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My MacBook Pro (Retina) Freeze up Randomly

Hello,


I've seen other people having issues with this too, but wanted to post and see when (or if) Apple officially is coming out with a statement and solution, or if anyone has seen one yet..


My Mac freeze up around 10-20 times during a normal work day, in retro perspective I laugh about "Blue Screen of Death" on PC, but this is ridiculous.


It's a hard freeze, so I need to hold the power button to cold start the computer completely.


I tried:

  • Locking down the gfx card, so it doesn't switch.
  • Check heat values...
  • Use only "approved" Apple software's - (not use flash, and only Safari).


Nothing seems to work, and the freezes are completely random...

It freezes cold/hot, independent if I have Intel4000 or Nvidia,

Using Chrome, Safari, or have nothing running at all...


It even freeze as soon as I entered OSX again AFTER a cold restart from a previous freeze. (Like it doesn't even have time to start the softwares).

Seems to be completly random... But one thing is for certain, 20 freezes per day, is starting to get too much..

And I'm concerend about the SSD being hard resetted like that 20 times a day, cutting the power of the data I have, if that is going to corrupt things.. (luckily there is no HDD in there).


Any ideas or clues what can be causing this, or is there a way to troubleshoot, pinpoint what might be wrong here?

MacBook Pro (Retina, Mid 2012), Mac OS X (10.7.4)

Posted on Jul 11, 2012 9:35 PM

Reply
179 replies

Jan 13, 2014 7:28 AM in response to taniaten

I doubt whether this problem can be related to hardware. I have the issue on two brand new Mac Book Pro Retina computers. Either, Apple makes crappy hardware or they make crappy software and maybe they do both. But I am absolutely disgusted with this. This is something that I experienced way back with Windows 95 and before, but never ever after until these.


I had the problem on a new Mac Book (May 2013). When I ran into the issue, I just bought a brand new machine (Dec 2013). I just a complete fresh install of everything. And now the same problem. Once every week(s) the machine suddenly stops, freezes. This is the blue screen issue.


Congratulations Apple you managed to revive the Blue Screen!!!!!

Jan 18, 2014 3:06 PM in response to halcwb

I’ve had my MBP 15" Retina 2.6 16 GB back to the "Genius Bar" twice now for the dreaded kernel panics. Ran perfectly for about 1 year, I was saying things like "this is the best machine I've ever had"... then the KPs started in sept. They replaced the logic board twice. The first fix only lasted 3 months, just brought it back again, and they fixed it again. I'm crossing my fingers now, but I HATE feeling like I'm walking on eggshells with this thing.


I really have come to loathe laptops, actually. I prefer my old MacPro 2007 Tower which was and is a tank of a machine. Whisper quiet, fast (6 years ago) and I actually hooked it up again when my MBP was back getting fixed the 2nd time. There are a high percentage of failures with these things.


It is extremely irritating to shell out nearly $3000 for a machine only to receive sub-par performance. I cannot be without my laptop for a week every 3 months. I've spent nearly $15K on Apple products over the past 2 decades, they just seem like they don't care anymore.


Apple, you owe us power users not only an explicit apology but also an explanation of what has gone wrong with the MBP Retina and a clear strategy for making sure such a disastrous expensive product never again lands on the market.

Jan 19, 2014 1:35 AM in response to KeynotePlayer55

@KeynotPlayer55. But did you run the hardware test and did this test show up with any problems indicating hardware failure. Also, the freeze I am experiencing doesn't show any kernel panics. There are just no indications what is going wrong, other than that the whole machine just suddenly freezes. Sound will play for some seconds more after the screen is frozen, but then this stops as well. Connecting from remote to the machine is not possible anymore, the machine is off the grid.


If that is what you're experiencing, I doubt whether replacing the logic board will help. I agree with you on the product quality, I too have spent 1000's of euro's on Apple products, but lately I have a lot of problems, with these notebooks but also with iPhones, none of which I had with the earlier iPhones or notebooks.

Jan 21, 2014 4:18 PM in response to halcwb

Two-three times a week my brand new (bought january 2014) late 2013 Macbook Pro Retina 15" freeze up, and becomes totally unresponsive, forcing me to power it off, then on again. It's INSANELY annoying. My late 2012 Macbook Air never did this - both run Mavericks, almost same software installed.


I have a slight suspicion that it's the Iris Pro graphics (I don't have the discrete nvidia card), but I can't be sure.

Jan 23, 2014 1:51 PM in response to thExplorer

I'm having the same problem. Each time my mac needs more power screen is frozen. I can still move mouse and things like skype keep working if I'm in a call.


My mac is more than a year old so I don't want to change the motherboard. Does anyone have a fix for this?


I've tryed using only discrete graphics card but I still get freezes 😟

Mar 22, 2014 5:57 PM in response to thExplorer

I have been having the same issues as everyone here. The only difference I see is that my freezes have been happening while in Safari. It happens at least once a week and I need to do a hard restart.


I have never owned an Apple machine that has done this as often as this Mid 2012 MBPr.


I may try a clean install of Mavericks if this continues.

Apr 13, 2014 7:17 AM in response to thExplorer

I've experienced the same issues with my Retina Mac Book Pro 13" early 2013. If I used it on a regular basis it freezed once a week during work. The great thing on OSX is, even after a hard reset all the programs and websites that have been opened before the crash get recovered. I'm working with Windows 7 and 8 and I never experienced a freezing issue like this on both systems. Windows is just more reliable than OSX. It's not as polished and some apps do crash, like on the mac, but never ever the whole system. That's why I switched back to a heavy tank of a lenovo thinkpad, because it's solid, reliable and gets the job done very well. Yes and there are other issues: creaking case and cracking hinges. Apple replaced the whole buttom case, top case and display assembly in the course of a full year. Every 3 month an issue appeared and was resolved. My MacBook Pro was 4 times repaired. Now I've a nearly brand new computer, because every thing was replaced, except the logicboard. Hardware quality isn't something where apple is good at as well. I'm really disappointed with the whole apple experience. I thought apple only sells premium hardware, but I've learned my lesson and will never buy an apple computer again. Only my iPad Air is reliable. Since the last update it isn't even crashing now and then.

Apr 13, 2014 8:47 PM in response to Shorvath

I am glad my suggestions helped you. It seems that we are not alone and it also seems that there are other situations that cause MacBooks to crash that are not solvable using my workarounds of turning off graphics switching and setting display to never sleep.


I'm just grateful that our particular situation has a workaround.


BTW: While I have left my graphics switching turned off, about a 1/2 year ago I started setting my display to sleep on battery power and I now also use the hot corner to sleep my display these days. One of the Mac OS X updates last year seemed to have fixed the display sleep part of this problem for me. However, I still have my Automatic Graphics Switching turned off.


Thanks for the feedback and good luck. :-)

My MacBook Pro (Retina) Freeze up Randomly

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