16" MBP GPU Panics

[am2am]

I believe there are different types of kernel panics reported/mixed here. Some are hardware related, the others (me including) may be software driven.

In my case I did experience my first KP after 10.15.4 (using it since Nov 2019) in a very specific case (connected to charger with lid closed). It happened few times. As a workaround I've disabled power nap and have never seen it again.
Now, few days with 10.15.5, power nap enabled again and no kernel panics so far.
I believe this specific case might be fixed with 10.15.5 (still need to wait few weeks to be sure).

 

[mim]

Just chiming in here.

I have the PowerPlay panic [panic(cpu 0 caller 0xffffff7f9bdc197b): GPU Panic: mux-regs 10 3 7f 1f 0 0 severity 3 WS-ready 1 switch-state 3 IG FBs 1 EG FBs 0:0 power-state 4 3D idle HDA idle system-state 1 power-level 20:20 power-retry 0:0 connect-change 0 : PowerPlay Failed Resume].

Started in March, and has gotten progressively worse.

Originally was just a wake on sleep issue, but now the machine is incredibly unreliable to the point it's difficult to use for anything serious. I've had the kernel panics happen during things ranging from using Lightroom, to having 2 tabs open in Safari and nothing else, to trying to open Motion, to plugging in a USB drive.

I have had three session with Apple Senior Technical Advisors. The first one was suggesting it was a hardware issue. The following two recommended waiting for 10.15.5 where it would be addressed in a software update.

I've installed 10.15.5, and have had exactly the same issues. I'd suggest that if you're getting the PowerPlay panics, it's hardware related and you should push for a full replacement. I'll be booking in at a Genius Bar asap to be handing mine over and walking out with a new one. I suggest anyone else does the same. Sounds a bit like being prick, but from long experience with Apple it's the only way they'll start taking this seriously unfortunately. Make sure you have a good record of the problems (a diary, with issues listed by day).

 

[PeterJP]

Bad news I just got my first crash in front of my eyes. I was on the phone, the screen turned off and when I tried to wake the computer, it didn't move. After a few attempts, the Apple logo appeared and it rebooted. No pop-up about a crash and no panic log in /Library/Logs, though. I'm still on 10.15.3 and I wasn't doing anything special (a few Microsoft Office apps open, not much else).

[Edit] I had Power Nap on only when plugged in, but the previous crashes while sleeping, the computer was never plugged in. So my case seems to be different from @am2am.

 

[kristof46]

Most if not every cases are related to software. Probably drivers issue.
I know it is frustrating. I also had kernel panic on previous Mac. Now I have new one (from 3 weeks) with 10.15.3 on board and I won't go anywhere until it will be safe. But if we want them to work hard on this we have to call them or send feedback. Maybe after 10.15.5 update they think everything is fine.
@StolenPhone I've read on previous page that you are on 10.15.3. Is it true or you updated your Mac. I have 10.15.3 and so far so good but I am not sure if gpu test could show anything on this soft. Btw my MBP16 is from April (week 15) 2020.
I am also wondering why (if it is hardware issue) problem occurs on 10.15.4 and later. Usually on 10.15.3 everything is fine.

 

[Hjupter Cerrud]

Bad news I just got my first crash in front of my eyes. I was on the phone, the screen turned off and when I tried to wake the computer, it didn't move. After a few attempts, the Apple logo appeared and it rebooted. No pop-up about a crash and no panic log in /Library/Logs, though. I'm still on 10.15.3 and I wasn't doing anything special (a few Microsoft Office apps open, not much else).

[Edit] I had Power Nap on only when plugged in, but the previous crashes while sleeping, the computer was never plugged in. So my case seems to be different from @am2am.

I updated from 10.15.3 to 10.15.5 and haven't seen a single kernel panic so far, I currently have power nap only when plugged in but that was the default settings.

 

[kristof46]

Maybe that is also a solution. I mean clean install if you are update from 10.15.4. Sometimes update doesn't have to help you and some bugs are still in it. Anyway. @Hjupter Cerrud you are very brave men I have 10.15.3 and won't go anywhere

 

[Hjupter Cerrud]

Maybe that is also a solution. I mean clean install if you are update from 10.15.4. Sometimes update doesn't have to help you and some bugs are still in it. Anyway. @Hjupter Cerrud you are very brave men I have 10.15.3 and won't go anywhere

Yeah from all the posts I have read seems like almost all the problems are happening on 10.15.4 so clean install makes much more sense than upgrading from 15.4 to 15.5.

