Q: mac pro late 2013 freezes with spinning wheel

You are welcome to run Microsoft office or any Application. The requirement is to not Install invasive extensions to the Darwin Kernel, which can complicate debugging.

If any such extensions were present, they would be found in:

/Library/Extensions

What does it means "power cycle"?

Cycle the power from On to Off to On again, using this procedure:

Choose Shutdown from the Apple Menu. If your Mac does not shut down automatically,

... hold the power button until it does an uncontrolled power-Off.

wait a quarter minute or more.

Press the power button again to Startup up fresh.

To reset the SMC:

Choose Shutdown from the Apple Menu. If your Mac Pro does not shut down automatically,

... hold the power button until it does an uncontrolled power-Off.

Remove the AC power cord.

Press the power button and hold for a quarter minute.(this discharges the power capacitors for a crisp reset)

Restore the AC power cord.

wait a quarter minute or more.

Press the power button again to Startup up fresh.

at Grant Bennet-Alder

I can confirm it is not an software error. I have this problem on 3 from 12 identical Mac Pro's. All machines are clones so they all run the same software.

These 3 machine's also freeze with a clean OS, confirmed with 10.10 and 10.11

Reproducing the random freeze is done by setting Power options to never sleep and set the Flurry screensaver to start after 1 minute. Let it run and it will freeze from within 20 minutes to approx 2 days (as said it's random)

I have this problem on 3 from 12 identical Mac Pro's.

What region of the world are you in?

Do you have Educational Support or National Accounts Support available to you?

Please ask your Apple-authorized Service Provider how to appeal their decision (NOT to service your Apple equipment) to Apple corporate representatives.

What region of the world are you in?

EMEA

I have bought the systems via the Apple Enterprise Store without any extra warranty. In fact the Apple Enterprise Store is only a business pricelist, they give you only consumer help. There is no way to bring multiple machines to the store for repair or to combine a problem such as this one. They look at the machines as separate cases. So I have to go to the store 3 times to bring my machines.

I have only 1 of the 3 Mac Pro still in warranty (bought them in 2 batches) and the first repair try has been done, without result (replaced MLB)

Due the randomness it took me several month's to discover it is an hardware error. I was also thinking about software, but after waiting for 2 OSX 10.10 update's and update's for other business software we use, I finally found a way to reproduce the problem. For 2 of these mac's it was to late to claim warranty

I wonder if this has something to do with sound. The error always starts with fifo sound assertion or something like that, and I always remember the crash with sound on the background.

Hi All,

Today I found out something new. Running a clean install of El Capitan and I did my screensaver freeze test, which resulted in a GUI freeze after approx. 40 mins .

This time I didn't turn off the Mac Pro (which is a normal routine when a computer will freeze) but I disconnected the Thunderbolt to DVi adapter and plugged it a few seconds later into another hole (from left bottom to left middle) and after a few seconds the screen came up again UNFROZEN !!!!!!

Slokkie wrote:

 

Hi All,

 

Today I found out something new. Running a clean install of El Capitan and I did my screensaver freeze test, which resulted in a GUI freeze after approx. 40 mins .

This time I didn't turn off the Mac Pro (which is a normal routine when a computer will freeze) but I disconnected the Thunderbolt to DVi adapter and plugged it a few seconds later into another hole (from left bottom to left middle) and after a few seconds the screen came up again UNFROZEN !!!!!!

Hi Slokkie,

I confirm that it happens also to me, after disconnecting TB cable, mac unfreeze, but it's very very slow.

I have to restart to have normale speed and usage.

Max

Running 2013 Mac Pro with a 27" Apple Thunderbolt display here.  Seeing the same issue.  Disconnecting the Thunderbolt cable and reconnecting it to a different port will allow me to restart the system as stated above.  I have been the to 'Genius' bar 3 times now with this issue and have had my Mac completely replaced yet the issue still persists.  I have spent several thousand dollars on this system for work and I cannot be constantly restarting/unplugging Thunderbolt cables to continue working.  Apple needs to acknowledge there is an actual problem here and stop using the excuse that "we can't reproduce it" just because it takes more than a few minutes to reproduce the problem.  If this issue isn't resolve within the next few months I am going to make Apple give me a full refund for the computer and display and use it to buy a reliable product.

I will be submitting this thread to Reddit and several other social media sites in order to get more attention on this issue until Apple makes an attempt to acknowledge the situation.

You are "Preaching to the choir" when you post such a complaint here. This is a User-to-User forum, and Apple Inc makes no promise of reading these posts,and never responds here unless a post goes unanswered for several days.

Its good that u r making this problem known. And I hope more people will do so. Maybe someone will pick this up as a class action. I loves my apple stuff. But this just make working almost impossible. Its been giving me grief for more than a year. And I've spent to much time talking to apple people. I should not be spending so much time as a debugger for this machine. Whats the point of a powerful computer if it just keeps crashing unpredictably.

Hello to all,

I too have similar problems for several months!

The problem occurs especially while working with FCPX and connected HD (Thunderbolt or USB).

There may be several days where everything works perfectly, then start doing the defect and there is no reset that can make it work.

The symptoms, in sequence:

- Begins to disappear / cawing sound (if I change output is restored for a moment but then disappear again)

- The bluetooth mouse  disconnect and reconnect every 30 seconds

- At worst they start to disconnect USB devices, including keyboard

Even in the absence of the above symptoms, the graphics (play, rendering, etc.) are very slow but, again, there may be days that everything goes perfectly!

Sometimes the trigger is a simple sound system (or an audio from a video of Safari)

Obviously I tried all the possible combinations: cable mouse, other monitors, keyboard, several HD, etc ... everything!

I also tried installing on a external drive with El Capitain, but exactly the same fault!

Reading the forum I understand that the situation is very serious.

Now my MacPro is in service from 20 days (!!!). They also tell me that they are deficient in parts and I'll have to wait another week. And I fear that the problem will not be solved!

It 'a very great problem, very serious!!!

(Ps. My MacPro is out of warranty ...)

I can confirm as stated earlier that this issue is consistently reproducible by setting the screensaver to 'Flurry', setting your computer to never sleep and letting the screensaver run for any length of time (6-48 hours in my experience).  The display will eventually freeze yet the computer is still actually running.  I can ssh into it, ping, etc.  Disconnecting the Thunderbolt Display and connecting it to a different Thunderbolt port will make the system come back to life although it will be very slow requiring a reboot.

I have written to major blog (9to5mac.com, appleinsider.com) describing the major problem. Write you too, maybe it's the only way to get noticed by Apple.

It can become a MacPro-gate!!!