docs: record Qwen3.5-9B DFlash Metal timeout (refs #152, #154)

benchmarks/reports/dflash_m3max_36gb_qwen35_9b_timeout.md

@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+# DFlash on Apple Silicon Failure Report — Qwen3.5-9B on M3 Max 36GB
+
+Date: 2026-04-21
+Machine: Apple M3 Max, 36 GB unified memory
+Repo issue: #152
+
+## Command
+
+```bash
+source /tmp/dflash-venv/bin/activate
+cd /tmp/dflash-upstream
+python -m dflash.benchmark --backend mlx \
+    --model Qwen/Qwen3.5-9B \
+    --draft-model z-lab/Qwen3.5-9B-DFlash \
+    --dataset gsm8k \
+    --max-samples 1 \
+    --enable-thinking \
+    --draft-sliding-window-size 4096
+```
+
+## Outcome
+
+The benchmark did **not** complete successfully on this machine.
+
+### Failure signature
+
+```text
+libc++abi: terminating due to uncaught exception of type std::runtime_error:
+[METAL] Command buffer execution failed:
+Caused GPU Timeout Error (00000002:kIOGPUCommandBufferCallbackErrorTimeout)
+```
+
+Additional shutdown noise:
+
+```text
+bash: [11285: 1] tcsetattr: Inappropriate ioctl for device
+resource_tracker: There appear to be 1 leaked semaphore objects to clean up at shutdown
+```
+
+## Interpretation
+
+This is strong evidence that the `Qwen/Qwen3.5-9B + z-lab/Qwen3.5-9B-DFlash` pair is **not currently stable** on an M3 Max 36GB Mac under the upstream MLX benchmark path, at least with the default settings used here.
+
+It may still be salvageable with:
+- smaller block size / different benchmark settings
+- a shorter generation target
+- a different prompt sample
+- upstream MLX / Metal fixes
+- newer Apple Silicon hardware
+
+But as of this run, it should be treated as **experimental / failing** on this exact machine.
+
+## Recommendation
+
+For this Mac, the working local proof path is still:
+- `Qwen/Qwen3.5-4B`
+- `z-lab/Qwen3.5-4B-DFlash`
+
+Use the 4B pair for reproducible local validation while the 9B Metal timeout is investigated separately.

docs/DFLASH_APPLE_SILICON.md

@@ -77,6 +77,29 @@ Pilot outcome on this Mac:
 
 Treat that as a **directional proof**, not a final decision benchmark. The next step is the fuller comparison slice against plain MLX or llama.cpp speculative decoding.
 
+## Known 9B failure on this machine
+
+A follow-up live run with:
+
+- `Qwen/Qwen3.5-9B`
+- `z-lab/Qwen3.5-9B-DFlash`
+
+failed on this same M3 Max 36GB Mac with:
+
+```text
+[METAL] Command buffer execution failed:
+Caused GPU Timeout Error (00000002:kIOGPUCommandBufferCallbackErrorTimeout)
+```
+
+That failure is recorded in:
+
+- `benchmarks/reports/dflash_m3max_36gb_qwen35_9b_timeout.md`
+
+So the current guidance is:
+- treat `qwen35-9b` as **experimental** on this machine
+- treat `qwen35-4b` as the current **known-working local proof path**
+- keep the issue open until we either stabilize the 9B path or clearly rule it out for this hardware tier
+
 ## Upstream benchmark command
 
 The harness uses the upstream MLX benchmark syntax from `z-lab/dflash`: