Entire System Freezes; Mac OS 26.2, M4 MacBook Air. - Solutions welcome.

I’m using Tahoe, myself: and having the same issues.

The freezing and overheating seemingly caused by running Pages with anything else — is showing up in Activity Monitor as corespotlightd and kernel_task chewing up lots of resources.

A Google search for ‘corespotlightd’ suggested I clean out the folders in ‘~/Library/Metadata/Corespotlight’.

IE, clean out the contents of all the folders.

Manually!

Then restarting.

When I restarted my machine, I immediately logged back in, opened a LOT of Pages files, and recorded a video.

Which was what I was having problems with, when I posted my original questions.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/256204342?answerId=261766958022

That recording seems to have gone well, as this *seems* to have cleared the issues: I’ll post more, if, as and when …

mjohnstn wrote:

Mac OS 26.2

M4 MacBook Air

I have been suffering with long pauses on macOS now for a year and it doesn't make any sense.

It manifests as a whole system freeze in the UI, but some userland and system events continue. For example, typing will stop on screen but as long as it's not too much, will catch up and write the text.

The trackpad will be completely unresponsive (showing this is a system issue)

This happens most often, I notice, when running Pages. But it also happens when not running Pages. Sadly I use Pages a lot.

Sometimes the cursor will disappear, sometimes I'm lucky enough to get the spinning rainbow ball.

When playing a movie, the screen will freeze but the movie will play on, causing me to miss 10 seconds of it.

This shouldn't be happening, obviously. I've reinstalled the system already once and it makes no difference. No process should be able to lock up the whole system like that in 2025.

The following issues and quote “  suffering with long pauses on macOS now for a year  “  & “ whole system freeze in the UI “ plus “  typing will stop on screen but as long as it's not too much, will catch up and write the text." added " The trackpad will be completely unresponsive (showing this is a system issue) “ & “ Sometimes the cursor will disappear, sometimes I'm lucky enough to get the spinning rainbow ball.  “

All of the above points appears to more of Hardware Issue as it continues even after a reinstallation 

That that end, have the computer evaluated by the Professionals who have the Special Hardware Software and Expertise to diagnose the issue and offer possible solutions

Make an Appointment at the Apple Genius Bar or call 1 800 MyApple and have them evaluate the computer

Other location Call Centres 

 Contact Apple for support and service

Sounds like you got it all figured out. I do find it odd when you say you have never experienced a third party program like Docker ever causing a System Level problem, which is exactly what those third party processes do when they cause a conflict. Not only with Corespotlightd, but also bringing down the WindowServer showing a crash report of that system process. Remove the conflict and the problem immediately goes away.

I have also seen where older versions of OneDrive and Google Drive had caused Corespotlight to spike. When one service would "touch" the files checking for changes to sync, the other service (including Time Machine), would then sync those files kicking off spotlight to index them again in a never ending loop. Both of those apps have since been updated but was previously confirmed when the symptom of Corespotlight spiking immediately went away when they were uninstalled. It is just simple troubleshooting. What never worked was just saying it must be an Apple problem and they will wait for them to fix it.

mjohnstn wrote:

I don't run any third party VPNS or monitoring. Hence my caution with Etrecheck.

The Operating System may be hosed (which has been reinstalled). The issue certainly seems to be with Pages / iCloud causing corespotlightd to lose it's mind.

You do not need to justify your choice not to run the Etrecheck application

Though, it is specifically mentioned Not using Third Party Security Softwares and VPNs.

This becomes a 50 - 50 chance that the other two types of softwares could be installed and used to have been used

There has been sufficient advice offered, by 3 independent and experienced contributors, for the User ( you ) to make an informed and educated choice what remedial actions maybe required for this computer.

The suggestions have been put forth on a volunteer basis, in good faith and in the best interests of the computer which do not always align with the users’ expectations 

mjohnstn wrote:

Owl-53 wrote:

Without casting doubts on certain matters

A reluctance to reveal what is or is not installed tends to say, a lot

I'm experienced enough to fix 99% of my own issues. This is something that isn't caused by third party software so there is no "fix" for it. Just a hack of maintenance (by deleting cache files not visible to casual users)

[Edited by Moderator]

Good and hen proceed

Using 1 M4 Desktop, 1 M4 MBA Laptop, 1 M2 Desktop each with Tahoe 26.2 plus an iPhone also with iOS 26.2

With Pages version version 14.4 (7043.0.93) and iCloud to Sync across to each of the 4 machines

No issues whatsoever.

Nor do any of the machines " Entire System Freezes; Mac OS 26.2, M4 MacBook Air. "

mjohnstn wrote:

The problem you describe went away when Google and Microsoft updated their clients...but it's unreasonable to expect Apple to do the same for their flagship software.

Yes, that is how it works for third party software so it is compatible with the OS version they intend it to be used on. This is true not only for Apple, but also Windows and the Android platform as well. I could produce an app the just does non stop calculations and read/writes on the HD in the background that would put a serious drag on the system and it would be up to me to either optimize the performance of the app, or up to the users to choose whether they want to use it knowing the effects it produces on the system. That would not be an Apple problem, that would be a ME problem as a developer and a problem for every customer of mine that chooses to install my software.

