iMac randomly logging out (High Sierra and Mojave)
For the last month or so, my mac has been randomly logging out overnight. When I come back in the morning, it's at the login screen and all my applications need to restart. I know it's not a full reboot because my uptime steadily increases and when I run last reboot or last shutdown they are days ago.
I've tried examining the logs, and it looks like perhaps com.apple.WindowServer is crashing. I'm not sure if that's a consistent symptom though (or why it would crash, and only overnight - never while I'm actively working).
Running on an iMac, using macOS Mojave (although also happened on High Sierra).
Logs: https://pastebin.com/1nnZPNcC
Of note, the point where the logout happens starts with:
Oct 18 05:26:02 Christophers-iMac com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.WindowServer[99537]): Service exited due to SIGABRT
Oct 18 05:26:02 Christophers-iMac com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.ViewBridgeAuxiliary[98359]): Service exited with abnormal code: 2
Oct 18 05:26:04 Christophers-iMac com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.ViewBridgeAuxiliary): Service only ran for 1 seconds. Pushing respawn out by 9 seconds.
Oct 18 05:26:04 Christophers-iMac sessionlogoutd[98360]: DEAD_PROCESS: 99533 console
Solution 1:
TLDR: In my case, SwitchResX seems to be the culprit. Didn't look for a workaround yet.
I just experienced the same logout, with similar logs:
Jun 2 15:21:55 Trema syslogd[48]: ASL Sender Statistics
Jun 2 15:24:07 Trema com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.quicklook[8406]): Endpoint has been activated through legacy launch(3) APIs. Please switch to XPC or bootstrap_check_in(): com.apple.quicklook
Jun 2 15:24:35 Trema com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.WindowServer[205]): Service exited due to SIGABRT
Jun 2 15:24:35 Trema VDCAssistant[203]: BUG in libdispatch client: mach_recv, monitored resource vanished before the source cancel handler was invoked { 0x7fb4e8c0b840[source], ident: 6191 / 0x182f, handler: 0x107f6fa6c }
Jun 2 15:24:35 Trema com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.ViewBridgeAuxiliary[8527]): Service exited with abnormal code: 2
Jun 2 15:24:35 Trema com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.ViewBridgeAuxiliary): Service only ran for 0 seconds. Pushing respawn out by 10 seconds.
Jun 2 15:24:35 Trema sessionlogoutd[8526]: DEAD_PROCESS: 102 console
Jun 2 15:24:35 Trema com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.UserEventAgent-Aqua[606]): Service exited due to SIGKILL | sent by UserEventAgent[606]
Jun 2 15:24:35 Trema com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.WebKit.WebContent.BE261D11-9005-48E6-9B64-31D068C12BB4[4827]): Service exited with abnormal code: 1
Jun 2 15:24:35 Trema com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.WebKit.WebContent.5B14717F-EC42-44AC-BE76-917F52D439A9[4829]): Service exited with abnormal code: 1
Jun 2 15:24:35 Trema com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.adobe.GC.AGM[1366]): Service exited with abnormal code: 15
Jun 2 15:24:35 Trema com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.Dock.agent[662]): Service exited with abnormal code: 1
As suggested by @Ruskes, I ran the command sudo log show --start "2020-06-02 15:24:00" --info --debug --signpost and saw these interesting lines:
2020-06-02 15:24:34.477103+0200 0x4a3 Default 0x0 0 0 kernel: (AppleIntelFramebufferAzul) Unsupported Extended capabilities type: 0x100
2020-06-02 15:24:34.477135+0200 0x4a3 Default 0x0 0 0 kernel: (AppleIntelFramebufferAzul) Currently unsupported feature requested
2020-06-02 15:24:34.477171+0200 0x4a3 Default 0x0 0 0 kernel: (AppleIntelFramebufferAzul) Currently unsupported feature requested
2020-06-02 15:24:34.477203+0200 0x4a3 Default 0x0 0 0 kernel: (AppleIntelFramebufferAzul) Currently unsupported feature requested
2020-06-02 15:24:34.477238+0200 0x4a3 Default 0x0 0 0 kernel: (AppleIntelFramebufferAzul) Currently unsupported feature requested
2020-06-02 15:24:34.477272+0200 0x4a3 Default 0x0 0 0 kernel: (AppleIntelFramebufferAzul) Currently unsupported feature requested
2020-06-02 15:24:34.477300+0200 0x4a3 Default 0x0 0 0 kernel: (AppleIntelFramebufferAzul) Currently unsupported feature requested
2020-06-02 15:24:34.480826+0200 0x4a3 Error 0x0 205 7 WindowServer: (CoreDisplay) [com.apple.CoreDisplay:default] [ERROR] - Driver bug - rowBytes too small. Display 0x1c81a9e2, ioModeID 0x80005000, ioModeDepth 0x0, bytePerRow = 32, width = 1, bitsPerPixel = 32, minRowBytes = 7680 stored width = 1920. Forcing minRowBytes (possibly still wrong).
