You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

tonykaku Author

Level 1

26 points

Sequoia latest update wreaking havoc on system

I have just updated my otherwise trusty Mac computer to Sequoia 15.0.1, and am now dealing with a host of new problems right and left on my system. Can you help?

The most glaring symptom is that immediately after the 15.0.1 update, half of my computer's screen became "grayed over" — that is, covered with a block of horizontal lines that did not exist before the update. The block of lines move up and down slightly and flicker a bit.

Please see attached screenshot for details. (I did try taking a screenshot directly from my Mac internally, but this block of horizontal lines does not appear at all on the computer's own internal screenshots. Thus, my taking of this photo with my iPhone externally.)

The block of lines you see in the screenshot do not seem to be interfering with the actual functioning of the computer — I can still do tasks on my Mac computer "under" the block of horizontal lines. But this is definitely not normal and I need to resolve this major problem.

There are a host of other side issues I am trying to deal with as well, like plugging up leaks in a sinking boat: a noticeable lag in the computer's operation, network connection issues, Time Machine backup issues and even the inability to run Apple diagnostics or enter into safe mode online. They all started up right after updating to Sequoia 15.0.1.

What could be the problem here with the display/screen and how can I begin to fix this? Desperately in search of answers here.

iMac (M1, 2021)

Posted on Oct 4, 2024 6:56 AM

Top-ranking reply

horacenalle

Level 1

15 points

Posted on Oct 7, 2024 12:46 PM

My MacBook has been rendered useless by Sequoia. Can I uninstall it?

View in context

50 replies

Oct 5, 2024 3:48 AM in response to tonykaku

Yes, everything since Mac OS 15 seems very buggy. I do not believe it is a hardware error. Silicon Macs use unified memory, so the GPU graphics memory is the same as the CPU processing memory, simply separated by several abstraction levels, and as it feels here by a software level gone wrong. I don't think there is much you can do apart from downdating or waiting for the next update, although downdating will not remove lower level firmware updates, which only can be restored with a second Mac.

PRP_53

Level 10

92,803 points

Oct 5, 2024 4:29 AM in response to tonykaku

Add on

Apple Designed the M1 iMac Apple Silicon Computer to function with whatever version of macOS it qualifies to run, Including macOS 15.x Sequoia

Do doubt, they have Engineered and Tested macOS 15.x Sequoia to function without a Software / System Firmware issue that would manifest this Display issue

FYI for comparison purposes

Running a M1 machine from 2020 ( Headless computer ) , a M2 from 2023 ( Headless computer , and a M3 MBA.

The M1 has gone from macOS 11 to macOS 12 to macOS 13, macOS 14 and currently macOS 15

The M2 from macOS 13 to macOS 14 and currently on macOS 15

The M3 from macOS 14 to current Sequoia

None of these machines exhibit these Lines issue in the Display

tonykaku Author

Level 1

26 points

Oct 7, 2024 6:03 AM in response to HWTech

HW Tech — Thanks very much for the reply. Following your guidance, I did try to screen-record using Quick Time Player, but once again, the horizontal lines do not show up on the video recording. So, I went ahead and video-recorded the screen externally using my iPhone.

In that external video screen recording, the horizontal lines and the constant flickering — which has become more pronounced as time goes on — is clearly seen. It appears you are correct in assuming that it is an LCD Panel issue. (See other related posts below.)

Oct 8, 2024 6:14 PM in response to HWTech

Thank you for your response! There was a typo; my Mac is on 15.0.1, and that's what caused the issue. I went to the Apple store, and they conducted diagnostics. Surprisingly, even after Apple confirmed it was a hardware issue (either the USB-C ports or the logic board), my MacBook powered up, which I find quite amusing.

I managed to get it working by completely draining the battery (this is crucial) and then charging it for ~4 hours, after which it powered on.

Dec 9, 2024 7:54 AM in response to tonykaku

I just upgraded without thinking through completely... brand new M4 Pro with my user migrated over from a 2021 M1. My wired network connection is no longer working... troubleshooting further but not a fun way to start the week.

HWTech

Level 9

61,844 points

Dec 20, 2024 6:44 AM in response to WESTCOASTHOPKINS

WESTCOASTHOPKINS wrote:

I don't have your graphical issue; but I do have a system related one that other's may have as well after the Sequoia 15.2 install, that being my internal SSD (call MacHD to many, I have renamed mine) has for the past 3-4 months had ~175GB free of its 500GB; but with 15.2 installed, I suddenly have ~248GB showing as free from the Finder's perspective (see screenshot from Finder vs Disk Utility).

I have rebooted and also trashed my Finder's settings file (then rebooted).

I have also had Disk Utility check if the drive is okay using First Aid and it is.

Note, I am running this on an M1 Mac mini with 16GB RAM and a 500GB SSD. I have checked with my alternative Admin account and it shows the available space correctly (~175GB); so it could be a corrupt User directory; but part of me doubts this, as it shows up in Safe Mode if I log into my main user account, the one the images are taken in).

Ignore the "Available" storage value that is shown nearly everywhere within macOS as it is very misleading & worthless. The only important value is the "Free" storage space value shown within Disk Utility or within the Apple System Profiler. Even the Used space value can be misleading and has been known to show more than what the physical drive can support.

The Free space value is the storage that can be used immediately.

The Available space value contains storage that is "Purgeable" storage that at some unknown time in the future will be released by macOS. Some places in macOS the "Purgeable" value will be displayed, but not everywhere.

Free space = Available space - Purgeable space

Available space = Free space + Purgeable space

Dec 20, 2024 8:04 AM in response to tonykaku

@HWTech, thank you; but I am aware of minor variances between the Finder’s available space and that of Disk Utility; it was more that this is the first time I have seen it operate in “reverse” in my nearly 40 years of using a Mac (all the way back to a 512k). It only became this significant as of 15.2 and that is why I bring it up, as I believe it is due to the OS update and not my User profile/Home directory being the issue perse.

Dec 28, 2024 1:48 PM in response to tonykaku

New owner of a MacBook M3 Pro 16 gigs of RAM 2 TB hard drive updated to Sequoia nothing's working right computer freezes up tried bringing some music over on my SD card with the built-in SD card reader corrupted the card had to redo it again. Don't they debug their operating systems before doing a release anymore.

Jan 5, 2025 12:53 PM in response to tonykaku

I started seeing the "Your system has run out of application memory" dialog that persists until I quit some applications to release more memory to its satisfaction. I don't get it. The same set of applications ran just fine before the upgrade. And besides, doesn't macOS swap out part of the memory contents to the hard drive, like most Linux/Unix based systems?

Could someone tell me how to downgrade this macOS back to Sonoma ?

Oct 7, 2024 5:58 PM in response to horacenalle

sequoia paralyzed my MacBook Pro … but later, it seemed to work.

hperl

Level 1

8 points

Oct 11, 2024 3:11 PM in response to tonykaku

My trusty 2020 27" iMac Core I5 has become almost unusable since installing Sequoia 15.0.1 the other day. Random freezes and app crashes all over. Was working great before. Very frustrating!