What are DumpGPURestart and DumpPanic?

2011-09-12 17:00

DumpGPURestart and DumpPanic capture data when hardware-level failures happen.

What is DumpGPURestart?

DumpGPURestart saves diagnostic data when the GPU (graphics processor) hits an error and needs to restart. GPU resets can cause a brief screen flicker or freeze. When this happens, DumpGPURestart records what the GPU was doing at the time of the failure.

What is DumpPanic?

DumpPanic captures and saves kernel panic data. A kernel panic is a fatal error in the macOS kernel, the same idea as a "blue screen" on Windows. When your Mac has a kernel panic, DumpPanic makes sure the diagnostic details are saved to disk so they survive the restart.

Kernel panic logs are saved to /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/.

When do they run?

These processes run briefly after their events:

DumpGPURestart: after a GPU reset or hang
DumpPanic: during the recovery boot after a kernel panic

You should not see them during normal use.

Should you worry about the events they capture?

An occasional GPU reset can happen and is usually harmless. Frequent GPU resets or kernel panics point to a problem, perhaps a hardware fault, a bad kernel extension, or a driver bug. Check the diagnostic reports in Console.app for details.

Should you worry about the processes?

No. They are standard tools for saving crash data. If they are active, look at what caused the crash rather than the capture process itself.

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