Constant Kernel Panics – userspace watchdog timeout: no successful checkins from com.apple.WindowServer

[star-affinity]

Apple told me it was Kext's...

Their own Kexts I guess? Because it happens on a clean install too. By the way, I got the kernel panic upon wake with 10.15.7 yesterday after a wake from sleep and display not turning on. Did work fine for several sleeps/wakes before that, but obviously it's still there for me too.

 

[IAmArney]

Their own Kexts I guess? Because it happens on a clean install too. By the way, I got the kernel panic upon wake with 10.15.7 yesterday after a wake from sleep and display not turning on. Did work fine for several sleeps/wakes before that, but obviously it's still there for me too.

It was not their own Kexts! I guess that disproves that information. Also, I've been running that software for a month or two without any panics, but that may also be related to me not letting the machine sleep...

 

[parabolic_panda]

Hi everyone!

I’ve been having the same problem with my MBP16 since March, and I have tried everything discussed on this forum.
Something DID do the trick though, because I’ve been running with no kernel panics for almost a month now.
I’m not sure if this is the solution, but here’s my 2 cents anyway.

So I have a 64GB MBP16 with an RX580 Sonnet eGPU box, running one iiyama 5K monitor and two 4K monitors (32” and 16”) in clamshell mode. Unfortunately eGPU is the only way for me, without it the laptop gets insultingly hot and noisy very quickly.

Initially I’ve been running my 4K monitors at scaled resolutions, not @2x! — but fractional (similar to how a fractional resolution is now the default for the built-in screen). I was getting an occasional watchdog kernel panic every now and then, usually when I was away from the keyboard and after a couple of days uptime. I never got one while using the laptop by itself, which I rarely do though. My built-in screen was set to @2x resolution.

Eventually fractional resolutions started to irritate me because of the blurriness, so I switched my settings to @2x for two of the external monitors and @1x for the third. It’s been a month now and there were no kernel panics.

Maybe someone will find this post useful?

 

[mauruiz]

Hi, everyone! New here, found this thread on Google, searching for fixes to my problem.

So, just to add: I have a Mac Pro (Late 2013),3.7 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon E5, AMD FirePro D300 2 GB.

Since I did a clean install of Catalina 10.15.7 10 days ago I have been having ocasional kernel panics (once to twice a day). The computer just freezes out of nowhere, and reboots itself. I had those VERY rarely when using Mojave (maybe once every month or so).

Here is what it says (cut the end out for privacy reasons):

panic(cpu 2 caller 0xffffff7f99981ad5): userspace watchdog timeout: no successful checkins from com.apple.WindowServer in 120 seconds
service: com.apple.logd, total successful checkins since load (27250 seconds ago): 2726, last successful checkin: 0 seconds ago
service: com.apple.WindowServer, total successful checkins since load (27220 seconds ago): 2710, last successful checkin: 120 seconds ago

Backtrace (CPU 2), Frame : Return Address
0xffffff9218493720 : 0xffffff8018b1a65d
0xffffff9218493770 : 0xffffff8018c54a75
0xffffff92184937b0 : 0xffffff8018c465fe
0xffffff9218493800 : 0xffffff8018ac0a40
0xffffff9218493820 : 0xffffff8018b19d27
0xffffff9218493920 : 0xffffff8018b1a117
0xffffff9218493970 : 0xffffff80192c1ad8
0xffffff92184939e0 : 0xffffff7f99981ad5
0xffffff92184939f0 : 0xffffff7f999817fa
0xffffff9218493a10 : 0xffffff801925397e
0xffffff9218493a60 : 0xffffff7f99980cfe
0xffffff9218493b60 : 0xffffff801925cba3
0xffffff9218493ca0 : 0xffffff8018c035e2
0xffffff9218493db0 : 0xffffff8018b203c8
0xffffff9218493e10 : 0xffffff8018af6d15
0xffffff9218493e70 : 0xffffff8018b0db22
0xffffff9218493f00 : 0xffffff8018c2c065
0xffffff9218493fa0 : 0xffffff8018ac1226
      Kernel Extensions in backtrace:
         com.apple.driver.watchdog(1.0)[B6A95892-6C75-3CF5-A6CC-6D83F30FA1D5]@0xffffff7f99980000->0xffffff7f99988fff

BSD process name corresponding to current thread: watchdogd

Mac OS version:
19H2

Kernel version:
Darwin Kernel Version 19.6.0: Mon Aug 31 22:12:52 PDT 2020; root:xnu-6153.141.2~1/RELEASE_X86_64
Kernel UUID: 05D51A3D-3A87-3FF0-98C3-9CF3827A3EDD
Kernel slide:     0x0000000018800000
Kernel text base: 0xffffff8018a00000
__HIB  text base: 0xffffff8018900000
System model name: MacPro6,1 (Mac-F60DEB81FF30ACF6)
System shutdown begun: NO
Panic diags file available: YES (0x0)

System uptime in nanoseconds: 27253488313808
last loaded kext at 11167903901985: @filesystems.smbfs    3.4.4 (addr 0xffffff7f9d493000, size 450560)
last unloaded kext at 189337246789: >!AXsanScheme    3 (addr 0xffffff7f9c48b000, size 40960)

NO IDEA what to do, it's driving me crazy. Thinking about redoing everything and going back to Mojave, in a clean install. It will take me a while, to reinstall everything. Do you any of you think this would solve it?

