My Mac Mini restarts without warning and it causes me problems. How can I troubleshoot this?

[saldin]

I don't usually notice it when it happens, but it happened just now: the monitor was sleeping, then the login screen came up, and then it went to sleep again. This meant the computer restarted. I get the "you shut down your computer because of a problem" dialog box upon log in but it doesn't tell me anything and I'm in the dark as to what happened.

It causes me a lot of problems, the bigger being that I have external disks shared on the network whose shares stop working after every restart. The only way for me to fix this is to set the sharing slider to "off", restart it again, log in, wait until all disks are mounted, and then set the share slider to "on"; nothing else works.

Is there a way to see all power on and restart/power off events and their reasons? How can I start troubleshoot this? Is there a way to at least have file sharing reliably resume after an unplanned restart? Windows machines I've used don't do these things and it frustrates me...

Thanks in advance.

 

[BrianBaughn]

First…which Mini model and what version of macOS?

I'm assuming your sharing situation (your second paragraph) would be the same if you restarted manually and weren't experiencing the unexpected restarts?

The Console app might provide some decent information about the crashes.

 

[saldin]

First…which Mini model and what version of macOS?

I'm assuming your sharing situation (your second paragraph) would be the same if you restarted manually and weren't experiencing the unexpected restarts?

The Console app might provide some decent information about the crashes.

It's a Mini M2 running Sonoma 14.3, and my first desktop Mac ever: I've only used Mac laptops until now, so it's uncommon for me to have a Mac that's always connected and powered on.

Regarding the file sharing, yes, even if the Mini is to be restarted or shut down cleanly, if I forget to manually turn off file sharing before, and turn it back on, clients will not be able to access the files after a restart.

My user is standard and I cannot see anything in console.app. Is there a way to run console.app as an admin user, like the Windows feature "run as"? Also, what section and keywords should I be looking for to get insight on the anomalous restarts? I'm accustomed to using Windows Event Viewer for work, and even though it's slow and not that good, events are neatly separated and it has tons of ways to filter out everything I don't care about...

Thanks in advance.

 

[Juicy Box]

Probably a longshot, but what monitor are you using? Like brand and model?

 

[saldin]

Probably a longshot, but what monitor are you using? Like brand and model?

It's an HP E22 G4, and I've had display issues with it as well: https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...c-on-screen-when-waking.2389486/post-32340055

 

[djc6]

I came here looking for answers to Kernel panics I have been experiencing on my 2018 mac mini

1PM yesterday and 4AM this morning, both times while I wasn't using the computer, my machine kernel panic'd, both times look like this below. I've also been having a hell of a time with the HDMI port on my mac mini since 14.3 - if I restart the machine, I need to disconnect my second monitor (usb-c to displayport) and re-attach it after the computer has booted up. Only this way can I use both HDMI port and usb-c to displayport on a 2nd monitor. If I don't disconnect the usb-c display on boot, then the display connected via HDMI never gets a signal.

If you go to Applications -> Utilities -> Console -> Crash Reports - do you have any with "Kernel" under the Process Name column, and if so could you copy/paste the output?

