Macbook pro 16 2019 freezes randomly and restarts

I have this same issue. I've formatted the drive twice and nothing seemed to work. I presume it has something to do with the 'Automatic Graphics Switching' but I'm not certain. The freezing occurs every day sometimes multiple times a day. I hope they fix it in one of their updates seeing as I'm over the 30-day return period.

An AUD $4000 machine shouldn't have this issue.

Not sure how to search topics here, so sorry if this was posted before, but are you all having wake issues as well? I haven't experienced crashing other than when waking from sleep. Quite a few of us are dealing with this and getting kernel panics.

If anyone wants to run some tests... on battery power: load up Chrome, go to YouTube and play an HD video in fullscreen for a minute or so. Pause the video and keep it full screen. Close the lid. Wait 10 minutes or so, and open it back up. It should crash if we have related problems. If it gives you an error/report dialog on startup, hit Report then let us know what it says. You can cancel the report.

Now try disabling standby and doing the same test above a few times:

Start Terminal

Then type: sudo pmset -a standby 0

Enter your password

To revert this just use 1 instead of 0. You can verify it's off/on by typing pmset -g

This probably won't fix random crashing while using the Macbook, but it's a start if we fix one problem.

I have not yet tried any experiments, to ascertain what causes my 16" to crash, but it is connected to a Caldigit 3 dock (that has been impeccably reliable on several of my older MacBooks, inc 2019 15") but overnight, it looks like my Mac sometimes crashes and auto restarts and other times, doesn't charge, as if the TB3 connection is not working, which it is, because my two external 4K monitors work fine.

During the day, the machine works fine. Adobe Illustrator crashed a lot, but I de-installed it and re-installed it and now it's ok, so I think that was unrelated to the 16".

@Huigie I feel my crashes occurred more when I was on the battery.

I contacted Apple support and restarted in safe mode. Stayed in safe mode for a day or 2 and then restarted.

I didn't have any crashes ever since and it's been a week but I'm still not really convinced that the issue is "fixed"

Ok, try this. Boot machine with the shift key pressed(safe mode, if you have "filefault" enabled press shift key again after entering your password). Let the machine stand for a few minutes in safe mode then reboot, press alt command p and r to reset pram.

Now test your machine.

Please let me know if this fixes anything.

I think it’s great that so many people are attempting to fix these problems because Apple refuses it exists all together! But folks, I hate to tell you, nothing will resolve these issues! I’m full convinced it’s due to HW incompatibility!

I’ve been working in IT for 35 years & I have witnessed these phenomena’s before, but 90% were always related to defects in either CPU, IO overload, RAM, HDs, etc.

As I stated before in this forum, I purchased a MacBook Air 13 after sending back my Pro 16 and it has NOT ONCE any problems, crashes, panics, messages, WHAT SO EVER!

in conclusion, if you have the opportunity to send back your wonderful new MB Pro, DO IT! (Sorry for my pessimistic opinion)

This is hardware folks. Apple just got back to me... my laptop is awaiting a part in order to fix this GPU panic problem. The hardware has been confirmed defective. Your best course of action is to get it to Apple to fix. There will not be a software fix for this according to my Apple engineer.

The only work around at this state is safe mode. That is the only consistent way to prevent this from occurring because it prevents the software that enables the AMD to occur. This is why the OS is hobbled in safe mode. Its a short term fix and forget about running Adobe products, etc that use the AMD GPU in safe mode. Safe mode will only allow you to do the bare minimum with your computer.

Don't try the standby hacks as they don't work when plugged in. Disabling graphics switching doesn't work as well... only for a short time, but you will eventually tickle the problem and it will panic at some point. This has consistently happened to me when its plugged in. I also know when its going to occur as I have iStat menus and I watch it flip the "I" to "A" in my menu and not too long after that the freeze/GPU panic/reboot occurs with the usual error.

The bottom line is that this is a hardware issue and the longer you wait to get this to Apple, the longer you will delay getting this fixed.

If people are getting their hardware back and it still panics, then Apple has a much bigger issue and it just may be good to get a refund by doing a chargeback on your credit card. Their 15 day policy means nothing to your credit card company. So you have that as an option. For the guy who is on his 3rd, I would most certainly do this and consider another company laptop for now. This is not worth it IMHO. They get 1 fix for me. After that, its chargeback time if I see this happen again.

