Unexpected Crashes on New MacBook Pro running macOS Sequoia

When the Mac goes into sleep mode only low-power components stay active, like the Always-On Processor (AOP). Now, plugging in headphones through the audio jack seems to trigger systems responsible for:

• detecting the audio device
• switching the audio path (DSP, AOP, RTKit)
• maybe even some sensors or power to the port

If something goes wrong with how that switching is handled during sleep, it looks like the AOP can throw a "data abort" error - which is exactly what we can see in the panic logs

There are some topics that mention this problem, ie. here:

macOS 15.4 causes nightly kernel panic (W… - Apple Community

hsetti wrote:

Hello,

For several days now, my MacBook Pro M14 has been crashing unexpectedly. While I'm browsing the internet, it suddenly restarts on its own and then generates the attached bug report. My Mac is brand new, running the latest update, and I haven't noticed anything unusual in the apple diagnostics.

<bug logs.log>

Can you Verify your software is up to date…

The current stable release of Sequoia including bug fixes, security updates is macOS 15.4.1

Keep your Mac up to date - Apple Support

Keep your Mac up to date - Apple Support

hsetti wrote:

Yes i have the latest update

re: < Panic(cpu 3 caller 0xfffffe003ee890f8): AOP DATA ABORT - nested DATA ABORT >

Kernel Panics are predominately caused by hardware faults or faulty third-party kernel extensions.

Learn what to do if your computer restarts or shuts down unexpectedly, or you get a message that your computer restarted or shut down because of a problem.

 If your Mac restarted because of a problem - Apple Support

unplug all non-essential  peripherals when testing

 Uninstall all third party apps that are Cleaners/Optimizers/VPN/Anti-Virus

all known to cause issues on the macOS

To trouble shoot further you can:

 —A SafeBoot Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support will sort many anomalies

Does a quick disk repair before it fully boots up, and certain system caches get cleared and rebuilt, third party system modifications and system accelerations are disabled temporarily.

Login and test. Reboot  as normal and test.  Caches get rebuilt automatically.

This test will tell you if third party interference; most extensions etc are not loaded in safe boot mode. 

—Test issue in another user (or guest user) account Change Users & Groups settings on Mac - Apple Support

 This will tell you if it a universal issue or isolated to your user/admin account. 

***wireless keyboard with rechargeable batteries— connect the charging cable, this will make the wired keyboard successful Safe Boot your Mac.

no insight or resolve—

post your Kernel Panic report in their entirety here, preferable three separate reports(analyzing for a trend) in three separate "Additional Text" box for ease of reading and comparison, (see menu below.)

Kernel Panic reports can be found from the Finder>Go>Go To Folder copy & paste:

/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports

the panic file begin with “kernel” and/or ends in “Panic”  post the whole report in the “Additional Text” box

hsetti wrote:

Here is the report.

Thank you

<etrecheck report.log>

You have 2 problematic apps installed:

• VPN
• CleanMyMac

Use any provided uninstaller to make sure all those remnant files are removed and test again. If you still experience problems, follow up with another EtreCheck report to make sure those files have been removed.

It is simply not possible to troubleshoot with those apps known to cause conflicts with your computer.

Please download and run Etrecheck.  The free version is sufficient.

Copy and paste the results into your reply. Etrecheck is a diagnostic tool that was developed by one of the most respected users here in the ASC and recommended by Apple Support  to provide a snapshot of the system and help identify the more obvious culprits that can adversely affect a Mac's performance.

Copy the report

and after clicking on the Reply button use the Additional Text button to paste the report in your reply.

Check Etrecheck's Privacy settings and make sure the checkbox for full disk access before running:

Then we can examine the report and see if we can determine the cause of the problem.

Hello hsetti,

I'm experiencing a somewhat similar situation but on a new MacBook Air. Until now, the system has been working very stably, but today I suddenly had kernel panic twice.

This started happening when I made the following changes, which is why I suspect it's a software issue rather than hardware:

1. I enabled iCloud synchronization (but only for selected folders, not all documents)

2. I installed Xcode (as I started learning to program in C)

3. I bought an iPhone 16e and am using Messages and FaceTime synchronization

Before implementing these 3 points, everything was working extremely stable. Do we have any common elements with the above?

I'm guessing it's one of these things (at least in my case).

hsetti wrote:

Hello,

On my previous MacBook Pro 14" with the M3 chip, I had both a VPN and CleanMyMac installed and never experienced this issue. However now I've already uninstalled the VPN — do you think I should also uninstall CleanMyMac, even though it's essential for me?

If you search for "CleanMyMac" you will find literally thousands of entries in Discussions from users reporting problems caused by CleanMyMac. I would find a way to live without it. Most users live without it and do just fine.

I use iCloud and multiple newer iPhones but do not use Xcode. I cannot recall any such panics on either my 2019 MacBook Pro nor 2024 MacBook Pro.

It seems that we have found the cause. In the latest version of macOS, there is a bug related to sleep mode, which, in a strange way, is connected to the headphone jack.

If you go to System Settings > Battery > Options > "Wake for network access" and set this option to NEVER, it should help! Alternatively, temporarily avoiding the use of the headphone jack should also prevent the kernel panic.

Let me know if it works for you - it definitely did for me!

Just to jump on the bandwagon, but I have aa completely up-to-date m4 Pro Mac mini doing the same thing in the middle of the night. Only piece of hardware I have that isn't bone stock (other than the monitor) is wireless headphones.