This is my first post to MacRumors, and I wanted to see if I could pick some brains here to see if anyone else either had this issue or knows what is causing this issue.
A word on me and this post: I tend to write a lot; I don't want to leave out details when I am attempting to dissect and/or figure out a problem. I want to make sure that I give you as much information as I can so that way we can try to find some answers as to what's going on.
The Specs:
This iMac was purchased on June 23, 2014 via a reseller through Amazon as a replacement unit for a 2009 24" iMac that I had since 2010.
For a while, this iMac did exactly what I needed to do for my videography, photography and graphic design work, on top attending university for film and video production, this iMac was getting me through everything. The only issue I ran into was in January of 2015, where in the hinge snapped. This was a known issue for this model of iMac, and was covered and fixed by Apple. I had AppleCare for this unit until February of 2017.
In November 2017, I upgraded my desk setup and incorporated a Windows Machine onto my hardware so that I can do my best to stay up to date on the two operating systems. This is also a way for me to never be excluded from projects because a group or organization is "MacOS" or "Windows" exclusive; it is something that I personally aspired to be, a hybrid user of these operating systems.
I’ve went ahead and sectioned off the story into different parts. I did my best to keep things on topic for isolating the target issues. Sometimes, I go into a little more detail just to help people better understand what I am talking about, in which case, I went ahead and supplied a “Too Long; Didn’t Read” section. It's not as detailed, but can get some people up to speed on the situation, I know that reading all of this is very time consuming.
In any case, let’s get started:
The Solid State Debacle
When I obtained another computer with a Solid State Drive (SSD), it opened my eyes at the quick speeds that a computer can have with a SSD versus a Hard Disk Drive (HDD). Naturally, if this machine was this fast with an SSD, I wanted to know if my iMac was capable of getting this upgrade. I did some digging and found out, it was able to be upgraded.
The story of getting the SSD installed is a really, REALLY long and convoluted story. I already had it typed out for documentation purposes, so I'm going to do my best to summarize everything and highlight on the points that were needed for understanding this case:
I contacted a Simply Mac store located nearby and got the information that they can do SSD replacement services. I asked if they offered SSDs in store, and the representative told me that they carry Other World Computing (OWC) SSDs. I looked up OWC and found out that they were having a sale online and it would be cheaper to order the SSD separate.
I brought in the SSD and they said they would supply the 2.5”-3.5” Adaptadrive Bracket and a Thermal Sensor, informing me that it would take 3-5 days. I do a lot of commission work for people in video, photo and graphic design, and I knew that I could be without my computer for 3-5 days, I didn't have any deadlines for a week and knew that I could work on things while I didn't have my computer with me.
Turns out, the time frame was falsified, and every time I called, they told me it would be an additional 3-5 days from when I called. It was only after 9 days that I was informed that the reason for the delay was because the store had 12 computers to work on before I started my order, and are now only telling me about this. I lost money on commissions from missing deadlines and was getting very upset.
It was only when I went in on the 10th day at noon and said that I wanted my computer, I was then told I couldn't get it because it was "opened up in the backroom" and it would be another 3-5 days until I could come back to get it. It felt as if my computer was being held hostage, and I said enough is enough. I told them I would come back at the end of the day to get my computer, regardless of whether or not the SSD was installed, I had already lost money from this debacle, I just wanted my computer back.
Miraculously, when I return to the store later that evening, I returned to find out that they had finished installing my SSD. When word got to the manager of that store that I had lost money due to this poorly-executed operation, I was then told that the services were free of charge, the only thing that they were going to charge me for was the AdaptiveDrive bracket that was installed, so that they could “have an invoice number” for the record. I double checked the invoice, and asked the repair person if they had installed the Adaptadrive and the Temperature Sensor into the unit. They told me, “Yes, all of the pieces of this order have been installed.” I collected my computer and departed the store.
The likelihood of me ever going back to the store was next to none, and to no one's surprise, this store ended up getting shut down in January of this year. Shocker.
Now, apart from a few graphical glitches once or twice at the very beginning, as well as some ghosting on screen, everything seemed perfectly fine with this unit after the install of the SSD. Applications opened immediately upon clicking them, the programs themselves were running buttery smooth, it was everything I was hoping for. Everything seems to be going good.
Apparently, I had let my hopes rise too high...
The Temperature Story
June 9th at 2:30AM. I was working on a graphic design commission project that I had recently got. I went to use the bathroom and returned to my desk. I discovered that my computer had shut down. Not too much of an oddity, I could just read the crash report and figure out what happened. I logged back in and was only able to use my computer for about a minute before it shut down on me again. From 2:35AM to about 7:00AM, my computer is stuck in a boot cycle that won’t allow me to access my computer at all. My computer would turn on, the chime would sound, the Apple logo would appear for a moment, then the computer would shut off. It did this nonstop for hours.
I reset the PRAM, which allowed me to boot into recovery mode, but the computer wouldn’t stay on long enough to do anything in recovery mode, instead crashing after about a minute. I reset the SMC. Same result; the iMac could boot, but wouldn’t last very long. It was only at this point in time that I was actually able to get into the Console and see if I couldn't find any crash reports, unfortunately, even though in that my computer had crashed a total of 17 times in a row, only two reports were documented and were listed as *Panic Reports*. Before I even could take the time to read anything that was going on, the computer would crash again.
After about 4 hours of battling this, I had managed to rule out power cable issues, power surges, peripheral interferences. I could only deduce that this was known as a Kernel_Task Panic, but because my iMac was so crash prone, I couldn’t get at any console report in order to save any information about these crashes, so I only have other users accounts to base my situation’s similarities to other users.
Here is a video of some of the instances of the computer making loud noises and shutting itself off, sometimes even letting me into this system before immediately shutting down.
Something worth noting is that normally, if an MacOS based computer crashes and goes through an unexpected restart, a screen will show with the phrase: "Your computer restarted because of a problem. Press a key or wait a few seconds to continue starting up." For every single crash that my iMac had, none of these ever showed up. The iMac was acting as if it was being reset manually, and wasn't being presented as an actual problem. When the iMac would eventually let me back into the operating system for a little bit, there was no window that showed up saying “Your computer was restarted because of a problem.” It was as if the computer wasn’t registering anything as wrong or an issue.
Additionally, here's the only Kernel_Panic reports I was able to save throughout this whole thing. Didn't get the chance to read it at all, I was able to save it to a text file just before the iMac had crashed again.Perhaps someone can read this and perhaps can find something among all this information:
Now, because the Simply Mac store that I went to had closed, I only had one other option, go to another Simply Mac store that was a little farther away. Now most people would probably ask me “Why wouldn't I just go to the Apple Store?” Well, two reasons. First, this computer was far out of any warranty that I already had, being well over a year since the original AppleCare warranty expired. Second, most people tend to realize this through experiences of their own, but if you do any work through a 3rd party Apple repair shop, and if something goes wrong at that shop, and you take your device or unit to Apple, Apple will tell you to go to that third-party store to see if they can't diagnose the problem first. Realistically, I really have no other choice, as taking the computer to Apple would end up costing a pretty penny in the long run. So, I drove an hour and a half away to another Simply Mac store, I brought my computer in they did some diagnostic testing.
