New MacBook Air with Tahoe freezing upon wake-up or after screensaver everyday is truly driving me crazy! Any ideas?
MacBook Air 15″, macOS 26.0
Most likely an incompatible third-party extension. See if the problem is present when you boot in safe mode, which disables 3rd party extensions and performs some system cleanup.
Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support
Yes. Run an EtreCheck report and post it here so that we can assist you with what may be the culprit(s) that is causing this issue. Without one, all we know is that you have a 15" MacBook Air, running macOS Tahoe that hangs/freezes repeatedly.
Using Automatic Computer Sleep Mode has been causing that problem for sometime now.
As a test:
Disable the Screensaver.
It does nothing buy waste valuable Resources.
Turn On "Prevent automatic sleeping when display is off"
Set "Turn display off when inactive" to 5 or 10 minutes
Leave the MacBook Air On and only allow the display(s) to turn Off
Do not manually Sleep from the Apple Drop Down menu
Shut Down when your not using for a day or more
Note: Your Energy and Lock Screen setting will look slightly different.
Sorry all that I have at this time are examples from a desktop.
Oh my ... what an exasperating time I have had. Even in safe mode the beachballing happened after just closing the lid for a few mins!!! So infuriating. Gave up after 5 mins and shut off and restarted. I will attach Etrecheck report below.
As den.thed suggested I have also now turned of ScreenSaver and Lock Screen and LockScreen PW requirement. So we will see how that goes.
I have Macs for years and have never had this kind of frustration. I just wanna open up my Mac and get to business for heaven sakes!!!!
Thanks so much to everyone trying to help me! So much appreciated!!!
1) The early versions of Tahoe were buggy and you should update to latest 26.2 version.
see > What's new in the updates for macOS Tahoe - Apple Support
2) Then check all of your third-party App's to make sure that they are up to date.
Ambrosia, Wacom, Adobe, OnePassword, etc. etc. etc....
3) You should also consider using Time Machine to protect your data.
The turning off ScreenSaver and Lock Screen and LockScreen PW requirement didn't help. I was still in safe mode but after closing lid and coming back later [still in safe mode] it still hung beachballing on opening into black screen. Gave it 10 mins before pulling plug and powering off.
I will update to 26.2 Tahoe and check all my third party apps tomorrow. Gotta sleep now.
I will report back ...
TYSM again!
Per chance are you actively using a VPN whenever you are connecting your Mac for Internet access?
From your EtreCheck report, the crash is specifically tied to Apple’s Software Update process (`softwareupdated` / Software Update.app), and it’s happening a lot (48 times since Dec 20). The key clue is `libsystem_c.dylib: abort() called`—that usually means the process hit a condition it considers unrecoverable and intentionally terminated itself. In practice, this is most often triggered by a corrupt update cache/catalog, a stuck/failed update attempt, a device management/profile restriction, or occasionally network/VPN/proxy filtering interfering with Apple’s update services.
Here are a few suggestions, I would like for you to try:
If it’s still looping, I’d reset the Software Update caches and try again:
If crashes continue after cache/profile/network checks, the cleanest “final” fix is an in-place macOS reinstall from Recovery (this keeps data but refreshes system components that Software Update relies on).
1 - ProTec6b Path: /Library/StartupItems/ProTec6b
This is an " anti piracy software " that can be the root cause of some current issues
Get Rid of it via the specific Instruction of the Developers
2 - While you are at it
Short and unpopular suggestion for some
May consider an alternative https://brave.com which is essentially Google Chrome without the Google baggage
Refer to the Posting by Respected Contributor @ John Galt
Refer to the Posting by Respected Contributor @ Kurt Lang
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/256069091?sortBy=oldest_first
3 - /Applications/DrCleaner.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/ATLoginItemHelper.app
Any of the below should be removed as per Developers Instructions
Disk Cleaner
Get Rid of this too
Third Party Disk Cleaners / Optimizer
Any Third Party Applications that will interfere with the normal operation of the OS, is an invitation for disaster.
To put the Third Party Disk Cleaner / Optimizer in context and the damages it may have or has already done.
This type of applications can or will Muck Up your User Account ( Home Folder ) of this machine.
It does not touch the Operating System itself unless you consider your User Account ( Home Folder ) as part of the Operating System.
The Operating System may be hosed
Success!!! OMG I am so happy that that dang beachbalI **** is finally over! I am SO VERY grateful for everyone's help on this! Words just aren't enough.
I did all that everyone suggested and what a journey it has been.
ProTec6b - turned out it was from Nik [google] and OnOne photography software bundles. Did a search and destroy [manual delete] on all those apps along with any prefs etc I found. Scripts were present to remove from my system but failed to run. They were mostly old and haven't used in a while anyway, so that was OK with me.
Dr Cleaner also trashed along with it's Library Container files.
Still had beachballing after all that even in SafeMode so I then tried to update System software but unable to do for some strange reason. Kept saying unable to find "helper" to do so. So I then went to Recovery Mode [which I didn't even know about til today] and was successful that way and now have 26.2 vs the 26.01 I had before.
For the first time after all the above I am now free!!!!! Yay!!!!
I am on the fence about Chrome ... I have used Firefox happily with the control it gives me for so long ... but I will read all referenced articles and reconsider. Thanks for the links!
Next I will be checks all my apps for compatibility but that will a few days before I can get that done.
TYSM all of you once again.
Mary
Haha well reading those links about Chrome was fun and I was shocked to see I actually had Chrome in my app folder. Must have it from several MacBooks ago [steadily being transferred over with migrations]. I have had a long intense dislike, distrust and avoidance of Google so why I ever downloaded it is long lost to my memory. It was eye opening reading those posts and sent me on a hunt for anything Google in my Libraries and I found plenty which was trashed post haste.
Special thanks to Owl-53 for that!!!
I will think about Brave :)
@ anguilla
We are pleased, matters seem have worked out for the better
Your thanks are appreciated though, this was more of a Team Collaboration from each and every individual who participated in this computer issue
Happy computing
Thanks! Will do and report back
I would second Owl-53's suggestion about using Brave. Basically, I would not only remove Chrome, but any other Google app ... unless you don't mind being tracked.
Thanks Tesserax, and to everyone here who helped me! I followed everyone's suggestions ... and got to success because of all of you.
I had mentioned Owl above especially about the eye opening links about Chrome and other Google apps. As he and you have advised they have ALL been happily removed from my machine. I am now using Brave for searches and I like it so far [was using DuckDuckGo for years to avoid Google]. I am considering the browser and will test it soon.
Thanks to all again and a Happy New Year!
Mary
MacBook Air hanging/freezing repeatedly