{"roots_installed":0,"caused_by":"macos","macos_version":"Mac OS X 14.3 (23D56)","os_version":"Bridge OS 8.3 (21P3049)","macos_system_state":"running","incident_id":"7554C508-7220-4C1B-A90C-866C9369E229","bridgeos_roots_installed":0,"bug_type":"210","timestamp":"2024-01-30 18:37:12.00 +0000"}
{
"build" : "Bridge OS 8.3 (21P3049)",
"product" : "iBridge2,5",
"socId" : "8012",
"socRevision" : "10",
"incident" : "7554C508-7220-4C1B-A90C-866C9369E229",
"crashReporterKey" : "c0dec0dec0dec0dec0dec0dec0dec0dec0de0001",
"kernel" : "Darwin Kernel Version 23.3.0: Wed Dec 20 22:31:16 PST 2023; root:xnu-10002.81.5~10\/RELEASE_ARM64_T8010",
"date" : "2024-01-30 18:37:12.32 +0000",
"panicString" : "panic(cpu 0 caller 0xfffffff02628af60): x86 CPU CATERR detected\nDebugger message: panic\nMemory ID: 0x6\nOS release type: User\nOS version: 21P3049\nmacOS version: 23D56\nKernel version: Darwin Kernel Version 23.3.0: Wed Dec 20 22:31:16 PST 2023; root:xnu-10002.81.5~10\/RELEASE_ARM64_T8010\nKernelCache UUID: D08095F406D6052F68446FF6625BDE19\nKernel UUID: 98C51133-18A2-37CC-8054-0C2A5A0CC992\nBoot session UUID: 7554C508-7220-4C1B-A90C-866C9369E229\niBoot version: iBoot-10151.81.1\nsecure boot?: YES\nroots installed: 0\nx86 EFI Boot State: 0x16\nx86 System State: 0x0\nx86 Power State: 0x0\nx86 Shutdown Cause: 0x1\nx86 Previous Power Transitions: 0x70707060400\nPCIeUp link state: 0x89271614\nmacOS kernel slide: 0x2400000\nPaniclog version: 14\nKernel slide: 0x000000001fed8000\nKernel text base: 0xfffffff026edc000\nmach_absolute_time: 0xd849b767763\nEpoch Time: sec usec\n Boot : 0x65afce98 0x0003b98e\n Sleep : 0x00000000 0x00000000\n Wake : 0x00000000 0x00000000\n Calendar: 0x65b941bc 0x000bc1b8\n\nZone info:\n Zone map: 0xffffffdc117c8000 - 0xffffffe2117c8000\n . VM : 0xffffffdc117c8000 - 0xffffffdcf7e2c000\n . RO : 0xffffffdcf7e2c000 - 0xffffffdd44af8000\n . GEN0 : 0xffffffdd44af8000 - 0xffffffde2b15c000\n . GEN1 : 0xffffffde2b15c000 - 0xffffffdf117c0000\n . GEN2 : 0xffffffdf117c0000 - 0xffffffdff7e28000\n . GEN3 : 0xffffffdff7e28000 - 0xffffffe0de490000\n . DATA : 0xffffffe0de490000 - 0xffffffe2117c8000\n Metadata: 0xffffffe3e1c08000 - 0xffffffe3e3408000\n Bitmaps : 0xffffffe3e3408000 - 0xffffffe3e3524000\n Extra : 0 - 0\n\nTPIDRx_ELy = {1: 0xffffffde2b1b2ba8 0: 0x0000000000000000 0ro: 0x0000000000000000 }\nCORE 0 is the one that panicked. Check the full backtrace for details.\nCORE 1: PC=0xfffffff02709098c, LR=0xfffffff0276392f4, FP=0xffffffe3d61d78e0\nCompressor Info: 0% of compressed pages limit (OK) and 0% of segments limit (OK) with 0 swapfiles and OK swap space\nPanicked task 0xffffffdff7ee45d0: 0 pages, 169 threads: pid 0: kernel_task\nPanicked thread: 0xffffffde2b1b2ba8, backtrace: 0xffffffe3d642f6a0, tid: 375\n\t\t lr: 0xfffffff0270d6a90 fp: 0xffffffe3d642f710\n\t\t lr: 0xfffffff0272056f4 fp: 0xffffffe3d642f780\n\t\t lr: 0xfffffff027204728 fp: 0xffffffe3d642f8a0\n\t\t lr: 0xfffffff027099630 fp: 0xffffffe3d642f8b0\n\t\t lr: 0xfffffff0270d64cc fp: 0xffffffe3d642fc60\n\t\t lr: 0xfffffff027755030 fp: 0xffffffe3d642fc80\n\t\t lr: 0xfffffff02628af60 fp: 0xffffffe3d642fcb0\n\t\t lr: 0xfffffff026271f40 fp: 0xffffffe3d642fd10\n\t\t lr: 0xfffffff026278908 fp: 0xffffffe3d642fd60\n\t\t lr: 0xfffffff026272978 fp: 0xffffffe3d642fe00\n\t\t lr: 0xfffffff0262717d0 fp: 0xffffffe3d642fe30\n\t\t lr: 0xfffffff02712c034 fp: 0xffffffe3d642ff20\n\t\t lr: 0xfffffff0270a46c4 fp: 0x0000000000000000\n\n",

 

[djc6]

Nevermind, my machine is Intel and yours is Arm. I would still look for kernel panics in the console app

 

[saldin]

Nevermind, my machine is Intel and yours is Arm. I would still look for kernel panics in the console app

Where in the console app?

 

[djc6]

Where in the console app?

Pick Crash Reports on the side, look for the most recent one with "Kernel Panic" in the "Process Name" column. Post that output here.

 

[bzgnyc2]

I came here looking for answers to Kernel panics I have been experiencing on my 2018 mac mini

1PM yesterday and 4AM this morning, both times while I wasn't using the computer, my machine kernel panic'd, both times look like this below. I've also been having a hell of a time with the HDMI port on my mac mini since 14.3 - if I restart the machine, I need to disconnect my second monitor (usb-c to displayport) and re-attach it after the computer has booted up. Only this way can I use both HDMI port and usb-c to displayport on a 2nd monitor. If I don't disconnect the usb-c display on boot, then the display connected via HDMI never gets a signal.

If you go to Applications -> Utilities -> Console -> Crash Reports - do you have any with "Kernel" under the Process Name column, and if so could you copy/paste the output?

Interesting this looks like an echo of a bug that appeared back in 2020:

Mac Mini 2018 Kernel panic bug_type 210 a… - Apple Community

discussions.apple.com

It went on for months until a subsequent update included a BridgeOS update that fixed the problem. It's been a few years but I don't recall the fix of temporarily installing Big Sur fixing it for me. Off the top of my head, Mac Mini 2018 owners had to live with this until a security update in 2021 included a BridgeOS update that finally fixed the problem. I recall entirely disabling sleep mode is what I ended up doing.

The worst part of bugs in things like BridgeOS is that downgrading the OS doesn't downgrade the BridgeOS so its hard to go backwards.

Anyway, you're giving me another reason not to run Sonoma or even risk any update that includes Bridge OS 8.3 (21P3049).

 

[djc6]

Anyway, you're giving me another reason not to run Sonoma or even risk any update that includes Bridge OS 8.3 (21P3049).

I resolved my kernel panic issue in this other thread:

Mac Mini 2018 Kernel panic "x86 CPU CATERR detected" when OWC Thunderbay 4 connected

For the past week, my 2018 Mac Mini has been having a kernel panic "x86 CPU CATERR detected" a few times a day. I noticed it stops when I disconnect my nine year old OWC Thunderbay 4 (Thunderbolt 2 edition - purchased 2/9/2015). This is what I have tried so far: Different thunderbolt ports...

forums.macrumors.com

tl;dr my time machine spinning HDD failed after 8 years, no more kernel panics once I disconnected this drive. I am backing up now to an identical cold spare I bought back then - its backing up fine.