From the original diagnostic tests that they did, they noticed that something to do with the SSD was causing an anomaly that they noticed, one that wasn't actually tied to the issue that I was currently experiencing. The person at the help desk just asked me “Did the other Simply Mac store install a temperature sensor into your iMac?” Of course, my heart sank a little bit as I told them that “the people at the other Simply Mac told me they did”. The person told me that they look into it as they bring my computer in for more diagnostic testing to figure out why it's crashing so often.
A few days later, I got a call from them letting me know that there was no temperature sensor inside of my computer, and upon checking the documentation of the now-defunct sister location, they have official documentation saying that the repairman installed the temperature sensor, even though there clearly wasn't one. The current Simply Mac store repair person was very apologetic for the lack of professionalism the other store had given me, and said that they would install a new temperature sensor free of charge. Cool deal.
Unfortunately, this wasn’t the cause of the crashes. It was something else.
The Really Agitated Memory Chronicles
The repair person then went into detail saying that they are currently doing a bunch of different kinds of Hardware tests to see if something was causing the crashes to happen. First, they were going to test all the hardware to make sure that it was no physical component causing the crashes, and if all of those came back with no sign of any issues, then they would move on to testing the software side of things. There are currently doing some tests on the memory, thinking that the crashes may have something to do with the RAM sticks that I had installed.
I have four sticks of Crucial brand 8GB 1.35v installed into this unit; I do a lot of multitasking alongside video, photo & graphic design work. They were currently taking the sticks out to test each one of them independently, to see if any of them were causing the issue.
However, the Simply Mac store then noticed that after they had receded all 4 sticks of ram, the computer manage to run for 12 straight hours with no crash reports, with a series of different applications running a multitude of different tasks. I was told by the repair person that they were going to hold onto my computer for an additional day so that they could finish all of the hardware diagnostic testing, just to make sure.
The next day, I got the call from them to let me know that my computer was ready to be picked up, so I got it back.
For two days, I was cautious, didn't do anything super strenuous on the computer, but was able to return back to my normal cycle of doing commissioning work. Then, on the third day, a crash happen again. This time however, it felt more violent than before, or at least it sounded that way. Below is a video thrown together of the several occasions at the computer crashed:
I had not done anything to my computer since I got it back, at least nothing physical anyway. I didn't mess with the RAM, didn't jostle the computer at all, the problem just seem to come out of nowhere. Because I knew that Simply Mac didn't go into testing the software, I figured that the crashes may be in fact tied to something to do with software or even the operating system. To make matters even weirder, none of the crashes were being logged in the console. The only times they ever logged were back on June 9th.
The only thing that seem to really trigger any sort of consistency was when I would attempt to do a Time Machine backup. At that point in time, every time I tried using a backup or start one, the computer would crash just like it had been. Below is a video from June 26th at 3:30AM showcasing this particular instance:
At this point in time, I just decided that probably reinstalling MacOS High Sierra was probably the best way to go. I couldn't think of any real reason as to what was going on, and if time machine was causing this issue do constantly happen, it must be the main reason why this crash might be happening. Granted, I noted to myself that I wasn't doing any backups during the original crashes, and some of the crashes were inconsistent and happened when no backups were being initiated. But at this point in time, I just decided that reinstalling the operating system might just be the best option I can do.
On June 26th, I started the process of reinstalling MacOS High Sierra at 4:00AM (yes, I tend to work late into the night and early morning). I had a spare USB drive that I could make a bootable version of the OS, I wiped the entire SSD clean, and started from scratch. I thought to myself that maybe there was an application causing the issue, and if I just started from scratch, I might be able to slowly add my applications back and see if I can't isolate the problem.
For the next 14-ish hours, everything seemed perfectly fine, I installed Final Cut Pro X back on the iMac and let my second computer handle the Photoshop workload. I managed to get a good amount of work done.
However, at about 9:10PM that same day, the iMac crashed again. With no crash report. Went ahead and started recording this, just to see if I could catch anything on video. This time, when I got to the lock screen, I was only able to enter two bits of my password before the iMac crashed. When the computer booted up again, I was able to wiggle my cursor on the screen before it crashed again. Here’s the video showcasing this instance:
At that point in time I just unplugged the computer and just sat in quiet silence for a while.
I was just puzzled beyond belief. If an the Simply Mac store tested the Hardware and “fixed” the issue, and a complete reset of the OS with no third party applications installed, I was unsure what in the heck was going on??
My only point of reference that I had to go off of was the fact that the RAM was causing some sort of issue, so naturally, I unplug my computer and took all four sticks of ran out of the computer. At this particular point in time, I could really only figure out that it was one of three potential issues:
Realistically, if the Simply Mac store had done the testing on the sticks themselves, I should be able to rule out the third issue. I only kept the mental note of it just in case there was something that was missed.
I just can't figure out if it's something that is causing the RAM sticks to become loose overtime, or if the actual slots themselves are not properly holding on to the sticks.
Why would something like this happen six months later after getting an SSD installed?
Is this even connected to the SSD at all?
- - - - -
Back to the Present
At the moment, I have the first pair of RAM sticks installed on the 1st and 3rd slots of the RAM compartment. I have been running with 16GB of RAM for going on 2 days now and have had no sign of issue; no crashes to report so far. To test this even more, I actually took a Time Machine backup from June 22nd and was successfully able to reinstall absolutely everything about my computer back onto the iMac, applications, settings, files, everything was back up. I run the computer has hard as I feel I should, running several memory heavy applications all at once, and apart from a little slow down, the computer’s handling everything just fine.
In the next few days, if no crash happens, I will move the same sticks of RAM into the second and fourth slots and continue on as normal, doing what I usually do. If no issues arise from then on, I will then take the other two sticks of RAM and supplied them into the unit in the first and third slots.
At this point, I pass it off to you. I know that this was probably a long thing for you to sit down and read, so perhaps you did what I usually do and select everything and just have your phone or computer read it back to you. (Saves me a lot of time by doing that) Hopefully somebody here has some kind of insight as to what in particular is going on with my iMac.
Is this just a memory problem? Has anyone else run into a similar process or crash sequence like this? Apart from the stuff that I've listed so far, any other ideas that I should try? I'm a little hesitant to try doing a Time Machine backup, but I think I might have to just to see if it works. I'm open to ideas and I'll report back on any progress that I have in terms of trying to figure this out.
Until then, thanks for reading.
Hopefully we can try and figure it out what the heck is going on over here.
A word on me and this post: I tend to write a lot; I don't want to leave out details when I am attempting to dissect and/or figure out a problem. I want to make sure that I give you as much information as I can so that way we can try to find some answers as to what's going on.
The Specs:
- Model Name: iMac
- Model Identifier: iMac14,2
- Processor Name: Intel Core i5, 3.2 GHz, 32 GB, SMC 2.15f7
- Processor Speed: 3.2 GHz
- Number of Processors: 1
- Total Number of Cores: 4
- L2 Cache (per Core): 256 KB
- L3 Cache: 6 MB
- Memory: 32 GB (x4 Crucial 8GB 1.35v)
- Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GT 755M, NVIDIA GeForce GT 755M, PCIe
- Memory Module: BANK 0/DIMM0, 8 GB, DDR3, 1600 MHz, 0x859B, 0x43543130323436344246313630422E433136
- Serial ATA Device: Mercury Electra 6G SSD, 1 TB
- Boot ROM Version: IM142.0130.B00
- SMC Version (system): 2.15f7
- System Version: macOS 10.13.5 (17F77)
- Kernel Version: Darwin 17.6.0
- Boot Volume: Macintosh SSD
- Boot Mode: Normal
- First Display: Asus VN247 [VGA to Displayport]
- Second Display: Wacom Cintiq 13HD [HDMI to Displayport]
This iMac was purchased on June 23, 2014 via a reseller through Amazon as a replacement unit for a 2009 24" iMac that I had since 2010.