So far I've been enjoying my MBP 16 without issues at all, I wish my battery would last more than 5 hours but I'm doing game dev all the time so I can ask too much I guess.

 

[PeterJP]

I updated from 10.15.3 to 10.15.5 and haven't seen a single kernel panic so far, I currently have power nap only when plugged in but that was the default settings.

I might try updating directly to 10.15.5 then. I just called Apple again. They asked me to if the situation got worse. I got transfered to a senior engineer who walked me through a couple of cleanup operations and told me to try again with sleep at night. If that doesn't work, he also advised a clean install. After the update to 10.15.5 would then be a good idea. He confirmed again that it's a software issue, so we should eventually expect a fix.

 

[maksimt]

On my previous 16" MBP (crash every time on sleep, crash every time on login screen unless I have multiple TB3 ports occupied with the "thunderbolt power on" panic) a full disk erase + internet recovery install of 10.15.5, SMC reset, and the 10.15.5 supplemental update didn't help at all.

I got a new 16" MBP thanks to the vendor I bought from (no thanks to ). So far so good, no problem starting, sleep.

My broken 16" MBP was manufactured week 16 2020 at factory C0. This one is manufactured week 20 2020 at factory C0, all other specs are the same.

 

[bimmersooner]

Sad to say I'm also part of this club too. I'm on 10.15.5 and just purchased my laptop (used model from B&H) just over a week ago. This model has had kernel panic and reboot loops from the first time I opened it and I can tell that the previous owner also suffered through the same issue. My info for those who are interested:

Production year : 2019
Production week : 43 (October)
Model introduced: 2019
Capacity: 500GB
Factory: C1 (China (If you know by which factory please tell us!))

Normally I'd return it to the store, but I got an excellent deal (1,750 with tax!) and they don't have another similar unit in stock. Plus, I have time sitting at home to pressure apple to fix this machine. In the meantime, the phone support agent told me to just buy and return another unit so I can continue working. I walked into an Apple retail store and announced that that's exactly what I'll be doing...call it an informal loaner program (I feel horrible doing it, but what choice does Apple give me? Apologies to the retail store staff in charge of taking back returns). The manager was sympathetic, but didn't seem interested in making it right immediately.

My unit can only boot into safe mode and kernel panics occur multiple times per hour. If I don't boot into safe mode, the machine will loop continuously. I've also been through the same issues with support as many of you, including the pretending that they don't know about this issue, insistence on blaming software/reinstallation of the OS, telling me to live with different power management settings (fine for now, but long term that's not acceptable) and live with being only able to use the machine in safe mode (not OK even short term). I've dealt with four senior technicians so far, and they're all insisting that I just live with the issue.

They've told me the same thing they told many of you earlier, that the apple engineers received my report, are aware of the problem and that the fix is coming soon. Reading your old replies makes me even more upset. I saw someone post about feeling like they were being gaslighted and that hits the nail on the head. I'm stubborn as hell, and will continue calling in, acting (very reluctantly) in bad faith by abusing the reutrn system, and calling them until everyone in that office knows my name and hates my f****g guts. Hate that it has to be this way.

 

[matram]

My unit can only boot into safe mode and kernel panics occur multiple times per hour.

Are you saying that you can only run in safe mode (I assume with no external equipment connected) and that you have done a clean install of Catalina and you still get multiple kernel panics per hour?

To me this does not sound to be the OP problem, can you share the panic log.

 

[bimmersooner]

Are you saying that you can only run in safe mode (I assume with no external equipment connected) and that you have done a clean install of Catalina and you still get multiple kernel panics per hour?

To me this does not sound to be the OP problem, can you share the panic log.

Yeah this may be a different flavor of the problem. I have not yet connected any external equipment, with the exception of a thumb drive to complete the clean reinstall today. The machine will not finish boot if I do not enter safe mode. These crashes occur in safe mode, which is different than some have experienced. Many posters have noted though that this is something that gets worse over time. Maybe my problem is further along since my laptop was manufactured in October.

I clean installed today with the help of a technician. I also sent the laptop in for service, and they clean installed as well (10.5.4) on 6/3/20.

