Ask HN: Are you experiencing kernel panics on your M1 Mac?

I got an M1 MacBook Pro in January and I have experienced a couple of kernel panics.

One or two happened when the machine tried to go to sleep. The other happened during normal work.

I have the Docker Desktop Tech Preview installed, which mentions that it may cause panics. But the Docker VM was not running when the last kernel panic occurred.

Now I am wondering whether something is wrong with my machine or if this is a common issue with the new machines and just Big Sur being buggy?

14 comments

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whichdan 5y ago ↗

Data point of 1, but I haven't had any problems with my M1 MBA.

TameAntelope 5y ago ↗

+1, My M1 Air has been panic-free so far.

That said, I've tried to keep it as a "dumb browser machine" at the moment (for unrelated reasons), so I haven't pushed it in any meaningful way so far.

groundthrower 5y ago ↗

Same here

rvz 5y ago ↗

I'm not sure, but given that the M1 Macs come with Big Sur as the first OS installed, I would wait a bit until the software has matured a bit.

By then, I could not only get a newer generation of Macs probably having an M1X or M2 chip, it would probably be running a newer version macOS, with all these issues, bugs and panics fixed and the developer ecosystem also catching up with Apple Silicon based Macs.

gyf304 5y ago ↗

Yes. Mounting WebDAV and creating a directory in it causes immediate kernel panic on M1 Macs. Fun.

conception 5y ago ↗

I’ve had a few but not a lot. About as many as I’d expect with new hardware and software.

rayhendricks 5y ago ↗

Zero kernel panics with an m1 mini used for fullstack node dev. Great little box with a crazy fast single core speed.

codemusings 5y ago ↗

Two things:

1) Docker images are not virtual machines (see this link: https://www.docker.com/resources/what-container)

2) Maybe the Docker Engine (the service that bootstraps the images) caused the panic?

zachberger 5y ago ↗

On Mac, a linux VM is run and then containers exist in there.

dave_sid 5y ago ↗

Not me

zachberger 5y ago ↗

I've had mine since early Dec. No panics for me.

poletopole 5y ago ↗

Not kernel panics, but the apple music app has been crashing a lot.

sigjuice 5y ago ↗

I had a kernel panic on Sunday. It was the second day of owning my M1 MacBook Air. There was barely anything installed on the machine. The panic happened when I was running Firefox. The screen turned a weird color and instantly rebooted.

blackcats 5y ago ↗

Yes like 5 times a day, but it boots fast. I usually have vscode, xcode, terminals and a couple of others things open