MacBook Pro (Retina, Mid 2012) freeze with Yosemite

I have this problem when I connect my non-retina mbp mid 2012 to a Westinghouse 4k TV with the resolution set to anything above 1920 by 1080.

The system will run, then eventually the images on both the external and built-in display will freeze even though the mouse cursor is moving. The machine is still running because I have an ssh session that does not terminate even though the display is frozen.

I am convinced there is a software problem but Apple support (via chat) basically shut down the conversation when I told them I was connected to a 4k TV. They claim this model MBP does not support 4k hardware regardless of how it is driven.

Even driving the TV at 1920 by 1080 the machine sometime goes back to the login window after going to a an all-black screen for some time.

Hi ..

A Safe Mode deletes some system caches that can help after an upgrade.

Top left corner of your screen click the Apple  > Shut Down.

After your Mac shuts down, wait 10 seconds, then press the power button.

Immediately after you hear the startup tone, hold down the Shift key. You should press the Shift key as soon as possible after you hear the startup tone, but not before.

Release the Shift key when you see the gray Apple logo and progress indicator.

Then click the Apple  top left in your screen. From the drop down menu click: Restart

Then see if it still freezes.

About Safe Mode.

Safe Mode doesn't help. I have the same problem with a Mid 2012 MBPr with a fresh OS X 10.10 installation (no upgrade). In energy options I have enabled automatic graphic card switching, so my system is using the Intel HD Graphics 4000 mainly. The logs show a "GPU Reset" event:

-------------------

Mon Oct 20 20:36:37 2014

Event: GPU Reset

Data/Time: Mon Oct 20 20:36:37 2014

Application:

Path:

OS Version: Mac OS X Version 10.10 (Build 14A389)

Graphics Hardware: Intel HD Graphics 4000

Signature: 801

Report Data:

===========================================================================

Intel GPU Hang Summary

version 1.0.0

===========================================================================

-- Summary of Status for ALL Rings --

MAIN Ring is idle

MEDIA Ring is NOT enabled

BLT Ring is NOT enabled

===========================================================================

Essential Ring Registers

===========================================================================

-- MAIN Ring --

RING_HEAD = 0x00000048 (offset = 0x00000048, wrap count = 0, wait_for_cond = 0x0)

RING_TAIL = 0x00000048 (offset = 0x00000048)

RING_START = 0x10204000 (offset = 0x10204000)

RING_CTRL = 0x0000f001 (enabled, auto report disabled (0x00), not waiting, semaphore not waiting, length = 0x010 4KB pages)

-- MEDIA Ring --

RING_HEAD = 0x00000000 (offset = 0x00000000, wrap count = 0, wait_for_cond = 0x0)

RING_TAIL = 0x00000000 (offset = 0x00000000)

RING_START = 0x00000000 (offset = 0x00000000)

RING_CTRL = 0x00000000 (disabled, auto report disabled (0x00), not waiting, semaphore not waiting, length = 0x001 4KB pages)

-- BLT Ring --

RING_HEAD = 0x00000000 (offset = 0x00000000, wrap count = 0, wait_for_cond = 0x0)

RING_TAIL = 0x00000000 (offset = 0x00000000)

RING_START = 0x00000000 (offset = 0x00000000)

RING_CTRL = 0x00000000 (disabled, auto report disabled (0x00), not waiting, semaphore not waiting, length = 0x001 4KB pages)

- Common Slice INST_DONE register -

All Common Slice engines are done.

- INSTDONE_CS (=0xffffffff): Not done =

[....]

-----------------------

I already tried a PRAM- and SMC Reset, booted up in Safe Mode, repaired permissions. Since I disabled the automatic switching of graphic cards in system settings (so that it uses my NVidia Card as default), there are no freezes anymore. There seems at least one more user with the same problem:

Yosemite graphics problem?

I unchecked the setting in energy saving mode. Then I restarted the system and checked the setting for the graphic card again. Now everything works normal.

Sorry. The previous post ist not correct. The problem is still there. I happens when I'm working with Firefox. Websites which heavily use jQuery freezes the MBPr mid 2012.

Yes it happens on sites which uses much JavaScript. In my case yosemite crashed in the backend of cms TYPO3 www.typo3.org.

I can confirm this on my MBP Retina 15, Late 2013. Also happened to me once in the TYPO3 backend (using Firefox).

I've also had total system freezes in Photoshop, really seems like the crashes occur when the system switches to the external NVIDIA GPU.

I'm having the same problem on my MBP (late 2013, Intel Iris Pro 1536 MB). I do use Firefox so it could be related to that.

One thing I notice is that my mouse still works, however, everything else hangs. The only way to fix is to force a shutdown using the power button and start up again.

Do we know if there is a bug raised within Apple on this? I'm assuming we won't have visibility to that information.

It's not Browser-related (I'm using Safari 8.0). The mouse cursor works, but the complete screen is frozen. In the last few days I deactivated the automatic switching of the graphic cards in the system settings and everything is working perfect since then. So most likely this problem occurs when the system tries to switch the graphic card. I have several log files with detailed data about this, if someone from Apple support can provide an email address then I can forward them.

My Yosemite froze's as well except the mouse. Only way to recover the system is to do a hard power off. Everytime this happens it's seems to related into a website. I also use Safari 8.0.

My mac: MacBook Pro (15-inch, Mid 2012)

Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 4000 1024 MB

After power on the system I have a graphics error. I have sent the report to Apple everytime. My system have been forzen for 4 - 5 times now and it's a verry frustrating! I hope Apple will do a quick fix for this.

michaelljk2, you mentioned deactivating the switching of the graphics cards in the system settings and everything worked fine. How did you go about doing that? I have frozen at least 5 times today so need a work around until the bug is fixed. Seems like you have the trick 🙂

bradrevell, I did nothing special for that, just unchecked the box for the "Automatic change of graphics modes" in the energy settings. My system is using the dedicated GPU now all the time, with all disadvantages: shorter battery life, warmer case, more fan activity. But at least the system didn't freeze anymore. I would really like to use the integrated "Intel HD Graphics 4000", but unfortunatly there's no possibility to deactivate the NVidia GPU instead :-(

Disabling the automatic switching does indeed help. However, I don't feel this is a viable solution because of the problems you have already mentioned (reduced battery life, higher temperatures, fan activity).

It's a shame that Apple fails to realize these problems on their most expensive MacBook models prior to release, especially with the open beta and all. :-/

I'll install Yosemite from scratch today to see if this helps at all – I'll keep you guys updated.

Same problem here. I'll try disabling the card switching as suggested by michaeljk2