2020-06-02 15:24:34.480844+0200 0x4a3 Error 0x0 205 7 WindowServer: (CoreDisplay) [com.apple.CoreDisplay:default] [ERROR] - Driver bug - rowBytes too small. Display 0x1c81a9e2, ioModeID 0x80005001, ioModeDepth 0x0, bytePerRow = 32, width = 1, bitsPerPixel = 32, minRowBytes = 4096 stored width = 1024. Forcing minRowBytes (possibly still wrong).
2020-06-02 15:24:34.480858+0200 0x4a3 Error 0x0 205 7 WindowServer: (CoreDisplay) [com.apple.CoreDisplay:default] [ERROR] - Driver bug - rowBytes too small. Display 0x1c81a9e2, ioModeID 0x80005002, ioModeDepth 0x0, bytePerRow = 32, width = 1, bitsPerPixel = 32, minRowBytes = 4096 stored width = 1024. Forcing minRowBytes (possibly still wrong).
2020-06-02 15:24:34.480872+0200 0x4a3 Error 0x0 205 7 WindowServer: (CoreDisplay) [com.apple.CoreDisplay:default] [ERROR] - Driver bug - rowBytes too small. Display 0x1c81a9e2, ioModeID 0x80005003, ioModeDepth 0x0, bytePerRow = 32, width = 1, bitsPerPixel = 32, minRowBytes = 3200 stored width = 800. Forcing minRowBytes (possibly still wrong).
2020-06-02 15:24:34.480886+0200 0x4a3 Error 0x0 205 7 WindowServer: (CoreDisplay) [com.apple.CoreDisplay:default] [ERROR] - Driver bug - rowBytes too small. Display 0x1c81a9e2, ioModeID 0x80005004, ioModeDepth 0x0, bytePerRow = 32, width = 1, bitsPerPixel = 32, minRowBytes = 3200 stored width = 800. Forcing minRowBytes (possibly still wrong).
2020-06-02 15:24:34.480900+0200 0x4a3 Error 0x0 205 7 WindowServer: (CoreDisplay) [com.apple.CoreDisplay:default] [ERROR] - Driver bug - rowBytes too small. Display 0x1c81a9e2, ioModeID 0x80005005, ioModeDepth 0x0, bytePerRow = 32, width = 1, bitsPerPixel = 32, minRowBytes = 2560 stored width = 640. Forcing minRowBytes (possibly still wrong).
2020-06-02 15:24:34.480913+0200 0x4a3 Error 0x0 205 7 WindowServer: (CoreDisplay) [com.apple.CoreDisplay:default] [ERROR] - Driver bug - rowBytes too small. Display 0x1c81a9e2, ioModeID 0x80005006, ioModeDepth 0x0, bytePerRow = 32, width = 1, bitsPerPixel = 32, minRowBytes = 2560 stored width = 640. Forcing minRowBytes (possibly still wrong).
