chronofar

Q: 20  desktops active and random glitches/freezes

As of recently I've noticed a few strange things happening on my macbook pro late 2014. These didn't start happening until a few months ago, leading me to believe some software update was responsible. Not sure if they're all related, but they are in order of ascending annoyance:

 

  • 20+ desktops active at all times now. Used to be when I start up and go to mission control, I'd see one or two desktops depending on how many are in use at the top of the screen. Now I have 20+ without opening anything, and they're all blank. This is especially annoying when I actually try to use multiple desktops via mission control as since there's so many the window representing them is very small. If I swipe into expose that shows the correct apps open, so not sure why all the desktops are active.
  • Sometimes if an app is full screen and the screen goes to sleep, upon wake the screen does not work correctly. This first started with one application and an external monitor, where upon wake instead of showing the app the screen would be completely black. By switching to other blank desktops (which show fine), I could eventually get it to show again, but would then have trouble bringing up the control bar on top to close/minimize it. Now recently, it's started to happen with all apps that are put in full screen. Temporarily when waking the screen, all full screen apps are totally black. After switching between desktops they eventually come back....for now.
  • The most troubling are occasional seemingly random freezes due to CPU spiking. Can't see any reason for it, but somehow when watching the activity monitor I've watched a couple of apps manage to defy the laws of mathematics and leap to 102% of CPU usage, rendering the computer unresponsive. This usually only lasts under a minute, however I've had a few instances where it stayed like this until I finally just hard powered off the computer. The mouse was still responsive in these states, but clicking on anything or using gestures was impossible.

 

Anyway, not sure if anyone else has seen things of a similar nature or has any idea what all of this may mean. Thanks!

MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Mid 2014), OS X Yosemite (10.10.5)

Posted on Sep 29, 2015 1:10 AM

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Q: 20  desktops active and random glitches/freezes

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  • by Luis Sequeira1,

    Luis Sequeira1 Luis Sequeira1 Sep 29, 2015 3:48 AM in response to chronofar
    Level 6 (12,436 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 29, 2015 3:48 AM in response to chronofar

    Regarding the problem of multiple extraneous desktops: you can close them in Mission Control. Then keep an eye and see if they mysteriously reappear or not.

    To close a desktop in Mission Control, hover your mouse over it and a close box will appear in the top left corner:

     

    Screenshot 2015-09-29 at 11.44.59.png

    Regarding the "laws of mathematics": there is no breaking the laws here. Your machine has multiple cores - in fact, two physical cores that appear to the OS as four logical cores due to a technology called hyperthreading. 100% means 100% of ONE core, and your applications can use more than one core.

  • by Linc Davis,

    Linc Davis Linc Davis Sep 29, 2015 12:21 PM in response to chronofar
    Level 10 (208,000 points)
    Applications
    Sep 29, 2015 12:21 PM in response to chronofar

    Please read this whole message before doing anything.

    This procedure is a test, not a solution. Don’t be disappointed when you find that nothing has changed after you complete it.

    Step 1

    The purpose of this step is to determine whether the problem is localized to your user account.

    Enable guest logins* and log in as Guest. Don't use the Safari-only “Guest User” login created by “Find My Mac.”

    While logged in as Guest, you won’t have access to any of your documents or settings. Applications will behave as if you were running them for the first time. Don’t be alarmed by this behavior; it’s normal. If you need any passwords or other personal data in order to complete the test, memorize, print, or write them down before you begin.

    Test while logged in as Guest. Same problem?

    After testing, log out of the guest account and, in your own account, disable it if you wish. Any files you created in the guest account will be deleted automatically when you log out of it.

    *Note: If you’ve activated “Find My Mac” or FileVault, then you can’t enable the Guest account. The “Guest User” login created by “Find My Mac” is not the same. Create a new account in which to test, and delete it, including its home folder, after testing.

    Step 2

    The purpose of this step is to determine whether the problem is caused by third-party system modifications that load automatically at startup or login, by a peripheral device, by a font conflict, or by corruption of the file system or of certain system caches.

    Please take this step regardless of the results of Step 1.

    Disconnect all wired peripherals except those needed for the test, and remove all aftermarket expansion cards, if applicable. Start up in safe mode and log in to the account with the problem.

