M2 Mac mini restarts from a problem, possible kernel panic

[andyx181x]

Hey guys. About a month ago I finally upgraded from my old 2010 27” iMac intel to a Mac mini M2 and did a Time Machine restore to the newer Mac.

Since then whenever I wake my computer up from sleep the computer restarts from a problem detected.

I did my homework and got clean my Mac application and deleted everything that could run on the intel operating system applications, start up, widgets, extensions you name it.

Did the disc utility, disc doctor, verified the hard drive as well.

Still having this problem and it seems my only last resort is to do a software restore. My only fear is with my latest Time Machine backup is it going to “restore” the problem back into the computer?

 

[Bigwaff]

Boot into safe mode and see if the sleep/crash problem still occurs.

Start up your Mac in safe mode

Starting up your Mac in safe mode may help you diagnose problems with your Mac.

support.apple.com

 

[djc6]

If you do start over, maybe when using Migration Assistant don't migrate your Applications and your "System & Network" - instead just restoring your home directory and other files/folders:

Restore your Mac from a backup - Apple Support

Restore files from your backup.

support.apple.com

You can pick and choose some of what gets restored.

 

[djc6]

Can you post the contents of the crash message?

If you go to Applications -> Utilities -> Console -> Crash Reports you should find it and be able to copy/paste the output into here. It could give some useful clues as to what application is causing problems.

In the "Process" column look for most recent "Kernel Panic" - thats the one we're interested in.

 

[Fishrrman]

What do you have connected to the new Mini?

 

[andyx181x]

Can you post the contents of the crash message?

If you go to Applications -> Utilities -> Console -> Crash Reports you should find it and be able to copy/paste the output into here. It could give some useful clues as to what application is causing problems.

In the "Process" column look for most recent "Kernel Panic" - thats the one we're interested in.

Hi there, sorry for the late reply. So when I go into Console there is no crash reports to be found, it doesn't make any sense.

Instead I copy and pasted the report it makes when I wake the computer up and put it into a PDF. I am not sure if the crash report has a similar format, please let me know.

 

[andyx181x]

What do you have connected to the new Mini?

External monitor and external speakers that's it.

 

[andyx181x]

Boot into safe mode and see if the sleep/crash problem still occurs.

Start up your Mac in safe mode

Starting up your Mac in safe mode may help you diagnose problems with your Mac.

support.apple.com

I can't get the mac mini to boot in safe mode. I pressed and held the power button and it never loads the screen to choose the volume.

I tried it again pressing the power button a second time and it just forced shutdown.

 

[Bigwaff]

The kernel panic appears to be originating from the SEPManager process (Secure Enclave Processor). Are you using an Apple Magic keyboard w/ Touch ID?

 

[andyx181x]

The kernel panic appears to be originating from the SEPManager process (Secure Enclave Processor). Are you using an Apple Magic keyboard w/ Touch ID?

Hi there, no I am using an older iMac keyboard. It’s the original one I had for my intel iMac.

 

[djc6]

Any suspect apps installed? Or did you install anything right before this happened? Posts online I can find for this crash in the Apple Support Comunity and this forum point to software issue:

Kernel Panic Since install

Any ideas? I can't figure out what happened? I did install a new app from the App Store Gemini 2 for house cleaning. panic(cpu 0 caller 0xfffffff018881c70): SEP Panic: :SEPD/intr: 0x0000f732 0x000255ab 0x0000be79 0x00007b05 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000000 [vnji] Panic app...

forums.macrumors.com

Can you go into Applications -> Utilities -> System Information

Once you open the app, on the left side under Software will be "Extensions". CLick on that and sort them by "Last Modified" - usually all the extensions that come with macOS will all show same date/time for when you last did an OS upgrade/update.

Any extensions that aren't bundled with macOS may have a different last modified date. What do you see? Any suspect third party kernel extensions?

 

[andyx181x]

Any suspect apps installed? Or did you install anything right before this happened? Posts online I can find for this crash in the Apple Support Comunity and this forum point to software issue:

Kernel Panic Since install

Any ideas? I can't figure out what happened? I did install a new app from the App Store Gemini 2 for house cleaning. panic(cpu 0 caller 0xfffffff018881c70): SEP Panic: :SEPD/intr: 0x0000f732 0x000255ab 0x0000be79 0x00007b05 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000000 [vnji] Panic app...

forums.macrumors.com

Can you go into Applications -> Utilities -> System Information

Once you open the app, on the left side under Software will be "Extensions". CLick on that and sort them by "Last Modified" - usually all the extensions that come with macOS will all show same date/time for when you last did an OS upgrade/update.

Any extensions that aren't bundled with macOS may have a different last modified date. What do you see? Any suspect third party kernel extensions?

