MacOS recurrently freezes for ~10 seconds

aturin wrote:

• MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2016, Four Thunderbolt 3 Ports)

MacOS 12.0.1 (21A559)

My mac recurrently freezes. Once in a while, without any apparent cause, everything (mouse cursor, clock, trackpad force feedback) gets stuck for about 10 seconds, then it resumes as if nothing had happened.

I have noticed the following:

a lot of the times, this happens (but is not limited to) right after unlocking my screen (even if the laptop wasn't sleeping)

• sometimes the patterns are quite predictable. For example, one time I've got this pattern (basically it was freezing every 10 minutes for ~10 seconds):

• froze at 8:33:19, unfroze at 8:33:28,

• froze at 8:43:29, unfroze at 8:43:38,

• froze at 8:53:38, unfroze at 8:53:46,

• froze at 9:03:48, unfroze at 9:03:57

• it happens regardless of whether I'm using an external monitor

• nothing shows up in the system logs

how do I know if this is hardware or software?

To trouble shoot :

—Try a SafeBoot https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201262

Takes noticeable longer to get to the login screen, does a 5 minute disk repair before it fully boots up, and certain system caches get cleared and rebuilt, including dynamic loader cache, etc.

Login and test. Reboot as normal and test. Caches get rebuilt automatically.

In Safe mode third party system modifications and system accelerations are disabled, it removes malware, etc hampering smooth operation, however a reboot will put it back to normal mode.

This test will tell you if third party interference; extensions etc are not loaded in safe boot mode.

—Test issue in another user (or guest user) account https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/set-up-other-users-on-your-mac-mtusr001/mac

This will tell you if it a universal issue or isolated to your user/admin account. 

Uninstall all third party apps that are Cleaners/Optimizers/VPN/Anti-Virus— all known to cause issues on the macOS