Macbook pro 16 2019 freezes randomly and restarts

I think the only fix we found so far for number 2 is replace logic board which sounds excessive, but you can’t just replace any individual component on the board because everything is soldered in place

Guess I'll post my experience too, after 39 pages of similar reports.

MacBook Pro 16 2019 purchased in late 12/2019. 2.3 GHz/8core i9/64 GB RAM with AMD 5500M 8GB

Hooked up to Caldigit TS3 Plus dock. Three external monitors: 2 of NEC PA272 and 1 NEC PA302

Running Catalina 10.15.5

After several crashes, I started keeping a log from March 2, 2020. Since then, I've had 11 kernel panics / crashes. I've lost data from files I was working on and most recently was running a backup.

Beyond frustrated. I've had many Macs since 2007 and evangelized extensively to family and friends. If I wasn't so heavily invested in the Mac ecosystem for work and personal needs, I would move on in a heartbeat. From reading multiple discussions, it's not clear that a logic board replacement (I have AppleCare) will fix things as some have noted that problems returned after multiple replacements. Is this all Catalina? I had hoped so and kept waiting for the point updates to finally fix the issue. Now I'm on 10.15.5, and it just crashed again. So where's the problem? Who knows; it seems Apple doesn't. Since I use the laptop for work, I cannot afford to send it away for 2-3 weeks and cease work. Why go through the extensive effort engagement with Apple Care support, if the problem simply recurs?

Perhaps it's time to consider investment in the Apple ecosystem as a sunk cost and just find an an alternative. No Windows. What's a good Linux alternative? System 76? I just want stability.

I'm currently experiencing similar problems with the keyboard freezing randomly and forcing me to restart via the apple menu (touchpad still works).

This has happened now on 2 separate MacBook Pro 16's (2.3GHz, 32GB RAM, 1TB), one a Silver 5500 8GB and the second a Gray 5500 4GB.

I initially thought it was Chrome too but have been able to freeze the keyboard with Chrome uninstalled and only Safari running. Both laptops are only 2 weeks old, ordered brand new from Amazon (Adorama and Expercom). Have also PRAM reset both and the freezing still occurs.

W..T..F.. Apple!?

EDIT to post above: Upon further research and experimenting, I believe the root of my keyboard freezing issue stems from using KarabinerElements which I used to remap the command key for certain apps.

If keyboard was freezing after pressing CAPS LOCK then that's known issue with KarabinerElements. There is a thread on their Github issues page about this. There is a built-in macOS util that allows to remap keys so I got rid of Karabiner.

Yeah, it blows that it's with Karabiner since I like the default functionality of the Command key for most apps but need to swap it w/ Control in certain apps for better use. Can't have it all!

Also, if anyone else reading this has the same problem with Karabiner and wants to keep using this app, putting the macbook to sleep after a keyboard freeze then awakening it is quick workaround.

Latest news which may fix the problem we all have been having:

TECHNOLOGY ALERTApple Announces Transition to In-House Chips for Macs

Apple is breaking up with Intel. The company will transition to its own computer processors, in a long-anticipated shift that ends a 15-year partnership.

I've got new build MBP 16" on Friday and it passed the quick test that was crashing the previous unit (done on an out-of-the-box unit that I only installed the most recent macOS upgrade). However I didn't migrate or use it at all as I ordered a unit with the latest GPU. I hope I'll get it end of this week so I can test it too and get to keep it.

I just got my MacBook 16 back yesterday with a replaced logic board and Have not experienced a freeze yet. Once I test some more I’ll definitely follow up. I understand your frustration that is how we are all feeling in this thread, but hope replacing the logic board fixed the Issue for me and can be a solution for others.

Apple replaced the logic board for my MBP (surprisingly quickly; the empty box left Reno on a Wednesday evening to get to me Thursday to get to Houston Friday morning and the computer was fixed and on it's way back to Oregon from Texas late Friday). It took a few weeks for me to get back into my (closed) office so I could get it binded our active directory and properly set-up to access all our corporate tools.

