Why is my 2019 iMac experiencing kernel panics?

Update. R.I.P. 2019 iMac. It either died on its own, or I broke it.

I worked through some of the suggestions from 3/3. Removed Clean My Mac and uninstalled Photoshop, making sure all plugins were also removed. I ran disk first aid, which turned up zero problems on my hard drive, so nothing it could repair. All through this process the computer would halt progress with one kp after another. Over 8, but I eventually lost count. I uninstalled all my Adobe software, the. decided to uninstall the Creative Cloud app and do a clean reinstall, but when I selected delete I got a dialog with an option to repair, so I thought I’d try that first. There was another kp right in the middle of that process, and this time when I restarted, after the Apple logo appeared the progress bar got to the halfway point and stopped. I let it sit for over an hour, but it never budged. I’ve tried starting recovery (cmd + r), changing startup disk to my bootable backup (which wasn’t listed as an option even though it’s connected), and variations on the recovery (opt + cmd + r and shift + opt + cmd + r), but no matter how far in the process I would get, it would get to the halfway point of progress bar and stick there. I’ll try getting it to a repair shop, but I’m worried that at this point that the machine is dead.

Thank you both for your help, I don’t expect more suggestions, but thought you might be curious to know what happened.

Thank you all for your time and advice. I am so happy to have so many listening to my woes and trying to help me out.

I see that I wasn’t clear about my status. I haven’t taken the iMac to a repair shop, the results I posted on 4/8 are from me messing around with something I don’t understand very well. If I've learned nothing else, I am now sure I don’t have any chance to become a professional computer repair person, based on the number of hours I’ve spent troubleshooting just one computer. 

I’m kinda-sorta sure my 19,1 early 2019 iMac actually is a Fusion Drive, because it seems to have split. I’m attaching some screen shots of what I saw when trying to erase and reformat the hard drive. It does show a small drive and a bigger 2T drive, which I’m sure it isn’t supposed to be.

To try to continue the DIY repair process, I’ve ordered a replacement 2T SSD from OWC to replace the drive named Mac 2025 - Data. I’m uncertain if I can join it up with the 4.2mb Creedence to make the iMac a Fusion Drive again, and I may not try. I’m hoping installing the new SSD, and maybe erasing the Creedence will stop the kernel panics, and allow me to re-retire my 2010 MacBook Pro.

I am watching and rewatching the iMac SSD install videos from OWC and ifixit. As I said in another post, I’m not afraid to take the thing apart - after all, at this point I don't have much to lose. My boldness is explained by me opening up iPhones, iPads and the MacBook Pro before this - that's why I’m currently able to use the old MacBook as a backup machine. I also owe thanks to the clever people behind Open Core Legacy Patcher and Mr Macintosh. It's people like them, OWC, ifixit, and all of you that really do a lot of the work for me.

If replacement fails, I’ll be buying an M4 mini. I have an external monitor already, so I can add an inexpensive second monitor, and will hope that will do the trick. I’ll also buy an enclosure for the new SSD, and have a nice, new 2T external drive.

Thank you all again! Wish me luck. The new SSD won't be delivered until next week, and be assured I’ll definitely read and learn from any advice you all have. I'll let you know the final outcome.

Terri

"the tech obviously has no clue"

That made me chuckle, because it's absolutely true. I am the tech, and I am clueless. I knew that going in, but hoped I'd be able to get a couple more years of use from the iMac.

Judging from the response to my last edit, I just need to just stop messing around, return the SSD I ordered and move on with recycling the iMac and getting the M4 mini before prices go up from the tariffs.

Thank you all again for helping me to get to a point that I maybe should have gotten to a month ago. I admit to being stubborn. I wanted to try, and I did. I hope I didn't frustrate the heck out of you all by fiddling with something that was too difficult for me.

[Edited by Moderator]

HWTech, I am very much not offended, I was tickled because your assessment of my skills was totally accurate. So thank you, and be assured that there’s nothing on my part but amusement at your perception.

I will do my best to try to figure out the memtest86. I added the memory not long after I bought the iMac, and it hadn’t occurred to me that memory could go bad. The additional memory I bought for the old MacBook Pro has been in there and running like a champ since 2011. I love that machine and if I could learn how to update it even more, I’d do it.

Thanks again to all. If I have any success with memtest86, I’ll post for future user reference, but if I don’t update, assume I gave it up and just bought the M4 mini.

Cheers!

Thank you for the fast reply. I'm attaching the content of the complete report. The iMac is older - from 2019, though I bought it in early 2020.