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Q: OS X 10.11.4 freezing and/or crashing while using Safari

Hi everyone!

 

Have others experienced freezing and sometimes crashing of Mac OS X 10.11.4 while using Safari? Is this a known issue or is it just me?

 

The way this manifests itself is that scrolling and mouse movements suddenly start to get slow and jerky. Then, within 30 seconds to a minute, the keyboard stops working and mouse clicks no longer have an effect, but the mouse cursor will still move. Then it either stays that way indefinitely or the system crashes. The only recourse is to force a reboot using the power button.

 

This happens to me every other day, but I cannot reproduce it on demand. I believe (but I'm not certain) that the first such crash has occurred before the recent upgrade to 10.11.4.

 

This is on a

 

Mac mini (Late 2012)

Mac OS X 10.11.4

Safari 9.1 (11601.5.17.1)

 

Cheers

Mac mini, OS X El Capitan (10.11.4)

Posted on Mar 28, 2016 2:06 AM

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Q: OS X 10.11.4 freezing and/or crashing while using Safari

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  • by Alvin777,

    Alvin777 Alvin777 Jun 15, 2016 5:55 AM in response to Alvin777
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    Jun 15, 2016 5:55 AM in response to Alvin777

    I use the manual Sleep (in Apple Menu) so that the fans switch off/throttle down as well after about 30 second (Sleep Via Energy Saver doesn't) to preserve the fan bearings and reduce noise when say, one needs to download something overnight coz' Macs Fan Control or apps like this may not be allowing the fans to switch off/rev down via Energy Saver sleep. You could, not shut it down forever (24/7 ON for years) or until this seemingly fan control issue in macOS isn't fixed but it might bust the power supply capacitor since it's not meant to do that. since the Mac is not a server (maybe except the Mac Pro but it's better to shut down to save electricity anyway).

  • by Alvin777,

    Alvin777 Alvin777 Jun 15, 2016 6:01 AM in response to Alvin777
    Level 1 (73 points)
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    Jun 15, 2016 6:01 AM in response to Alvin777

    correction: manual sleep switches off the internet connection it seems (can't overnight download- it'll get interrupted).

  • by Alvin777,

    Alvin777 Alvin777 Jun 20, 2016 9:46 AM in response to Alvin777
    Level 1 (73 points)
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    Jun 20, 2016 9:46 AM in response to Alvin777

    correction again sorry, usual energy saver sleep switches off the fans but it takes time (not minutes like with manually clicking sleep). 85% fan rpm is very, very stable. Thanks.

  • by broozar,

    broozar broozar Jun 23, 2016 7:42 AM in response to tech$1
    Level 1 (13 points)
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    Jun 23, 2016 7:42 AM in response to tech$1

    In case anyone cares: same freezes still happening in the new 10.11.6 beta 3. since i have sent over a dozen error reports to apple by now, i feel they are either going straight to /dev/null or really don't care. And to all here who recommend manual fan control, this is not a solution as my machine is running between 40 and 60 C all the time, so totally fine.

     

    Some programs do spout random graphics error messages though, which makes me suspect this might be a (graphics) driver issue, maybe related to Metal or OpenGL. Certainly feels like the lockups i got 10 years ago with bad AMD drivers on my linux laptop...

  • by Toca143,

    Toca143 Toca143 Jun 23, 2016 8:02 AM in response to broozar
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Jun 23, 2016 8:02 AM in response to broozar

    HI Broozar,

     

    I feel your pain as well. I downgraded to Yosemite thinking that would solve my freezing issue. No joy - had just as many freezes there.

     

    I am now back at 10.11.5 with only a few freezes. My MBP was running quite hot so installed SMC fan. Runs a little cooler now but I'm sure that doesn't solve the freeze. I also have sent in many system dump reports and Apple has requested more details on what I was doing at the time of the freeze.

     

    I'm hoping those on the developer macOS Sierra (aka 10.12) will report soon on whether freezing is still occurring on the new OS. All I can do is live with the freeze until Apple fixes it or tells me that my MBP (Early 2011) needs to be replaced with a faster/newer (more $$$) model.

     

    This brings me back to the old days of early Microsoft Windows when the blue screen of death was an accepted norm.

     

    Tom

  • by Luis Sequeira1,

    Luis Sequeira1 Luis Sequeira1 Jun 23, 2016 8:38 AM in response to Toca143
    Level 6 (12,409 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jun 23, 2016 8:38 AM in response to Toca143

    Toca143 wrote:

     

    I'm hoping those on the developer macOS Sierra (aka 10.12) will report soon on whether freezing is still occurring on the new OS. All I can do is live with the freeze until Apple fixes it or tells me that my MBP (Early 2011) needs to be replaced with a faster/newer (more $$$) model.