For a while, this iMac did exactly what I needed to do for my videography, photography and graphic design work, on top attending university for film and video production, this iMac was getting me through everything. The only issue I ran into was in January of 2015, where in the hinge snapped. This was a known issue for this model of iMac, and was covered and fixed by Apple. I had AppleCare for this unit until February of 2017.
In November 2017, I upgraded my desk setup and incorporated a Windows Machine onto my hardware so that I can do my best to stay up to date on the two operating systems. This is also a way for me to never be excluded from projects because a group or organization is "MacOS" or "Windows" exclusive; it is something that I personally aspired to be, a hybrid user of these operating systems.
I’ve went ahead and sectioned off the story into different parts. I did my best to keep things on topic for isolating the target issues. Sometimes, I go into a little more detail just to help people better understand what I am talking about, in which case, I went ahead and supplied a “Too Long; Didn’t Read” section. It's not as detailed, but can get some people up to speed on the situation, I know that reading all of this is very time consuming.
In any case, let’s get started:
The Solid State Debacle
[Got an SSD installed in November 2017, the store did a bad job on installing it and accurately telling me what the time frame for the order was. I lost money because I didn’t have my computer, and when I threatened to report them for holding my computer against my wishes, they magically had the ability to install the SSD. Apart from that nuisance, my computer seemed to be holding up just fine.]
When I obtained another computer with a Solid State Drive (SSD), it opened my eyes at the quick speeds that a computer can have with a SSD versus a Hard Disk Drive (HDD). Naturally, if this machine was this fast with an SSD, I wanted to know if my iMac was capable of getting this upgrade. I did some digging and found out, it was able to be upgraded.
The story of getting the SSD installed is a really, REALLY long and convoluted story. I already had it typed out for documentation purposes, so I'm going to do my best to summarize everything and highlight on the points that were needed for understanding this case:
I contacted a Simply Mac store located nearby and got the information that they can do SSD replacement services. I asked if they offered SSDs in store, and the representative told me that they carry Other World Computing (OWC) SSDs. I looked up OWC and found out that they were having a sale online and it would be cheaper to order the SSD separate.
I brought in the SSD and they said they would supply the 2.5”-3.5” Adaptadrive Bracket and a Thermal Sensor, informing me that it would take 3-5 days. I do a lot of commission work for people in video, photo and graphic design, and I knew that I could be without my computer for 3-5 days, I didn't have any deadlines for a week and knew that I could work on things while I didn't have my computer with me.
Turns out, the time frame was falsified, and every time I called, they told me it would be an additional 3-5 days from when I called. It was only after 9 days that I was informed that the reason for the delay was because the store had 12 computers to work on before I started my order, and are now only telling me about this. I lost money on commissions from missing deadlines and was getting very upset.
It was only when I went in on the 10th day at noon and said that I wanted my computer, I was then told I couldn't get it because it was "opened up in the backroom" and it would be another 3-5 days until I could come back to get it. It felt as if my computer was being held hostage, and I said enough is enough. I told them I would come back at the end of the day to get my computer, regardless of whether or not the SSD was installed, I had already lost money from this debacle, I just wanted my computer back.
Miraculously, when I return to the store later that evening, I returned to find out that they had finished installing my SSD. When word got to the manager of that store that I had lost money due to this poorly-executed operation, I was then told that the services were free of charge, the only thing that they were going to charge me for was the AdaptiveDrive bracket that was installed, so that they could “have an invoice number” for the record. I double checked the invoice, and asked the repair person if they had installed the Adaptadrive and the Temperature Sensor into the unit. They told me, “Yes, all of the pieces of this order have been installed.” I collected my computer and departed the store.
The likelihood of me ever going back to the store was next to none, and to no one's surprise, this store ended up getting shut down in January of this year. Shocker.
Now, apart from a few graphical glitches once or twice at the very beginning, as well as some ghosting on screen, everything seemed perfectly fine with this unit after the install of the SSD. Applications opened immediately upon clicking them, the programs themselves were running buttery smooth, it was everything I was hoping for. Everything seems to be going good.
Apparently, I had let my hopes rise too high...
The Temperature Story
[On June 9th, my computer went into a series of Kernel task panics that caused the entire system to be in a crashing boot loop for several hours. I reset the PRAM, the SMC, with little to no avail. Even when I managed to get into my computer, I noted that only a few times that it actually report any crashes, and before I even got the ability to read them, the computer was crash again. I took it to the repair shop and found out that the other repair shop didn't actually install the thermal sensor, even though I know that they have it on record that they said that they did. Regardless, this new shop said that they would take care of it free of charge. However, the missing thermal sensor was not actually the cause of the crashes, it was something else.]
June 9th at 2:30AM. I was working on a graphic design commission project that I had recently got. I went to use the bathroom and returned to my desk. I discovered that my computer had shut down. Not too much of an oddity, I could just read the crash report and figure out what happened. I logged back in and was only able to use my computer for about a minute before it shut down on me again. From 2:35AM to about 7:00AM, my computer is stuck in a boot cycle that won’t allow me to access my computer at all. My computer would turn on, the chime would sound, the Apple logo would appear for a moment, then the computer would shut off. It did this nonstop for hours.
I reset the PRAM, which allowed me to boot into recovery mode, but the computer wouldn’t stay on long enough to do anything in recovery mode, instead crashing after about a minute. I reset the SMC. Same result; the iMac could boot, but wouldn’t last very long. It was only at this point in time that I was actually able to get into the Console and see if I couldn't find any crash reports, unfortunately, even though in that my computer had crashed a total of 17 times in a row, only two reports were documented and were listed as *Panic Reports*. Before I even could take the time to read anything that was going on, the computer would crash again.
After about 4 hours of battling this, I had managed to rule out power cable issues, power surges, peripheral interferences. I could only deduce that this was known as a Kernel_Task Panic, but because my iMac was so crash prone, I couldn’t get at any console report in order to save any information about these crashes, so I only have other users accounts to base my situation’s similarities to other users.
Here is a video of some of the instances of the computer making loud noises and shutting itself off, sometimes even letting me into this system before immediately shutting down.
Something worth noting is that normally, if an MacOS based computer crashes and goes through an unexpected restart, a screen will show with the phrase: "Your computer restarted because of a problem. Press a key or wait a few seconds to continue starting up." For every single crash that my iMac had, none of these ever showed up. The iMac was acting as if it was being reset manually, and wasn't being presented as an actual problem. When the iMac would eventually let me back into the operating system for a little bit, there was no window that showed up saying “Your computer was restarted because of a problem.” It was as if the computer wasn’t registering anything as wrong or an issue.
