Frequent crashes "panic" on iMac 27" retina 5K 2017 iMac18,3

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Frequent crashes "panic" on iMac 27" retina 5K 2017 iMac18,3

Hello,

I hope somebody can help. Recently my iMac (18,3) 27 retina 5K with four core intel Core i5 has started crashing over and over again.

64 GB memory, startup disk is an Aura Pro X2 1TB. This has only the system and applications. Everything else is on other disks.

I am running Ventura 13.7.2 (22H313).

Today I noticed that the computer was very sluggish and the mouse was hard to move, when I opened Activity Monitor I saw that the kernel_task was using around 80% of CPU and shortly after it crashed. I only had Photoshop and Safari in use apart from the Activity Monitor.

Typically I will not be running many applications, just Photoshop, Excel, Mail and Safari. I use Dropbox and Tresorit that synch storage online. Creative Cloud is often open in the background.

It usually when I am not using it (I do not see it happen, just the result), but today I saw it freeze and be unresponsive. Shortly afterwards it crashed.

I have tried reinstalling the system and new drivers for external drives. But it is still happening.

I have ran disk utility many times.

After the last crash the kernel task went down to 18% but is now up to 74% even though only safari and Activity Monitor is running.

I am trying to understand the crash reports but I don't. I have enclosed two different ones with this post.

Thanks for any help you can give.

Best, Knut

Crash report 2 (today)

crash report 1

iMac 27″ 5K, macOS 13.7

Posted on Jan 14, 2025 5:38 AM

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Answer 1

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HWTech

Level 9

62,156 points

Jan 14, 2025 8:45 AM in response to kasdam

The first Kernel Panic is referencing an NVMe based SSD issue...it is most likely the internal SSD, but it you have an external NVMe based SSD connected by Thunderbolt, then it could possibly be that one.

The second Kernel Panic is less insightful, but it does mention USB storage in the backtrace which again suggests a possible storage related issue. The logs also show several third party storage drivers are installed which could play a part as well.

Since the two Kernel Panics are different, it also suggests a possible memory related issue.

Run the third party app EtreCheck and post the complete report here so we can examine it for more clues.

How to use the Add Text Feature When Posting an EtreCheck Report - Apple Community

You may also want to try running the Apple Diagnostics to see if any hardware issues are detected.

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Answer 2

HWTech

Level 9

62,156 points

Jan 14, 2025 8:44 PM in response to kasdam

@g_wolfman has great advice for disconnecting all external storage devices, but I would go further & disconnect all external devices except for the keyboard & mouse.

Only two of the Kernel Panics (out of 10) are directly related to storage. The 8 other Kernel Panics with Page Faults are more likely due to memory issues even though USB storage was included in the backtrace of the first Kernel Panic log you posted. I think a memory or Logic Board issue may be the primary issue here which is resulting the NVMe & USB drivers having issues.

Definitely disconnect all external devices and run the Apple Diagnostics to see if any hardware issues are detected. Unfortunately the diagnostics are only useful if an error is encountered.

To perform a longer & more thorough memory test, create & use a bootable MemTest86 USB stick. Just make sure to use the default MemTest86 settings or the test will cause a system freeze requiring a hard power off.

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Answer 3

g_wolfman

Level 4

2,506 points

Jan 14, 2025 7:47 PM in response to kasdam

The kernel panics are from an NVMe controller and from the IOKit mass storage driver - which likely means the same root source, but slight differences in bus timing and what part of the I/O operations cycle the disk is in are affecting what is reported in the crash logs.

Simple test - disconnect the external drive(s) and restart. If you are still getting kernel panics - then the issue is likely the NVMe Aura Pro or something in the logic board itself (possibly the PCIe controller).

There are also a number of remnants of launch daemons and agents that should be cleaned up because there are no executables for them anymore - likely programs you uninstalled by dragging to the trash when they had additional components.

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Answer 4

kasdam Author

Level 1

11 points

Jan 15, 2025 5:48 AM in response to g_wolfman

Thanks so much. I had previously started in my usual Admin user without any external volumes connected and still got crashes, but starting up as root, with no volumes connected i have no issues. the computer is stable and has not crashed all day. (I have nothing running except terminal and activity monitor. this is written from another computer). I should get rid of the launch daemons then. Do you know if I should get rid of kernels too?

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Answer 5

g_wolfman

Level 4

2,506 points

Jan 15, 2025 4:49 PM in response to kasdam

I'm not entirely sure when you say you started as "root" if you mean you started in Safe Mode, or in Single User mode, or if you disabled rootless and actually logged in as root into a GUI environment. So it is a bit hard to advise on next steps.

