Message app freezes on startup

Have you run a Hardware test?

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201257

To find out if it's system wide or user specific, try this...

Open System Preferences>Users & Groups, unlock the lock, click on the little plus icon, make a new admin account, log out & into the new account.

Does it work in the new account?

Yes you can...

Careful of the Recovery keys you use...

1. Start up from macOS Recovery

To start up from macOS Recovery, turn on your Mac and immediately press and hold one of the following combinations on your keyboard. Command-R is generally recommended, especially if you never installed macOS Sierra 10.12.4 or later.

Command (⌘)-R

Install the latest macOS that was installed on your Mac.

Option-⌘-R

Upgrade to the latest macOS compatible with your Mac.

Shift-Option-⌘-R

Install the macOS that came with your Mac, or the closest version still available.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204904

Whew!?

Back on those errors you piced...

OS X no longer pays attention to disk activity when deciding if it's OK to put the system to sleep. Instead, Apple recommends that applications make what Apple calls "power assertions" as a way to tell the OS when they're doing some useful work that the system should stay awake for.

http://mikeabdullah.net/power-assertions.html

Run this command in Terminal...

pmset -g assertions

And list the text...

pmset -g assertions

2019-02-15 09:37:53 -0800

Assertion status system-wide:

BackgroundTask 0

ApplePushServiceTask 0

UserIsActive 1

PreventUserIdleDisplaySleep 1

PreventSystemSleep 0

ExternalMedia 1

PreventUserIdleSystemSleep 1

NetworkClientActive 0

Listed by owning process:

pid 59(powerd): [0x0000005c00088000] 42:10:59 ExternalMedia named: "com.apple.powermanagement.externalmediamounted"

pid 114(hidd): [0x000249af00099976] 00:33:38 UserIsActive named: "com.apple.iohideventsystem.queue.tickle.4294968055.3"

Timeout will fire in 480 secs Action=TimeoutActionRelease

pid 1090(AppBundleExe): [0x0000099200058230] 41:31:41 PreventUserIdleDisplaySleep named: ""

pid 1090(AppBundleExe): [0x000009890005822f] 41:31:50 PreventUserIdleDisplaySleep named: ""

pid 148(coreaudiod): [0x000009a500018244] 41:31:22 PreventUserIdleSystemSleep named: "com.apple.audio.AppleHDAEngineOutput:1B,0,1,2:0.context.preventuseridlesleep"

Created for PID: 1090.

Kernel Assertions: 0x4=USB

id=506 level=255 0x4=USB mod=12/31/69, Dec 31 04:00 PM description=com.apple.usb.externaldevice.fa120000 owner=USB Keyboard

id=508 level=255 0x4=USB mod=12/31/69, Dec 31 04:00 PM description=com.apple.usb.externaldevice.fd130000 owner=USB Optical Mouse

id=509 level=255 0x4=USB mod=12/31/69, Dec 31 04:00 PM description=com.apple.usb.externaldevice.fa130000 owner=USB Optical Mouse

Idle sleep preventers: IODisplayWrangler

Using any of these?

https://support.apple.com/guide/directory-utility/welcome-diru2dc0ea09/mac

Does it do it if Handoff is disabled?

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204681#handoff

To find out if it's system wide or user specific, try this...

Open System Preferences>Users & Groups, unlock the lock, click on the little plus icon, make a new admin account, log out & into the new account.

Does it work in the new account?

You do not say what exact Mac /model /year / you are using

or

what macOS you are currently running.

Did you try signing out of Messages, and then back in again?

Verify your software is up to date. If this is High Sierra 10.13.6 you can try reinstalling the combo update:

Download macOS High Sierra 10.13.6 Combo Update - Apple Support

You don't speak to the updates:

About the security content of macOS Mojave 10.14.3 Supplemental Update https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT209521

This included, but not mentioned: a Message.app update which remains at version 12.0 but is now build 5500, also built on 3 February;

It is painless to reinstall the "combo update" on top of your existing macOS— this has been known to resolve one off anomalies

Download macOS Mojave 10.14.3 Combo Update - Apple Support

Quit Messages if it’s running.

Step 1

Hold down the option key and select Go ▹ Library from the Finder menu bar. Move the following items from the Library folder to the Desktop... Caches/com.apple.Messages folder

/Users/Users/YourUserName/Library/Containers/com.apple.soagent/Data/Library/Preferences/com.apple.messageshelper.AlertsController.plist

Several of the following.../Users/YourUserName/Library/Containers/com.apple.corerecents.recentsd/Data/Library/SyncedPreferences/recentsd-com.apple.messages.recents.plist

/Users/YourUserName/Library/Containers/com.apple.soagent/Data/Library/Preferences/ByHost/com.apple.MessagesHistoryImporter.BIG NUMBER.plist

/Users/YourUserName/Library/Containers/com.apple.iChat/Data/Library/Preferences/ByHost/com.apple.MessagesHistoryImporter.BIG NUMBER.plist

I'm starting to think some kind of Hardware problem.

For a real long shot...

RichardFoo

User level:

Level 1

(4 points)

Feb 15, 2019 4:24 PM in response to TimsTech

I've been debugging a problem with my VPN client constantly reconnecting, along with poor WiFi performance. After much digging, I came across an excellent article - although written for Yosemite and iOS8, it still seems to be relevant to Mojave, especially with a newer WiFi chip in the 2018 MacBook Pro. https://medium.com/@mariociabarra/wifriedx-in-depth-look-at-yosemite-wifi-and-awdl-airdrop-41a93eb22e48

The author wrote a program that essentially just issues a command and keeps it enforced. You can try it manually in a terminal window: sudo ifconfig awdl0 down

To reverse the command, type: sudo ifconfig awdl0 up

He gives a great technical explanation, so I won't repeat it here. The command disables a virtual network interface that's used for ad-hoc WiFi by features like Airdrop; I personally won't miss them. So far, I've gone from losing my connection 20 times an hour to being stable for 3+ hours.

I share this issue right now. I have a 2018 13" MacBook Pro. When opening Messenger, my whole system locks for 5-10 seconds. I am running the latest OS, always have. To add to this, I noticed that Messenger would lock up, not the whole system, when I started that one app for the same 5-10 seconds for well over a year. I was willing to deal with it as a quirk, but now that it locks everything up, I'm not to pleased.

I appears that instead of bringing up the window quickly and freezing it until it's operational, there is a delay in the window appearing at all, then once it pops up, it works. Seems like a cosmetic work around, while wondering why the window of the app is so slow to pop up.