New 16” MBP Random Restarts and LockUps

And the salvation is even sadder...

I'm waiting for my replacement computer for 10 weeks now. Yes 10 weeks. When do I get it? I have been promised to see it in 2 weeks. So 12 weeks required to replace a €3300 worth CTO laptop??? Yes, it seems so.

Apple Ireland failed to promise or act anything.

If you have the chance to make it replaced, do it as soon as you can!

Warranty exchange or refund falls under the Lemon Laws (originally put in place for automobiles) that in the US, vary on a state-by-state basis.

In my state, you would have to have three attempts to fix AND lost several weeks of use (from being in the dealer's custody) before they would provide a new one (NOT a refund in any case). Loss of use at home does not count -- only "time in the shop".

If they did not do anything at a Genius Bar visit, and you accepted the computer back again, that is NOT likely to count as an attempt to repair in my state.

I have a 16" MBP that has randomly restarted a few times. certainly not as often as others, in fact after the 10.15.3 update I think it's only happened a couple of times. However, I also have a 2019 Mac Pro that has now restarted it 3 times over a period of about 1 month. I'm not sure this is a MBP problem but something else is going on, and for some reason the 16" MBP is more susceptible than others.

I just got my first-time repaired 2019 16" back yesterday... Mine had been even worse that it kept crashing and restarting until it can't boot itself. And Apple did the same thing they replaced all the major parts and it's like a brand new laptop now.

But I updated the system to 10.15.4 last night, and left it on my desk. The first thing I saw this morning when i opened up the lid was an unexpected restart report, AGAIN!!! It's just really painful.

I have an old Macbook 2015 model that never had any problem like this. I'm using that one majorly for my WFH situation, idk why I decided to get this one last year. the Worse MBP experience ever and I can't return it :(

Just adding myself to the list of this issue happening. However, I purchased this laptop last December and it just started happening after the latest OS update 10.15.4.

I updated the OS about 48 hours ago and since then I have had this issue every time I step away from the computer for more than an hour. I haven't even seen it actually restart because it restores all my apps, so when I come back I just see the same workspace but with the warning on the screen that the computer restarted.

Very perplexing.

This issue and Apple’s response infuriates me so much. Last year (2019) on my MacBook Pro 15” retina from 2014 I experienced all the problems described in this thread. I spent over 6 months trying to fix the issue via Apple, other authorised repair shops that were a little more customer friendly, calling, travelling back and forth without any luck. In the end it was happening so often (while I was graduating) that it was impossible to work on. I didn't want to gamble on replacing the mother board, because even with my limited knowledge of computers it was crystal clear that it wasn’t a hard ware issue (nor a software, because we reinstalled everything at least 10 times). Apple didn’t do anything proper to help. I went back three times, called them up multiple times and also went to another store 6 times. They basically kept trying the same stuff and of course nothing came out of it. Unfortunately I ended up buying the newest MacBook (15.6” Pro), even though everything on the “old” MacBook still ran perfectly, even heavy rendering programmes, apart from these random crashes that they could not recreate “manually”. I’ve had my new MacBook since August 2019, and just this week a similar issue started. While with my previous MacBook it usually froze or turned black and the fans would go crazy for a longer period of time, forcing me to shut it down forcefully, now it freezes, shuts down quickly, the fans work hard for about half a second and then it automatically restarts. The moments when it happens seem to be random again. It happened twice so far (within a week) and I’m freaking out. I still have warranty thank god (I even remember trying to justify this idiotic purchase to myself by saying “If something like this will happen again at least I can get everything replaced”). I cannot believe I’m going through this again. As it happens randomly, last time it took me 2 months to finally convince them there was an actual problem because only then it happened in front of them. So advice how to deal with this would be greatly appreciated, because ideally I would just get a replacement laptop rather than going through this insane and fruitless procedure again. Btw I live in Europe. Thanks in advance!

Yes, perhaps a swap may be better for you. I've had my 16" MBP since late January and I haven't experienced a single crash, restart, reboot or lockup either. It's been 100% perfect. It's possible Apple may have had a bad run of a few units.

Welcome to the club, most of the people using a MacBook Pro 16-inch with an external monitor are having tons of different issues (kernel panics, fans running pretty loud when there is no big CPU or GPU usage, problems with the new High Dynamic range function and some other problems related to the dGPU and the external monitor).

Two days ago, I received a brand new 16in MBP, i9 (2.3), 32GB, 8GB 5500, 1TB SSD and I, too, was brought to this forum in trying to troubleshoot four random restarts.

I also left my MBP connected to an external 27in display via thunderbolt for maybe 1-2 hours before I came back and found it unresponsive with both screens black, and the fans running loudly. I then forced restart by holding down the power button.

Another interesting issue is that sometime after I updated my previous computer to Catalina, late 2016 15in MBP, it invariably refuses to sleep and overheats. The only way for it to “sleep” or cool off is to shut down, a notable frustration for those of us who rely heavily (perhaps too much) on the sleep function.

Perhaps these issues are indicative of software as Catalina seems to be common in every case yet, I will obviously ask for a replacement since that seems to be the one solution we have at this point. Any other thoughts?

Well I’m still coming back to my MacBook to find an error stating it restarted due to a problem. I have the same specs as yours. I’ve not seen it happen before my eyes. I usually lock it or start the screensaver when I leave my desk and will come back to the error every time without fail.

I also noticed that when playing a game on the Mac screen or connected to an external display and (connected to power) the charge level actually decreases (then there’s the fan noise too... oof).

Apple has recommended disconnecting all peripherals and testing. Same thing occurs regardless. Not keen on reinstalling Mac OS on a computer I dropped 6k on in mid April... why is this happening and where is the fix.

Well I had the same issue with my now 3 day old MBP 16 inch base model. Once while charging it overnight, and right after that it did it again while I passively charged my iPad Pro through the USB C port. Any other ideas? By the looks of it and while I read through the forum it has something to do with external devices being plugged in, but the overnight charging makes me think there is something more to it.

Hi Everyone! Having the same issue here. In March purchased a 16" MacBook Pro $2300 later and I still am plagued with the same issues everyone else has identified. I did a refresh reinstall of my MacBook Pro and erased the hard drive as others have done.. Same issue. I went ahead and disabled Power Nap and will report back if it continues to happen. Note: I have a 32 4K external monitor hooked up and Bluetooth Apple Magic Keyboard w/ numeral pad, and Magic Mouse 2. Monitor is connected via HDMI and I am using Apple's USB C to HDMI adapter.

Well the issue returned on my machine so please remove my two solutions from the data (updating Little Snitch, removing second monitor).

I just disabled Power Nap (for both battery and plugged in)... if the problem persists after this I will report back.

I have the same problem and then Siri starts talking. It reboots several times a day. I am also running dual extended monitor and both monitors consistently flicker and sometimes all three monitors will go black. This is a real pain.

Just updated to 10.15.5 yesterday and woke up this morning to a kernel panic restart. I’m at the point of returning this MacBook pro. It’s not the hardware it’s the software causing Issues and it can’t seem to be fixed. Already turned off power nap nonsense also.