VDMX destroys Macbook Pro M3?

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I was working in VDMX 9.9.0.2, adjusting a composition mode (selectign Overlay in the menu), when suddenly selecting that mode, the screen (all screens on the system) blinked bright purple for a 1/10 of second, then all went black, and then the computer restarted. WTF. I think thats the first “restart the system” crash I ever had on Apple silicon. And the first time I had a crash selecting a composition mode.

“Your computer has restarted because of a problem”. Okay. The system then continues to reopen all windows and applications, that means reloading VDMX. And as soon as VDMX starts loading / icon bounces in the dock, the screen (all screens) blinks bright purple AGAIN, and the system restarts, AGAIN.

This happens in a cycle I can’t stop, the system restarts, it automatically reloads VDMX after the “your computer restarted because” error message, immediately after bouncing VDMX in the dock the screens blink again and system crashes hard and reboots. Clearly VDMX makes it go haywire.I try to stop this with Cmd-Opt-Escape and kill VDMX as soon as it is launched, but I never manage to manually stop it or quit it before the system crashes hard.

After four of these loops, before I even get to consider killing the system manually at login and do a safe mode, it again crashes as usual but then never comes back on. The system simply won’t turn on, ever again. It is completely dead.

All of this happens in a timespan of maybe 3-4 minutes.

No hacks or tricks or safe modes or holding the power button or various key combos, nothing, it. is. completely. dead. It does not charge, the light of the magsafe doesn’t even turn on when cable inserted, tested multiple adapters, whom work fine on other systems.

Apple Support: Yep it dead. Find a store and bring it in for repair.

WTF! Did VDMX actually just brick a six month old, 7000 EUR Macbook Pro M3 Max??? Is this even possible? I normally wouldn’t think an app could destroy a system, but in this situation… it very clearly crashed while doing a VDMX operation, and the system was then very clearly crashing hard repeatedly whenever VDMX was launched, and eventually it crashed so hard it never ever came back on???

This is the most cruellest glitch effect ever! !!! ! !

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That would be pretty wild if VDMX could do that. If your computer isn’t booting, then it may need Apple’s Configurator 2 running on a separate machine to get it back up and running again.

If you can get the computer back up, send a bug report from the built in help menu and there should be logs in the console that detail what happened before the crashes.

With the computer and OS being so new, it’s hard to say if its an Apple issue or not.

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Agreed! I also think it’s unheard of that an app can take down a system, my logical-reasonable-technician-self guesstimates that something-something video hardware was already bad quality or bad soldered and slowly unraveling inside the system, and on that exact same millisecond moment as me clicking a menu in VDMX, it collapsed, and then that collapse led to VDMX unable to launch and the collapse took down the whole system within a few minutes, due to a faulty hardware part. I think the motherboard is dead (or something similar that controls the whole system).

However my creative-intuitive-artist mind clearly saw actions from one single app, three times in three minutes, totally nuking everything and insta-rebooting a system and on the fourth time it never came back on!

The system is completely bricked. The DFU revival does not work unforetunately, the only sign of life in that process is the charging light changings from orange to green on the 10 second and 3 second key combo switches, but the system does not turn on and will not be recognized by other machines. (I’m on a production this week but will have some time this weekend to try again.)

Apple acknowledges it is dead, wants it in for service repair, but my nearest store is hours away, I can’t loose the time, I’m working on older backup systems. I’ll deal with this over Easter, I’m on deadlines. I would also dearly like to send you the crash reports from this, especially that first one changing composition mode so I’ll ask them please at least save the SSD!

What a catastrophe! I’m gonna sell a kidney and get another Macbook Pro so I always have two.

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If you have Applecare on this, they should ship it for free.

Maybe the M3 Macs have hardware issues (quality control)? https://www.reddit.com/r/macbookpro/comments/1b4zt9s/new_macbook_pro_m3_max_dying/

1 Like
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can you boot in safe mode to avoid vdmx starting?

Start up your Mac with Apple silicon in safe mode

  1. On your Mac, choose Apple menu > Shut Down.Wait for your Mac to shut down completely. A Mac is completely shut down when the screen is black and any lights (including in the Touch Bar) are off.
  2. Press and hold the power button on your Mac until “Loading startup options” appears.
  3. Select a volume.
  4. Press and hold the Shift key, then click Continue in Safe Mode.The computer restarts automatically. When the login window appears, you should see “Safe Boot” in the menu bar.