mauro16

Q: mac pro late 2013 freezes with spinning wheel

i bought a mac pro (late 2013) 50 days ago, os is yosemite 10.10.3. I often get the spinning wheel of death and the mac freezes, i.e. it doesn't react to mouse click or keyboard. it happens on average 1 time a day. When it happens i have to restart the machine by pressing the computer's power button.

I have already contacted apple support by phone, i have made many reset operations under their control, but nothing changed.

 

After the restart, when i examine the console log the last message before the reboot is often the following one

 

windowserver: surface testing disallowed updates for 10 sequential attempts

 

By searching this message on google i found that the problem might be related with the energy saving settings, i.e. it happens when the mac wakes from sleep. So i changed those settings to prevent the mac going on stop state, and today the problem did not happen, but i'm not sure what wil happen tomorrow ... so i'm looking for information/advice about this kind of problem.

Mac Pro (Late 2013), OS X Yosemite (10.10.3)

Posted on May 16, 2015 12:19 PM

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Q: mac pro late 2013 freezes with spinning wheel

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  • by mauro16,

    mauro16 mauro16 Jul 24, 2015 2:27 PM in response to mauro16
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    Jul 24, 2015 2:27 PM in response to mauro16

    my modem-router is a tp-link archer d7, it's advertised as compatible for mac, i don't now if i should try another modem-router or an airport ...

  • by Mac_Gyver,

    Mac_Gyver Mac_Gyver Jul 25, 2015 9:45 AM in response to mauro16
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Jul 25, 2015 9:45 AM in response to mauro16

    mauro16 wrote:

     

    I'm not sure to understand how you deal with the problem. When i get the freezing, i cannot put the mac in sleep mode because it doesn't respond to mouse click and keyboard.

    I'm not really dealing with it at the moment. I just let it happen. I just write down the time of the freeze and what my last actions were.

    So far I haven't a clue what causes the problem.

    Here is what i do/did:

    First of all i turned on the display of the clock in the menu bar. This gives me exact information about when the freeze starts. When the mac is alive again i can use this time for search in the console. Furthermore:

    In System preferences ==> Energy saver I adjusted "Turn display off" to 5 mins.

    Make sure to deactivate "Prevent computer from sleeping..."

    and  in "Date & Time" Clock I activated "Show date and time in menu bar" including the option "Display the time in seconds"

     

    Then I leave my desk, get a cup of coffee and when i return, the monitor and MAC are in standby.

    Then i push a key on the keyboard or press the mouse button and.... TADAA My 3000$ MacPro is ready for work again.

    I know, it's not a real solution to prevent it happen but it works for me so far.

     

    I found

    process WindowServer[153] caught causing excessive wakeups...

    in my log file as well but they are not the cause for the freeze. Just a result of a previous error.

    In my case it's

    Sound assertion - 1002:aab0 FIFO error (Stream 0)

  • by mauro16,

    mauro16 mauro16 Jul 25, 2015 1:29 PM in response to mauro16
    Level 1 (5 points)
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    Jul 25, 2015 1:29 PM in response to mauro16

    other things to add are

    - the freezing never happened in safe boot, in safe boot sometimes it happened that the session was disconnected and i was sent to the login page

    - the freezing may happen some hours after the boot, or it may happen immediately after the boot when the boot is a reboot or the last of a series of reboots

    - there are some articles on the web about similar problems, some of them describe the problem as an Operating System problem (related to the windowserver process). For instance the following one

     

    http://osxdaily.com/2015/04/06/windowserver-high-cpu-usage-mac-os-x/

     

    They suggest to tune various settings, anyway, as far as i can currently see, those configuration changes have no significant effect in my case.

  • by mauro16,

    mauro16 mauro16 Jul 25, 2015 2:41 PM in response to mauro16
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    Jul 25, 2015 2:41 PM in response to mauro16

    and another useful resource is the following discussion in this forum

     

    Guide: How to solve Yosemite memory leaks and CPU usage

     

    though as far as i can see this doesn't provide a solution but just the way to correctly reboot the system after a freezing. I also follow those steps but clearly it's not properly a solution.

