iMac Pro Kernel panic [duplicate]

Solution 1:

In general, a kernel panic is defined by Apple as "In UNIX, a panic is an unrecoverable system error detected by the kernel."

• That quote comes from Apple's Technical Note TN2063: Understanding and Debugging Kernel Panics

In your specific case, the main program that starts and stops everything else on the system has an unrecoverable error in one specific instance at one specific point in time.

• launchd is the failing component that needs to run always.
• The rest of the information would need to be looked at by an engineer, Typically one employed by Apple, that has a deep understanding of the lowest level of code that runs on the processor.

The next steps for you will depend on how often the error happens and if the machine can start itself up after you power it off.

You could also review these two questions for more details on how to troubleshoot your computer going forward if you wish.

• Understanding kernel panic error log
• How can I troubleshoot Kernel Panics on my iMac

Solution 2:

(I'm Not a Mac person, but this applies to many Unices) A kernel panic is basically the Unix equivalent of the modern Windows Blue Screen of Death - an unrecoverable error detected by the kernel, ie the core of the operating system, the part that manages things like processor time, memory, disk access, etc.

This may be caused by a problem affecting the kernel itself (including hardware or (much less likely on Mac than on Windows) driver problems), or by (as in this case) an error causing the init process (in the case of Macs, this is launchd), which is responsible for (directly or indirectly) running all the other processes on your computer, unexpectedly exiting. When this ends, it effectively brings down everything it's started (ie every other process on the system) with it, so the kernel has no option left but to panic.

Hope this helps you understand the general concept, I'm afraid I can't be any more specific as then I'd be going into Mac-specific things with which I'm not familiar.

Solution 3:

The answers already given are complete and correct. Since your question may simply boil down to "what is a kernel" and "why did this happen", let me try to explain the jargon.

The software on your computer exists in levels. For instance, there is a part called the windowing system. This is not an application you run, like Safari, but software that is called bySafari in order to draw the window, into which Safari draws webpages. The windowing system, in turn, doesn't talk to the hardware directly, but talks to a lower-level software module that allows it to draw lines on the screen. Anything you do on your computer moves through these kinds of "levels of abstraction" until it gets to the software that talks directly to your hardware.

You kernel is the lowest level of software. It talks directly to your hardware and exposes all the things your computer can do to higher-level processes and modules.

The reason these levels are important is that the higher up something goes wrong, the better your computer deals with it. If you try to open a file that doesn't exist in Safari, Safari will give you a friendly error, which you can use to correct the problem. If something goes wrong in the windowing system, things might start looking funny, or your mouse pointer may suddenly disappear.

A kernel panic happens when something goes wrong in the kernel. As you can guess, the resulting behavior of your computer is the most unfriendly possible. The best you can hope for is that your computer stops in its tracks and prints out a string of obscure looking information, as it did in your case.