Macilias

Q: WindowServer[]: GPU Driver appears to be hung (over 5 continuous seconds of unreadiness)

Hi,

i have a huge problem with my < 1 Year old iMac 5K. It seams it is not capable of running creative tools. At least this is the statement the Apple Reseller gave me as the excuse followed by, i have to wait until Apple update its driver and hope the problem will disappear.

But one after another. I Bought this iMac i a configuration with the better CPU available (i7) and 16GB of RAM in April last year. When i asked if the less perform graphic card is enough to run oll application but games, they ensured me that this is the case. Then the whole year long there was seldom behavior with this mac, since after a while it started to hang for a period of at the beginning few seconds and after a while a few more until it become completely unusable due to high frequency of freezes. Those freezes was mostly gone, when the focus of the application was changed (cmd + tab), but come again over and over.

First thing i did, i though that thing is broken and got a new logic board installed, but the problem ramains.

After all i discovered that the log is full of statements like:

 

WindowServer[]: GPU Driver appears to be hung (over 5 continuous seconds of unreadiness)

 

while the application is frozen. So i brought the iMac back to the reseller. Just today they called me and told me that this problem is related to ALL creative tools like Photoshop but also music programs like Ableton and even Logic X! They told me that i will have to wait until Apple comes up with a new Logic Board driver which hopefully solves the problem. I mean they literally confirmed that the iMac 5K is not not capable of running any creative Application at the moment for a longer while.

My question is, what should people like me do, when the only purpose being this computer was creative tools. Is there a program to switch to a different machine like MacBook or Mac Pro or are the iMacs postum declared as not usable for creativity and the buyers let alone in the rain?

iMac with Retina 5K display, OS X El Capitan (10.11.3), Logic X

Posted on Mar 3, 2016 9:03 AM

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Q: WindowServer[]: GPU Driver appears to be hung (over 5 continuous seconds of unreadiness)

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  • by Macilias,

    Macilias Macilias Mar 3, 2016 10:29 AM in response to Macilias
    Level 1 (16 points)
    iWork
    Mar 3, 2016 10:29 AM in response to Macilias

    Sorry but my last post was so full of typos, i was really offset after the call from the retail store and needed some time to come down. Sorry. Here is a rewritten version, with most typos corrected:

     

    I have a huge problem with my < 1 Year old iMac 5K. It seams it is not capable of running creative tools. At least this is the statement the Apple Reseller gave me as the answer to my problem followed by the suggestion i should wait until Apple update its driver and hope the problem will disappear.

    But one after another. I Bought this iMac with following configuration: the better CPU (i7) and 16GB of RAM, Fusion Drive and the simpler graphic card in April last year.

    When i asked if the less performant graphic card is sufficient to run all applications beside actual 3D games, they ensured me that this is the case.

    Then the whole year long this mac showed seldom behavior. At the beginning he started to hang for a period of few seconds and after a while a few more until he become completely unusable due to high frequency of freezes. Those freezes was mostly gone, when the focus of the application was changed (cmd + tab), but come again over and over.

    First i though that something is broken and brought it to apple repair, where i got a new logic board installed, but the problem remains.

    After all i discovered that the log is full of statements like:

     

    WindowServer[]: GPU Driver appears to be hung (over 5 continuous seconds of unreadiness)

     

    while the application is frozen. So i brought the iMac back to the reseller. Just today they called me and told me that this problem is related to ALL creative tools like Photoshop and also music programs like Ableton and even Logic X! They told me that I will have to wait until Apple releases new logic board driver, which hopefully will solve the problem. I mean they literally confirmed that the iMac 5K is not not capable of running any creative Application at the moment for a unknown while - maybe always.

    My question is, what should people like me do, when the only purpose to buy this computer was creative tools. Is there a program to switch to a different machine like MacBook Pro or Mac Pro or are the iMacs postum declared as not usable for creativity and the buyers let alone in the rain?

    I really curious since the Apple Website sill advertise the iMac as a creative monster.

  • by Macilias,

    Macilias Macilias Mar 3, 2016 1:44 PM in response to Macilias
    Level 1 (16 points)
    iWork
    Mar 3, 2016 1:44 PM in response to Macilias

    i found also this thread which is quite similar, but with MBP and unsolved

    Re: Mac Pro freezes with rainbow ball intermittently

  • by Macilias,

    Macilias Macilias Mar 8, 2016 2:29 AM in response to Macilias
    Level 1 (16 points)
    iWork
    Mar 8, 2016 2:29 AM in response to Macilias

    And this thread is pointing out to lover the resolution on the iMac: https://discussions.apple.com/message/27090874#27090874

    But when we can not use the higher resolution, why i a retina Display integrated?

  • by Macilias,Apple recommended

    Macilias Macilias Mar 10, 2016 8:36 AM in response to Macilias
    Level 1 (16 points)
    iWork
    Mar 10, 2016 8:36 AM in response to Macilias

    I had a kind of break thru the other evening. I've been told by Apple to remove all parts which do not come from Apple and see if the problem still occurs. The only part which was not original Apple hardware (beside the thunderbold audio interface) was the additional RAM build in by the Apple retailer directly. So i never had a chance to compare the iMac with and without additional RAM. Once it get removed the Problem

    disappeared nearly completely! Before the freezes was multiple times a minute after the removal of the additional Block i had only one short freeze with the log error massage: WindowServer:  GPU Driver appears to be hung

  • by ckeilah,

    ckeilah ckeilah Oct 7, 2016 7:31 PM in response to Macilias
    Level 1 (12 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 7, 2016 7:31 PM in response to Macilias

    UNBELIEVABLE!!!  $1800 for Mac Mini i7 custom build with maxed RAM and SSD+HDD from Apple.  $3500 Cinema Display 30" from Apple, and THE TWO $%!#@$IGN APPLE DEVICES ARE INCOMPATIBLE?!?!  AAARGH!!  Well, that certainly explains why the SAME **** problem has been following at least four different versions of OSX.

     

    Dunno if this will help, but I figured out that WindowServer was biting the dust: from ScreenSharing and/or Cinema Display, I'd guess....  A solution that doesn't involve a hard reboot, and can be done remotely via ssh (the ONLY way, since the GUI will be utterly b0rk3d thanks to Apple's mess:

     

    sudo launchctl unload /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.WindowServer.plist

    sudo launchctl load /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.WindowServer.plist

     

    This will log out every user's GUI, but at least things running in the background can keep going... or so it seems.  x-fingers....