     

    Isn't this model one of those affected by a recall due to GPU issues?

  • by tiger-m,

    tiger-m tiger-m Jun 23, 2016 8:58 PM in response to broozar
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Jun 23, 2016 8:58 PM in response to broozar
    Ok, my case.  Macbook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Early 2015), 3.1 GHz Intel Core i7, 16 GB memory  Had freezes ~twice a day on 10.11.4  Solution worked for me:  * download Macs Fan Control (free) * go to Right Side Fan -> Change Control -> Sensor-based value: CPU Proximity - Temperature that fan speed will start to increase from: 60C - Maximum temperature: 68 C  Results:  Never had freezes after this solution (~6 weeks, 8-9 hours of usage per day, including Safari and video, two external full HD displays)  I keep these Macs Fan Control settings after upgrade to 10.11.5  Fan never goes below ~1300 RPM Sometimes (few times per day, RPM increases to ~5000 RPM for few seconds)  Thoughts:  Macbook freezes if Fan RPM is 0 (fan is stopped) If most of ~15 temperature sensors show 40-60 C, next second CPU/GPU temperature can jump above 105 C and cause the freeze       
  • by Alvin777,

    Alvin777 Alvin777 Jun 23, 2016 11:14 PM in response to broozar
    Level 1 (73 points)
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    Jun 23, 2016 11:14 PM in response to broozar

    Hi. It's best for: CPU go below 60 Celsius, GPU below 70 Celsius, hard drives between 45-49 Celsius (now after hours of use at 32 Celsius climate, the Platform Controller Hub Die which I think is related to the power supply is the highest even at idle/just browser at 60 Celsius, 60 is usually a bad temperature for components when long term and may be the cause of the freeze).

     

    Mine would crash too I thought it was Safari leaking memory but it seems to be a components that's around what the sensors do not detect. The CPU, GPU, PSU, LCD, hardisk that are detected by the sensors are all good ok when stress tested. It might likely be components surrounding the GPU and PSU (power supply) that overheats because OS X El Capitan (this may have started in Lion, coz' the last most stable one was Snow Leopard) kernel that governs the fans rpms relative to the Macs sensor reading, is not revving the fans high enough.

     

    I have set the fans to 90% from 85% and it's surpassed my record of 2 days of no crashing using Safari (lots of tabs, two windows usually). It's more of a software problem but not an app software problem but the OS itself (kernel not a driver perhaps). Thanks. I'm on the latest stable El Capitan. It's quite stable right now and the weather is very quite hot at 32 Celsius.

     

    Apple programmers may have programmed the kernel of OS X too low coz' they may have been testing at a cold region. They should boost all fan rpms to 90% when the Platform Controller Hub Die reaches 59 Celsius. When it's in auto, as mentioned the fans are maxing out at less than 2000rpm even if the Platform Controller Hub Die 60 Celsius and the GPU at 85 Celsius (which may mean components surrounding those two may be reaching beyond their maximum heat tolerance causing the freeze).

     

    God bless, Rev. 21:4

  • by Saraigate,

    Saraigate Saraigate Jun 26, 2016 10:29 PM in response to xjx
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Jun 26, 2016 10:29 PM in response to xjx

    Hello everyone involved in this discussion,

    I just wanted to add my info to the list as I am also having a problem. Over the past couple of weeks my iMac has frozen three times while playing a video on youtube. I am on youtube constantly, so it doesn't happen all of the time. The first two times I had to do a hard reboot as everything froze except the mouse. I could still hear the sound of the videos though. The third time it stayed frozen only for a few seconds and then restarted itself. I can use Netflix, hulu, watch dvds, and another video stuff without this happening. It only seems to be happening with youtube. I wanted to bring attention to this as I am not using El Capitan or Yosemite (as I noticed most of this discussion has been about). I am on Mavericks. This problem only started happening a couple of weeks ago. The last update I've done on this computer from Apple was for iTunes version 12.4.1 on Jun 4. When the freezes occurred I figured it was just a problem with Safari and have been waiting for an update to be released from Apple. Upon reading through this discussion, I'm getting the idea that it's not that.

     

    I am using:

     

    iMac 27-inch, Late 2013

    Software OS X 10.9.5

    Processor 3.5 GHz Intel Core i7

    Memory 32GB

    Browser: Safari

     

    Does anyone have any suggestions or an update on a possible solution from Apple?

