CalDigit TS3+ dock station causes Kernel Panic (macOS 10.15.6)

Solution 1:

This may not be applicable however the bundled support and drivers for the TS3+ available at https://downloads.caldigit.com/ contain a kext called CalDigitThunderboltStationChargingSupport.kext found under /Library/Extensions/

This seemed to be the root cause of all my issues once this was removed I was able to restart & shutdown without issue for the past 4 weeks without issue.

the documented removal process can be found at https://archive.caldigit.com/KB/index.asp?KBID=142&viewlocale=1

If you have installed this it may be the cause of your issues.

I have held off responding until I had a significant amount of time without the issue re-occouring before commenting.

Solution 2:

CalDigit guys confirmed this issue and apparently they’ve no idea what’s going on. They insisted that this only happens to MacBook Pro 13” 2020 as they have “never received report from 16-inch owner”, and they “believe” this will be fixed in Big Sur.

So I dumped this junk and get a Targus dock, and happy ever after.

Solution 3:

I suffered frequent kernel panics on connecting or disconnecting a CalDigit TS3+ to my 2019 16" MBP with macOS 11. I updated the TS3 firmware to 44.1 with no effect. I didn't have the Thunderbolt charging kext to remove. The SMC reset had no effect, and I was unwilling to perform the NVRAM reset for likely no benefit. But I noticed that there never seemed to be anything related to CalDigit drivers in the panic report list after the reboot, and the idea that gave me now seems to have been quite reliable (after a few dozen dock/undock events). I believe the root of the problem is a race condition in the graphics drivers for this hardware -- it was never a problem with my older MBP.

My workaround is to avoid the condition of simultaneously connecting or disconnecting two external displays via the dock. I have one plugged into the TS3's DP port and the other via a USB-C to DP adapter. So before connecting the TS3 to the MBP, I now ensure that the USB-C to DP adapter is disconnected. I plug in the TS3, wait a few seconds, then plug in the second screen to the TS3. When disconnecting, reverse the steps. It's not as pleasant as the single cable promise of a dock, but it has been rock solid for me after a great deal of frustration over the panics.