Some of my logs show power play failed resume, but not all of them.

 

[matram]

Thank you for sharing. First panic log looks like problem with changing power state which is a known issue, but I fail to understand how you could be changing power state several times an hour, what are you doing when you get the KP?

Personally I have no KP on my 16” related to the GPU.

Some years ago, when running a buggy beta of OSX I found that it made a difference if I had an external monitor connected during boot. Basically the only why I could boot was with an external monitor, once booted I could disconnect the monitor.

 

[noahc]

Just stumbled upon this thread while trying to diagnose issues with my own 16" MBP. Purchased in November, arrived in December, my corporate IT was not ready to support Catalina so it sat from January until May waiting and waiting -- but finally they were ready to support Catalina so we got it all set-up and I started using it at home. Hallelujah, I have missed you Mac! But a week into using the Mac... uh oh. PowerPlay issues and Kernal Panics galore at startup. I can only get it to boot into safe mode some of the time. I really do believe this is a hardware issue, which will be especially difficult to fix given all the closed Apple Stores. Sigh.

 

[noahc]

And as a follow-up, called support and they offered to replace the logic board by mail. So, i should have a computer back with a new logic board in about 1-2 weeks (ARGH!!!) and then we'll see if that actually helped.

 

[Grohowiak]

After reading this thread I'm sitting and trying to crash my week 13 (Apr 2020 production) base model.
It is a refurb purchased a week ago. So far nothing.
Only thing left to try is to connected it to external screen which I am about to do.
Got another 6 days before return period closes so wanna be sure as much as possible that it works ok.

**** Edit. On power, external monitor connected, MacBook lid open I can put it to sleep as many times as I want. Then I closed the lid, typed some things in safari on external screen and put it to sleep. On restart, keyboard lit up but the whole thing was dark for about 3 minutes. Restarted using the button and once logged in fans went nuts full speed for about 45 seconds.
So at this point I'm not sure I will be keeping this thing even though this looks like a drivers issue.

 

[multidima]

I did not have a kernel panic, but there were freezes of the picture when working with igpu. I had to open - close the lid of the laptop
After installing 10.15.6 beta 2, I have not observed problems for the second day

 

[PeterJP]

Things aren't getting better for me. As per the advice of Apple support, I first reinstalled macOS (didn't fix it), then wiped the disk and reinstalled it (didn't fix it). It's actually gotten worse. I just got a PowerPlay failed to resume kernel panic while plugging in an external monitor. I'm on 15.5 now. My MBP 16 was produced in week 2 of 2020. Next thing I'll be doing is calling them *again* to insist this machine should be replaced. Every call, they keep telling me it's software and will be fixed eventually. I'm starting to think they do this to convince me and that the actual cause isn't known.

 

[Cosmo M3]

And as a follow-up, called support and they offered to replace the logic board by mail. So, i should have a computer back with a new logic board in about 1-2 weeks (ARGH!!!) and then we'll see if that actually helped.

I've had my logic board replace with a 24 hour turnaround - it did not fix my issue.

 

[l|lll||l|l]

Today, I have decided to call Apple Support to get an answer. I was able to get in contact with their engineering team and they are aware of this issue and is on their "Priority List". I have asked them specifically—"Is this a Hardware Issue or a Software Issue?" and they told me explicitly it is indeed a Software Issue like many of you guys have deduced.

They told me they are working to fix it for the upcoming patch (idk when. should've asked). They said if the patch is relatively small, it might be in the 10.15.6 unless they think it's a bigger patch, then will be 10.16.0 (which honestly is pretty obvious but nevertheless).

I was wary of this issue in the past because if I really did bring my MacBook into the Apple Store, I really didn't know what they would do to fix this if it's an OS problem (now confirmed). I mean, replacing the MacBook with a new one isn't going to solve an inherent OS problem, and neither would switching internals. And I did not want to waste my time, risk getting the virus going outside, and be left without a computer for who knows how many days. Seems like my guts were correct, and I am pretty glad I didn't bring mine into the store to waste my time...

In the meantime, I guess the best course of action is to sit tight and wait for that next update/patch...

