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Mac Pro 4,1 / Yosemite 10.10.3 random freezes

I have a bit of a stumper. I've been running a Mac Pro 4,1 with Yosemite, and experiencing random freezes a couple times a day. Sometimes the freezes happen when switching to Safari or opening a new page -- but I still got a freeze one day keeping Safari turned off. Some processes continue to run during the freeze (e.g., I could see a drive still being copied to using CCC) but otherwise, I have to do a hard reset.


Things I have done/tried:


• examined the logs using Console -- there is often nothing going on at the time of the freeze

• reset the PRAM

• reinstalled Yosemite

• opened the case and dusted

• reseated my RAM modules

• replaced a Samsung 840 EVO SSD boot disk with an OWC 3G SSD boot disk (both installed off of the SATA in the optical bay)


Here is an Etrecheck scan. TIA for any ideas on how to sleuth this.


Problem description:

Mac Pro 4,1 randomly freezes; some processes remain running (e.g., CCC), cursor moves but no GUI response.


EtreCheck version: 2.2 (132)

Report generated 5/15/15, 3:01 PM

Download EtreCheck from http://etresoft.com/etrecheck


Click the [Click for support] links for help with non-Apple products.

Click the [Click for details] links for more information about that line.


Hardware Information: ℹ️

Mac Pro (Early 2009) (Technical Specifications)

Mac Pro - model: MacPro4,1

1 2.93 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon CPU: 4-core

28 GB RAM Upgradeable

DIMM 1

8 GB DDR3 ECC 1066 MHz ok

DIMM 2

8 GB DDR3 ECC 1066 MHz ok

DIMM 3

8 GB DDR3 ECC 1066 MHz ok

DIMM 4

4 GB DDR3 ECC 1066 MHz ok

Bluetooth: Old - Handoff/Airdrop2 not supported

Wireless: en2: 802.11 a/b/g/n


Video Information: ℹ️

ATI Radeon HD 4870 - VRAM: 512 MB

LED Cinema Display 1920 x 1200


System Software: ℹ️

OS X 10.10.3 (14D136) - Time since boot: 0:11:28


Disk Information: ℹ️

HL-DT-ST DVD-RW GH41N


OWC Mercury Electra 3G SSD disk0 : (480.1 GB)

EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB

new SSD boot (disk0s2) / : 479.11 GB (94.03 GB free)

Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted> [Recovery]: 784 MB


HGST HDN724040ALE640 disk1 : (4 TB)

EFI (disk1s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB

disk1s2 (disk1s2) <not mounted> : 2 MB

disk1s3 (disk1s3) <not mounted> : 7 MB

disk1s4 (disk1s4) <not mounted> : 2.00 TB

Boot OSX (disk1s5) <not mounted> : 134 MB

disk1s6 (disk1s6) <not mounted> : 2.00 TB

Boot OSX (disk1s7) <not mounted> : 134 MB


HGST HDN724040ALE640 disk2 : (4 TB)

EFI (disk2s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB

disk2s2 (disk2s2) <not mounted> : 2 MB

disk2s3 (disk2s3) <not mounted> : 7 MB

disk2s4 (disk2s4) <not mounted> : 2.00 TB

Boot OSX (disk2s5) <not mounted> : 134 MB

disk2s6 (disk2s6) <not mounted> : 2.00 TB

Boot OSX (disk2s7) <not mounted> : 134 MB


HGST HDN724040ALE640 disk4 : (4 TB)

EFI (disk4s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB

disk4s2 (disk4s2) <not mounted> : 2 MB

disk4s3 (disk4s3) <not mounted> : 7 MB

disk4s4 (disk4s4) <not mounted> : 2.00 TB

Boot OSX (disk4s5) <not mounted> : 134 MB

disk4s6 (disk4s6) <not mounted> : 2.00 TB

Boot OSX (disk4s7) <not mounted> : 134 MB


HGST HDN724040ALE640 disk3 : (4 TB)

