My MacBook Pro (Retina) Freeze up Randomly

So far, my money is on Fantastical as the culprit. That's the only app on your list which was open at login on my MBP, and so far I've had no shutdowns in the past 12 hours since turning it off. (That doesn't sound like a lot, but I'd had two of them in the 6 hours beforehand, and on average 2-3 a day since last week). Hopefully this is the answer, because it's been driving me nuts. If this doesn't do the trick, then I'll have to try a full clean re-install of OS X.

Hi srminton, so far I've turn Fantastical, BetterSnap Tool and Keyboard Maestro back on - no issues so far for about 3 days (woot!). I've also recently installed Plex Media Server, Parallels Access and 1Password - and no freeze for about 12 hours. I also completely removed Kaspersky, which I thought I had already done but apparently not, and was advised that it may have been in conflict with ClamXav.

chuender wrote:

I also completely removed Kaspersky, which I thought I had already done but apparently not, and was advised that it may have been in conflict with ClamXav.

Most all A-V software can get along with each other as long as only one of them is doing real-time/on-access detection. If only one of them is used in this role then the others can be used occasionally to do manual scanning tasks.

I tried everything I could think of, including disabling apps like Fanastical and Dropbox and performing a full re-install of OS X. Nothing worked for more than a day. The last thing I tried was to disable Handoff in System Preferences/General. Since then, I haven't had a crash/reboot in 4 days straight. Not only that, but it has fixed my flaky WiFi connection (previously, I would lose WiFi connectivity 20-30 times a day, really annoying). I'm convinced that Handoff is the culprit (or was, in my case). Worth a try, if you're still experiencing crash/reboot issues in Yosemite (or flaky WiFi).

I'd like to share my experience. I have been having this random freezing since early this year. I tried everything just like what you did. Clean installation several times. Import my data one at a time from the time machine. Recently I was so ****** off by the Genius in Bondi Junction who erased my whole OS and let me start over for sometime and see whether the problem exists. I knew it would not help because i have done this so many times. After another freezing occurred, I asked them to test it but eventually they told me they found no hardware issues and let me bring back my Macbook without fixing it. Like some of you guys, my logic board was replaced once (in Sept this year in myMac service, thanks to them, I have no freezing until recently). I guess if this problem keeps unfixed like this, i would install Linux instead and will never recommend anyone to buy a Mac or Macbook again. Seriously.

Oh, it is 2012 Retina 15. In my record, at maximum 1 month without freezing; at minimum, 3 days; on average, a week.

For the record, my 'solution' of disabling Handoff was only a temporary fix. Froze/crashed again on Day 6, and again the next day. Whether Handoff is part of the problem, or the 5 days trouble-free was just a coincidence, I have no idea. Since disabling Handoff, it has only happened while using Safari (previously, it happened in Excel, Keynote, iTunes, even when doing absolutely nothing). But again, probably just a coincidence. I'm reluctant to follow your and others experience and take the laptop in store and be told to replace the logic board etc., only to have the same problem recur anyway. When this happens at the worst possible moments, and I lose work, I even think about installing Windows 7. Will wait for the next OS X update, at least, to see if they provide a fix.

It is so frustrating. I wouldn't say this is a system related problem as freezing occurs in both Mavericks and Yosemite. It might be a hardware design problem that causes random flipping of some parts in the RAM. I am still trouble shooting on the software side. Do you have parallels desktop installed on your Macbook? I recalled that the freezing happened after I installed this software though I doubt that such productive software would cause such a severe problem without taking any log. Anyway, this is my only clue at the moment.

As it happens, the same is true for me. The freezing began after I installed the current version of Parallels. But it doesn't only happen when Parallels is running (sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't), so I hadn't connected it. And as you say, there's nothing in the console log to indicate that Parallels is doing anything to trigger it. It's probably a coincidence.

What's incredibly frustrating is that Apple keep closing the bug reports I raise!!! The issue hasn't been solved in 13 months. Getting really tired of this and I'm a very patient person. Similar issues led to a class action lawsuit in the 2011 MBP so this is looking to be the direction things will have to go here before Apple notices.

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Hi everyone. I own a macbook pro retina (june 2012), and since i upgrade to mountain lion, after mavericks and finally yosemite i have had some hard freezes. I think the problem is with the efi update to enable power nap in macbook pro retina launch before 2013. So i came back to Lion and since then, i have not had hard freezes anymore. I hope my advise can be helpful to everyone. Regards.

Well, at the end of 2014, Apple gives me another hard freezing again. What a good conclusion of the year! FML. One freezing every two weeks. More importantly and desperately, they aka Apple never admit this issue.😠

Finally I found this post. And I am part of it as well sadly!

Early 2013 model. Working all well at early stage. Becoming very bad in the last couple of months. It randomly throws tantrum - can be when I start a big programme like Premiere Pro, can be any time. Sometimes twice a night. I haven't got a chance to see local Apple service provider yet...Shall I keep the faith?

Add me to this list 😟 Early 2013 MBP with Retina. Macbook did fine for a year and has started this random freezing for about a month now. The only thing I have noticed is that it usually happens when I'm using Safari and have multiple tabs open. The computer becomes completely unresponsive and I have no choice but to hold down on the power button and turn it off..... I do have Google Chrome installed but never use it much. I'm still running Mavericks and haven't upgraded to Yosemite yet. Really hoping there is a solution soon!

I have this problem, too. My MacBook is of half 2012, bought at dec 2012..
This problem started with Lion: randomly I saw an orizontal red line on the display... Then, on booting, a completely gray display and I had to hold the power button few times to get things working... That was not so frequent, one or two times in a month.

I ignored Maveriks and, doing a fresh install of Yosemite, sometimes the notebook freezes, more frequently than in the past, about one time a week.

It is a random problem, because it happens if I have a not so little workload (a lot of app opened, opening Photoshop), or if I have just Firefox and Mail...

What do you think about it? May it be a graphic card related problem? Or, may be more true, a RAM related problem.

Regards to all, Nick.

Hi NickMod. I have the same mac model you have (retina mid 2012). I think your has two different problems. On lion I ve never had any problem. I think the red lines in your computer are related to the graphics. However, i have always had hard freezes problems since Mountain Lion, Mavericks and Yosemite, Never on lion. Have you ever had some hard freezes issues in lion (10.7.5)? Thank you.