Hi, so on my old Intel iMac I did not install any new software's before doing the time machine restore onto the new mac mini. Everything had been left behind for years so it was just a transition from one computer to another.

I went ahead and looked up the extensions and the screenshot I provided is only half of a large list of the same date being 12/15/2023. Which is I believe around the time I got the new iMac mini and started to use it.

The second chunk of extensions with a different date are on 01/01/2024, so there are only two main dates in here.

 

[andyx181x]

The kernel panic appears to be originating from the SEPManager process (Secure Enclave Processor). Are you using an Apple Magic keyboard w/ Touch ID?

Hi there, just following up. Is my older keyboard possibly causing this?

 

[Fishrrman]

Try substituting another keyboard.
Older, newer, doesn't matter.
Just a DIFFERENT one.

 

[andyx181x]

Try substituting another keyboard.
Older, newer, doesn't matter.
Just a DIFFERENT one.

Hi there sorry for the long delay. Was waiting to get paid and bought a wireless keyboard for the mac.

Its been about a day so far and I am still getting these restart errors.

At one point two weeks ago when I logged in the mac did a HARD restart and it gave me a warning that some extensions forced it to boot up in safe mode to log in.

I used my "clean my mac" app and forcefully deleted these older extensions and for a while it was fine.

Waking up the computer didn't cause any restarts, however it went back to the problem when I had left the computer asleep for about a two days and it went back to the same problem.

At this point should I do a software restore?

 

[andyx181x]

Any suspect apps installed? Or did you install anything right before this happened? Posts online I can find for this crash in the Apple Support Comunity and this forum point to software issue:

Kernel Panic Since install

Any ideas? I can't figure out what happened? I did install a new app from the App Store Gemini 2 for house cleaning. panic(cpu 0 caller 0xfffffff018881c70): SEP Panic: :SEPD/intr: 0x0000f732 0x000255ab 0x0000be79 0x00007b05 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000000 [vnji] Panic app...

forums.macrumors.com

Can you go into Applications -> Utilities -> System Information

Once you open the app, on the left side under Software will be "Extensions". CLick on that and sort them by "Last Modified" - usually all the extensions that come with macOS will all show same date/time for when you last did an OS upgrade/update.

Any extensions that aren't bundled with macOS may have a different last modified date. What do you see? Any suspect third party kernel extensions?

I gave an update to another helpful person this thread, by any chance did you see the attachment I left?

 

[chrfr]

Hi there sorry for the long delay. Was waiting to get paid and bought a wireless keyboard for the mac.

Its been about a day so far and I am still getting these restart errors.

At one point two weeks ago when I logged in the mac did a HARD restart and it gave me a warning that some extensions forced it to boot up in safe mode to log in.

I used my "clean my mac" app and forcefully deleted these older extensions and for a while it was fine.

Waking up the computer didn't cause any restarts, however it went back to the problem when I had left the computer asleep for about a two days and it went back to the same problem.

At this point should I do a software restore?

If you have another Mac around and can do a firmware revive with Apple Configurator I'd try that first. This will reload the firmware for the computer, and thus the SEP and leave the OS installation as-is. This process is generally not data-destructive but you should make sure you have good backups first. Then if that doesn't change anything I'd do a DFU restore which will fully reinstall the OS, firmware, etc. The restore is data-destructive so definitely make sure you have a backup first.

 

[andyx181x]

If you have another Mac around and can do a firmware revive with Apple Configurator I'd try that first. This will reload the firmware for the computer, and thus the SEP and leave the OS installation as-is. This process is generally not data-destructive but you should make sure you have good backups first. Then if that doesn't change anything I'd do a DFU restore which will fully reinstall the OS, firmware, etc. The restore is data-destructive so definitely make sure you have a backup first.

Hi there, I packed up my older intel mac but would that older version be able to do the firmware revive?

Is that something I can trigger through the computer itself?

I got my time machine backup of the computer so no problem there in doing a restore of any kind.

 

[chrfr]

Hi there, I packed up my older intel mac but would that older version be able to do the firmware revive?

Is that something I can trigger through the computer itself?

You need another computer to do any sort of firmware revive or restore. The current version of Apple Configurator requires macOS Sonoma so if your Intel Mac is capable of running Sonoma you can use that. Otherwise it's probably worth taking the computer to an Apple Store, with some of the panic logs, and have them do their diagnostics.

 

[djc6]

I would consider going back to original suggestions in this thread - booting in to safe mode would be an excellent diagnostic step. Doing a migration of your old mac mini, but have it not migrate applications and/or settings.

These firmware restores sound drastic and unnecessary without knowing for sure what the issue is.