Thanks

 

[star-affinity]

Hi, everyone! New here, found this thread on Google, searching for fixes to my problem.

So, just to add: I have a Mac Pro (Late 2013),3.7 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon E5, AMD FirePro D300 2 GB.

Since I did a clean install of Catalina 10.15.7 10 days ago I have been having ocasional kernel panics (once to twice a day). The computer just freezes out of nowhere, and reboots itself. I had those VERY rarely when using Mojave (maybe once every month or so).

Here is what it says (cut the end out for privacy reasons):

panic(cpu 2 caller 0xffffff7f99981ad5): userspace watchdog timeout: no successful checkins from com.apple.WindowServer in 120 seconds
service: com.apple.logd, total successful checkins since load (27250 seconds ago): 2726, last successful checkin: 0 seconds ago
service: com.apple.WindowServer, total successful checkins since load (27220 seconds ago): 2710, last successful checkin: 120 seconds ago

Backtrace (CPU 2), Frame : Return Address
0xffffff9218493720 : 0xffffff8018b1a65d
0xffffff9218493770 : 0xffffff8018c54a75
0xffffff92184937b0 : 0xffffff8018c465fe
0xffffff9218493800 : 0xffffff8018ac0a40
0xffffff9218493820 : 0xffffff8018b19d27
0xffffff9218493920 : 0xffffff8018b1a117
0xffffff9218493970 : 0xffffff80192c1ad8
0xffffff92184939e0 : 0xffffff7f99981ad5
0xffffff92184939f0 : 0xffffff7f999817fa
0xffffff9218493a10 : 0xffffff801925397e
0xffffff9218493a60 : 0xffffff7f99980cfe
0xffffff9218493b60 : 0xffffff801925cba3
0xffffff9218493ca0 : 0xffffff8018c035e2
0xffffff9218493db0 : 0xffffff8018b203c8
0xffffff9218493e10 : 0xffffff8018af6d15
0xffffff9218493e70 : 0xffffff8018b0db22
0xffffff9218493f00 : 0xffffff8018c2c065
0xffffff9218493fa0 : 0xffffff8018ac1226
      Kernel Extensions in backtrace:
         com.apple.driver.watchdog(1.0)[B6A95892-6C75-3CF5-A6CC-6D83F30FA1D5]@0xffffff7f99980000->0xffffff7f99988fff

BSD process name corresponding to current thread: watchdogd

Mac OS version:
19H2

Kernel version:
Darwin Kernel Version 19.6.0: Mon Aug 31 22:12:52 PDT 2020; root:xnu-6153.141.2~1/RELEASE_X86_64
Kernel UUID: 05D51A3D-3A87-3FF0-98C3-9CF3827A3EDD
Kernel slide:     0x0000000018800000
Kernel text base: 0xffffff8018a00000
__HIB  text base: 0xffffff8018900000
System model name: MacPro6,1 (Mac-F60DEB81FF30ACF6)
System shutdown begun: NO
Panic diags file available: YES (0x0)

System uptime in nanoseconds: 27253488313808
last loaded kext at 11167903901985: @filesystems.smbfs    3.4.4 (addr 0xffffff7f9d493000, size 450560)
last unloaded kext at 189337246789: >!AXsanScheme    3 (addr 0xffffff7f9c48b000, size 40960)

NO IDEA what to do, it's driving me crazy. Thinking about redoing everything and going back to Mojave, in a clean install. It will take me a while, to reinstall everything. Do you any of you think this would solve it?

Thanks

I don't think there's anything you can do since everything points to the problem being related to Apple's driver(s).

Was the Kernel Panic in Mojave similar?
I didn't use Mojave on the computer where I have this problem now – I went directly to Catalina from High Sierra, so I don't know how Mojave behaves when it comes to this, but it seems it should at least be a lot better in Mojave, like you also have experienced.

 

[mauruiz]

I don't think there's anything you can do since everything points to the problem being related to Apple's driver(s).

Was the Kernel Panic in Mojave similar?
I didn't use Mojave on the computer where I have this problem now – I went directly to Catalina from High Sierra, so I don't know how Mojave behaves when it comes to this, but it seems it should at least be a lot better in Mojave, like you also have experienced.