I would say what you describe (a never ending loop of corespotlightd never managing to finish something) is probably exactly what's happening. Which is why it takes up so much CPU...but without pointing fingers at software I haven't installed, why not deal with the software that directly triggers it.

We have no idea what that software could be triggering it, because you choose to not want to share. I simply gave 2 examples of software where that was a cause and the Developers of those resolved it with an update. Users who have not chosen to do those updates are likely still going to experience the problem.

You clearly have chosen your own resolution path and not interested in any of the recommendations, so all I can do is wish you good luck.

Owl-53 wrote:

While some individuals visit these forums seeking technical solutions to specific Apple-related issues, there are also those who seek recognition or fame ...

+1 !!

I do not understand why the original poster actually posted here in the first place with "solutions welcome" when they resist any suggested steps towards troubleshooting, refuse to show how their Mac is configured, and purport to know what is wrong anyway. Yet this Mac has been freezing for over a year?! Millions of identical Macs (with Pages) are in use without the freezing. Thousands at my employer ... with Pages ... no freezing. Scores of Macs set up on display in Apple Stores and other sellers, with Pages, prospective buyers can run Pages on them to their heart's content with ... no freezing. Although the OP is not listening, I will repeat here for the benefit of others who might experience something like that: likely something specific to this Mac is installed and conflicting and there are well tested methods to test and identify those things (suggested by Owl-53 and other experts); or possibly a hardware issue specific to this Mac (e.g. Owl-53 suggestion).

When the OP noted that booting from an external USB drive eliminated the freezing issues, that is consistent with user-installed software causing the issues but it does not rule out faulty hardware (cf Owl-53) since some internal SSD drive circuitry is bypassed or used differently when booting externally.

mjohnstn wrote:

Booting up from a separate USB disk does this without the faff of having to erase your internal disk. That should be a first suggestion, even more useful than Safe mode.

Given that the creation of a bootable external drive and enabling it's use (by disabling some of the Mac's security protections) are non-trivial, it's no surprise that doing so is not something experienced forum members here would recommend as a first suggestion.

You are just looking at a symptom without knowing the cause. I can also confirm I use Pages extensively and don't experience that problem and I do understand that does not help you. I suspect most would use Pages, whether they are seeing that issue or not, just like they are using Safari. I did read the article you linked to and to be honest it is all over the place with anything from Pages, Messages, Docker, iCloud. Some claimed having multiple Pages documents open solved the problem. Others claimed that upgrading their OS to Tahoe solved the problem for them. Some users did not even use Pages and were reporting the problem. That is hardly definitive in identifying the source of the issue.

You are free to proceed however you wish, but we simply do not have enough information to provide any recommendations and the article you linked to did nothing to identify any commonality between those users for third party processes running on their computer.

EtreCheckPro is an excellent tool for sorting out slowness and freezing issues.

Download and run the free version of EtreCheckPro, from > https://etrecheck.com/en/index.html

Then post back here with your Report, as per > How to use the Add Text Feature When Post… - Apple Community

mjohnstn wrote:

Mac OS 26.2

M4 MacBook Air

I have been suffering with long pauses on macOS now for a year and it doesn't make any sense.

It manifests as a whole system freeze in the UI, but some userland and system events continue. For example, typing will stop on screen but as long as it's not too much, will catch up and write the text.

The trackpad will be completely unresponsive (showing this is a system issue)

This happens most often, I notice, when running Pages. But it also happens when not running Pages. Sadly I use Pages a lot.

Sometimes the cursor will disappear, sometimes I'm lucky enough to get the spinning rainbow ball.

When playing a movie, the screen will freeze but the movie will play on, causing me to miss 10 seconds of it.

This shouldn't be happening, obviously. I've reinstalled the system already once and it makes no difference. No process should be able to lock up the whole system like that in 2025.

Follow the advise from @den;thed ad use the Etrecheck application

Remember to post the Full Report

Question if you please for clarifications

"I have been suffering with long pauses on macOS now for a year and it doesn't make any sense.'

Do you mean on macOS 15 Sequoia ?

Reason being that Tahoe was Released Sept 15, 2025

So whatever issues existed would have carried over to Tahoe

The report also includes files installed and running in your launch folders that can be causing a conflict that will not appear in the section titled Major Issues. Don't expect every possible recommendation or problem to appear in that section. You will often see a failing hard drive message there or low disk space that needs immediate attention, but there is much more valuable information provided in the report used for troubleshooting. Also you will see processes that reported a Crash/Hang and CPU usage of processes that may help to identify the problem. The RAM usage reported is current, not from apps in the past.

As an alternative, you can contact Apple directly where they can perform diagnostics on your device, none of which we are able to do on this Support Site. The only way we have to investigate is by getting the details of your unique system configuration.

Contact Apple Support - Apple Support

Out of curiosity, does the same thing happen when starting in Safe Mode? It certainly is not a definitive test.

Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support