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

I have had the "watchdog" kernel panic issue when connected to an external LG Ultrawide. Whenever my MacBook Pro (15" 2018) would go into sleep when the LG Ultrawide was connected (Thunderbolt 3 -> Thunderbolt 2) the Mac would reboot and show the watchdog error.

The issue started with Catalina and remained for all Big Sur betas until RC1.
The issue is now fixed for me since RC1, and hasn't occured in RC2 either.

--

I've also had customers with similar issues.
1 customer fixed it by replacing a video adapter (USB-C to Displayport)
Another customer fixed it by replacing an external HDD (Western Digital) that produced the issue.

It is worth noting that kernel panics (with or without the watchdog error) mentioned in this thread don't necessarily have the same problem source. For some it might be a peripheral issue, for some it might be a hardware issue, for some it might just be software (or a combination of software and peripheral). If you have the issue, do extensive troubleshooting via updates and temporarily removing peripherals. Don't blindly assume a hardware defect on your device.
 
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KevinGrabher said:
If you have the issue, do extensive troubleshooting via updates and temporarily removing peripherals. Don't blindly assume a hardware defect on your device.
Click to expand...
In my case I have freeze and watchdog kp related only when I attach an eGPU.
Unfortunately also an asus rog Vega 56 doesn’t solve. Tomorrow another model to test but I’m no more confident on resolving.
Hope that the new arm mini doesn’t need an eGPU for 4k under fcpx.
 
CC88 said:
In my case I have freeze and watchdog kp related only when I attach an eGPU.
Unfortunately also an asus rog Vega 56 doesn’t solve. Tomorrow another model to test but I’m no more confident on resolving.
Hope that the new arm mini doesn’t need an eGPU for 4k under fcpx.
Click to expand...

Do you have another monitor around to test? I see in your signature that you have an LG monitor and I'm starting to wonder if those are problematic. Either way, make sure to check out Big Sur when it's out and let us know if the issue remains (maybe it's the same issue that was fixed with RC1 for me)

Sidenote: the Apple Silicon Mac Mini (or any Mac with an M1 for that matter) does not support eGPUs (yet..?)
 
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KevinGrabher said:
The issue started with Catalina and remained for all Big Sur betas until RC1.
The issue is now fixed for me since RC1, and hasn't occured in RC2 either.
Click to expand...
Sure gives me some hope… :)

For me it happens (in Catalina) upon wake after computer has been sleeping, but definitely not every time. Sometimes it can go 10-15 sleeps and wakes since a restart before it gets triggered. Sometimes it happens after one sleep and wake since starting the computer. 🤷‍♂️
 
KevinGrabher said:
Do you have another monitor around to test? I see in your signature that you have an LG monitor and I'm starting to wonder if those are problematic.
Click to expand...

it's the latest thing to try. I have only a 4K TV. Will try with it. But sure without the eGPU all is working fine and no kp or freeze at all.
 
@star-affinity @KevinGrabher Finally I have managed my kp problem (finger crossed)

Yesterday a MSI Radeon RX Vega 56 Air Boost 8G arrived from Amazon. Now my mm is working blazing fast. No more kp after wake up or start playing a Youtube video. No more FCPX freeze or similar.

In the activity monitor now the eGPU is always involved, and it works very fine.

Will tell you but I'm confident I have resolved the issue, because at this time no more kp (I had a kp every wake up and I was able to reproduce it every time before).
 
Last edited:
CC88 said:
@star-affinity @KevinGrabher Finally I have managed my kp problem (finger crossed)

Yesterday a MSI Radeon RX Vega 56 Air Boost 8G arrived from Amazon. Now my mm is working blazing fast. No more kp after wake up or start playing a Youtube video. No more FCPX freeze or similar.

In the activity monitor now the eGPU is always involved, and it works very fine.

Will tell you but I'm confident I have resolved the issue, because at this time no more kp (I had a kp every wake up and I was able to reproduce it every time before).
Click to expand...
Aha, you got a KP every time. Sounds like hardware for sure. Good you managed to solve it. :)
 
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star-affinity said:
Aha, you got a KP every time. Sounds like hardware for sure. Good you managed to solve it. :)
Click to expand...

