Q: New Retina Macbook pro 13 Haswell system hang/unresponsive

Hi everyone! Just wanted to add in my experience.

I just got my brand new 13" rMBP today. I've been using it for about an hour and the trackpad/keyboard have already froze twice. The first time was when I was testing out Pandora after installing flash (music kept playing but I couldn't do anything with the trackpad/keyboard). I force-restarted my computer, then uninstalled flash, thinking it was a flash issue.

About 20 minutes later, while trying out new desktop wallpapers, it happened again. I, too, would agree that this is not flash-related. I also have no doubt that Apple will fix this ASAP, as it appears widespread, though it is annoying for the time being. Hoping for a press-release or patch soon!

Anyone having any problems with Mail too?

@mrakers85 although you have some good points, I still wonder, how many people are affected by this and how many late2013 MBPs have been sold. If only 5-10% of the new MBPs have this issue, it is much more likely hardware-related (maybe in connection with software, but still hardware). If 80% or more have it, okay, then it is software. But I doubt this. I am afraid, we are just a very few after all, compared to the number of MBPs sold within the last 7 days. And again: Apple says no official word about all this. Why? Some senior advisor saying something on the phone or chat to some customer does not make it official to me, sorry.

To me it seems at this point: some MBPs have a problem. But not all of them. So there has to be a difference. Now which model do I want? One with or one without the problem - no matter whether it will get fixed by software or not.

I have not made up my mind yet, but one thing I know for sure: if Apple does not officially make a statement very soon, I'll return it. Why taking any risk if obviously Apple has not made it's homework?

Mail problems do not really come up, this does not seem to be related.

I also have yet to encounter a Mail issue, thought I haven't used it a lot yet.

I'm also curious as to what percentage of rMBPs are having this issue. Will have to ask friends who also got one.

Hi, I'm slightly with Oli.S72 here.

We've had lots of different answers from Apple but no one has yet shown some official correspondence and Apple has yet to respond.

I'm almost positive this issue is a result of a software glitch.  My freezing has been erratic at best.  Yesterday it did it once, today so far touching wood I've not yet had it happen.  We have no idea how many are showing this issue.  We are maybe a small number, many people may not come onto the forums at all or even know if they exist so we can't go by that either.

My thoughts are this.  If there is no official response from Apple by the beginning of next week I'll probably return the laptop for a refund.  I have a first edition of the 11" MacBook Air that this was due to replace but I can hold on to it for a little while longer.  Then once software or hardware has been acknowledged I'll go and buy a new one I'm in no real rush.

Well I have a freezing problem and a mail problem - great £1500 purchase :-/

Note for anyone that doesn't have the benefit I have, I had an old 17" MacBook Pro from about 2007 I think that at around 3 years old suffered a serious glitch that meant I couldn't use it anymore.  I contacted a local Apple repairer to see how much it would be to fix and he said don't worry, Apple are replacing the main boards for all laptops in my range due to a known fault, even if out of warranty.  It was replaced and running again within a few days.  So my past experience of Apple is yes mistakes happen but they have genuinely been very good at sorting me out at least

I also agree with Oli.S72

And that's what Apple Care told me over the phone. It's just affecting a very small % of the rMBP sold this past week and an even smaller % of people updating to Mavericks.
So it does indicate towards an Hardware issue to them (and to me honestly).

Maybe try switching off the Bluetooth? Really my new rMBP hasn't frozen once and the only thing I seem to have done different then everyone suggested here is to turn off the Bluetooth cause I thought it would only consume more battery and I generally don't use it.

It's just a tip that might help some people out. I do however still experiecing some fps drops when switching between tabs and stuff.

Oli.S72 wrote:

 

@mrakers85 although you have some good points, I still wonder, how many people are affected by this and how many late2013 MBPs have been sold. If only 5-10% of the new MBPs have this issue, it is much more likely hardware-related (maybe in connection with software, but still hardware). If 80% or more have it, okay, then it is software. But I doubt this. I am afraid, we are just a very few after all, compared to the number of MBPs sold within the last 7 days. And again: Apple says no official word about all this. Why? Some senior advisor saying something on the phone or chat to some customer does not make it official to me, sorry.

To me it seems at this point: some MBPs have a problem. But not all of them. So there has to be a difference. Now which model do I want? One with or one without the problem - no matter whether it will get fixed by software or not.

 

I have not made up my mind yet, but one thing I know for sure: if Apple does not officially make a statement very soon, I'll return it. Why taking any risk if obviously Apple has not made it's homework?