  • by danielfrommoore,

    danielfrommoore danielfrommoore Aug 27, 2015 3:09 PM in response to mauro16
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 27, 2015 3:09 PM in response to mauro16

    I am experiencing the exact same issue as reported by mauro16. Intermittently, my Mac Pro (Late 2013) will freeze with a spinning beach ball and I am able to move the ball around with the touchpad, but no keyboard functions work. I also discovered that unplugging the Thunderbolt video cable unfreezes my computer. The freezes happen about 3-6 times per week. Finally, I have noted the time, checked my system logs and found the similar messages:

     

    8/27/15 4:12:36.899 PM WindowServer[152]: Surface testing disallowed updates for 10 sequential attempts...

    8/27/15 4:14:32.000 PM kernel[0]: process WindowServer[152] caught causing excessive wakeups. Observed wakeups rate (per sec): 666; Maximum permitted wakeups rate (per sec): 150; Observation period: 300 seconds; Task lifetime number of wakeups: 322311

     

    My Mac Pro has been checked and serviced by the Apple Store twice and another time with a third-party partner. During the second visit, the third-party partner reinstalled the OS, but that didn't solve the problem. I also rebuilt the machine again another time without restoring it from a time machine backup. The third time I brought it to the Apple Store one of my memory sticks was failing, but the other two times I had it serviced no hardware tests failed. They replaced the memory stick and one of my graphics cards even though it didn't fail any tests. The problem still persists even after the memory stick and one of the graphics cards were replaced.

  • by mauro16,

    mauro16 mauro16 Aug 28, 2015 2:47 PM in response to danielfrommoore
    Level 1 (5 points)
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    Aug 28, 2015 2:47 PM in response to danielfrommoore

    in my case it now freezes on average every 3 days. The days when i am using the computer, I start up it in the morning and shut down in the evening when i have finished. I am supposing the problem might be related with bookmarks in safari. I cleaned the folder where safari stores bookmarks and i got it to work for maybe 4 or 5 days without any freezing. Then i added a bookmark and 15 minutes later i had a freezing.

     

    I am thinking to install windows and see what happens, maybe there is no freezing with windows ... have you (or somebody else) tried this?

  • by Wolfgang E,

    Wolfgang E Wolfgang E Sep 7, 2015 7:00 AM in response to danielfrommoore
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 7, 2015 7:00 AM in response to danielfrommoore

    The same problem here.

    Had it checked from an Apple service proved center but they didn´t find anything.

    Problem just happens if I´m running Pro Tools.

    I found out: If PT is running as an active window it will freeze between 10min and 10h but if PT is running hidden then there is no problem at all.

    Very strange.

  • by mauro16,

    mauro16 mauro16 Sep 7, 2015 12:38 PM in response to Wolfgang E
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    Sep 7, 2015 12:38 PM in response to Wolfgang E

    I suppose Pro Tools is external software, i.e. it doesn't come with Mac Os. As for me, i am not running pro tools. Currently the only two external apps i have installed are ms office and google chrome. Anyway the freezing happens also with no external software installed. If  i run the computer for a number of hours and frequently browse the internet, open different panels in the browser then it is likely to happen. If it doesn't happen the first day, it happens the second, or the third. At best it may take 4-5 days, and then the freezing happens.

     

    Another thing to add is that the typical message at the moment when the freezing happens is the following

     

    Sep  5 14:24:59 Mac-Pro-di-Mauro kernel[0]: Sound assertion - 1002:aab0 FIFO error (Stream 0)

    Sep  5 14:25:00 Mac-Pro-di-Mauro.local WindowServer[150]: Surface testing disallowed updates for 10 sequential attempts...


    or alternatively it's a gpu hang like the following


    Aug 18 17:01:03 Mac-Pro-di-Mauro kernel[0]: Sound assertion - 1002:aab0 FIFO error (Stream 0)

    Aug 18 17:01:09 Mac-Pro-di-Mauro kernel[0]: [6:0:0] GPU HangState 0x00000000, HangFlags 0x00000004: IndividualEngineHang 0, NonEngineBlockHang 0, FenceNotRetired 1, PerEngineReset 0, FullAsicReset 1

    Aug 18 17:01:09 Mac-Pro-di-Mauro kernel[0]: ** GPU ASIC Log Start **


    The message about 'wakeups' usually comes some minute later and so seems not meaningful.

  • by Wolfgang E,

    Wolfgang E Wolfgang E Sep 7, 2015 2:49 PM in response to mauro16
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 7, 2015 2:49 PM in response to mauro16

    Yes, Pro Tools is an external program but it´s the only program I´m using on this Mac.

    And the messages are exact the same (except the sound assertion).