I hope everyone can get this fixed because this is really bad.

Are all of the restarts logged somewhere. I'm going to take my 16" to the AppleIdiotBar and I'd like to be prepared to show a log. I'd also like to have one if I decide to pursue a chargeback and to send to Apple in a shareholder complaint.

This is all very strange - especially the silence from Apple and the media about a seemingly serious and possibly widespread hardware issue. Have any of you shared your experiences with MacRumors and similar technology news sites? I was lucky to have returned my MBP 16 within the return period. I'm going to wait a few months and hope that Apple figures out what is wrong. I really want what the MBP 16 offers, but who can afford to waste all the time needed to try to prove to Apple that there's something wrong?

This past week I was at the main Apple store in New York City (the one that is open 24x7x365) and I had the opportunity to talk to two of their actual repair techs (not just the "geniuses" at the bar). Both of the techs told me that they had not received any notice of anything related to this problem with MBP 16. In fact, they claimed that they were not seeing any repair cases related to spontaneous freezes of MBP 16. How could this be?

I wonder whether this problem is related to the particular hardware configuration? My custom configuration was high-end, with the best video card, 64 GB RAM, and best CPU option. I wonder how many of you have custom configurations vs. the mass-produced standard configuration that you can buy off-the-shelf in any Apple store? It would be useful for future posts to this list to specify the actual hardware configuration that you have.

So far this does not look super widespread. It seems to be limited to a group of MBPs. If this was software, it would affect nearly everyone since its been proven that a fresh install or even boot off an external drive with zero 3rd party software still causes he problem.

I think Apple hasn't made an issue because 1 - I think they are still determining the cause as it does appear to be hardware related and 2 - its still a small subset of the greater sales.

Case in point, I have a friend who purchased the exact same configuration as me, but does not have this issue at all.

Yes, I have posted on MacRumors' forums, but not many people followed up. That also tells me its not as widespread:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/16-mbp-gpu-panics.2221004/

As soon as I get back my MBP, I will report the exact failed part that they currently have on order from China.

I have the to spec, 2 TB 64 GB RAM and get the kernel panic every night when it's asleep. Re Apple staff, my 15" was problematic and I challenged them on the fact they obsoleted a machine that had only been out since May 2019 and at my local store here in the UK refused to acknowledge it's issues (throttling etc) that were covered across the media. They have always been like this since the 1990s, although it's worse today as TC refused to ever admit when Apple screw up - ever. Steve did. It's a culture of denial in parallel with the way the staff in the stores behave, almost as if they have been brain washed. No transparency at all.

IE, it's embedded in the company culture and is the same with the call centre staff.

I had a Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga (excellent) and it had a series of issues when I bought it used and Lenovo fixed them all under warranty very quickly, paying for collection and return. They never questioned my issues - and the machine was 18 months old, albeit covered by a 3 year warranty.

So my 2nd unit didnt have bad magic issue, but i was noticing weird CPU heating and fan behaviour, this is what happened yesterday after i updated to catalina 15.3., i was doing first any kind of load - k4 stop motion sequence, and the second video are temperatures during first render on this machine, of a 1080p youtube video. Have a look. https://youtu.be/1ta-TELWO1M

https://youtu.be/eZdhElm2Z7k

Based on Apple support promise I returned my MBP on 22nd Jan for full refund. Apple support told me that they will update me every week regarding the refund status. They have not done anything till now. The MBP is still in the service center. They record the calls without the caller permission but when I asked for permission to record the call the agent refused! So basically they are giving all false promises on phone and not keeping them. Now I have lost the money and the MBP and Apple is not refunding it! Poor products, hopeless support, no transparency, .....

Same problem. The service center replaced the motherboard, but the problem happens again.

I have been waiting for a decision for exactly a month.

I have a strange idea to compare Part No. of your MacBook Pro 16 inch

It is indicated at the back of the box from your box.

MVVL2ZE/A (silver) - works correctly

MVVJ2ZE/A (space gray) - has freezes

Please write yours, maybe there is a pattern )

Changing from Space Grey to Silver won't be easy, since users are sent down the route of repairing a brand new product under a month from purchase. Essentially getting a refurb back without the discount. New colour means new machine.