That said - if you have been able to start up and keep the system stable, the cause may be software related and page faults that kernel panic the system usually involve third-party kernel extensions. So now the question becomes what software you have installed that includes kernel extensions - and what kernel extensions are actual loaded or running during a normal boot cycles.

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Answer 6

kasdam Author

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11 points

Jan 14, 2025 11:23 AM in response to HWTech

Thanks a lot for your response.

I have enclosed the EtreCheck report here. Hope it is useful.

(Btw the computer had crashed again even when only safari was running.)

Thank you again, very curious about what can be found out.

Knut

EtreCheckPro report

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Answer 7

kasdam Author

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11 points

Jan 15, 2025 5:43 AM in response to HWTech

Thank you again. I am having problems making the MemTest86 USB stick, so I havent tried that yet. the first Terminal commands are easy, but the one where the creation of the disk itself i cant make work. I log in as root, of course. (As root, use the 'dd' command to write the image to the USB drive. For example, sudo dd if=memtest86-usb.img of=<dev> conv=sync where <dev> is the device the USB key is assigned to obtained from the previous command. Use the base device (ie. /dev/disk1) not a partition designation (ie. /dev/disk1s1).

Apple Diagnostics did not find any hardware issue. I also have dont disk utility first aid on all my volumes previously and again now.

I had previously started up without the external disks, but in my regular Admin mode, and then I still got crashes. But after starting up as root and with no external disks connected, I have had no problems at all over several hours. So I am glad it then seems to be a software issue. Kernel_taks is only around 7,5. No other software than Terminal and activity monitor is running.

I got the EtreCheck Pro yesterday and it suggested as one of the solutions that is might be time to buy a new computer... :-) But now I have hope I can fix it somehow.

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Answer 8

kasdam Author

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11 points

Jan 16, 2025 3:27 AM in response to g_wolfman

Hello :-) Yes you can log in as a root user on mac, but you have to enable it and create a password in the Directory Utility app. I think there are a couple of ways to get to the app but the simplest is to search in Spotlight Search (magnifying icon in menu bar) and search for Directory Utility and open the app -> Click on the lock icon and open with user+pw -> Edit -> Enable Root User -> create a password for the root user. Then restart and log in as root. I was adviced to disable the root user after use due to security.

I think I have concluded that it is a software problem with my computer.

At first I was very worried it was hardware issues, particularly after reinstalling the system several times, and looking alot around online and seeing some have had problems with the OWC SSD media I have as my startup, some have had problems with the LaCie BigDock disks, and some have had problems with memory and with a the Alogic dock I have connected. I have troubleshot and tested all of those now, and there doesn't seem to be any problems with any of them. And, starting up in a root user, I have connected all the peripherals and have no problems.

The result with starting up in root were very encouraging, and in the end I went the old school basic way:

Erased the startup volume and reinstalled system and only the apps I use from scratch. I hope then not to have to deal with any old remains of software.

So far everything works well.

This is very basic, and I should perhaps have done it right away.

I am reinstalling only the software I use, and doing it systematically, so I can catch issues/crashes and link them to either the software I just installed or its interaction with the rest. Should make it easier for me to control the situation.

I know the iMac is old (late 2017) but the fact is, that even as an image and video professional, I can do everything I need to do on it in high quality. (I don't work in 3d though). I don't actually need a new computer in relation to performance. I like the idea of not having to buy a new computer unless I actually need higher performance.

Thanks so much to you @g_wolfman and to you @HWTech who both enabled me to look a bit deeper in my trouble shooting. I am really happy to have gotten good help here. Thanks!

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Answer 9

HWTech

Level 9

62,156 points

Jan 16, 2025 6:18 AM in response to kasdam

kasdam wrote:

Thank you again. I am having problems making the MemTest86 USB stick, so I havent tried that yet. the first Terminal commands are easy, but the one where the creation of the disk itself i cant make work. I log in as root, of course. (As root, use the 'dd' command to write the image to the USB drive. For example, sudo dd if=memtest86-usb.img of=<dev> conv=sync where <dev> is the device the USB key is assigned to obtained from the previous command. Use the base device (ie. /dev/disk1) not a partition designation (ie. /dev/disk1s1).

With the command line you must give the proper full path to the source file (MemTest86-usb.img) and the device identifier for the physical USB stick (retrieved from Disk Utility). If either are wrong, then the command will fail.

You should be able to use the downloaded MemTest86 .img as a source for Etcher (Mac, Windows, Linux) in order to create the bootablem MemTest86 USB stick.

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