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MacBook Pro (Retina, Mid 2012) freeze with Yosemite

After installing the OS X Yosemite my MBP Retina starts freezing due to graphic problems. The only option is to restart the Mac


How to find the problem and solve it?

MacBook Pro (Retina, Mid 2012), OS X Yosemite (10.10)

Posted on Oct 17, 2014 2:25 AM

Reply
751 replies

Jan 5, 2015 12:51 PM in response to brianjsw

You mentioned a few theories about it possibly having something to do with the temp. of the GPU or maybe the GPU being taxed too much but let me offer another view...


In this thread people talk about using the integrated graphics (possibly forcing this using gfxCardStatus) to stop their systems from locking up, etc. When I did this I noticed it makes some applications that normally would use the GPU somewhat sluggish so I did the opposite; I forced the GPU to be the one that is always used instead of the integrated one.


This has worked just as well as forcing the integrated graphics 100% of the time. It never causes a lockup so the heat issue seems like that could be ruled out.


It simply seems to be an issue with the act of switching itself.

Jan 6, 2015 3:57 AM in response to TLFonseca

I've had this issue on a mid-2012 non-retina MBP, and an early-2013 rMBP.


The rMBP would have frequent GPU reset events (pretty much at least once a day), and they could be easily triggered by websites that switch on the GPU when they are loading. I also had two other issues, including one where the computer will completely freeze (no mouse movement, no crash/panic log, nothing).


I recently went to the Apple Store, described the problem and presented the GPU Reset logs. Got a logic board replacement and was able to pick up my rMBP a few hours later.


This logic board doesn't have the other issues I mentioned, but it still has the GPU switching problem, but somewhat more mild. Trying to force the issue to occur using methods previously mentioned in this thread doesn't work. I can go fine for a few days of uptime, but then there will be one GPU switch that causes a freeze.


Scheduled an appointment for Thursday, and I might try and see if I can get a whole new rMBP.

Jan 6, 2015 12:58 PM in response to TLFonseca

Hello, guys.

Today i was in Genius bar and now i am pretty sure that this is combination of hardware and software problems. (I have late 2013 MBP with nvidia 750)


1. I tried to reproduce bug in my OS by enable/disable checkmark Automatic graphics switcher. - Success. Bug reproduced

2. Genius booted my laptop with his OS (10.10.1) to see it's hardware or software. - Success . Bug reproduced

3. Genius booted my laptop with his OS (10.9). Bug didn't reproduced!!! Sometimes it freeze at couple seconds. But then it's ok.


I think this is a difference. On Yosemite Apple changed some low level driver code. May be some GPU panic threshold. And on hardware with some problems, in the same situation, Yosemite cause this freeze, Mavericks not.


I scheduled the changing of my mainboard. I'll write will it fix problem or not.

Jan 6, 2015 1:10 PM in response to dmkpoznan

Quite a few people have reported that their problem is either fixed or reduced when replacing hardware. In my case, I only had to un-cripple the cooling infrastructure (haven't had a freeze since I did that). The cooling infrastructure, which is, by the way, the same across many versions of the HW.


If this were a pure software problem, then you'd expect everyone to have the problem, unless the variability came from something the users are *doing* or *installing*. I see no signs of a pattern there.


HW/SW *interaction* problems are quite common in computers, since hardware has a TON of variability that we usually would prefer to ignore. SW changes can easily unmask something suboptimal in a HW design.


ALL THAT SAID, your problem may be different from that that others are having. But in a substantial number of cases, changing HW and/or SW can reduce or fix the problem. That's the classic sign of a HW-SW interaction.


My guess is that Yosemite is switching too aggressively and that this is causing a local thermal ramp that's too steep in some combination of {GPU, CPU, Platform Controller Hub}.

Jan 6, 2015 2:26 PM in response to dmkpoznan

If it wold be just a software problem, it would not reproduced when changing OS to Genius bar version. You can try to reproduce it on Apple store computers, but you can't. So, it's particulary hardware problem. Intel chips, Nvidia card and cooling systems are almost the same through generation. It's some hardware problem that can't be correct processed by software. May be it's not a pure HW defect, but it's some HW property that cause the low level software crash.

Jan 7, 2015 6:28 AM in response to frookt

It's not a hardware problem. I have have 2 macbook retina's. One I bought 3 months ago and that started experiencing the freezes as soon as I updated it to Yosemite. My other one is 2 years old and had the GPU panic problem. So it was repaired by Apple and the entire graphics board etc was replaced. When I got it back, as soon as I upgraded it to Yosemite it started having the freezes as well. Seems a bit weird.


And in the mean time Apple is just pretending none of these topics exists and the problem only affects a fraction of the people. I'm really starting to get ****** of I have to turn reduced transparency off and force the machine on discrete dedicated, especially since I invested about €6.000 in those macbooks...

Jan 7, 2015 6:43 AM in response to Blizzke

I am totally with you and in the same situation. It seems to be effecting all retina MacBooks as they use scaling mode for rendering the OS elements. I own 2 retina macbook pros and 1 macbook air. My Macbook air seems to have no problems at all and it is more responsive and faster compared to my other 2 macbook pros. I tried all sorts of alternatives like : fresh install from scratch without update etc etc. None of them helped. Issues persist. I reverted back to Mavericks and everything seems to be fine.

Jan 7, 2015 6:52 AM in response to TLFonseca

Not trying to disagree with everyone here. But hardware issue is highly unlikely, GPU issues won't arise from no where all of a sudden with an OS update. A simple test would be to reboot to Windows 8 using bootcamp and run a graphics demanding game. If everything seems good then there you go a clear indication that it is OS Software issue with bad nVidia GPU drivers. But I see this as a good opportunity to get a logic board replacement ( why not when your getting new CPU, RAM, GPU ).


I think a solution to this problem would be to buy the new MBP they will come out this year with latest specs and drivers. Not ideal but great for Apple to suck more money for consumers forcing them to upgrade

MacBook Pro (Retina, Mid 2012) freeze with Yosemite

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