Additionally, here's the only Kernel_Panic reports I was able to save throughout this whole thing. Didn't get the chance to read it at all, I was able to save it to a text file just before the iMac had crashed again.Perhaps someone can read this and perhaps can find something among all this information:
Anonymous UUID: D5B62C82-A453-51E3-0094-E061B4D4DE23
Sat Jun 9 03:55:27 2018
*** Panic Report ***
panic(cpu 2 caller 0xffffff8012f88c2d): Kernel trap at 0xffffff7f942ae51a, type 14=page fault, registers:
CR0: 0x0000000080010033, CR2: 0x00000000e126b919, CR3: 0x000000082dbaa194, CR4: 0x00000000001627e0
RAX: 0xffffff7f942adf27, RBX: 0xffffff834d6e21f0, RCX: 0xffffff7f942adfc4, RDX: 0x0000000000000001
RSP: 0xffffffa3e126b8c8, RBP: 0x00000000e126b8d8, RSI: 0xffffff834d6e1608, RDI: 0xffffff834d6e1000
R8: 0x0000000000000000, R9: 0x0000000000000000, R10: 0x0000000000000001, R11: 0x0000000000000000
R12: 0x0000000000000001, R13: 0xffffff834d6e1000, R14: 0x0000000000000088, R15: 0xffffff834d6e1608
RFL: 0x0000000000010202, RIP: 0xffffff7f942ae51a, CS: 0x0000000000000008, SS: 0x0000000000000010
Fault CR2: 0x00000000e126b919, Error code: 0x0000000000000000, Fault CPU: 0x2, PL: 0, VF: 1
Backtrace (CPU 2), Frame : Return Address
0xffffffa3e126b370 : 0xffffff8012e6e166
0xffffffa3e126b3c0 : 0xffffff8012f96714
0xffffffa3e126b400 : 0xffffff8012f88a00
0xffffffa3e126b480 : 0xffffff8012e20180
0xffffffa3e126b4a0 : 0xffffff8012e6dbdc
0xffffffa3e126b5d0 : 0xffffff8012e6d99c
0xffffffa3e126b630 : 0xffffff8012f88c2d
0xffffffa3e126b7b0 : 0xffffff8012e20180
0xffffffa3e126b7d0 : 0xffffff7f942ae51a
No mapping exists for frame pointer
Backtrace terminated-invalid frame pointer 0xe126b8d8
Kernel Extensions in backtrace:
com.apple.GeForce(10.3)[06A9B78E-902A-367B-BC60-C28E2D9894A6]@0xffffff7f9427b000->0xffffff7f94316fff
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily(2.9)[580E0204-B37A-32BA-AC27-E8DBCA519B1F]@0xffffff7f93694000
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IONDRVSupport(519.15)[B419F958-11B8-3F7D-A31B-A72166B6E234]@0xffffff7f93dee000
dependency: com.apple.nvidia.driver.NVDAResman(10.3.0)[AEA1EB3B-9B42-30F7-B281-208F5ADA51B3]@0xffffff7f93e09000
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOGraphicsFamily(519.15)[D5F2A20D-CAB0-33B2-91B9-E8755DFC34CB]@0xffffff7f93d98000
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOAcceleratorFamily2(378.18.1)[BAA0383C-9650-3934-B04A-69008F757A2C]@0xffffff7f941d4000
BSD process name corresponding to current thread: ScreenSaverEngin
Mac OS version:
17E202
Kernel version:
Darwin Kernel Version 17.5.0: Fri Apr 13 19:32:32 PDT 2018; root:xnu-4570.51.2~1/RELEASE_X86_64
Kernel UUID: 7134F18E-AAC2-3C5B-B2C4-ABB799B4B9DF
Kernel slide: 0x0000000012c00000
Kernel text base: 0xffffff8012e00000
__HIB text base: 0xffffff8012d00000
System model name: iMac14,2 (Mac-27ADBB7B4CEE8E61)
System uptime in nanoseconds: 979472719318712
last loaded kext at 909760443252660: com.apple.driver.usb.cdc 5.0.0 (addr 0xffffff7f98e14000, size 28672)
last unloaded kext at 910508023357173: com.apple.driver.usb.cdc 5.0.0 (addr 0xffffff7f98e14000, size 28672)
loaded kexts:
com.Logitech.Unifying.HID Driver 1.3.3
com.silabs.driver.CP210xVCPDriver64 3.0.0d1
com.Logitech.Control Center.HID Driver 3.9.3
com.apple.filesystems.udf 2.5
com.apple.iokit.SCSITaskUserClient 404.30.2
com.apple.driver.AppleHWSensor 1.9.5d0
com.apple.iokit.IOBluetoothSerialManager 6.0.5f3
com.apple.driver.ApplePlatformEnabler 2.7.0d0
com.apple.driver.AGPM 110.23.33
com.apple.driver.X86PlatformShim 1.0.0
com.apple.filesystems.autofs 3.0
com.apple.driver.AppleMikeyHIDDriver 131
com.apple.driver.AppleHDA 281.51
com.apple.driver.AppleMikeyDriver 281.51
com.apple.driver.AppleUpstreamUserClient 3.6.5
com.apple.AGDCPluginDisplayMetrics 3.18.48
com.apple.driver.AppleHV 1
com.apple.iokit.IOUserEthernet 1.0.1
com.apple.driver.AppleIntelHD5000Graphics 10.3.2
com.apple.driver.pmtelemetry 1
com.apple.Dont_Steal_Mac_OS_X 7.0.0
com.apple.driver.eficheck 1
com.apple.driver.AppleOSXWatchdog 1
com.apple.driver.AppleIntelSlowAdaptiveClocking 4.0.0
com.apple.GeForce 10.3.0
com.apple.driver.AppleIntelFramebufferAzul 10.3.2
com.apple.driver.AppleLPC 3.1
com.apple.driver.AppleThunderboltIP 3.1.1
com.apple.driver.AudioAUUC 1.70
com.apple.driver.AppleSMCLMU 211
com.apple.driver.AppleBacklight 170.12.6
com.apple.driver.AppleMCCSControl 1.5.4
com.apple.filesystems.hfs.kext 407.50.6
com.apple.AppleFSCompression.AppleFSCompressionTypeDataless 1.0.0d1
com.apple.BootCache 40
com.apple.AppleFSCompression.AppleFSCompressionTypeZlib 1.0.0
com.apple.filesystems.apfs 748.51.0
com.apple.driver.AppleSDXC 1.7.6
com.apple.driver.AirPort.BrcmNIC 1240.29.1a7
com.apple.iokit.AppleBCM5701Ethernet 10.3.1
com.apple.driver.AppleAHCIPort 329.50.2
com.apple.driver.AppleRTC 2.0
com.apple.driver.AppleACPIButtons 6.1
com.apple.driver.AppleHPET 1.8
com.apple.driver.AppleSMBIOS 2.1
com.apple.driver.AppleACPIEC 6.1
com.apple.driver.AppleAPIC 1.7
com.apple.nke.applicationfirewall 183
com.apple.security.TMSafetyNet 8
com.apple.security.quarantine 3
com.apple.iokit.IOSCSIMultimediaCommandsDevice 404.30.2
com.apple.iokit.IOBDStorageFamily 1.8
com.apple.iokit.IODVDStorageFamily 1.8
com.apple.iokit.IOCDStorageFamily 1.8
com.apple.kext.triggers 1.0
com.apple.driver.DspFuncLib 281.51
com.apple.kext.OSvKernDSPLib 526