EFI (disk3s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB

disk3s2 (disk3s2) <not mounted> : 2 MB

disk3s3 (disk3s3) <not mounted> : 7 MB

disk3s4 (disk3s4) <not mounted> : 2.00 TB

Boot OSX (disk3s5) <not mounted> : 134 MB

disk3s6 (disk3s6) <not mounted> : 2.00 TB

Boot OSX (disk3s7) <not mounted> : 134 MB


USB Information: ℹ️

OWC Mercury Elite Pro Quad USB 3 3 TB

EFI (disk8s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB

new TM (disk8s2) /Volumes/new TM : 3.00 TB (2.70 TB free)

Apple Inc. Apple LED Cinema Display

Apple Inc. Display Audio

Apple Inc. Display iSight

OWC Mercury Elite-AL Pro OWC Mercury Elite-AL Pro 2 TB

EFI (disk7s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB

new boot clone (disk7s2) /Volumes/new boot clone : 2.00 TB (1.61 TB free)

Recovery HD (disk7s3) <not mounted> [Recovery]: 784 MB

EPSON EPSON Scanner

Fujitsu ScanSnap S510M

Lexar CFUDMA_SD Reader

Apple Inc. BRCM2046 Hub

Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller

Logitech USB Receiver

Logitech G700 Laser Mouse


Gatekeeper: ℹ️

Mac App Store and identified developers


Kernel Extensions: ℹ️

/Applications/Toast 9 Titanium/Toast Titanium.app

[not loaded] com.elgato.driver.Pluto2 (1.1) [Click for support]

[not loaded] com.roxio.BluRaySupport (1.1.6) [Click for support]

[not loaded] com.roxio.TDIXController (1.7) [Click for support]


/Applications/Utilities/diskwarrior old/DiskWarrior 4.1.1r810/DiskWarrior.app

[not loaded] com.alsoft.Preview (4.1.1) [Click for support]


/Applications/VMware Fusion.app

[not loaded] com.vmware.kext.vmci (90.6.3) [Click for support]

[not loaded] com.vmware.kext.vmioplug.14.1.3 (14.1.3) [Click for support]

[not loaded] com.vmware.kext.vmnet (0249.89.30) [Click for support]

[not loaded] com.vmware.kext.vmx86 (0249.89.30) [Click for support]

[not loaded] com.vmware.kext.vsockets (90.6.0) [Click for support]


/Library/Extensions

[loaded] com.softraid.driver.SoftRAID (5.0.7 - SDK 10.9) [Click for support]

[loaded] jp.plentycom.driver.SteerMouse (4.2.3 - SDK 10.6) [Click for support]


/System/Library/Extensions

[not loaded] com.palm.ClassicNotSeizeDriver (3.2) [Click for support]


Launch Agents: ℹ️

[failed] com.extensis.FMCore.plist [Click for support] [Click for details]

[running] com.softraid.SoftRAIDMonitor.plist [Click for support]


Launch Daemons: ℹ️

[loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist [Click for support]

[failed] com.apple.spirecorder.plist

[running] com.bombich.ccchelper.plist [Click for support]

[loaded] com.bresink.system.securityagent.plist [Click for support]

[loaded] com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist [Click for support]

[loaded] com.quark.quarkupdate.plist [Click for support]

[running] com.softraid.softraidd.plist [Click for support]

[running] de.appgineers.Mountain.Helper.plist [Click for support]

[loaded] org.cindori.SenseiTool.plist [Click for support]


User Launch Agents: ℹ️

[loaded] de.metaquark.appfresh.plist [Click for support]


User Login Items: ℹ️

Mountain Application (/Applications/Mountain.app)

iTunes Application (/Applications/iTunes.app)

ScanSnap Manager Application (/Applications/ScanSnap/ScanSnap Manager.app)

ChronoSyncBackgrounder Application (/Library/Application Support/ChronoSync/ChronoSyncBackgrounder.app)

Dropbox Application (/Applications/Dropbox.app)

SteerMouse Manager Application (/Applications/Utilities/SteerMouse.app/Contents/MacOS/SteerMouse Manager.app)

