almost daily kernel panics

[Jim]

Are they still calling them "kernel panics" when the computer freezes for a few seconds, and then reboots itself? I don't see that term in the System Report as in the past, because the System Reports don't say jack any longer. Anyway...

I've been getting one almost daily, some days more than one, almost always when DP is either playing or I click on the DP GUI. I got ONE when I was Screen Sharing another Mac, and double-clicked a video file on the other Mac. Otherwise, all DP related.

I've had the Mini M4 Pro for five months, and these are all on this computer. Before I was using a MacPro7,1 (tower), and I don't think I had but two or so KPs on that computer in the four hard years I had it in service. So, I definitely blame this on the Mini M4 Pro.

I'm not ready to blame this 100% on DP, but possibly my Focusrite Scarlett Solo interface or the underlying AV architecture on the Mini. Occasionally, after the reboot, my Scarlett is missing in DP and AudioMIDISetup. Unplugging and re-plugging the USB connection usually brings it back.

As you probably know, the drivers for audio interfaces are built-in to the Mac OS, so the only way I know to reinstall the drivers is to reinstall the OS. That's been my successful routine for OS related issues for a few years, given the bad rap that many OS utilities have gotten since Disk Warrior. That's not as onerous as it use to be when a reinstall took over an hour. Now, it takes around 15-20 minutes.

Possibly related: DP crashes A LOT - usually on Quit or Opening a Project. Projects usually open fine after the first crash. I started another thread here a few years back to the effect of "DP crashes more than any other app I use." That has continued to be the case. I use DP a lot, but I also use Mail and Firefox continuously, and After Effects, Resolve, Premiere, Photoshop, Illustrator several hours per day, all of which rarely crash. And, I daily use some utilities that have never crashed (so far).

Given that Resolve and Premiere use the same AV architecture as DP, and have not produced any KPs, that made me think the combo of DP and the 88.2 sample rate and 24 or 32-bit depths may be the issue, but I've also gotten the KPs when in 44.1 and 16 or 24-bit Projects.

Resolve doesn't support 88.1 projects. It maxes at 48. Premier does support 88.1 and maybe 96, but I haven't tried 96.

[mikehalloran]

Old obsolete .kxt files trying to load in later macOS are one of the normal causes. Gotta find and purge them. This is time consuming as hell but is doable through the Activity Monitor. I have a list of known suspects. Apple Engineering can help you find them if you get a senior support tech willing to send the reports to them—they don’t like to do it, however.

Purging the Users/ /preferences can help.

Permissions issues are the other. You never did resolve the ones you reported in the past.

[labman]

We even found that a certain monitor screen brand was causing KP's on mac pros running Big Sur or beyond. (BenQ) Fought it for weeks. Removed that screen in favor of all Dell Ultrasharps and Ravens and all has been well since. Weird.

[Jim]

FWiW, here's what perplexity ai had to say about the topic:
https://www.perplexity.ai/search/what- ... jjGgdJWQ#0

I'm wary of deleting .kext files, but I suppose if a device stops working because I did that, I can reinstall the driver or the OS.

Looks like a lot of them are installed by the OS, including for hardware I don't have (such as for Highpoint PCIe cards). There are 877 .kext files in my system. Yikes.

Based on the sum of this intelligence, a likely culprit is an external backup hard disk, mounted by a USB to SATA adapter. I generally unmount those when working with audio, because they can cause noise in my audio (Unmounting stops the noise.), but they're still connected physically.

I'm sorry to hear BenQ displays can be a problem. I've read good things about their color fidelity. I considered them on my last upgrade, but ended up getting an Eizo, which were similarly well reviewed and priced. I will try unplugging it, as I rarely use it for my work with DP.

Thanks for the replies, gents.