com.apple.iokit.IOAVBFamily 675.6
com.apple.plugin.IOgPTPPlugin 675.12
com.apple.driver.AppleSSE 1.0
com.apple.nvidia.driver.NVDAGK100Hal 10.3.0
com.apple.driver.AppleHDAController 281.51
com.apple.iokit.IOHDAFamily 281.51
com.apple.AppleGPUWrangler 3.18.48
com.apple.iokit.IOSlowAdaptiveClockingFamily 1.0.0
com.apple.nvidia.driver.NVDAResman 10.3.0
com.apple.iokit.IOAcceleratorFamily2 378.18.1
com.apple.iokit.IOSurface 211.12
com.apple.driver.X86PlatformPlugin 1.0.0
com.apple.driver.IOPlatformPluginFamily 6.0.0d8
com.apple.driver.AppleThunderboltEDMSink 4.1.4
com.apple.driver.AppleSMBusPCI 1.0.14d1
com.apple.AppleGraphicsDeviceControl 3.18.48
com.apple.driver.AppleBacklightExpert 1.1.0
com.apple.driver.AppleSMBusController 1.0.18d1
com.apple.iokit.IONDRVSupport 519.15
com.apple.iokit.IOGraphicsFamily 519.15
com.apple.driver.AppleHIDKeyboard 205
com.apple.driver.AppleUSBAudio 312.6
com.apple.iokit.IOAudioFamily 206.5
com.apple.vecLib.kext 1.2.0
com.apple.iokit.IOSerialFamily 11
com.apple.iokit.BroadcomBluetoothHostControllerUSBTransport 6.0.5f3
com.apple.iokit.IOBluetoothHostControllerUSBTransport 6.0.5f3
com.apple.iokit.IOBluetoothHostControllerTransport 6.0.5f3
com.apple.driver.usb.IOUSBHostHIDDevice 1.2
com.apple.driver.IOBluetoothHIDDriver 6.0.5f3
com.apple.iokit.IOBluetoothFamily 6.0.5f3
com.apple.iokit.IOUSBHIDDriver 900.4.1
com.apple.driver.usb.networking 5.0.0
com.apple.driver.usb.AppleUSBHostCompositeDevice 1.2
com.apple.driver.usb.AppleUSBHub 1.2
com.apple.filesystems.hfs.encodings.kext 1
com.apple.driver.AppleThunderboltDPInAdapter 5.5.3
com.apple.driver.AppleThunderboltDPOutAdapter 5.5.3
com.apple.driver.AppleThunderboltDPAdapterFamily 5.5.3
com.apple.driver.AppleThunderboltPCIDownAdapter 2.1.3
com.apple.iokit.IOAHCIBlockStorage 301.40.2
com.apple.driver.AppleThunderboltNHI 4.7.2
com.apple.iokit.IOThunderboltFamily 6.7.8
com.apple.iokit.IO80211Family 1200.12.2
com.apple.driver.corecapture 1.0.4
com.apple.iokit.IOEthernetAVBController 1.1.0
com.apple.driver.mDNSOffloadUserClient 1.0.1b8
com.apple.iokit.IOAHCIFamily 288
com.apple.driver.usb.AppleUSBXHCIPCI 1.2
com.apple.driver.usb.AppleUSBXHCI 1.2
com.apple.driver.usb.AppleUSBHostPacketFilter 1.0
com.apple.iokit.IOUSBFamily 900.4.1
com.apple.driver.AppleUSBHostMergeProperties 1.2
com.apple.driver.AppleEFINVRAM 2.1
com.apple.driver.AppleEFIRuntime 2.1
com.apple.iokit.IOHIDFamily 2.0.0
com.apple.iokit.IOSMBusFamily 1.1
com.apple.security.sandbox 300.0
com.apple.kext.AppleMatch 1.0.0d1
com.apple.driver.DiskImages 480.50.10
com.apple.driver.AppleFDEKeyStore 28.30
com.apple.driver.AppleEffaceableStorage 1.0
com.apple.driver.AppleKeyStore 2
com.apple.driver.AppleUSBTDM 439.50.6
com.apple.driver.AppleMobileFileIntegrity 1.0.5
com.apple.iokit.IOUSBMassStorageDriver 140.50.3
com.apple.iokit.IOSCSIBlockCommandsDevice 404.30.2
com.apple.iokit.IOSCSIArchitectureModelFamily 404.30.2
com.apple.iokit.IOStorageFamily 2.1
com.apple.driver.AppleCredentialManager 1.0
com.apple.driver.KernelRelayHost 1
com.apple.iokit.IOUSBHostFamily 1.2
com.apple.driver.usb.AppleUSBCommon 1.0
com.apple.driver.AppleBusPowerController 1.0
com.apple.driver.AppleSEPManager 1.0.1
com.apple.driver.IOSlaveProcessor 1
com.apple.iokit.IOTimeSyncFamily 675.12
com.apple.iokit.IONetworkingFamily 3.4
com.apple.iokit.IOReportFamily 31
com.apple.driver.AppleACPIPlatform 6.1
com.apple.driver.AppleSMC 3.1.9
com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily 2.9
com.apple.iokit.IOACPIFamily 1.4
com.apple.kec.pthread 1
com.apple.kec.Libm 1
com.apple.kec.corecrypto 1.0
EOF
Model: iMac14,2, BootROM IM142.0129.B00, 4 processors, Intel Core i5, 3.2 GHz, 32 GB, SMC 2.15f7
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GT 755M, NVIDIA GeForce GT 755M, PCIe
Memory Module: BANK 0/DIMM0, 8 GB, DDR3, 1600 MHz, 0x859B, 0x43543130323436344246313630422E433136
Memory Module: BANK 1/DIMM0, 8 GB, DDR3, 1600 MHz, 0x859B, 0x43543130323436344246313630422E433136
Memory Module: BANK 0/DIMM1, 8 GB, DDR3, 1600 MHz, 0x859B, 0x43543130323436344246313630422E433136
Memory Module: BANK 1/DIMM1, 8 GB, DDR3, 1600 MHz, 0x859B, 0x43543130323436344246313630422E433136
AirPort: spairport_wireless_card_type_airport_extreme (0x14E4, 0x111), Broadcom BCM43xx 1.0 (7.77.37.29.1a7)
Bluetooth: Version 6.0.5f3, 3 services, 27 devices, 1 incoming serial ports
Network Service: Ethernet, Ethernet, en0
Network Service: AirPort, AirPort, en1
Serial ATA Device: Mercury Electra 6G SSD, 1 TB
USB Device: USB 3.0 Bus
USB Device: Game Capture HD60 S
USB Device: 4-Port USB 3.0 Hub
USB Device: 4-Port USB 3.0 Hub
USB Device: BRCM20702 Hub
USB Device: Bluetooth USB Host Controller
USB Device: FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)
USB Device: Wacom Cintiq 13HD USB Hub
USB Device: CP2102 USB to UART Bridge Controller
USB Device: Wacom Cintiq 13HD
USB Device: 4-Port USB 2.0 Hub
USB Device: 4-Port USB 2.0 Hub
USB Device: MT1806
USB Device: AT2020USB+
USB Device: Keyboard Hub
USB Device: USB Receiver
USB Device: Apple Keyboard
Thunderbolt Bus: iMac, Apple Inc., 23.10
Sat Jun 9 03:55:27 2018
*** Panic Report ***
panic(cpu 2 caller 0xffffff8012f88c2d): Kernel trap at 0xffffff7f942ae51a, type 14=page fault, registers:
CR0: 0x0000000080010033, CR2: 0x00000000e126b919, CR3: 0x000000082dbaa194, CR4: 0x00000000001627e0
RAX: 0xffffff7f942adf27, RBX: 0xffffff834d6e21f0, RCX: 0xffffff7f942adfc4, RDX: 0x0000000000000001