CCC User Agent Application (/Applications/Utilities/Carbon Copy Cloner.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/CCC User Agent.app)


Internet Plug-ins: ℹ️

FlashPlayer-10.6: Version: 17.0.0.169 - SDK 10.6 [Click for support]

Flash Player: Version: 17.0.0.169 - SDK 10.6 Outdated! Update

iPhotoPhotocast: Version: 7.0

QuickTime Plugin: Version: 7.7.3

Default Browser: Version: 600 - SDK 10.10


User internet Plug-ins: ℹ️

Picasa: Version: 1.0 [Click for support]

Google Earth Web Plug-in: Version: 7.1 [Click for support]


Safari Extensions: ℹ️

1Password

ExifExt

ClickToPlugin

Ghostery


3rd Party Preference Panes: ℹ️

Flash Player [Click for support]

Quark Update Preferences [Click for support]

SteerMouse [Click for support]


Time Machine: ℹ️

Skip System Files: NO

Mobile backups: OFF

Auto backup: YES

Volumes being backed up:

new SSD boot: Disk size: 479.11 GB Disk used: 385.08 GB

Destinations:

Untitled [Local]

Total size: 3.00 TB

Total number of backups: 37

Oldest backup: 2015-05-01 01:10:08 +0000

Last backup: 2015-05-15 18:21:18 +0000

Size of backup disk: Excellent

Backup size 3.00 TB > (Disk size 479.11 GB X 3)


Top Processes by CPU: ℹ️

30% com.apple.WebKit.WebContent(3)

7% WindowServer

4% Safari

1% fontd

0% taskgated


Top Processes by Memory: ℹ️

1.36 GB kernel_task

401 MB com.apple.WebKit.WebContent(3)

315 MB mds_stores

172 MB Safari

172 MB iTunes


Virtual Memory Information: ℹ️

21.00 GB Free RAM

6.66 GB Used RAM

0 B Swap Used


Diagnostics Information: ℹ️

May 15, 2015, 02:47:36 PM Self test - passed

May 14, 2015, 06:49:54 PM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/AutoCAD LT 2015_2015-05-14-184954_[redacted].cpu_resource.diag [Click for details]

May 14, 2015, 05:53:58 PM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/backupd_2015-05-14-175358_[redacted].cpu_resour ce.diag [Click for details]

May 14, 2015, 05:18:31 PM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Dropbox_2015-05-14-171831_[redacted].cpu_resour ce.diag [Click for details]

May 13, 2015, 11:20:21 AM /Users/[redacted]/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/com.apple.WebKit.Networking_20 15-05-13-112021_[redacted].crash

May 14, 2015, 12:28:15 PM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Dropbox_2015-05-14-122815_[redacted].cpu_resour ce.diag [Click for details]

Mac Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10.3)

Posted on May 15, 2015 12:11 PM

Reply
5 replies

May 15, 2015 6:01 PM in response to a a i b

1. This procedure is a diagnostic test. It changes nothing, for better or worse, and therefore will not, in itself, solve the problem. But with the aid of the test results, the solution may take a few minutes, instead of hours or days.

The test works on OS X 10.7 ("Lion") and later. I don't recommend running it on older versions of OS X. It will do no harm, but it won't do much good either.

Don't be put off by the complexity of these instructions. The process is much less complicated than the description. You do harder tasks with the computer all the time.

2. If you don't already have a current backup, back up all data before doing anything else. The backup is necessary on general principle, not because of anything in the test procedure. Backup is always a must, and when you're having any kind of trouble with the computer, you may be at higher than usual risk of losing data, whether you follow these instructions or not.

There are ways to back up a computer that isn't fully functional. Ask if you need guidance.

3. Below are instructions to run a UNIX shell script, a type of program. As I wrote above, it changes nothing. It doesn't send or receive any data on the network. All it does is to generate a human-readable report on the state of the computer. That report goes nowhere unless you choose to share it. If you prefer, you can act on it yourself without disclosing the contents to me or anyone else.

You should be wondering whether you can believe me, and whether it's safe to run a program at the behest of a stranger. In general, no, it's not safe and I don't encourage it.