I've now been using it for about 2 days and I've seen a few freezes -- where the cursor and the screen stop for anywhere from 5-10 seconds -- but the audio (from Teams in most cases) continues. Given this I'm not thinking that it is the same issue I saw previously, but it is concerning to see these freezes. I'll keep monitoring..

I finally opened a ticket with AppleCare at least to document that I was yet another Macbook Pro 16" customer who has sudden system crashes. I went through the reset SMC, NVRAM, yada, yada. Booted into safe mode per their advice and worked in that for a while. However, that doesn't allow the 3 display external setup. So eventually I booted into normal mode. Three crashes since then. First crash, a few days later. I did the 'turn off graphics switching, get Amphetamine to keep the computer from sleeping, turn it off at the end of the day instead of sleeping, etc.' That didn't prevent the subsequent two crashes. The last happened when *not* connected to a dock / external displays -- just the laptop. However, this crash had the AMD graphics active since I'd turned off automatic graphics switching. Perhaps this has to do with an AMD graphics hardware or driver problem. Again, who knows? This last crash -- I was in the middle of running a compilation, running in the background. I had a text editor open, browser in the background. Nothing special. I've taken to saving documents every few seconds to keep from losing data in a crash. I don't think even the bad old days of Windows 'blue screen of death' had me that paranoid. Apple has a real problem.

From what I've experienced, it seems to be a mixture of the intel cpu & amd gpu.

If you check out this article, it explains why Apple finally ditched intel for ARM based macs in the future (also a worrying thing for us - we own the last intel gen of macbooks, so support will diminish quickly)

https://www.pcgamer.com/intel-skylake-why-apple-left/

It would seem although the final crash is related to the amd gpu, it's the buggy intel cpu that places the amd gpu in a sort of 'unknown power state' which triggers a kernel panic.

I believe Apple have silently refreshed the amd gpu to one that isn't triggered by intel's bugginess. Once the intel cpu bugs out it causes a lot of random crashes, but mainly to do with amd gpu/touchbar/sleep.

You are right though, Apple has a real problem. A situation not really caused by them, but really poor support that doesn't help much either.

In my case I've called up to pay them more money for the newer, less buggy mbp 2019 16" but now find they've lost my AppleCare+ over my multiple replacements for faulty out the box equipment.

I just got my macbook 16 2019 back a week ago with a replaced logic board and replaced touchbar. So far I have had a buttery smooth experience, but I can still get the error code intelaccelerator interupt when I use geekbench 5 metal, so either that error means nothing or I have to experience the microfeezes yet. Been good so far and I’ll report back if micro freezes or having to restart computer because freezes

There's a few issues floating around out there that result in a system restart. This thread was started based on a hardware fault in mbp 2019 16" that others have misunderstood and joined in for 'bad magic' sleep restart errors.

Essentially if you take the macbook 2019 16" out the box and it's freezing every 10-20mins and impossible to open any apps without freezing & restarting, you've got one of the lemons. If it freezes waking from sleep, that's a different issue and no where near as annoying as a machine you can't work on at all.

Best way to test if you've got a good one - don't turn it off. Just shut the lid to hibernate when done. My record was 3.5 weeks with a buttery smooth experience the whole time, then I eventually powered it off myself to give it a break. The occasional freeze I've had since were waking from sleep, a totally different software/OS related issue. The faulty machines I had were freezing without doing anything, nothing plugged in, often enough to not even make it passed the 20min mark.

It sounds like you did have a hardware affected lemon but are now in the clear. It's basically impossible to achieve a 'buttery smooth experience' on one of the lemons. See what your record is for leaving the macbook powered on and only hibernating. That's a usual way to use one of these isn't it?

3 weeks in new macbook pro 16" and no issues so far (crosses fingers) except w/ karabiner which i have since uninstalled and now use the dedicated key modifier per the advice of a poster above. been buttery smooth since uninstalling a week ago. will see how long it can go by only having the lappy sleep and wake w/o shutting down or freezing/crashing.