Info on New Retina Macbook pro 13 Haswell system hang/unresponsive

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Info on New Retina Macbook pro 13 Haswell system hang/unresponsive

Since people keep on asking the same questions over and over again, here is sort of a summary of the Thread https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5481839

Apple is aware there is a problem, see http://support.apple.com/kb/TS5296
If an USB device is plugged in, freezes do not happen.
There are errors in the syslog reading "kernel[0]: The USB device Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad (Port 5 of Hub at 0x14000000) may have caused a wake by issuing a remote wakeup (2)" which seems to be related to the problem.
So far nobody has been found who has a 13" Retina Haswell MacBook Pro who does not have these errors in the system log when no USB device is plugged in.
There are very(!) few people who have reported to not have had any freezes with a Haswell rMBP 13".
Many people report that their rMBP does not freeze for 3 days and then it does. (Which could explain the few people in point 5)
Some people reported graphical errors as well. Here is a description from the user "RIVERSTALKER": "i had a little grey line across my screen for a second, some flinkering lines at the bottom right arround the dock, also for a second and the same above the dock at the bottom left side. this happens just for a second and it is hard to see because the user is aware of other things on the screen."
The freeze seems to be related to Mavericks as some people report having the same problem with older devices after upgrading to Mavericks.
Still, nobody can be 100% sure that it isn't a hardware problem after all. Apple does not comment on this officially.
Communication by Apple is very poor, as well as internal as external. There are still people of the support team of Apple who claim to have never heard of this before and (besides the statement in point 1) there is no other official word from Apple.
Many people returned their 13" rMBP only to find the new device has exact the same issue. This once more points to the direction that all 13" rMBP are affected.
Apple speaks of "rare circumstances". This is true in the term of "per rMBP it usually only happens every 6 hours or something alike". It is not true in terms of "only on a few devices" as all 13" rMBP seem to have this problem. Some people may not realize it due to some USB device plugged in. (see point 2)

Hope that helps

MacBook Pro with Retina display

Posted on Oct 31, 2013 7:47 AM

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Answer 1

Xazoola

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Oct 31, 2013 8:33 AM in response to Oli.S72

I was online and on the phone for about an hour, yesterday with apple support. They were very nice. I was transfered to three different levels of support. The last person contacted engineering and told me the said they know about the problem and are working on a OS Patch. Here is the what they said to do.

MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Late 2013): Keyboard and Multi-Touch trackpad may become unresponsive

Symptoms

Apple is aware of rare circumstances where the built-in keyboard and Multi-Touch trackpad may become unresponsive on 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display (Late 2013) computers and is working on an update to resolve this behavior.

Resolution

If you experience this issue, reset the keyboard and trackpad by closing the computer’s display for approximately one minute and then open it.

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Answer 2

Oli.S72 Author

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Oct 31, 2013 9:22 AM in response to Oli.S72

I want to add to point 2) that USB 2 and USB 1.1 devices are known to stop the freezing issue. People reported freezes with USB 3 devices (external harddisk) a few times

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Answer 3

Ellsass

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Oct 31, 2013 9:56 AM in response to Xazoola

IMO a better resolution is to just install Caffeine: http://lightheadsw.com/caffeine/ No crashes in several days since installing it, and I don't use any USB devices.

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Answer 4

stewyba

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Oct 31, 2013 3:26 PM in response to Oli.S72

Apple is predicatably vague about the unresponsive keyboard / trackpad. I was having the issue with the Macbook 13" with retina display and decided to return it until Apple gets their act together (since I was still within the 14 day period). This was very frustrating and found the work around to close the display as "unresponsive" as my keyboard. I guess it could be driver related, but I have not had the issue with any of the other systems that I installed Mavericks and it apparently only affects MacBook 13" with retina display and not the 15". This looks like a hardware issue, smells like a hardware issue and quacks like a hardware issue...so it's probably a ....

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Answer 5

Oli.S72 Author

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Nov 1, 2013 5:23 AM in response to Oli.S72

adding to point 3:
The Guest Login does not have access to /var/log/system.log.
That is why rMBP on display in stores might not be able to show the kernel error on the console.
You can tell by looking at the left side inside the console. There it says "system.log". If this is grey and you can not click on it, you are logged in as a Guest and have no right to view that file.

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Answer 6

Oli.S72 Author

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Nov 1, 2013 11:57 AM in response to Oli.S72

I repeat here my post from the original thread as well:

I could reproduce the occurance of the entry in the system.log

(if you open a terminal in the background and do a tail -f /var/log/system.log you can watch very nicely what happens)

It only shows up when you use the keyboard or touchpad after not using one of them for a couple of seconds and then using it again.

So here’s my best guess:

After a specific amount of time (5 seconds seems a quite close figure from my tests) »something that has to do with the USB Hub« (meaning some parts of the hardware) is put into an sleep mode. As we know, Mavericks is trying to get the max out of power saving.

Now if you touch keyboard or touchpad after these 5 seconds, the system gets a »wake up call«.

This is what the kernel reports. »kernel[0]: Hey guys, guess what, parts of me just woke up. The USB device Apple Internal Keyboard / Touchpad may have caused this by issuing a remote wakup. Or something else happend. I don't know.«

And now something more: I personally experienced my freezes only in situations when I did not use keyboard and touchpad for quite a few seconds (happened only 2 times to me, so I remember)

This leeds me to my guess: sometimes (in the from Apple mentioned rare circumstances) the wakup-call simply fails. Parts of the system are sleeping too deeply to hear the keyboard/Tochpad knocking on the door, so to speak.

