Bridge OS Kernel Panic

[bayswater]

Anyone seen this? Apparently it's been going on in Mojave in new Macs since 2018, but in my case it just started after the most recent security update. It shows up in a message when the computer starts up, telling you the computer was restarted because of a problem. Otherwise it doesn't seem to have any effect on anything. The log mentions Bridge OS as the culprit, and there are many such files with different version appendages, including some in the HAL plugin directory, and some in the private frameworks. It looks and smells like an audio thing, so I'm not keen to just delete them and see what happens.

The online communities done show a consistent solution.

[mikehalloran]

It is not Mojave — except on the Mojave boards. The Catalina boards know that it's a Catalina bug and then there's the bunch that is absolutely convinced that it's 10.13.x.

Then there's the lone guy who's been working with Apple to figure out what's been going on. C'est moi. Three machines.

I had this happen to my iMP with the Mojave update last March. Took a few weeks to get resolved but I did. A couple of client machines developed it — one Mojave; the other Catalina. Both are also resolved.

Although BridgeOS is a T2 thing, it is not the problem; only the symptom. Believe me, I went round and round with Apple on that (I shouldn't have read MacRumors first) but Apple is right. Here's how to get it resolved:

Get Apple Support involved. Don't just send in crash reports; have a support person watch is happen. The support call 1s free and you are entitled after any OS update or upgrade. Schedule a call on the support site.

It is quite likely the support person will send the crash report to Engineering. If that happens, you'll have an appointment in a week when the support tech reads you the engineering report and tells you what to remove. In my case, it was 2 of 3 Soundflower kexts and an old NIGuitarRigII kext — all three were very old. One of my Soundflower kexts wasn't a culprit but the 64 channel version disappeared after I removed the offenders (you still have that, right?). On client machines it was similar old crap.

Once the offending code is gone, the crashes and reports will stop. If you are left with slow shut down, no shut down or the 6 minute boot issue (in my case), you need to rebuild the Launch Services as I posted last month. I was the one who told Apple about that one having fixed my High sierra machine after the March 2019 Security update — this occurred 6 weeks after my initial report. We had the crashes gone in two weeks but they kept checking in with me till I told 'em I'd found the other solution.

[bayswater]

Thanks Mike. In retrospect, do you think it would it be easier to just re-intall?

[mikehalloran]

Support will ask you to reinstall the OS—that’s one of their standard Hail Marys—and it must work now and then. Didn’t change anything on mine. Unless dong a clean install without reinstalling the offending old crap, it doesn’t fix the underlying problem. It may make the symptom go away, however so do try it. Worst case, by doing it on your own time, you can save time with Support by telling them you’ve already tried it. Otherwise, you two get to stay on the phone while you download and reinstall.

Since my machine is still under AppleCare, they offered to let me exchange it. Well, this shelter-in-place lockdown had started and there was no taking it to the Apple store, so I dug in my heels and said, No, let’s get this fixed. That’s when the tech said that he could kick it to Engineering and the journey began.

One of my symptoms was that I could no longer do a Safe Boot—one of my Hail Marys that sometimes works in Mojave. Once the offending files were gone, that came back, too.

[bayswater]

One of my symptoms was that I could no longer do a Safe Boot—one of my Hail Marys that sometimes works in Mojave. Once the offending files were gone, that came back, too.

Great! I found an Apple support article on this, and Safe Boot is the first thing they list.

[bayswater]

I didn't get around to fixing this. Just as well -- started up today and the message disappeared as mysteriously as it appeared.

I think I might apply the Miss Havisham app to this Mac.