Kernel Panic With 4k 240 Hz External Monitor

OK, I got some 'good news' here. Been talking to the Apple Support, explaining the situation and just aknowledging.

The person found a 'tracker' about this issue, as of yesterday. Apple team is currently working on this to fix it in an upcoming firmware update. He also said that in the tracker it says that reducing the framerate to 120Hz in the meantime is a workaround in the meantime.

I just wanted to share my experience as well. I’m using a Mac Studio (M2 Ultra) with an ASUS PG32UCDP running at 4K 240Hz, and I’m seeing the exact same kernel panic as the original poster. The crash logs show the same “DCPEXT2 PANIC - apt firmware: dual_pipe…” message, and it happens randomly—even with no heavy GPU usage.

I’ve tried both a Thunderbolt 4 (USB-C to USB-C) cable and an HDMI to HDMI cable, but the kernel panic still occurs. So far, the only workaround is to drop down to 120Hz, which isn’t ideal when you have a high-refresh-rate monitor.

Hopefully, this helps confirm that it’s not just an isolated issue. I’m really hoping Apple is aware of it and will release a fix soon. If anyone has further information or a permanent workaround, I’d love to hear it!

—

Mac Studio (M2 Ultra), ASUS PG32UCDP @ 4K 240Hz, macOS 15.3

We are enterprise customers in Europe. I talked to the EU team ans they can’t forward this to US.

if some one is enterprise customer in US please talk to ur business manager and ask him to forward this.

this bug still exist in the beta.

we can reproduce this issue on MacStudio and MacBook Pro.

current fix is : set display to 120Hz.

I am having the same issue with the new Asus PA32UCDM using the Thunderbold 4 connection. I've tried the included TB4 Cable and the Apple TB5 Cable. In the beginning it always crashed after changing the resolution or enabling HDR, after resetting the monitor to factory settings it has been running stable for a few days. Will try and see if using it with 120Hz instead of 240Hz will help.

I encounter the exact same issue. Every 2-3 days I get a system crash.

My Setup:

• Mac Studio (M2 MAX)
• MacOS 15.1 (24B83)
• GIGABYTE AORUS FO32U2P via DP@240Hz

The bug report also starts with:

DCPEXT2 PANIC - apt firmware: dual_pipe.c:180 sync_pipe_end_of_config()

On latest OS Sequoia 15.5, M2 Pro Mac Mini, HDMI 2.1 to 4K 240Hz HDR display, still getting KERNEL PANICS daily. Will switch to 120hz and hope they fix 240hz soon. Been having this issue ever since I upgraded my display. Adding my voice to choir.

You have a problem using Virtual Memory, start with this…

Start up in recovery mode, holding CMD+r key.

Load Disk Utility, in the View menu choose show all devices, use first aid on ecck partition top down.

subvoxel wrote:

Has anyone tried the macOS Tahoe beta? That's my only remaining hope...

FYI, if anyone is using the Tahoe beta, they are not allowed to publicly discuss it (good or bad). You will need to wait until Tahoe is officially released to the public later this year.

@Grant is absolutely correct that the best way to help Apple fix the issue is by finding a way of reproducing the failure on demand or at least make the failure more easily repeatable and pass that information on to Apple. I can tell you from years of personal experience with diagnosing & troubleshooting computer issues, this is the necessary first step before a solution or cause can be discovered.

And everyone with this display issue should already have cases open with Apple support which have been given over to their higher level support & engineers once the basic frontline troubleshooting ends without resolving the problem. Without enough people doing this, it will take Apple a long time (if ever) to resolve it....assuming users have even gotten that far so Apple is even aware the issue exists.

Just adding another comment for visibility as I'm having this exact same issue.

Was using an M1 Pro MacBook Pro for quite a few months with my 240Hz monitor without any issues, but because of the limitations of the M1 Pro I was limited to 120Hz in the settings.

Recently upgraded to an M4 Pro which supported 240Hz and so updated the settings for the higher speed, and began having intermittent crashes. First thought was of course that it was something to do with the new Mac, but seems this isn't the case.

Seen others on Reddit with the same issue as well, so seems to be a consistent and widespread issue for all users with 240Hz monitors (maybe 4K only??), in fact I have the exact same monitor model OP mentioned.

Would be good to get this resolved.

<< I’m not interested in that. >>

Then be sure and set yours back to 120 Hz to avoid the crashing.

a VPN is a great way to get you to be "present" on in institutional network, or other single point on the globe that is better than where you are actually located.