RSP: 0xffffffa3e126b8c8, RBP: 0x00000000e126b8d8, RSI: 0xffffff834d6e1608, RDI: 0xffffff834d6e1000
R8: 0x0000000000000000, R9: 0x0000000000000000, R10: 0x0000000000000001, R11: 0x0000000000000000
R12: 0x0000000000000001, R13: 0xffffff834d6e1000, R14: 0x0000000000000088, R15: 0xffffff834d6e1608
RFL: 0x0000000000010202, RIP: 0xffffff7f942ae51a, CS: 0x0000000000000008, SS: 0x0000000000000010
Fault CR2: 0x00000000e126b919, Error code: 0x0000000000000000, Fault CPU: 0x2, PL: 0, VF: 1
Backtrace (CPU 2), Frame : Return Address
0xffffffa3e126b370 : 0xffffff8012e6e166
0xffffffa3e126b3c0 : 0xffffff8012f96714
0xffffffa3e126b400 : 0xffffff8012f88a00
0xffffffa3e126b480 : 0xffffff8012e20180
0xffffffa3e126b4a0 : 0xffffff8012e6dbdc
0xffffffa3e126b5d0 : 0xffffff8012e6d99c
0xffffffa3e126b630 : 0xffffff8012f88c2d
0xffffffa3e126b7b0 : 0xffffff8012e20180
0xffffffa3e126b7d0 : 0xffffff7f942ae51a
No mapping exists for frame pointer
Backtrace terminated-invalid frame pointer 0xe126b8d8
Kernel Extensions in backtrace:
com.apple.GeForce(10.3)[06A9B78E-902A-367B-BC60-C28E2D9894A6]@0xffffff7f9427b000->0xffffff7f94316fff
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily(2.9)[580E0204-B37A-32BA-AC27-E8DBCA519B1F]@0xffffff7f93694000
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IONDRVSupport(519.15)[B419F958-11B8-3F7D-A31B-A72166B6E234]@0xffffff7f93dee000
dependency: com.apple.nvidia.driver.NVDAResman(10.3.0)[AEA1EB3B-9B42-30F7-B281-208F5ADA51B3]@0xffffff7f93e09000
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOGraphicsFamily(519.15)[D5F2A20D-CAB0-33B2-91B9-E8755DFC34CB]@0xffffff7f93d98000
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOAcceleratorFamily2(378.18.1)[BAA0383C-9650-3934-B04A-69008F757A2C]@0xffffff7f941d4000
BSD process name corresponding to current thread: ScreenSaverEngin
Mac OS version:
17E202
Kernel version:
Darwin Kernel Version 17.5.0: Fri Apr 13 19:32:32 PDT 2018; root:xnu-4570.51.2~1/RELEASE_X86_64
Kernel UUID: 7134F18E-AAC2-3C5B-B2C4-ABB799B4B9DF
Kernel slide: 0x0000000012c00000
Kernel text base: 0xffffff8012e00000
__HIB text base: 0xffffff8012d00000
System model name: iMac14,2 (Mac-27ADBB7B4CEE8E61)
System uptime in nanoseconds: 979472719318712
last loaded kext at 909760443252660: com.apple.driver.usb.cdc 5.0.0 (addr 0xffffff7f98e14000, size 28672)
last unloaded kext at 910508023357173: com.apple.driver.usb.cdc 5.0.0 (addr 0xffffff7f98e14000, size 28672)
loaded kexts:
com.Logitech.Unifying.HID Driver 1.3.3
com.silabs.driver.CP210xVCPDriver64 3.0.0d1
com.Logitech.Control Center.HID Driver 3.9.3
com.apple.filesystems.udf 2.5
com.apple.iokit.SCSITaskUserClient 404.30.2
com.apple.driver.AppleHWSensor 1.9.5d0
com.apple.iokit.IOBluetoothSerialManager 6.0.5f3
com.apple.driver.ApplePlatformEnabler 2.7.0d0
com.apple.driver.AGPM 110.23.33
com.apple.driver.X86PlatformShim 1.0.0
com.apple.filesystems.autofs 3.0
com.apple.driver.AppleMikeyHIDDriver 131
com.apple.driver.AppleHDA 281.51
com.apple.driver.AppleMikeyDriver 281.51
com.apple.driver.AppleUpstreamUserClient 3.6.5
com.apple.AGDCPluginDisplayMetrics 3.18.48
com.apple.driver.AppleHV 1
com.apple.iokit.IOUserEthernet 1.0.1
com.apple.driver.AppleIntelHD5000Graphics 10.3.2
com.apple.driver.pmtelemetry 1
com.apple.Dont_Steal_Mac_OS_X 7.0.0
com.apple.driver.eficheck 1
com.apple.driver.AppleOSXWatchdog 1
com.apple.driver.AppleIntelSlowAdaptiveClocking 4.0.0
com.apple.GeForce 10.3.0
com.apple.driver.AppleIntelFramebufferAzul 10.3.2
com.apple.driver.AppleLPC 3.1
com.apple.driver.AppleThunderboltIP 3.1.1
com.apple.driver.AudioAUUC 1.70
com.apple.driver.AppleSMCLMU 211
com.apple.driver.AppleBacklight 170.12.6
com.apple.driver.AppleMCCSControl 1.5.4
com.apple.filesystems.hfs.kext 407.50.6
com.apple.AppleFSCompression.AppleFSCompressionTypeDataless 1.0.0d1
com.apple.BootCache 40
com.apple.AppleFSCompression.AppleFSCompressionTypeZlib 1.0.0
com.apple.filesystems.apfs 748.51.0
com.apple.driver.AppleSDXC 1.7.6
com.apple.driver.AirPort.BrcmNIC 1240.29.1a7
com.apple.iokit.AppleBCM5701Ethernet 10.3.1
com.apple.driver.AppleAHCIPort 329.50.2
com.apple.driver.AppleRTC 2.0
com.apple.driver.AppleACPIButtons 6.1
com.apple.driver.AppleHPET 1.8
com.apple.driver.AppleSMBIOS 2.1
com.apple.driver.AppleACPIEC 6.1
com.apple.driver.AppleAPIC 1.7
com.apple.nke.applicationfirewall 183
com.apple.security.TMSafetyNet 8
com.apple.security.quarantine 3
com.apple.iokit.IOSCSIMultimediaCommandsDevice 404.30.2
com.apple.iokit.IOBDStorageFamily 1.8
com.apple.iokit.IODVDStorageFamily 1.8
com.apple.iokit.IOCDStorageFamily 1.8
com.apple.kext.triggers 1.0
com.apple.driver.DspFuncLib 281.51
com.apple.kext.OSvKernDSPLib 526
com.apple.iokit.IOAVBFamily 675.6
com.apple.plugin.IOgPTPPlugin 675.12
com.apple.driver.AppleSSE 1.0
com.apple.nvidia.driver.NVDAGK100Hal 10.3.0
com.apple.driver.AppleHDAController 281.51
com.apple.iokit.IOHDAFamily 281.51
com.apple.AppleGPUWrangler 3.18.48
com.apple.iokit.IOSlowAdaptiveClockingFamily 1.0.0
com.apple.nvidia.driver.NVDAResman 10.3.0
com.apple.iokit.IOAcceleratorFamily2 378.18.1
com.apple.iokit.IOSurface 211.12
com.apple.driver.X86PlatformPlugin 1.0.0
com.apple.driver.IOPlatformPluginFamily 6.0.0d8
com.apple.driver.AppleThunderboltEDMSink 4.1.4
com.apple.driver.AppleSMBusPCI 1.0.14d1
com.apple.AppleGraphicsDeviceControl 3.18.48
