including another PC was still in sleep mode and none of the clocks were flashing 0000.
 

cram501

macrumors regular
Feb 15, 2016
141
170
Ashburn, VA
Prior to Monterey it had been rock solid. Since the upgrade 12, it has rebooted twice today (since the upgrade). It has only happened while unattended.
 

fisherking

macrumors G4
Jul 16, 2010
11,250
5,559
ny somewhere
my 2016 12" macbook has gone thru this a number of times over the beta cycle (altho, not once since installing 12.0.1... yet). still, my 2019 has never rebooted once since the betas started....
 

Monotremata

macrumors 6502
Apr 11, 2019
369
217
Fontana, CA
2018 Mini running as solid as it has since it came with Catalina. Only reboots I've seen are the 10000 it does when upgrading the OS so far..
 

Heat_Fan89

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Feb 23, 2016
2,885
3,743
my 2016 12" macbook has gone thru this a number of times over the beta cycle (altho, not once since installing 12.0.1... yet). still, my 2019 has never rebooted once since the betas started....
It's only happened once. Is there a log that might contain a hint as to what caused the unexpected reboot? I did submit the report to Apple when the box appeared on the screen.
 

cram501

macrumors regular
Feb 15, 2016
141
170
Ashburn, VA
Mine has crashed four times; all while unattended. All crashes center around the WindowsServer not responding. I'll have to play with some settings. Maybe reset the pram and smc. I see mentions of similar crashes during the beta but I haven't found any causes yet.
 

cjmildenberg

macrumors newbie
Nov 29, 2008
18
6
This is almost certainly going to be the same issue that is happening with Catalina and Big Sur. It's reindexing your photo library and doing photo and video analysis (people, etc). Mediaanalysisd causes the windowserver to timeout. This only occurs after the computer has gone idle. Try unplugging one of your external monitors until the process is complete (this works in previous OS). Happening with me on an iMac Pro 12.0.1
 

fisherking

macrumors G4
Jul 16, 2010
11,250
5,559
ny somewhere
This is almost certainly going to be the same issue that is happening with Catalina and Big Sur. It's reindexing your photo library and doing photo and video analysis (people, etc). Mediaanalysisd causes the windowserver to timeout. This only occurs after the computer has gone idle. Try unplugging one of your external monitors until the process is complete (this works in previous OS). Happening with me on an iMac Pro 12.0.1
that's one possible reason for some people... possibly. i've experienced it several times on the betas, and did not add any new photos or video. and i don't use an external monitor. and has never happened on my imac. and did not happen on my macbook in catalina and big sur...
 

Heat_Fan89

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Feb 23, 2016
2,885
3,743
This is almost certainly going to be the same issue that is happening with Catalina and Big Sur. It's reindexing your photo library and doing photo and video analysis (people, etc). Mediaanalysisd causes the windowserver to timeout. This only occurs after the computer has gone idle. Try unplugging one of your external monitors until the process is complete (this works in previous OS). Happening with me on an iMac Pro 12.0.1
Thanks for the info but i'm a basic user. The only photos I have are wallpapers in iCloud. No videos either but my Mini was idling for about an hour. I'm going to leave it on overnight to see if it restarts on its own. And for the record, I never had this problem with Big Sur. Again, it only happened one time.

Edit: I put my 2018 Mini to sleep last night and no unexpected restart this morning.
 
Last edited:

cram501

macrumors regular
Feb 15, 2016
141
170
Ashburn, VA
This is almost certainly going to be the same issue that is happening with Catalina and Big Sur. It's reindexing your photo library and doing photo and video analysis (people, etc). Mediaanalysisd causes the windowserver to timeout. This only occurs after the computer has gone idle. Try unplugging one of your external monitors until the process is complete (this works in previous OS). Happening with me on an iMac Pro 12.0.1

I disconnected my monitor for a couple of hours. I haven't had a reboot since. Sounds like something was processing after the upgrade and the external monitor caused issues.

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll watch it over the next few days to see if this solved the issue.
 

cjmildenberg

macrumors newbie
Nov 29, 2008
18
6
I disconnected my monitor for a couple of hours. I haven't had a reboot since. Sounds like something was processing after the upgrade and the external monitor caused issues.

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll watch it over the next few days to see if this solved the issue.
There is a large thread on this in the Catalina forums. At least for this specific crash, it can be traced back to a bug in "mediaanalysisd" - there certainly may be other reasons why the computer is crashing on idle, but this is clearly ONE possibility. Usually after every upgrade of OS, or any point release that updates the photos app, I need to run with a single monitor for several days before the crashes are eliminated. Silly, I know. I have tried to create a support ticket on this with Apple multiple times, but all I ever get is "send in your computer for replacement"
 

Heat_Fan89

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Feb 23, 2016
2,885
3,743
There is a large thread on this in the Catalina forums. At least for this specific crash, it can be traced back to a bug in "mediaanalysisd" - there certainly may be other reasons why the computer is crashing on idle, but this is clearly ONE possibility. Usually after every upgrade of OS, or any point release that updates the photos app, I need to run with a single monitor for several days before the crashes are eliminated. Silly, I know. I have tried to create a support ticket on this with Apple multiple times, but all I ever get is "send in your computer for replacement"
Just and FYI, my Mac mini has only one monitor hooked up to it all times and I still got a crash, which caused the Mac to reboot by itself. So far it's only happened once.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.