In this case, however, there are a couple of ways for you to decide whether the program is safe without having to trust me. First, you can read it. Unlike an application that you download and click to run, it's transparent, so anyone with the necessary skill can verify what it does.

You may not be able to understand the script yourself. But variations of it have been posted on this website thousands of times over a period of years. The site is hosted by Apple, which does not allow it to be used to distribute harmful software. Any one of the millions of registered users could have read the script and raised the alarm if it was harmful. Then I would not be here now and you would not be reading this message. See, for example, this discussion.

Another indication that the test is safe can be found in this thread, and this one, for example, where the comment in which I suggested it was recommended by one of the Apple Community Specialists, as explained here.

Nevertheless, if you can't satisfy yourself that these instructions are safe, don't follow them. Ask for other options.

4. Here's a general summary of what you need to do, if you choose to proceed:

☞ Copy a particular line of text to the Clipboard.

☞ Paste into the window of another application.

☞ Wait for the test to run. It usually takes a few minutes.

☞ Paste the results, which will have been copied automatically, back into a reply on this page.

These are not specific instructions; just an overview. The details are in parts 7 and 8 of this comment. The sequence is: copy, paste, wait, paste again. You don't need to copy a second time.

5. Try to test under conditions that reproduce the problem, as far as possible. For example, if the computer is sometimes, but not always, slow, run the test during a slowdown.

You may have started up in safe mode. If the system is now in safe mode and works well enough in normal mode to run the test, restart as usual. If you can only test in safe mode, do that.

6. If you have more than one user, and the one affected by the problem is not an administrator, then please run the test twice: once while logged in as the affected user, and once as an administrator. The results may be different. The user that is created automatically on a new computer when you start it for the first time is an administrator. If you can't log in as an administrator, test as the affected user. Most personal Macs have only one user, and in that case this section doesn’t apply. Don't log in as root.

7. Load this linked web page (on the website "Pastebin.") The title of the page is "Diagnostic Test." Below the title is a text box headed by three small icons. The one on the right represents a clipboard. Click that icon to select the text, then copy it to the Clipboard on your computer by pressing the key combination command-C.

If the text doesn't highlight when you click the icon, select it by triple-clicking anywhere inside the box. Don't select the whole page, just the text in the box.

8. Launch the built-in Terminal application in any of the following ways:

☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)

☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.

☞ Open LaunchPad and start typing the name.

Click anywhere in the Terminal window to activate it. Paste from the Clipboard into the window by pressing command-V, then press return. The text you pasted should vanish immediately.

9. If you see an error message in the Terminal window such as "Syntax error" or "Event not found," enter

exec bash

and press return. Then paste the script again.

10. If you're logged in as an administrator, you'll be prompted for your login password. Nothing will be displayed when you type it. You will not see the usual dots in place of typed characters. Make sure caps lock is off. Type carefully and then press return. You may get a one-time warning to be careful. If you make three failed attempts to enter the password, the test will run anyway, but it will produce less information. If you don't know the password, or if you prefer not to enter it, just press return three times at the password prompt. Again, the script will still run.

If you're not logged in as an administrator, you won't be prompted for a password. The test will still run. It just won't do anything that requires administrator privileges.

11. The test may take a few minutes to run, depending on how many files you have and the speed of the computer. A computer that's abnormally slow may take longer to run the test. While it's running, a series of lines will appear in the Terminal window like this:

[Process started]

Part 1 of 8 done at … sec

Part 8 of 8 done at … sec

The test results are on the Clipboard.

Please close this window.

[Process completed]

The intervals between parts won't be exactly equal, but they give a rough indication of progress. The total number of parts may be different from what's shown here.

Wait for the final message "Process completed" to appear. If you don't see it within about ten minutes, the test probably won't complete in a reasonable time. In that case, press the key combination control-C or command-period to stop it and go to the next step. You'll have incomplete results, but still something.

