Kernel panics from IndigoPluginHost

Hi all,

I have Indigo 7 installed on a Mac mini (Mid 2010) running macOS 10.12.6 with a Aeotec Z-Stick Gen5. I know the Mac mini is old, but I have not had any performance problems.

The problem is, I get frequent (once every two days maybe) kernel panics. When I look at the details from the "Your computer was restarted because of a problem" dialog, I see that the current thread was "IndigoPluginHost". Full detail output is here: https://pastebin.com/02vxuB6n

Since the "IndigoPluginHost" name suggests a problem with plugins, here is the full list of enabled plugins:

Cynical Network
Group Change Listener
Harmony Hub
Hue Lights
LIFX
NEST Home
Pushover
Ring Doorbell
Timers and Pesters
ZEAL

Any ideas? How can a user land process list IndigoPluginHost cause a kernel panic?

I'm okay upgrading to newer Mac hardware is that is the answer. But if my hardware was too old, I would have expected sluggish performance, running out of RAM, etc., none of which I experience.

Thanks for the help!

David

I'm not smart enough to be able to figure out which plugin might be causing the problem from the output you posted (I don't even know if it's possible to tell.) What I would suggest is launching Activity Monitor on the server machine and looking to see if any plugins are using an unusually large amount of resources. The second thing I'd do (and this is a bit of a pain) is to disable all plugins and see if that stops the panics. If it does, I'd enable the plugins one by one to see if I could isolate the culprit. If it doesn't stop the errors (no plugins running), I'd suspect something like bad RAM or mother board issues.

I had a mid 2010 Mini myself that went belly up years ago and the only fix would have been to replace the motherboard. I didn't do that because it wasn't really cost effective IMO.

[jay (support)]

Nowadays, kernel panics are almost always caused by hardware issues of some kind. Have you tried running any hardware diagnostic software to see if it finds any issues?

The IndigoPluginHost process being listed as the cause may help identify what's getting exercised that's leading to the panic, but the IPH process itself is a user process and doesn't access anything low-level (like kernel extensions do). Note, however, that there are some other things that run in IPH processes: the Z-Wave interface, some Insteon menu items and actions, the Virtual Devices interface, etc.

Since you are using the Z-Stick, then it seems possible that perhaps the modem driver (which the Gen5 stick uses) may be causing the panic. You may be having a USB problem with you Mac and that's leading to the issue. Or, the Z-Stick could be having issues which is leading to the problem. Try moving it around to different USB ports. If it's not on a USB hub, then move it to one. If it already is, move it directly to a port on the Mac. Take out any USB extension cables you may be using (we've seen issues with those).

Thanks for the response, Jay.

I ended up moving my Indigo install to a Late 2013 MacBook Pro. The stability problems are gone. I did a SuperDuper backup/restore so the OS and files are all identical. The only difference is the hardware. So you were right--bad hardware. It seems it is time to retire that Mac mini.

Much appreciated!

I'd lay money on you having a disk error issue on the old Mini.

Disk Warrior costs money, but it is your friend--unless you're willing to just reformat the Mini, which sounds like it might be an option.