Hi, star-affinity! Thanks fro the reply.

Yeah, I don't know if the Kernel Panics were similar in Mojave, because at the time it happened so rarely that I didn't took the time to look into them. But the computer behavior was the same.

What I did last night was to install the 10.15.7 combo update (on top of my clean install) to see if that did anything. We'll see. I'll keep you all posted.

 

[Kevin Filteau]

I'm facing the same issue here. Running macOS 10.15.7. Since I have my 4K monitor the computer crash every time it's going to sleep for a while. When I restart, All my display settings are gone (disabled HDR for the 4K monitor, disabled automatic graphic card switching, display arrangement). Not fun!

 

[gregorskii]

Hi everyone!

I’ve been having the same problem with my MBP16 since March, and I have tried everything discussed on this forum.
Something DID do the trick though, because I’ve been running with no kernel panics for almost a month now.
I’m not sure if this is the solution, but here’s my 2 cents anyway.

So I have a 64GB MBP16 with an RX580 Sonnet eGPU box, running one iiyama 5K monitor and two 4K monitors (32” and 16”) in clamshell mode. Unfortunately eGPU is the only way for me, without it the laptop gets insultingly hot and noisy very quickly.

Initially I’ve been running my 4K monitors at scaled resolutions, not @2x! — but fractional (similar to how a fractional resolution is now the default for the built-in screen). I was getting an occasional watchdog kernel panic every now and then, usually when I was away from the keyboard and after a couple of days uptime. I never got one while using the laptop by itself, which I rarely do though. My built-in screen was set to @2x resolution.

Eventually fractional resolutions started to irritate me because of the blurriness, so I switched my settings to @2x for two of the external monitors and @1x for the third. It’s been a month now and there were no kernel panics.

Maybe someone will find this post useful?

I am going to try this. By fractional, do you mean “scaled” resolutions in settings? I just put mine on “default for display” for all 3. Let’s see how that goes.

I have been watching this issue for ~5-6 mo now. No fix has come. Been working through lockdown at a desk with 3 monitors with 1 on. if you chck my prev posts my screen broke right at the beg of lockdown. I got it repaired and the solution was a new screen logic board and touch bar... I think it’s safe to say its a software issue. AFAIK i have no custom Kexts.

 

[stonedauwg]

Have a MBP 2018 and have seen this issue for the past few months. Def seemed to have started with a recent macOS version update. Then have a macMini 2018 that was on Mojave for abt a year. Updated it recently to latest Catalina and now it's also experiencing these kernel panics. So its def macOS itself and not (only) hardware

 

[Kevin Filteau]

Ok, Scaled test don't work. Chatted with Apple support this morning and they tell me it's maybe something like the screen turn off and become unresponsive to a command and this make the computer crash. When I unplug the screen I do not have the issue. Next I'll call support to investigate more.

 

[stonedauwg]

@Kevin Filteau Interesting. I use the MBP in clamshell mode with a monitor and turn off the monitor each night and this still happens. Surely Apple support isn't saying we have to leave a monitor running all the time to prevent this, right?

 

[gregorskii]

Ok, Scaled test don't work. Chatted with Apple support this morning and they tell me it's maybe something like the screen turn off and become unresponsive to a command and this make the computer crash. When I unplug the screen I do not have the issue. Next I'll call support to investigate more.

Interesting. I have been running it like this for a couple days and it has not crashed yet.

I also notice that the window server is using higher CPU with more screens. What did they code into this windowserver?

 

[sebaguapo]

My theory is SMC is sometimes slow or stuck.
Here’s the temporary workaround: Start shutdown procedure normally, it will take about 3 minutes until it crashes and reboots
After it reboots, don’t log in – press the shutdown button (on the bottom of screen) instead.
This time, it will shutdown normally.
Do the SMC reset procedure (sudo nvram -c command )

 

[Fabian90]

Interesting. I have been running it like this for a couple days and it has not crashed yet.

I also notice that the window server is using higher CPU with more screens. What did they code into this windowserver?

That has also been my workaround for the last few months. when i stop working on my Mac, i disconnect the displayport cable. No crashes then.

 

[dolmark]

Hi All,

Jumping here from the Apple forum ... so please forgive me if I say / ask something which I've not spotted in the last 32 pages of posts

Anyway just wanted to say "me too" on my Mac Pro since Catalina and through Big Sur so far.
(iBin Late 2013 AMD FirePro D300 currently with only a single 4K display on DP. Nothing else connected. KB/Pad on BT)

Don't know if it's a change or related yet but having upgraded to Big Sur 11 beta 10 a couple of hours ago. First attempt to use the machine post upgrade. Under 10 minutes between unlocking machine, browsing email, open email link from here in safari, system freeze. Just as I created an account here ... but doubt it's personal

Looked just like the previous long running WindowServer freeze but watchdog did not catch it and reboot system.