12. When the test is complete, or if you stopped it because it was taking too long, quit Terminal. The results will have been copied to the Clipboard automatically. They are not shown in the Terminal window. Please don't copy anything from there. All you have to do is start a reply to this comment and then paste by pressing command-V again.

At the top of the results, there will be a line that begins with the words "Start time." If you don't see that, but instead see a mass of gibberish, you didn't wait for the "Process completed" message to appear in the Terminal window. Please wait for it and try again.

If any private information, such as your name or email address, appears in the results, anonymize it before posting. Usually that won't be necessary.

13. When you post the results, you might see an error message on the web page: "You have included content in your post that is not permitted," or "The message contains invalid characters." That's a bug in the forum software. Please post the test results on Pastebin, then post a link here to the page you created.

14. This is a public forum, and others may give you advice based on the results of the test. They speak for themselves, not for me. The test itself is harmless, but whatever else you're told to do may not be. For others who choose to run it, I don't recommend that you post the test results on this website unless I asked you to.

______________________________________________________________

Copyright © 2014, 2015 by Linc Davis. As the sole author of this work (including the referenced "Diagnostic Test"), I reserve all rights to it except as provided in the Use Agreement for the Apple Support Communities website ("ASC"). Readers of ASC may copy it for their own personal use. Neither the whole nor any part may be redistributed.

May 16, 2015 11:17 AM in response to a a i b

A

Remove "SteerMouse" and "Trim Enabler." See whether there's an improvement.

Any third-party software that doesn't install from the App Store or by drag-and-drop into the Applications folder, and uninstall by drag-and-drop to the Trash, is a system modification.

Whenever you remove system modifications, they must be removed completely, and the only way to do that is to use the uninstallation tool, if any, provided by the developers, or to follow their instructions. If the software has been incompletely removed, you may have to re-download or even reinstall it in order to finish the job.

I never install system modifications myself, and except as stated in this comment, I don't know how to uninstall them. You'll have to do your own research to find that information.

Here are some general guidelines to get you started. Suppose you want to remove something called “BrickMyMac” (a hypothetical example.) First, consult the product's Help menu, if there is one, for instructions. Finding none there, look on the developer's website, say www.brickmymac.com. (That may not be the actual name of the site; if necessary, search the Web for the product name.) If you don’t find anything on the website or in your search, contact the developer. While you're waiting for a response, download BrickMyMac.dmg and open it. There may be an application in there such as “Uninstall BrickMyMac.” If not, open “BrickMyMac.pkg” and look for an Uninstall button. The uninstaller might also be accessed by clicking the Customize button, if there is one.

Back up all data before making any changes.

You will generally have to restart the computer in order to complete an uninstallation. Until you do that, there may be no effect, or unpredictable effects.

If you can’t remove software in any other way, you’ll have to erase and install OS X. Never install any third-party software unless you're sure you know how to uninstall it; otherwise you may create problems that are very hard to solve.

Trying to remove complex system modifications by hunting for files by name often will not work and may make the problem worse. The same goes for "utilities" such as "AppCleaner" and the like that purport to remove software.

B

The hardware configuration (SSD in the optical bay) is unsupported and I don't know what the effects are. I also don't know what the possible effects of "SoftRAID" are. The results of modifying the system at such a low level are inherently unpredictable, especially after an update to OS X. If you ever manage to stabilize the configuration as modified, you should never change it again for the life of the machine. Don't install any more software updates from Apple unless you're prepared to revert them.

Get rid of the modifications if reliability is a priority.

C

Remove the 4 GB DIMM in slot 4 and test.

D

Restart the computer in safe mode. Certain caches maintained by the system will be rebuilt.

Safe mode is much slower to start up than normal. The next normal startup may also be somewhat slow.

When the login screen appears, restart as usual (not in safe mode) and test. There's no need to log in while in safe mode.

Note: If FileVault is enabled in OS X 10.9 or earlier, or if a firmware password is set, or if the startup volume is a software RAID, you can’t start in safe mode. In that case, ask for instructions.