Under which circumstances this glitch happens is unknown of course. But it leads me more into the direction to say: this is 100% a software problem. (Software as in »not-hardware«)

Some even more guesses: The system knows, whether a USB device is plugged in. If so, the system does not put the USB hub to sleep. Because the USB device could have a problem with this. But if no USB device is present, the HUB (or something else that is connected to this topic) is put to sleep after 5 seconds.
This would explain perfectly why plugging in an USB device stops the freezing.

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Answer 7

Oli.S72 Author

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Nov 1, 2013 12:39 PM in response to Oli.S72

More from the original thread:

Interesting question is: why is Mavericks build 13A2093 affected much more than other builds?
Again, it can only be guessed by me. (Apple doesn't tell, so I have to guess)

Since the new MacBook Air has proven to have a fantastic battery life (and with Mavericks even more) Apple had to make sure the new Haswell rMBP dos not fall far behind that.
And to be even more specific, the 13 inch Haswell rMBP should not fall far behind.
Why that?
Because the past has shown, the 15 inch was often bought by people who do not care as much about portability and battery life and such things. These devices are often used almost as desktop computers.

But the 13 inch is a different story. It has to compete with the 13 inch MacBook Air directly.

So, battery life is a big issue for this modell. If the 13 inch Air is at 14-15 hours now with Mavericks, the 13inch rMBP would look quite bad if it would sit around 7 or 8 hours.

So my guess is: the software guys were asked to max out the power savings for the build 13A2093. Save what you can. We need every single minute extra battery life.

So they maxed it out.

On build 13A2093 of Mavericks.

And we all see the result.

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Answer 8

Joukoda

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Nov 3, 2013 1:39 AM in response to Oli.S72

deleted.

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Answer 9

gaolei33

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Nov 3, 2013 1:05 AM in response to Oli.S72

Hi Bro,

Maybe the info below is useful for you:

I've tried to install Mountain Lion and Mavericks (Build 13A603 from App Store) in order to make sure it's a software related issue.

Unfortunately, both are not allowed to be installed on the latest 13 inch MacBook Pro.

I think we all have to wait for the system patches or just return it.

I choose to wait until the due date.

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Answer 10

putnik

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1,179 points

Nov 3, 2013 6:40 AM in response to Oli.S72

I just bought a 13" rMBP yesterday. I met the freeze during trying to enter my PIn for access to the AppleID Manager.

I suggest making a system diagnosis report as soon as possible after the freeze and sending it with a description of what you were doing at the time, through the feedback system. Making a note of the exact time, may help identify the process concerned.

The Key Chord combination "Ctrl+Alt+Cmd+Shift+Period" produces a report. It takes a couple of minutes to generate.

The feedback form can be found at:

http://www.apple.com/feedback/macbookpro.html

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Answer 11

Nov 3, 2013 9:04 AM in response to Ellsass

Ellsass wrote:

IMO a better resolution is to just install Caffeine: http://lightheadsw.com/caffeine/ No crashes in several days since installing it, and I don't use any USB devices.

I've just tried this and it did unfortunately not fix my problem. Plugging in a USB stick seems to help though. At least I don't see the "The USB device Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad (Port 5 of Hub at 0x14000000) may have caused a wake by issuing a remote wakeup (1)" message in the log anymore.

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Answer 12

ipwaa

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Nov 4, 2013 2:12 AM in response to carina123

I wondered about the coincidence, as mine is not a rMBP, but an "old" regular 13.3", with "old" system (but as uptodate as it gets, and I wondered whether one of the latest updates may play some role here) ...

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Answer 13

Xazoola

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Nov 4, 2013 5:16 AM in response to Oli.S72

Wow, I cant believe you people are still going on and on about this. Apple knows about it an is working on a fix. If you really want to kick start Apple, Your best bet is to call support and open a personal ticket. The more tickets they have the more incentive they will have to get a fix out the door. As with any company any open support tickets is a "bad" thing. They cant close your ticket until they have a resolution for you. If they try an tell you they are working on a fix, insist on a trouble ticket being open and you want an email when there is a resolution.

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Answer 14

Xazoola

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Nov 4, 2013 5:20 AM in response to Xazoola

oh and btw, they have more problems. Try and attach a "pages" document to a gmail/email then try and read that document from the attachment. LOL, thanks Apple. (you need Mavericks and the new Pages). I am not sure if this is a Apple problem or google problem. older , like 09 pages documents still work. convert it to pdf it works too.

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Answer 15

Nov 5, 2013 11:13 AM in response to Oli.S72

Thank you for putting all of this info together and in one place.

I have had other errors, as well, including having my screen split while using safari and then dragging the window of the other program away from safari and having the place where it was, remain a blank box over the safari window.

I have had a lot of trouble on youtube and other media sites, too.

Youtube will not load properly on many videos. My internet speed is super-fast and I do not have this problem on my other machines.

It will try to load, play a few seconds and then stop. Fifteen minutes later, it will appear that it's fully loaded, and when I attempt to play the video, it does not play.

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