Many vendors push their VPN software as a way to improve security. Nothing could be further from the truth. A VPN sends all your data over EXACTLY the same wires to a point of the Internet where it is concentrated for easy data harvesting. VPN vendors have already been fined for doing this, regardless of their promises to the contrary.

But you do not have A VPN installed. you have at least parts of FOUR:

 VPNs:

    [Loaded] HSSHydraNetworkExtension - /Applications/Hotspot Shield.app

    [Loaded] HSSWireGuardNetworkExtension - /Applications/Hotspot Shield.app

    [Loaded] HydraTunnelProvider - /Applications/Hotspot Shield.app

    [Loaded] WireguardTunnelProvider - /Applications/Hotspot Shield.app

¿What is the date of your most recent backup, and by what method?

<< Apple cannot reproduce the issue... >>

if you have a simple setup and a way way to reproduce the crashing every time in short order, contact support and ask them too ADD that setup to the main Bug Report.

This bug still exists on macOS 15.6.1. I am super disappointed. I pay premium prices for Apple products that are always marketed as “Pro” and “for professionals,” yet they still can’t support 4K 240Hz properly. This has been around for about a year with no fix. Every macOS update I try to enable 240Hz again, and every time it lets me down.

Same. 2-3 crashes per day. Have a Samsung LS49CG932SNXZA with a proper USB certified cable.

panic(cpu 0 caller 0xfffffe0027d03644): DCPEXT1 PANIC - apt firmware: dual_pipe.c:180 sync_pipe_end_of_config() --  - iomfb_mailbox(70)
apt firmware: dual_pipe.c:180 sync_pipe_end_of_config() -- 
RTKit: RTKit-2784.140.9.release - Client: AppleDCP-811.120.13~3320-t602xdcp.RELEASE
!UUID: a1000010-2140-1ed5-a178-80d201401ed5
ASLR slide: 0x000000000005c000
Time: 0x000003d7c050d606

Faulting task  70 Call Stack: 0x000000000007b884 0x000000000007b24c 0x000000000007b058 0x0000000000073cb8 0x00000000001d8298 0x0000000000212060 0x0000000000211dac 0x000000000020f294 0x000000000007bcb8 0x00000000000768b4 000000000000000000
RTKit Task List:
   name                    | pri     | stack use | status     | resource | warning
 0 rtk_background          | 007     |   832/2048  | SEMWAIT    | 0x958600 | 
      0x0000000000075d38 0x0000000000076d6c 0x000000000007bc4c 0x00000000000768b4

 1 rtk_ep_work             | 057     |   904/2048  | SEMWAIT    | 0x954be0 | 
      0x0000000000075d38 0x0000000000076d6c 0x000000000007bc4c 0x00000000000768b4

 2 log_tx                  | 007     |   608/2048  | SEMWAIT    | 0x9416f0 | 
      0x0000000000075d38 0x0000000000076d6c 0x000000000007bc4c 0x00000000000768b4

 3 log_flush               | 015     |   928/4096  | SEMWAIT    | 0x940a90 | 
      0x0000000000075d38 0x0000000000076d6c 0x0000000000082404 0x00000000000768b4

 4 tracekit_work           | 007     |   592/4096  | SEMWAIT    | 0x93e5c0 | 
      0x0000000000075d38 0x0000000000076d6c 0x000000000007bc4c 0x00000000000768b4

 5 power                   | 000     |  1568/65536 | RUNNABLE   | 0x7356a8 | 
      0x0000000000075d38 0x000000000007aa24 0x000000000007a744 0x00000000000768b4

 6 Terminator              | 015     |   416/2048  | SEMWAIT    | 0x92cc90 | 
      0x0000000000075d38 0x0000000000076d6c 0x000000000007bc4c 0x00000000000768b4

 7 main                    | 015     |  8656/40960 | SEMWAIT    | 0x928170 | 
      0x0000000000075d38 0x0000000000076d6c 0x000000000007bc4c 0x000000000006a384 0x000000000006c60c

 8 dcpexpert               | 015     |   240/16368 | SEMWAIT    | 0xffffffff0c011f40 | 
      0x0000000000075d38 0x0000000000076d6c 0x000000000007bc4c 0x00000000000768b4

 9 rtkitpmgr               | 015     |   240/16368 | SEMWAIT    | 0xffffffff0c031f40 | 
      0x0000000000075d38 0x0000000000076d6c 0x000000000007bc4c 0x00000000000768b4

(snip)

I (and several others) have the exact same issue described in this thread using a direct HDMI connection to the monitor. This is obviously a software problem, and in any case it should never cause a kernel panic to select a refresh rate that is provided as an option by Mac OS when connected via Thunderbolt 4.