    Note: If FileVault is enabled in OS X 10.9 or earlier, or if a firmware password is set, or if the startup volume is a software RAID, you can’t do this. Ask for further instructions.

    Safe mode is much slower to start up and run than normal, with limited graphics performance, and some things won’t work at all, including sound output and Wi-Fi on certain models. The next normal startup may also be somewhat slow.

    The login screen appears even if you usually log in automatically. You must know your login password in order to log in. If you’ve forgotten the password, you will need to reset it before you begin.

    Test while in safe mode. Same problem?

    After testing, restart as usual (not in safe mode) and verify that you still have the problem. Post the results of Steps 1 and 2.

  • by chronofar,

    chronofar chronofar Sep 29, 2015 8:39 PM in response to Luis Sequeira1
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Sep 29, 2015 8:39 PM in response to Luis Sequeira1

    @Luis,

     

    Thanks for the tip on closing desktops. I should have found that probably on my own. Indeed once I closed them they didn't come back, so I guess OSX just keeps desktops active even on restart?

     

    As for the cores, I certainly understand the proc is multi-core and hyper-threaded, but I'm fairly new to the OSX ecosystem and didn't realize it would measure CPU activity as 100%=1 core. That doesn't really make sense for a bunch of different reasons (a multi-core processor doesn't just use 1 core until it's maxed then move on to the next, there's always a sharing of the workload between cores), but if that is how activity monitor works it still doesn't explain why when it gets to 102 it freezes. The "law of mathematics" phrase was just a joke, in mathematics it's actually perfectly valid to express percentages over 100%. Still though, 102 is a strange number to land on and freezing doesn't make sense.

  • by chronofar,

    chronofar chronofar Sep 29, 2015 8:45 PM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Sep 29, 2015 8:45 PM in response to Linc Davis

    @Linc,

     

    Thanks for the help! The desktop issue I was able to resolve by simple closing them per Luis' suggestion above (*facepalm*). The others are too intermittent to really perform the tests described here. They don't always happen in my primary account, thus it's difficult to determine if they're happening on another account or in safe mode without using the computer for a long time in those states.

     

    There is 1 other user on the mac and she has not experienced these issues, but she also doesn't use it as much. Hypothetically if it were an issue with 3rd party software loading on boot, is there somewhere else to disable it besides in the User Account settings for login items? I've disabled all software except for Google drive and Android Transfer Agent from starting there, is there another place that I would need to disable things?

  • by Linc Davis,Helpful

    Linc Davis Linc Davis Oct 1, 2015 3:49 AM in response to chronofar
    Level 10 (208,000 points)
    Applications
    Oct 1, 2015 3:49 AM in response to chronofar

    When the machine becomes unresponsive, note the exact time: hour, minute, second.  

    These instructions must be carried out as an administrator. If you have only one user account, you are the administrator.

    Launch the Console application in any of the following ways:

    ☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)

    ☞ In the Finder, select Go Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.

    ☞ Open LaunchPad and start typing the name.

    The title of the Console window should be All Messages. If it isn't, select

              SYSTEM LOG QUERIES All Messages

    from the log list on the left. If you don't see that list, select

              View Show Log List

    from the menu bar at the top of the screen.

    Each message in the log begins with the date and time when it was entered. Scroll back to the time you noted above.

    Select the messages entered from then until the end of the episode, or until they start to repeat, whichever comes first.

    Copy the messages to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. Paste into a reply to this message by pressing command-V.

    The log contains a vast amount of information, almost all of it useless for solving any particular problem. When posting a log extract, be selective. A few dozen lines are almost always more than enough.

    Please don't indiscriminately dump thousands of lines from the log into this discussion.

    Please don't post screenshots of log messages—post the text.

    Some private information, such as your name, may appear in the log. Anonymize before posting.

    When you post the log extract, you might see an error message on the web page: "You have included content in your post that is not permitted," or "The message contains invalid characters." That's a bug in the forum software. Please post the text on Pastebin, then post a link here to the page you created.

  • by chronofar,

    chronofar chronofar Oct 1, 2015 3:51 AM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Oct 1, 2015 3:51 AM in response to Linc Davis

    Thanks Linc! Next time it happens I'll sure to do this and update the thread.