After changing two RX580 (nitro+ and pulse) and one Vega 56 (Asus ROG) maybe I solved the issue with the MSI Vega 56 Airboost 8G. Hope I can enjoy my mm now.
 
Had my first panic recur on newly upgraded Big Sur (BS: aptly named by apple)

Code: 
panic(cpu 2 caller 0xffffff800bb539ec): watchdog timeout: no checkins from watchdogd in 309 seconds (292 totalcheckins since monitoring last enabled), shutdown in progress
 
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Yes I am getting this daily with Big Sur again. I bet you they just did not cherry pick their commit to the Big Sur branch when they worked on the fix for Catalina :)
 
I also figured I'd give it a whirl and install Big Sur to see if this fixed it. HAHAHAHAHA

30 minutes after install I already got a kernel panic.
 
kriebe said:
I also figured I'd give it a whirl and install Big Sur to see if this fixed it. HAHAHAHAHA

30 minutes after install I already got a kernel panic.
Click to expand...
While using it or when waking from sleep or restarting?
Are you getting the same mention about watchdog timeout in the log?

Strange, it's been stable for me so far.
 
it was fun while it lasted...

"panic(cpu 2 caller 0xffffff8017f53a13): userspace watchdog timeout: no successful checkins from com.apple.WindowServer in 120 seconds"
 
Same here.... Two days ago, all day OK, and finally a few in a row in the evening. Yesterday by 15 hours of uptime I haven't any crash. And today we're starting the roller coaster again. What an unstable system. It's impossible to work calmly on this system.

Code: 
panic(cpu 6 caller 0xffffff8021753a13): userspace watchdog timeout: no successful checkins from com.apple.WindowServer in 120 seconds
service: com.apple.logd, total successful checkins since load (4400 seconds ago): 441, last successful checkin: 0 seconds ago
service: com.apple.WindowServer, total successful checkins since load (4370 seconds ago): 425, last successful checkin: 120 seconds ago

Backtrace (CPU 6), Frame : Return Address
0xffffffc11c973670 : 0xffffff801e4bc66d
0xffffffc11c9736c0 : 0xffffff801e5ff073
0xffffffc11c973700 : 0xffffff801e5ef6aa
0xffffffc11c973750 : 0xffffff801e461a2f
0xffffffc11c973770 : 0xffffff801e4bbf0d
0xffffffc11c973890 : 0xffffff801e4bc1f8
0xffffffc11c973900 : 0xffffff801ecbee84
0xffffffc11c973970 : 0xffffff8021753a13
0xffffffc11c973980 : 0xffffff80217536ba
0xffffffc11c9739a0 : 0xffffff801ec460ee
0xffffffc11c9739f0 : 0xffffff8021752b0a
0xffffffc11c973b20 : 0xffffff801ec502bb
0xffffffc11c973c80 : 0xffffff801e5aaa61
0xffffffc11c973d90 : 0xffffff801e4c1d77
0xffffffc11c973e00 : 0xffffff801e4985d5
0xffffffc11c973e60 : 0xffffff801e4afb82
0xffffffc11c973ef0 : 0xffffff801e5d3823
0xffffffc11c973fa0 : 0xffffff801e462216
      Kernel Extensions in backtrace:
         com.apple.driver.watchdog(1.0)[7948A279-A8B8-3650-AFBF-B1E3EB68942A]@0xffffff8021752000->0xffffff8021753fff

Process name corresponding to current thread: watchdogd
Boot args: chunklist-security-epoch=0 -chunklist-no-rev2-dev