com.apple.driver.AppleBacklightExpert 1.1.0
com.apple.driver.AppleSMBusController 1.0.18d1
com.apple.iokit.IONDRVSupport 519.15
com.apple.iokit.IOGraphicsFamily 519.15
com.apple.driver.AppleHIDKeyboard 205
com.apple.driver.AppleUSBAudio 312.6
com.apple.iokit.IOAudioFamily 206.5
com.apple.vecLib.kext 1.2.0
com.apple.iokit.IOSerialFamily 11
com.apple.iokit.BroadcomBluetoothHostControllerUSBTransport 6.0.5f3
com.apple.iokit.IOBluetoothHostControllerUSBTransport 6.0.5f3
com.apple.iokit.IOBluetoothHostControllerTransport 6.0.5f3
com.apple.driver.usb.IOUSBHostHIDDevice 1.2
com.apple.driver.IOBluetoothHIDDriver 6.0.5f3
com.apple.iokit.IOBluetoothFamily 6.0.5f3
com.apple.iokit.IOUSBHIDDriver 900.4.1
com.apple.driver.usb.networking 5.0.0
com.apple.driver.usb.AppleUSBHostCompositeDevice 1.2
com.apple.driver.usb.AppleUSBHub 1.2
com.apple.filesystems.hfs.encodings.kext 1
com.apple.driver.AppleThunderboltDPInAdapter 5.5.3
com.apple.driver.AppleThunderboltDPOutAdapter 5.5.3
com.apple.driver.AppleThunderboltDPAdapterFamily 5.5.3
com.apple.driver.AppleThunderboltPCIDownAdapter 2.1.3
com.apple.iokit.IOAHCIBlockStorage 301.40.2
com.apple.driver.AppleThunderboltNHI 4.7.2
com.apple.iokit.IOThunderboltFamily 6.7.8
com.apple.iokit.IO80211Family 1200.12.2
com.apple.driver.corecapture 1.0.4
com.apple.iokit.IOEthernetAVBController 1.1.0
com.apple.driver.mDNSOffloadUserClient 1.0.1b8
com.apple.iokit.IOAHCIFamily 288
com.apple.driver.usb.AppleUSBXHCIPCI 1.2
com.apple.driver.usb.AppleUSBXHCI 1.2
com.apple.driver.usb.AppleUSBHostPacketFilter 1.0
com.apple.iokit.IOUSBFamily 900.4.1
com.apple.driver.AppleUSBHostMergeProperties 1.2
com.apple.driver.AppleEFINVRAM 2.1
com.apple.driver.AppleEFIRuntime 2.1
com.apple.iokit.IOHIDFamily 2.0.0
com.apple.iokit.IOSMBusFamily 1.1
com.apple.security.sandbox 300.0
com.apple.kext.AppleMatch 1.0.0d1
com.apple.driver.DiskImages 480.50.10
com.apple.driver.AppleFDEKeyStore 28.30
com.apple.driver.AppleEffaceableStorage 1.0
com.apple.driver.AppleKeyStore 2
com.apple.driver.AppleUSBTDM 439.50.6
com.apple.driver.AppleMobileFileIntegrity 1.0.5
com.apple.iokit.IOUSBMassStorageDriver 140.50.3
com.apple.iokit.IOSCSIBlockCommandsDevice 404.30.2
com.apple.iokit.IOSCSIArchitectureModelFamily 404.30.2
com.apple.iokit.IOStorageFamily 2.1
com.apple.driver.AppleCredentialManager 1.0
com.apple.driver.KernelRelayHost 1
com.apple.iokit.IOUSBHostFamily 1.2
com.apple.driver.usb.AppleUSBCommon 1.0
com.apple.driver.AppleBusPowerController 1.0
com.apple.driver.AppleSEPManager 1.0.1
com.apple.driver.IOSlaveProcessor 1
com.apple.iokit.IOTimeSyncFamily 675.12
com.apple.iokit.IONetworkingFamily 3.4
com.apple.iokit.IOReportFamily 31
com.apple.driver.AppleACPIPlatform 6.1
com.apple.driver.AppleSMC 3.1.9
com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily 2.9
com.apple.iokit.IOACPIFamily 1.4
com.apple.kec.pthread 1
com.apple.kec.Libm 1
com.apple.kec.corecrypto 1.0
EOF
Model: iMac14,2, BootROM IM142.0129.B00, 4 processors, Intel Core i5, 3.2 GHz, 32 GB, SMC 2.15f7
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GT 755M, NVIDIA GeForce GT 755M, PCIe
Memory Module: BANK 0/DIMM0, 8 GB, DDR3, 1600 MHz, 0x859B, 0x43543130323436344246313630422E433136
Memory Module: BANK 1/DIMM0, 8 GB, DDR3, 1600 MHz, 0x859B, 0x43543130323436344246313630422E433136
Memory Module: BANK 0/DIMM1, 8 GB, DDR3, 1600 MHz, 0x859B, 0x43543130323436344246313630422E433136
Memory Module: BANK 1/DIMM1, 8 GB, DDR3, 1600 MHz, 0x859B, 0x43543130323436344246313630422E433136
AirPort: spairport_wireless_card_type_airport_extreme (0x14E4, 0x111), Broadcom BCM43xx 1.0 (7.77.37.29.1a7)
Bluetooth: Version 6.0.5f3, 3 services, 27 devices, 1 incoming serial ports
Network Service: Ethernet, Ethernet, en0
Network Service: AirPort, AirPort, en1
Serial ATA Device: Mercury Electra 6G SSD, 1 TB
USB Device: USB 3.0 Bus
USB Device: Game Capture HD60 S
USB Device: 4-Port USB 3.0 Hub
USB Device: 4-Port USB 3.0 Hub
USB Device: BRCM20702 Hub
USB Device: Bluetooth USB Host Controller
USB Device: FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)
USB Device: Wacom Cintiq 13HD USB Hub
USB Device: CP2102 USB to UART Bridge Controller
USB Device: Wacom Cintiq 13HD
USB Device: 4-Port USB 2.0 Hub
USB Device: 4-Port USB 2.0 Hub
USB Device: MT1806
USB Device: AT2020USB+
USB Device: Keyboard Hub
USB Device: USB Receiver
USB Device: Apple Keyboard
Thunderbolt Bus: iMac, Apple Inc., 23.10
Now, because the Simply Mac store that I went to had closed, I only had one other option, go to another Simply Mac store that was a little farther away. Now most people would probably ask me “Why wouldn't I just go to the Apple Store?” Well, two reasons. First, this computer was far out of any warranty that I already had, being well over a year since the original AppleCare warranty expired. Second, most people tend to realize this through experiences of their own, but if you do any work through a 3rd party Apple repair shop, and if something goes wrong at that shop, and you take your device or unit to Apple, Apple will tell you to go to that third-party store to see if they can't diagnose the problem first. Realistically, I really have no other choice, as taking the computer to Apple would end up costing a pretty penny in the long run. So, I drove an hour and a half away to another Simply Mac store, I brought my computer in they did some diagnostic testing.