[...]
2020-06-02 15:24:35.254853+0200 0x4a3 Default 0x0 205 7 WindowServer: (CoreDisplay) [com.apple.CoreDisplay:default] [WARN] - description_for_mode_number: Illegal mode number -1 for display 003f003f
2020-06-02 15:24:35.255600+0200 0x269 Default 0x0 102 5 loginwindow: [com.apple.loginwindow.logging:Standard] -[LoginApp windowServerExited] | enter
2020-06-02 15:24:35.255630+0200 0x4c6 Default 0x0 0 0 kernel: (AppleIntelFramebufferAzul) Transitioning wsaa from 1->0
2020-06-02 15:24:35.255684+0200 0x269 Default 0x0 102 5 loginwindow: [com.apple.loginwindow.logging:LWError] -[LoginApp windowServerExited] | ERROR | Window Server exited, closing down the session immediately
2020-06-02 15:24:35.255886+0200 0xd90d Default 0x0 664 0 SystemUIServer: (HIToolbox) HIToolbox: received notification of WindowServer event port death.
2020-06-02 15:24:35.255930+0200 0xd90d Default 0x0 664 0 SystemUIServer: (HIToolbox) port matched the WindowServer port created in BindCGSToRunLoop
2020-06-02 15:24:35.256039+0200 0x269 Default 0x0 102 5 loginwindow: [com.apple.loginwindow.logging:Standard] -[SessionLogoutManager startDirectLogout:reason:] | Enter, logoutType: Logout, directLogoutReason:WindowServerExited
2020-06-02 15:24:35.256041+0200 0x269 Default 0x0 102 5 loginwindow: [com.apple.loginwindow.logging:Standard] -[SessionLogoutManager startDirectLogout:reason:] | Window server exit, calling doDirectLogoutFinalItemsBeforeSessionLogoutd
2020-06-02 15:24:35.256050+0200 0xd906 Default 0x0 661 0 talagent: (HIToolbox) HIToolbox: received notification of WindowServer event port death.
2020-06-02 15:24:35.256096+0200 0xd906 Default 0x0 661 0 talagent: (HIToolbox) port matched the WindowServer port created in BindCGSToRunLoop
2020-06-02 15:24:35.256113+0200 0xd7fe Default 0x0 624 0 Google Chrome: (HIToolbox) HIToolbox: received notification of WindowServer event port death.
2020-06-02 15:24:35.256124+0200 0x269 Default 0x0 102 5 loginwindow: [com.apple.loginwindow.logging:Standard] -[SessionLogoutManager doDirectLogoutFinalItemsBeforeSessionLogoutd] | enter
2020-06-02 15:24:35.256154+0200 0xd7fe Default 0x0 624 0 Google Chrome: (HIToolbox) port matched the WindowServer port created in BindCGSToRunLoop
2020-06-02 15:24:35.256200+0200 0x65e31 Default 0x0 8184 0 ProtonMail Bridge: (HIToolbox) HIToolbox: received notification of WindowServer event port death.
2020-06-02 15:24:35.256214+0200 0x269 Default 0x0 102 5 loginwindow: [com.apple.loginwindow.logging:Standard] -[SessionLogoutManager doCommonFinalItems] | enter
2020-06-02 15:24:35.256216+0200 0x269 Signpost 0x0 102 0 [spid excl, process, event] loginwindow: [com.apple.loginwindow.logging:performance_instrumentation] Dock_Dies
I have two external displays, and use SwitchResX to adjust one screen's display to force a retina-like 1440p density over 1080p (connected by HDMI), and another screen (through VGA-MiniDisplay adapter) is simply at 1080p.
The first errors in the detailed logs seems related to SwitchResX's custom resolutions (note the 1920, 1024, 800…), as it registers potentially unsupported resolutions.
For now, I deduce that this triggers WindowServer failure, then logouts, but didn't find a workaround yet.
Any input appreciated!