Mac OS version:
20B29

Kernel version:
Darwin Kernel Version 20.1.0: Sat Oct 31 00:07:11 PDT 2020; root:xnu-7195.50.7~2/RELEASE_X86_64
Kernel UUID: 84C6DC45-6B02-335F-9439-5D2A9BC385A4
KernelCache slide: 0x000000001e200000
KernelCache base:  0xffffff801e400000
Kernel slide:      0x000000001e210000
Kernel text base:  0xffffff801e410000
__HIB  text base: 0xffffff801e300000
System model name: MacPro7,1 (Mac-#####################)
System shutdown begun: NO
Panic diags file available: YES (0x0)
Hibernation exit count: 0

System uptime in nanoseconds: 4421816789896
Last Sleep:           absolute           base_tsc          base_nano
  Uptime  : 0x0000040588d1adf4
  Sleep   : 0x0000000000000000 0x0000000000000000 0x0000000000000000
  Wake    : 0x0000000000000000 0x00000016c7f9c7d0 0x0000000000000000
 
I've been suffered from the KP issue since 7 months ago.
I bought a second-hand Mac Pro 2013, replaced the ssd with an Intel one(1T), which is modified with an adapter.
Recently, I was trying to resolve this issue by replacing the third-party ssd with an Apple SSD, second-hand as well.
It seems to be working well then. More than one week has past, my Mac is stable for now.
It is worth mentioning that I am currently running MacOS 11.0.1. This may be one of the factors. I will update again if the problem recurs.
 

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I can see that my Kernel Panics are related to my T2 Chip. Anyone have seen this before?!

Previous Shutdown Causes Explained - George Garside

Updated for macOS 11 Big Sur, decode your Mac's previous shutdown cause code number for macOS, explaining what the number means and how to fix the issue.
georgegarside.com georgegarside.com


log show --predicate 'eventMessage contains "Previous shutdown cause"' --last 24h


Filtering the log data using "composedMessage CONTAINS "Previous shutdown cause""


Skipping info and debug messages, pass --info and/or --debug to include.


Timestamp Thread Type Activity PID TTL


2020-11-19 11:45:31.541314+0100 0xd0 Default 0x0 0 0 kernel: (AppleSMC) Previous shutdown cause: -20
 
Nosferatu2212 said:
I can see that my Kernel Panics are related to my T2 Chip. Anyone have seen this before?!

Previous Shutdown Causes Explained - George Garside

Updated for macOS 11 Big Sur, decode your Mac's previous shutdown cause code number for macOS, explaining what the number means and how to fix the issue.
georgegarside.com georgegarside.com


log show --predicate 'eventMessage contains "Previous shutdown cause"' --last 24h


Filtering the log data using "composedMessage CONTAINS "Previous shutdown cause""


Skipping info and debug messages, pass --info and/or --debug to include.


Timestamp Thread Type Activity PID TTL


2020-11-19 11:45:31.541314+0100 0xd0 Default 0x0 0 0 kernel: (AppleSMC) Previous shutdown cause: -20
Click to expand...
Maybe try an SMC reset then, if you haven't already done so?

Reset the SMC of your Mac - Apple Support

The SMC is responsible for managing power on your Mac. Resetting it can resolve certain uncommon issues related to power or thermal management.
support.apple.com support.apple.com

For me it seems Big Sur fixes my wake from sleep issues – well, I'm almost ready to say that. Maybe I've just been lucky so far, but it's looking good I think. I don't have a T2 chip in the Mac where I've been having trouble before.
 
I am also seeing -20 as crash shutdown reason

Code: 
2020-11-19 22:12:06.240157+0530 0xd0       Default     0x0                  0      0    kernel: (AppleSMC) Previous shutdown cause: -20
 
I can also confirm that I am also getting -20 as the shutdown reason.

This problem had gone away for me in 10.15.6+

Back with a vengeance in Big Sur (including the 11.1 beta).

I can resolve this issue by unplugging one of my two external monitors. (iMac Pro)
 
Been having kernel panic crashing for a while now on my 2019 iMac but it seems to have gotten worse and sometimes happens multiple times a day. I updated to Big Sur yesterday hoping it would fix it but it happened again just 10 minutes after. I've attached my crash log and report to see if anyone can help with it being something specific. I don't use an external GPU but I do have 2 external displays connected over USB-C to HDMI.
 

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