From the original diagnostic tests that they did, they noticed that something to do with the SSD was causing an anomaly that they noticed, one that wasn't actually tied to the issue that I was currently experiencing. The person at the help desk just asked me “Did the other Simply Mac store install a temperature sensor into your iMac?” Of course, my heart sank a little bit as I told them that “the people at the other Simply Mac told me they did”. The person told me that they look into it as they bring my computer in for more diagnostic testing to figure out why it's crashing so often.
A few days later, I got a call from them letting me know that there was no temperature sensor inside of my computer, and upon checking the documentation of the now-defunct sister location, they have official documentation saying that the repairman installed the temperature sensor, even though there clearly wasn't one. The current Simply Mac store repair person was very apologetic for the lack of professionalism the other store had given me, and said that they would install a new temperature sensor free of charge. Cool deal.
Unfortunately, this wasn’t the cause of the crashes. It was something else.
The Really Agitated Memory Chronicles
[The repair person said that it was most likely a memory issue, but they were going to test everything about the hardware about the computer first. After taking the ram out and putting it back in, they noted that the computer seem to be doing just fine, but they still kept it another day for testing. I ended up getting my computer back and for a few days everything seems fine. 2 days later after I got my computer back, the computer crashed again, although this time the crash seemed a lot more violent, at least audibly. After running some tests on my end, I noticed that one of the issues causing the computer to crash was every time I attempted to do a time machine backup. This led me to believe that the issue must be something to do with the operating system, so after some more testing, I eventually just decided to reinstall Mac OS High Sierra. after successfully reinstall the operating system, the only application that I installed back onto the computer was Final Cut Pro X. Roughly 14 hours later, my computer crashed again, this time only letting me input my password a couple of characters before crashing, and the second time at crash, I could only wiggle my mouse cursor for a bit before it crashed again.]
The repair person then went into detail saying that they are currently doing a bunch of different kinds of Hardware tests to see if something was causing the crashes to happen. First, they were going to test all the hardware to make sure that it was no physical component causing the crashes, and if all of those came back with no sign of any issues, then they would move on to testing the software side of things. There are currently doing some tests on the memory, thinking that the crashes may have something to do with the RAM sticks that I had installed.
I have four sticks of Crucial brand 8GB 1.35v installed into this unit; I do a lot of multitasking alongside video, photo & graphic design work. They were currently taking the sticks out to test each one of them independently, to see if any of them were causing the issue.
However, the Simply Mac store then noticed that after they had receded all 4 sticks of ram, the computer manage to run for 12 straight hours with no crash reports, with a series of different applications running a multitude of different tasks. I was told by the repair person that they were going to hold onto my computer for an additional day so that they could finish all of the hardware diagnostic testing, just to make sure.
The next day, I got the call from them to let me know that my computer was ready to be picked up, so I got it back.
For two days, I was cautious, didn't do anything super strenuous on the computer, but was able to return back to my normal cycle of doing commissioning work. Then, on the third day, a crash happen again. This time however, it felt more violent than before, or at least it sounded that way. Below is a video thrown together of the several occasions at the computer crashed:
I had not done anything to my computer since I got it back, at least nothing physical anyway. I didn't mess with the RAM, didn't jostle the computer at all, the problem just seem to come out of nowhere. Because I knew that Simply Mac didn't go into testing the software, I figured that the crashes may be in fact tied to something to do with software or even the operating system. To make matters even weirder, none of the crashes were being logged in the console. The only times they ever logged were back on June 9th.
The only thing that seem to really trigger any sort of consistency was when I would attempt to do a Time Machine backup. At that point in time, every time I tried using a backup or start one, the computer would crash just like it had been. Below is a video from June 26th at 3:30AM showcasing this particular instance:
At this point in time, I just decided that probably reinstalling MacOS High Sierra was probably the best way to go. I couldn't think of any real reason as to what was going on, and if time machine was causing this issue do constantly happen, it must be the main reason why this crash might be happening. Granted, I noted to myself that I wasn't doing any backups during the original crashes, and some of the crashes were inconsistent and happened when no backups were being initiated. But at this point in time, I just decided that reinstalling the operating system might just be the best option I can do.
On June 26th, I started the process of reinstalling MacOS High Sierra at 4:00AM (yes, I tend to work late into the night and early morning). I had a spare USB drive that I could make a bootable version of the OS, I wiped the entire SSD clean, and started from scratch. I thought to myself that maybe there was an application causing the issue, and if I just started from scratch, I might be able to slowly add my applications back and see if I can't isolate the problem.
For the next 14-ish hours, everything seemed perfectly fine, I installed Final Cut Pro X back on the iMac and let my second computer handle the Photoshop workload. I managed to get a good amount of work done.
However, at about 9:10PM that same day, the iMac crashed again. With no crash report. Went ahead and started recording this, just to see if I could catch anything on video. This time, when I got to the lock screen, I was only able to enter two bits of my password before the iMac crashed. When the computer booted up again, I was able to wiggle my cursor on the screen before it crashed again. Here’s the video showcasing this instance:
At that point in time I just unplugged the computer and just sat in quiet silence for a while.
I was just puzzled beyond belief. If an the Simply Mac store tested the Hardware and “fixed” the issue, and a complete reset of the OS with no third party applications installed, I was unsure what in the heck was going on??
My only point of reference that I had to go off of was the fact that the RAM was causing some sort of issue, so naturally, I unplug my computer and took all four sticks of ran out of the computer. At this particular point in time, I could really only figure out that it was one of three potential issues:
- One or two of the sticks aren't sitting in the memory bay properly.
- The memory bay isn't holding one or two of the sticks properly.
- One of the two sets of the memory sticks aren't working properly.
Realistically, if the Simply Mac store had done the testing on the sticks themselves, I should be able to rule out the third issue. I only kept the mental note of it just in case there was something that was missed.
I just can't figure out if it's something that is causing the RAM sticks to become loose overtime, or if the actual slots themselves are not properly holding on to the sticks.
Why would something like this happen six months later after getting an SSD installed?
Is this even connected to the SSD at all?
- - - - -
Back to the Present
At the moment, I have the first pair of RAM sticks installed on the 1st and 3rd slots of the RAM compartment. I have been running with 16GB of RAM for going on 2 days now and have had no sign of issue; no crashes to report so far. To test this even more, I actually took a Time Machine backup from June 22nd and was successfully able to reinstall absolutely everything about my computer back onto the iMac, applications, settings, files, everything was back up. I run the computer has hard as I feel I should, running several memory heavy applications all at once, and apart from a little slow down, the computer’s handling everything just fine.
In the next few days, if no crash happens, I will move the same sticks of RAM into the second and fourth slots and continue on as normal, doing what I usually do. If no issues arise from then on, I will then take the other two sticks of RAM and supplied them into the unit in the first and third slots.
At this point, I pass it off to you. I know that this was probably a long thing for you to sit down and read, so perhaps you did what I usually do and select everything and just have your phone or computer read it back to you. (Saves me a lot of time by doing that) Hopefully somebody here has some kind of insight as to what in particular is going on with my iMac.
Is this just a memory problem? Has anyone else run into a similar process or crash sequence like this? Apart from the stuff that I've listed so far, any other ideas that I should try? I'm a little hesitant to try doing a Time Machine backup, but I think I might have to just to see if it works. I'm open to ideas and I'll report back on any progress that I have in terms of trying to figure this out.
Until then, thanks for reading.
Hopefully we can try and figure it out what the heck is going on over here.