 

[star-affinity]

Hi All,

Jumping here from the Apple forum ... so please forgive me if I say / ask something which I've not spotted in the last 32 pages of posts

Anyway just wanted to say "me too" on my Mac Pro since Catalina and through Big Sur so far.
(iBin Late 2013 AMD FirePro D300 currently with only a single 4K display on DP. Nothing else connected. KB/Pad on BT)

Don't know if it's a change or related yet but having upgraded to Big Sur 11 beta 10 a couple of hours ago. First attempt to use the machine post upgrade. Under 10 minutes between unlocking machine, browsing email, open email link from here in safari, system freeze. Just as I created an account here ... but doubt it's personal

Looked just like the previous long running WindowServer freeze but watchdog did not catch it and reboot system.

Sad, but thanks for reporting that it behaves the same in Big Sur beta 10.

Still baffled that it seems some has this problem and some (most?) don't. Everything points to it being a software problem, but why don't everyone see it? For example I don't see it on my MacBook Pro 2018 I have at work and I'm sleeping and waking and using it with external displays all the time with Catalina.

Must be something that's in common for the ones that sees this crash, but what could it be? ?

 

[dolmark]

Sad, but thanks for reporting that it behaves the same in Big Sur beta 10.

Well same but different so far. No watchdog reboot, just the familiar UI hang.

Must be something that's in common for the ones that sees this crash, but what could it be? ?

I have been watching this on the Apple forum for nearly the last year and I cannot see a pattern.

It feels like hardware (GFX Card hang?) but I've seen hack-a-macs reporting the same issue.

Can't be user triggered as I've had it happen at boot, post crash, whilst the crash reporter is trying to generate files.

 

[stonedauwg]

That has also been my workaround for the last few months. when i stop working on my Mac, i disconnect the displayport cable. No crashes then.

Same here. If I remove cable, then turn off monitor, so far no crashes. If I leave cable plugged in and just power off monitor it crashes

 

[dolmark]

Looks like system hang without watchdog catching it is the new normal for me at least (Big Sur V11) :-(

Since I posted 45 mins ago I've had a lockup at 35 mins and then again at under 5 mins after power removal reboot.

Only working on Email / Safari so far.

(edit) And again at 15 mins.

 

[johnalan]

?

 

[Canaan_c]

I have the same issue with me new 27" iMac 2020 that just used for 3 days...
I am wondering if it related to me connecting my external hard drive (WD 8TB Mybook) Because, it happened when I am doing BT download to my eHD. And it happens more frequent now.

 

[Canaan_c]

Quick update -- my iMac Pro (w/ eGPU & 3 monitors) & Mac Pro Trashcan have been running without any issues since updating to 10.5.7 (just minutes after its release). It might be too early to celebrate, but call me an optimist and break out the scotch.

My iMac running 10.5.7 still have the same problem, its new arrived 3 days ago.

 

[Canaan_c]

I have the same issue with me new 27" iMac 2020 that just used for 3 days...
I am wondering if it related to me connecting my external hard drive (WD 8TB Mybook) Because, it happened when I am doing BT download to my eHD. And it happens more frequent now.

PS: I installed bootcamp with win10.

 

[tommiy]

@Canaan_c get apple to fix it while its clearly under warranty. Stand your ground a new device should not be KP just because it had an external device connected.

 

[kriebe]

Just posted this over on the Apple forums, but thought it wouldn't hurt to put it here too:

I have a MacPro (Late 2013). In the last month Apple completely replaced both GPUs, the Logic Board, the CPU Riser with the CPU and the central heatsink. So yeah, practically not even the same computer. I'm on 10.15.7 now and this problem that everyone has been having is absolutely persistent. Sometimes I'll go a full day without a crash, sometimes I'll go 5 minutes and that's it. Last night I just couldn't take it anymore, so I did a complete wipe and clean install of Catalina. 20 minutes after I still hadn't installed a single application. I opened up Safari and started downloading 2 application to install (still not installed), and then it happened again.

I am, however, using dual monitors. It's next to impossible for me to use just 1 now.

I've tried all of the basic resets, etc. and nothing. It's definitely not a third party software problem. Not sure why VM became such a huge topic in here, but maybe that just exacerbates the issue for some people.

I'm currently trying to use my computer with just one monitor plugged in and it seems to be working for about 2 hours now. We'll see. But, as I said, 1 monitor just won't cut it for me on a regular basis. Here's hoping Big Sur comes out soon and fixes things. (though doesn't look hopeful after dolmark's comments)