Well, what's interesting is that this is very very interesting

What I mean is - there have been a number of reviews on the internet, and no-one seems to have an issue - take for example Engadget:

http://www.engadget.com/2013/10/29/macbook-pro-with-retina-display-review-13-inc h-2013/

They did their review, all around favorable - however, not a sinle mention of a lockup.

BUT, on the flip side - how come this works with Windows? not a single issue?

Then, there's the fact that I would say 90% of the people that have this issue probably don't post.

And then there are those people that return the MacBook and don't buy another.

This topic does not get as much exposure as it should on the web (as sites like Engadget and Arstechnica refuse to post it - I've tried to tip them, more than once),

In essance, I think this is a much broader issue that we've come to belive.

Take for instance my survey

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1QBSLV-bEuxyBUNtFmzDbTWl2Tu3EFU4IPNNvobhKdPA/vie wanalytics

215 responses. That's at least 215 people that have reported this issue, out of X.

If you do a Google search on keywords related to this issue, it's not as high up as it should be.

The fact that Apple ignores this fact publically is really bothersome and annoying to say the least. It doesn't take much to have a CSR come on and say "Look, you do have this issue, it's a widespread issue, and we are working on a fix", even if an ETA is not avalable at the time, it still shows the fact that they are working on it.

I am pretty sure that they are, but the fact that they don't publically acknowlege it is a real pain.

That bein said, I am not sure if any of you remember the MacBook Air issues at launch? The Wireless issue?

Well, I am pretty sure that this issue is much more widespread. 43 pages and couting.

Another thing I see, which is the unfortunate (for Apple) truth, is the fact that you have 14 days to make your customers happy. Even with the 1 year of AppleCare, if you bring it in, and show their techs, they will say "Oh, well we tested it, and nothing is wrong with it, here ya go!  You can have it back".

What also bothers most of the community here is the fact that Apple techs say "We've not heard of this issue", and proceed to report it, where it goes from there, and how many comments Apple reads (they get a LOT) is an unknown - also how long it takes to get to them.

In essance, it's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when they will fix it.

If they fix it too late, they will have a slew of refurbs, and a lot of unhappy customers that will never buy Apple products again.

It has nothing to do with Bluetooth. I had mine off since I got it and still having the freeze issue.

Also, the console message that people keep copying here...I don't think it has anything to do with it. My console is full with that message in the last few hours and didn't have any freeze today.

I just spoke to Apple Support, and surprisingly they didn't find anything in their support database related to this issue (weird). The guy was very helpful and told me that he's going to escalate it to their engineering team. I gave him the link to this site as well.

Please call/chat and support feedback to them so we can get this fixed ASAP.

Just to add one more thing for people worried.  The 14 day money back guarantee is Apple's free grace.  You can return in that period for any reason regardless and they'll refund you even if you just don't like the product.

Consumer laws vary country to country but you can find out details here, http://www.apple.com/uk/legal/statutory-warranty where in the EU at least you have 2 years.  That means within 2 years the seller, in my case Apple Online is required by law to repair or replace something found to be defective.  A laptop that randomly freezes would be considered defective and they'd be required by law to repair it for you.  Doing that past the year standard warranty might result in a little battle but within the first year at least they would most definitely replace it for you.

Hope that helps

Cheers

Chris

I'm going to give it about a week's time, as that will place me well under the 14-day grace period. If Apple doesn't provide a patch or at least a press-release by then, I will exchange. This will be annoying as mine is a custom build.

If the second machine is also faulty, I will probably (sadly) return.

@binbashnull

> 215 responses. That's at least 215 people that have reported this issue, out of X.

Now I assume X to be around ... what? worldwide? 7 days?

See http://techcrunch.com/2012/07/24/apple-reports-disappointing-mac-sales-despite-r etina-macbook-release-4-million-units-sold-in-q3-2012/ please.

Apple sells Millions of Macs every 3 months. Most of them are MBP we can all assume. If a new model comes out, many people buy instantly because they have waited long for this.
So I assume, the new MBP has been sold worldwide in 7 days at least 400.000 times. That would make your 215 responses around 0,05%.
Am I far off the track with 400.000? I don't know.

All I say is: the X might be the problem in your math. It might turn out that 90% do not have the problem and from the 10% that do have it, only 0,5% report it on your chart.

Correct me if I'm wrong in my calculations somewhere. It's getting late here in Europe ...