IONVfamily.kext kernel panic.

[Icarus.]

Hello!
I've been having some bad kernel panics lately and reading from the crash report something called IONVfamily.kext was involved.(Panic report down below)

I found the ionv familykext in my System/Library/Extensions and i was wondering whether or not its a good idea to delete it, as a common person I would think that deleting it would solve the problem, but then again is there a bigger picture to this extension than I thought?.Etrecheck didnt show much though i'll give a full report if any of you need it.
System Version : Mojave 10.14.4
MacBook Air (11-inch, Early 2015)


Thanks.

 

[treekram]

Try booting into same mode. The system caches may need to be rebuilt.
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201262

If that doesn't help - have you replaced the SSD or did you buy the MBA used? Or do you have a Thunderbolt device attached? I don't think the 2015 MBA typically uses this kernel extension.

You don't need to delete the kext, you can use unload the kernel extension.
https://www.maketecheasier.com/add-remove-kexts-from-macos/

But you should only do that if you are the original owner and haven't had the SSD replaced and you don't have a Thunderbolt device.
UPDATE: Before unloading the kext, you should check the System Report app - under Hardware, select NVMExpress and make sure you don't have any devices that show up there.

 

[Icarus.]

Try booting into same mode. The system caches may need to be rebuilt.
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201262

If that doesn't help - have you replaced the SSD or did you buy the MBA used? Or do you have a Thunderbolt device attached? I don't think the 2015 MBA typically uses this kernel extension.

You don't need to delete the kext, you can use unload the kernel extension.
https://www.maketecheasier.com/add-remove-kexts-from-macos/

But you should only do that if you are the original owner and haven't had the SSD replaced and you don't have a Thunderbolt device.
UPDATE: Before unloading the kext, you should check the System Report app - under Hardware, select NVMExpress and make sure you don't have any devices that show up there.

Under my NVMExpress it just shows my Apple SSD and im not sure whether my ssd got replaced or not as i had liquid damage on my mac prior to this and im not sure whether or not they replaced or upgraded my ssd then.Ill try unloading the kext for now.

 

[treekram]

If you've tried unloading the kext, your MBA may not boot anymore. If it doesn't, I specifically said make sure you don't have any devices under NVMExpress before trying to unload the kernel extension.

If the system does boot, then your SSD can probably work as a NVMe and AHCI device.

 

[Icarus.]

If you've tried unloading the kext, your MBA may not boot anymore. If it doesn't, I specifically said make sure you don't have any devices under NVMExpress before trying to unload the kernel extension.

If the system does boot, then your SSD can probably work as a NVMe and AHCI device.

I didnt unload it yet, i put the mac into safe mode, nothing happened but when i restarted it started panicking again

 

[treekram]

If you went into safe mode and then restarted but not in safe mode and it panics, then the system caches were not the problem.

You should try safe mode again and see if you experience a panic in safe mode. If your MBA runs in safe mode for a period longer than it would in regular mode without a panic, then you likely have 3rd-party software which is causing the problem. If you have a kernel panic in safe mode, then it's likely the SSD that is the problem. But if the SSD is the problem, I would try to get assistance from Apple.

 

[Icarus.]

If you went into safe mode and then restarted but not in safe mode and it panics, then the system caches were not the problem.

You should try safe mode again and see if you experience a panic in safe mode. If your MBA runs in safe mode for a period longer than it would in regular mode without a panic, then you likely have 3rd-party software which is causing the problem. If you have a kernel panic in safe mode, then it's likely the SSD that is the problem. But if the SSD is the problem, I would try to get assistance from Apple.

Thanks for the help sofar treekram!
just wondering whether or not reinstalling osx would solve the issue too as i was about to go buy a harddrive to backup my mac onto.

 

[treekram]

Thanks for the help sofar treekram!
just wondering whether or not reinstalling osx would solve the issue too as i was about to go buy a harddrive to backup my mac onto.

It's possible that the kernel extension got corrupted somehow. If you install over the current OS (without erasing the drive), it should fix it if the kernel extension or other OS file got corrupted. But if you already have installed the High Sierra Security Updates that have come after 10.13.6, I'm not sure how it handles that - if it allows you to install 10.13.6 over it or if you have to re-apply the Security Update or what. But an OS install does exercise the SSD quite a bit and I wouldn't try that unless you have a backup.

Have you been able to try using safe mode for a longer period of time?

When the 2015 MBA first came out, it would very likely had an AHCI SSD (AHCI being a protocol). When Apple replaced your SSD, they replaced it with a NVMe SSD. There's no big disadvantage either way - both likely would have been Samsung drives sold to Apple as OEM hardware with very little difference between them. The NVMe variant is unusual and after writing my first reply (post #2), I saw a reference to Apple NVMe SSD's that were put in some later MBP's. Some people are saying that the NVMe drive can be used as an AHCI SSD which then would not require the NVMe kernel extension. However if there's something else wrong with the SSD, then it probably would matter whether it's running as NVMe or AHCI. Again - this type of Apple SSD is unusual. And so that's why I gave my advice to so see Apple.

You have choices in how you do your backup. You can certainly use Time Machine and it has the advantage of already being on the computer. A lot of people, including myself (I've just recently started using it) using "Carbon Copy Cloner" (CCC). You can download a free trial copy from
https://bombich.com/

If your SSD is having problems, it's best to do the backup as quickly as possible. But the advantage of making a backup with CCC is that you have a bootable OS disk. With the bootable OS disk, it would be possible to boot from the HDD, unload the kernel extension (which is at /System/Library/Extensions/IONVMeFamily.kext), reboot again from the HDD and see if the internal SSD is recognized. If it is, then it's likely that the SSD can run as an AHCI drive. Again, if the problem is the SSD, I don't know that running in one mode vs. the other would make a lot of difference.

UPDATE: Whatever backup method you use, make sure the HDD is formatted to Mac OS Extended (Journaled) with the GUID Partition Map (the last example in the following link) before doing the backup.
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208496

 

[Icarus.]

EDIT
The KP's still go on even after reinstalling osx and erasing hard drive etc, i even got the prohibitory symbol once and flashing folder with a question mark on it

 

[treekram]

Did you try unloading the kext and rebooting? It would be:
sudo kextunload /System/Library/Extensions/IONVMeFamily.kext

The MBA may not boot after that but if that happens you can re-install the OS with a USB installer.

If your problems started happening only after you upgraded to Mojave 10.14.4, there may be something there that is the cause of your problems. In that case, it would be best to contact Apple. It would be best to go to the Genius Bar but if you can't get to a store, you can call Apple. In either case, you should give the screenshot from your original post to whoever you talk to tell them that your SSD was replaced by Apple.