Big Sur 11.1 -corebrightnessd crash-Frequent reboot

[Pray]

Seeing frequent restart due to the corebrightnessd crash , happened attest 3 times in last 6 hrs ,Anybody facing this ?

Using a M1 MBP 16/512

Process: corebrightnessd [53478]
Path: /usr/libexec/corebrightnessd
Identifier: corebrightnessd
Version: 1071.60.8
Code Type: ARM-64 (Native)
Parent Process: launchd [1]
Responsible: corebrightnessd [53478]
User ID: 0

Date/Time: 2020-12-18 10:38:36.725 -0800
OS Version: macOS 11.1 (20C69)
Report Version: 12

Crashed Thread: 1 Dispatch queue: BacklightControl - Primary
Application Specific Information:
dyld3 mode
*** Terminating app due to uncaught exception 'NSGenericException', reason: 'SkyLight offline - restart corebrightnessd'
terminating with uncaught exception of type NSException
abort() called

 

[LarryMcJ]

If it helps to know, you're not alone. The corebrightnessd Process causes a crash at least once a day for me, sometimes more. I've been using a Mac for 20 years and I've NEVER seen this cause a crash before. FWIW, I bought an M1 MBP the day they were available so I'm wondering if this is related. Oddly enough, at the same time I bought my wife an M1 mini and I haven't noticed, nor has she complained, of it crashing at all. Of course, both M1 machines have the dreaded Bluetooth disconnection issue but that will hopefully be fixed with the next macOS update.

 

[hoodedlamp]

Try resetting your user permissions in Terminal on the MacBook Pro M1. I've been having the same issues on my new MacBook Pro M1. Since running this command I have not experienced any crashes.

Run this command in Terminal...

diskutil resetUserPermissions / `id -u`

 

[ice29]

Have you found a solution? I started getting this with 11.3 -> it will crash together with WindowServer every time I wake the mac (around 1-2 minutes after the wake) and will kill all my apps and forces me to relogin... annoying when I jump straight into a meeting after wake...

 

[yueqianh]

Have you found a solution? I started getting this with 11.3 -> it will crash together with WindowServer every time I wake the mac (around 1-2 minutes after the wake) and will kill all my apps and forces me to relogin... annoying when I jump straight into a meeting after wake...

I'm having the exact same situation on my 11.3.1 M1 Mac mini RN. So frustrating...

 

[ice29]

I'm having the exact same situation on my 11.3.1 M1 Mac mini RN. So frustrating...

Also using a kind of USB-C/Thunderbolt hub? For me this happes with OWC TB4 hub. I have reported to Apple and also to OWC. And also gave up for now and connected the monitor directly to the usb-c port of Macbook, that helped but I need two cables plugged in...

 

[yueqianh]

Also using a kind of USB-C/Thunderbolt hub? For me this happes with OWC TB4 hub. I have reported to Apple and also to OWC. And also gave up for now and connected the monitor directly to the usb-c port of Macbook, that helped but I need two cables plugged in...

Nope, my only peripheral is a pair of USB A speakers. My monitor is hooked up with HDMI

 

[ice29]

For me it's definitely related to the external monitor - I see following as the WindowServer crash reason in Console:

Termination Reason: WATCHDOG, [0x1] monitoring timed out for service Termination Details: WATCHDOG, checkin with service: WindowServer returned not alive with context: is_alive_func returned unhealthy : Display 2 not ready:

The corebrightnessd crashes due to this

*** Terminating app due to uncaught exception 'NSGenericException', reason: 'SkyLight offline - restart corebrightnessd' terminating with uncaught exception of type NSException abort() called

 

[yueqianh]

For me it's definitely related to the external monitor - I see following as the WindowServer crash reason in Console:

Termination Reason: WATCHDOG, [0x1] monitoring timed out for service Termination Details: WATCHDOG, checkin with service: WindowServer returned not alive with context: is_alive_func returned unhealthy : Display 2 not ready:

The corebrightnessd crashes due to this

*** Terminating app due to uncaught exception 'NSGenericException', reason: 'SkyLight offline - restart corebrightnessd' terminating with uncaught exception of type NSException abort() called

I am seeing exactly the same reasons for both. So I would assume it affects all external monitors, HDMI or TB4.

 

[ThunderousMagician]

Have you found a solution? I started getting this with 11.3 -> it will crash together with WindowServer every time I wake the mac (around 1-2 minutes after the wake) and will kill all my apps and forces me to relogin... annoying when I jump straight into a meeting after wake...

Same here. But I close my M1 MacBook pro and connect it to the LG 27UL850 through a USBC cable to use. I guess it's something wrong with external monitor stuff. It's M1 be M1.

 

[ice29]

Same here. But I close my M1 MacBook pro and connect it to the LG 27UL850 through a USBC cable to use. I guess it's something wrong with external monitor stuff. It's M1 be M1.

Ah shoot, this week I was actually considering selling this OWC TB4 hub together with my non-USBC monitor and buying another one with USBC, and 27UL850 was on my shortlist... But if monitors connected directly might cause this as well then I would rather wait a bit
It's really strange, last week I had no issues, the problem not popping up at all.. But yesterday I had to unplug the whole macbook/monitor/hub setup and then arrange it again and bang, crash after every wake today... No unplugging of power or restart helps...
I wanted to switch to TB-HDMI but with my HP USBC-HDMI 4K dongle the monitor will not wake most of the time and when it does, the resolution is messed up completely.

 

[starmax]

So I only recently started experiencing this issue. I thought it was related to the 11.3.1 update, but after a while I realized I switched monitors at the same time. After a week of crashes using my LG 27GL850, I switched back to my Dell P2415, and have not had a crash yet. I don't know if this is related to my LG monitor, or the fact that it is a high refresh rate monitor (was running at 120hz to avoid flicker), but I do not experience this on my M1 Mini with either of my Dell monitors (both 4k@60hz). All monitors were directly connected to my Mini via the same USB-C to DisplayPort cable.

 

[starmax]

So re-reading above, seem like most are having issues with LG monitors. Is anyone experiencing this issue with a non-LG monitor?

 

[ice29]

Might be a red-herring, but in my case it seems to have stopped when I disabled unlocking of the mac by Apple watch (I realized that even with this feature enabled, I did not see the crash in the mornings/evenings, when I was not wearing the watch...) *knock-on-wood*

 

[yueqianh]

Been using macOS 11.4 for a day and it seems the problem is resolved! What about you guys?

 

[Jason2021]

I can not update to 11.4, because of some system problems. My philips monitor have same issue, anyway, I had to seek for genius bar's help. I only have had my new macbook air for about 2 mouths.