--

I have had the kernel panic issue with my 2019 16" MacBook Pro with and without connecting to the external display, every time it goes to sleep or shuts down. Energy/Power saving mode turned on and off did not help, resetting SMC did not help. Yall arguing if it's software vs hardware so I decided to take it upon myself and ask them directly loll

 

[FarSawreyLandscape]

macOS Catalina 10.15.6 Beta 2 has not resolved the issue for me (Week 17 2020 MBP 16 i9-9980HK with AMD 8GB 5500M). Have tried many combinations of disabling hibernation, disabling GPU switching, external display, no external display, etc, all with no success. Only prevention is to use amphetamine to disable sleep!

I had a hypothesis that it was related to if the Mac sleeps while the AMD GPU is active but have verified today that is not the case by allowing the computer to sleep while only the 630 Graphics were active.

Also reluctant to go through the physical repair process if in fact this is a software issue, but as I say, 10.15.6 Beta 2 has not resolved in my case.

 

[l|lll||l|l]

macOS Catalina 10.15.6 Beta 2 has not resolved the issue for me (Week 17 2020 MBP 16 i9-9980HK with AMD 8GB 5500M). Have tried many combinations of disabling hibernation, disabling GPU switching, external display, no external display, etc, all with no success. Only prevention is to use amphetamine to disable sleep!

I had a hypothesis that it was related to if the Mac sleeps while the AMD GPU is active but have verified today that is not the case by allowing the computer to sleep while only the 630 Graphics were active.

Also reluctant to go through the physical repair process if in fact this is a software issue, but as I say, 10.15.6 Beta 2 has not resolved in my case.

It might vary by individuals since some have said they got their MacBooks or internals replaced and are in working order so some could be hardware issue as well.

But IMHO, those that state they got their MacBooks replaced or internals replaced don’t seem to share what version of OS the new laptop is running at (and whether they have upgraded to 10.15.5 with their new MacBooks 🧐🤨).. People that have gotten theirs replaced are saying it’s purely hardware issue don’t seem to want to actually upgrade their MacBooks up to the 10.15.5 to risk getting theirs bricked, which is understandable, but the whole logic of “it has to be hardware issue” falls apart.

But who knows, it might be a combination of the two 🤷🏻‍♂️ I just find it weird that this happens only to 16” 2019 models which is v odd. Anyways, regardless of Software vs Hardware, it’s undeniable that this issue is v unacceptable and that Apple is taking a LONG time to issue a fix (whether through OS update, hardware replacement, etc.) for all of us who depend on this machine for our work.

 

[matram]

I bought both my current 16” and my old 2016 15” when they launched.

The 2016 also had some initial issues but they were mostly fixed by Apple within a few months.

Although I believe these are SW issues I am also wondering why it takes Apple so much time to fix?

Maybe there are big under-the-hood changes in Catalina, stripping out 32-bit code maybe preparing for ARM that relate to this issue.

If the issue tie into major OS changed Apple think this is too big for a point release.

 

[l|lll||l|l]

I bought both my current 16” and my old 2016 15” when they launched.

The 2016 also had some initial issues but they were mostly fixed by Apple within a few months.

Although I believe these are SW issues I am also wondering why it takes Apple so much time to fix?

Maybe there are big under-the-hood changes in Catalina, stripping out 32-bit code maybe preparing for ARM that relate to this issue.

If the issue tie into major OS changed Apple think this is too big for a point release.

If I am correct, the OS version that started breaking computers is 10.15.4—released near the end of March. If they do have a fix coming up in the nearest days or weeks, I guess it still falls within "a fix of a couple of months". But yeah, I don't think no one really knows why they are taking so long to fix, given the severity of the issue (a $3000+ computer that doesn't start...). Let's hope they fix this and so we can happily go back to work.

My friend that also has the 16" 2019 model is sitting on his 10.15.3 (working graciously) and relies on me for updates on this issue haha

 

[matram]

My picture was that their were KP related to externally connected TB euipment from the first Catalina release. In my case for CalDigit TS3+, for me they still persist.

On the first Catalina release .1 I could not switch into the dGPU when connnecting to a beamer, black screen.Once I had this condition the only solution was to power cycle, but no KP. This was a bit improved in .2 release but still remained. I have not experienced anything new with .4. My issues have been there from the start, but it looks like
new problems with .4, maybe as a consequence of trying to fix old probelems.

One caveat is that instead of travelling to Japan and holding WS I now do Zoom workshops so the use case has changed a bit.

I guess my key point is that Apple has been more responisve before on fixing issues in a new model.