Macbook Pro M3 Max with Dell u4025QW - Frequent Kernel Panics

if you can produce an etrecheck report, please post it. Many Readers may find things that one Reader does not see immediately.

then use the "additional text" icon in the reply footer, and PASTE the clipboard into that window.

...

Turn off, put hard drive to sleep in Energy Saver Settings.

Try a different thunderbolt port.

Try an HDMI or Displayport cable if viable instead of a straight thunderbolt cable.

Try not using USB peripherals dangling off the monitor.

Your situation is very complicated.

Data abort says that when data was being read or written (and every read or write is through the cache) a Hardware error occurred. The saved instances all point back to windowserver.

What you would LIKE to do, is take you Mac to Apple and tell them it has a Hardware error. But to get the Genius Bar to listen, it has to:

• fail the diagnostic or

•. cause an unmistakable hardware problem on demand. They are nit trained to read reports and logs.

that leaves you talking to Apple support. when the first responders look at this, they have two responses:

first, it must be third-party software.

second: they are not trained to read reposts and log either, so ONLY a specialist can help. You have to push to get them to have a specialist contact you.

Along the way, you still have to deflect their first complaint, that it must be third-paty software that did this. There are two ways to accomplish that, and it may eventually take BOTH to convince them.

Before you proceed, you need to go get a full panic report, and post the first part of it on the forums to have a permeant record that everyone (including support) can refer to. I will post the procedure in next post.

continuing on with the main process, the two ways are

First, to restart and run in Safe Mode, where almost NO third-party add-on are loaded. if you can get the problem to occur in safe mode, you are almost home.

Second, (which should only be required in extreme cases) is to re-install ONLY MacOS, and no third part packages or add-ons whatsoever. Typically this means ERASING the MacOS Volume before you re-install. This process may wipe out your stored panic reports, so before you do that extreme step, use the procedure in the next post to set aside a panic report, and save it to the forum.

Kernel Panic Reports are stored in the Folder at:

/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports

If you copy and paste that string into:

Finder > Go menu > Go to Folder

it will take you to the Folder where those reports are stored.

Kernel panic reports are named with Date&Time and start or end in ‘panic’

If you find one, please post as much as you can here, by using the “additional text” Icon in the reply footer (looks like a paper with writing). (Once the report devolves into incessant software-names or incessant Base-64 dumps with lots of AAAAAA lines, you are done.)

Please don’t post more about 20 lines of any other types of reports — they are interminable, and any information useful for this purpose is on the first screenful.

If you post your kernel panic here in its entirety, using the additional text icon in the reply footer, we do have some Readers (typically with developer background) who can attempt to interpret those panic reports. Even if no clear symptom emerges, this can still save a step if you DO need to contact Apple support later, because Apple Support specialists can read the panic reports you posted here, if you tell them what discussion or what Avatar.

From the Etrecheck report, the first occurance of the Panic was 11/15/2024 after installing iMovie. Are you sure the version of iMovie you have is relatively current?

Do the panics persist after removing iMovie with

https://freemacsoft.net/appcleaner/

Does the kernel panic ever happen when the Dell is not connected?

Have you tried connecting different cables to the Dell?

Have you tried connecting the Dell to different ports on the Mac?

Have you made sure the Dell has its own source of power?

Does the panic happen when the Finder is the only apparent running application?

Is put drives to sleep unchecked in System Settings for Power management/Energy Saver?

Do you have enough room on your hard drive to see if an copy of Sonoma can be put on a separate partition with no added plugins, drivers, or added software, to see if it is specific to how Sonoma reacts to the Dell's firmware?

Is there a reproducible set of steps to get the panic to happen?

The problem listed in your panic reports suggests a hardware problem inside your Mac, NOT a software issue, NOT a "compatibility problem", not some sort of performance problem.

The HDMI interface is comparable to the other display interfaces, and my expectation is that this connection will be no better, and likely no different.

I suggest you do the best you can reasonably do to comply, and try to convince your apple specialists what a burden this is, just as you have quitter above.

You now have a terse, well organized statement about why it is so hard for you to comply.

[in my opinion] the panics you showed could not have been caused by any ordinary software issues.

Have they provided a specialist who has read your reports? If not, try to insist on a specialist who can read those reports.

David Kohl wrote:

So what are you suggesting? Is this a MBP hardware problem or a Dell monitor problem?

"" What you would LIKE to do, is take you Mac to Apple and tell them it has a Hardware error. ""

I have always maintained that this is a Hardware issue, and that the challenge was convincing Apple of the hardware error, because it is so obscure.

In my opinion, you want them to replace your mainboard. it's just a matter of convincing Apple that is warranted.