E

Some of your user files (not system files) have incorrect permissions or are locked. This procedure will unlock those files and reset their ownership, permissions, and access controls to the default. If you've intentionally set special values for those attributes, they will be reverted. In that case, either stop here, or be prepared to recreate the settings if necessary. Do so only after verifying that those settings didn't cause the problem. If none of this is meaningful to you, you don't need to worry about it, but you do need to follow the instructions below.

Back up all data before proceeding.

Step 1

If you have more than one user, and the one in question is not an administrator, then go to Step 2.

Enter the following command in the Terminal window in the same way as before (triple-click, copy, and paste):

sudo find ~ $TMPDIR.. -exec chflags -h nouchg,nouappnd,noschg,nosappnd {} + -exec chown -h $UID {} + -exec chmod +rw {} + -exec chmod -h -N {} + -type d -exec chmod -h +x {} + 2>&-

You'll be prompted for your login password, which won't be displayed when you type it. Type carefully and then press return. You may get a one-time warning to be careful. If you don’t have a login password, you’ll need to set one before you can run the command. If you see a message that your username "is not in the sudoers file," then you're not logged in as an administrator.

The command may take several minutes to run, depending on how many files you have. Wait for a new line ending in a dollar sign ($) to appear, then quit Terminal.

Step 2 (optional)

Take this step only if you have trouble with Step 1, if you prefer not to take it, or if it doesn't solve the problem.

Start up in Recovery mode. When the OS X Utilities screen appears, select

Utilities Terminal

from the menu bar. A Terminal window will open. In that window, type this:

resetp

Press the tab key. The partial command you typed will automatically be completed to this:

resetpassword

Press return. A Reset Password window will open. You’re not going to reset a password.

Select your startup volume ("Macintosh HD," unless you gave it a different name) if not already selected.

Select your username from the menu labeled Select the user account if not already selected.

Under Reset Home Directory Permissions and ACLs, click the Reset button.

Select

Restart

from the menu bar.

F

Back up all data.

Run the following command in the same way as before. It moves to the Trash "semaphore" files that have not been cleaned up by the system and may be interfering with normal operation. The files are empty; they contain no data. There will be no output this time.

find L*/{Con*/*/Data/L*/,}Pref* -type f -size 0c -name *.plist.??????? -exec mv {} .Trash/ \; 2>&-

Log out or restart the computer and empty the Trash.

G

Back up all data before proceeding.

Triple-click anywhere in the line below on this page to select it:

~/Library/Accounts/Accounts3.sqlite

Right-click or control-click the highlighted line and select

Services Reveal in Finder (or just Reveal)

from the contextual menu.* A folder should open with an item selected. Move the selected item to the Trash. Log out or restart the computer and empty the Trash.

*If you don't see the contextual menu item, copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. In the Finder, select

Go Go to Folder...

from the menu bar and paste into the box that opens by pressing command-V. You won't see what you pasted because a line break is included. Press return.

H

Storing many files on the Desktop may slow down the Finder, especially if the files have custom icons. Move most or all of the files to another subfolder of your home folder.

May 19, 2015 2:08 PM in response to Linc Davis

Linc


A: No "trim enabler" installed, but just opening a test of Disk Sensei put various Disk Sensei stuff in LaunchDaemons and the like. I removed them. I have used "SteerEnabler" for years and on other macs, so I'm going to keep it for now.


B: Noted.


C: Going away for the weekend, so I'll run Rember for the duration. A 2 days run, 9 cycles, showed nothing unusual. When I get back I may pull the 4GB as you've suggested.


D: Did this (feel like I do it all the time, after a freeze)


E: Ran step one, without problems (did have to do "exec bash" first, though -- you might add that to your instructions.)


F: Ran this script, without problems


G: Found Accounts3.sqlite. In the same folder is also Accounts3.sqlite-shm, and Accounts3.sqlite-wal. Should these also be trashed?


H: Noted.


***


I've had only one freeze since changing my start up disk from a Samsung 840 EVO to a 3G OWC SSD, but I really appreciate these other troubleshooting angles.


Thank you VERY MUCH for your time and effort.

Mac Pro 4,1 / Yosemite 10.10.3 random freezes

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