    Thanks

  • by Alvin777,

    Alvin777 Alvin777 Jun 26, 2016 11:00 PM in response to Saraigate
    Level 1 (73 points)
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    Jun 26, 2016 11:00 PM in response to Saraigate

    Hi. I adjusted all the fans to 90% (I'll experiment with 88% but do experiment with lower percentages) and it's quite stable now (I even switch on a small fan at the back when it boots up until it gets to load Macs Fan Control which I use to adjust the fans manually). This fan issue may have started with Lion not El Capitan; El Cap may have inherited this from Lion . Lion was the start of things being unstable. Something surrounding the GPU and/or Power Supply is overheating coz' Apple may have programmed the fans to spin too slowly.

     

    I hope it works for you.

     

    God bless. Rev. 21:4

  • by Alvin777,

    Alvin777 Alvin777 Jun 27, 2016 1:05 AM in response to Alvin777
    Level 1 (73 points)
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    Jun 27, 2016 1:05 AM in response to Alvin777

    Hi. The crash usually happens when it's newly booted from a shutdown. Now I'm experimenting fans at 88% and plan not to shut this late 2009 iMac off. It's good, didn't crash and it's been minutes (sometimes it freezes just a few minutes after booting up coz' I think the fans sometimes even at manual control don't catch up to the heat coz' Macs Fans Control seems to be loaded last- I help it with an external fan until Mac Fans Control start and I'm sure things are cool before I switch off the electric fan at the back).

     

    Thanks. God bless. Philippians 2:13

  • by broozar,

    broozar broozar Jun 28, 2016 2:20 AM in response to Alvin777
    Level 1 (13 points)
    Desktops
    Jun 28, 2016 2:20 AM in response to Alvin777
    Please stop guessing wildly, please stop saying it had anything to do with temperatures, and please leave your god out of a tech support forum, thank you.  Again, temperatures could be a problem in the fanless Macbooks from 2015/16, but are not to blame in any other machine, especially those who already have some sort of fan management software installed. I have Macs Fan Control installed for years and keep it running in an open window in the background. My freeze yesterday happened at 38°C CPU, 43°C GPU and 47°C PCH at a constant fan RPM of 1600, which should tell you that I did not do anything taxing with the system at all.  The only system that runs stable at the moment for my is my old 2009 mini, which is so old that it does not support Metal or any more modern OpenGL version. Even though it runs El Cap 10.11.5, I did not have a crash on it in ages, even though I use it as a home theater machine (video and audio), which is exactly the stuff my other machines die on. Combined with the graphics error dialogues I receive on my 2015 iMac when launhcing certain programs, I would suggest that Apple looked into their graphics driver, Metal implementation, or anything that has to do with the graphics and multimedia system.
  • by broozar,

    broozar broozar Jun 28, 2016 2:24 AM in response to Saraigate
    Level 1 (13 points)
    Desktops
    Jun 28, 2016 2:24 AM in response to Saraigate
    Very interesting. Most of use experienced the issue when we updated to 10.11.4, but not before. Yours might be an unrelated issue, as you still have control over the mouse with your freezes, so the graphics system does seem to work on some level at least, while ours completely dies.
  • by broozar,

    broozar broozar Jun 28, 2016 2:26 AM in response to tiger-m
    Level 1 (13 points)
    Desktops
    Jun 28, 2016 2:26 AM in response to tiger-m
    Nice to hear that it worked for you, unfortunately this does not seem to be a universal fix. I also have fan control installed and temperatures all below 60, yet it still freezes multiple times a day.
  • by Alvin777,

    Alvin777 Alvin777 Jun 28, 2016 3:19 AM in response to xjx
    Level 1 (73 points)
    Desktops
    Jun 28, 2016 3:19 AM in response to xjx

    Hi. If Chrome or non-Safari browser from more than 14 hours is used, does it still freeze?

     

    This iMac's stable at 90% fan rpm under Safari (I'm on 10.11.5 but two updates ago, Safari froze OS X a lot when there were lots of tabs open. I had to use Chrome or Firefox). It may be a combo of issues: most likely in the kernel (related to maximum fan rpm) and Safari leaking memory (though mine seems to be ok now even with 30+ tabs and two windows even for more than 14 hours non-stop use). GPU driver seems to be ok when stressed tested with GPU stress test app for both Windows and OS X.

     

    Thanks. God bless, Matt. 16:18

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