  • by maxcarella,

    maxcarella maxcarella Sep 7, 2015 5:58 PM in response to mauro16
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Sep 7, 2015 5:58 PM in response to mauro16

    Hi Mauro,

    I have the same problem with my Mac Pro, if it freezes, I have to disconnect thunderbolt cable, after reconnected it, Mac restart but it's very very slow, then I have to reboot it.

     

    Can you tell me if you have some external drive USB connected (like me).

    I've read on forums that USB external drive can cause this type of issue.

     

    BR

    Max

     

    PS: Are you italian?

  • by mauro16,

    mauro16 mauro16 Sep 8, 2015 12:04 AM in response to maxcarella
    Level 1 (5 points)
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    Sep 8, 2015 12:04 AM in response to maxcarella

    No USB external drive connected. And yes I'm from Italy.

  • by maxcarella,

    maxcarella maxcarella Sep 9, 2015 1:37 AM in response to mauro16
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Sep 9, 2015 1:37 AM in response to mauro16

    Do you have a Fastweb router connected to Mac Pro? It is generate an "Windows Like" computer in Shared Network, on Finder.

    I have to investigate if the task called "Windows etc.." that breaks Mac is in relationship with router.

    Now I've tried to disconnect it, passing trough Airport Base instead directly from router.

     

    I'll let you know if the problem will persist.

    We keep in touch.

    Max

  • by NeuroReaction,

    NeuroReaction NeuroReaction Sep 10, 2015 1:05 PM in response to mauro16
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Sep 10, 2015 1:05 PM in response to mauro16

         I am also having this issue, how ever when I use VNC to remote in to it; the screen saver is frozen and the time tells me how long it has been in that state. so that tells me that the system isn't locked up entirely, I can also from the first login prompt (required for VNC to remote to OS X) I get a prompt to login as guest or my account and at the bottom I get options to restart and shutdown. today instead of clicking reboot i clicked guest and I was back-in (as guest), it all seemed functional. last night I was watching the keynote and it beach-balled on me, i hit the power button once to put it to sleep waited a couple of minutes and pressed it again to wake it and the video took off where it locked up.

     

         I think it is the graphic card(s) resetting them selves (unsuccessfully) for some reason or another. When I had a custom build PC I had a radeon 5650 that would reset it self when operating condition became unfavorable. (heat mainly) but it wouldn't reset the whole computer so you didn't lose your work or in my case progression through a game. I have put my hand over the vent and it isnt all that warm and i have placed it on a small box to give it more breating room then it has had and the issue still presists.

  • by Timo Bader,

    Timo Bader Timo Bader Sep 21, 2015 3:37 PM in response to mauro16
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Sep 21, 2015 3:37 PM in response to mauro16

    I got the same problem here. Spinning wheel and no reaction on any mouse click.

     

    The strange thing is, until some weeks ago, I always got a GPU hang and a message like this:

     

    16.06.15 22:54:36,000 kernel[0]: ** GPU ASIC Log Start **

    16.06.15 22:54:36,000 kernel[0]: : 0x00006810 : 0x000000e3 : 0x00000001 : 0x00000018 : 0x0000a060 : 0x00000001 : 0x00000001 : 0x00006810

    16.06.15 22:54:36,000 kernel[0]: : 0x00000001 : 0x00000015 : 0x00000000 : 0x00000001 : 0x00000047 : 0x00005009 : 0x00000001 : 0x00000058

    ...

    ...

    16.06.15 22:54:28,000 kernel[0]: ** GPU ASIC Log End **

     

     

    Now (maybe since 10.10.5?), it's always this one:

     

    22.09.15 00:10:34,000 kernel[0]: Sound assertion - 1002:aab0 FIFO error (Stream 1)

     

    The hang occurs round about every 2 days, sometimes 2 times a day, sometimes not for a whole week.

     

    I do not run ProTools here, but Logic among other Music software. Also, I have Sibelius (Avid, like Pro Tools). My Sound Interface is an UAD Apollo. I have plenty of USB Devices: SDDs, HDDs, Dongles (iLok, eLicenser) etc, as well as 3 Samsung SyncMaster displays, one connected via Dual-Link DVI Adaptor, two connected via HDMI (1x native, 1x Thunderbolt-HDMI-Adaptor).

     

    I brought my MacPro to an Apple Dealer and they send it to Apple, without any result.

     

    I will try the workaround with setting up sleep mode, but I don't expect this working for me as a longterm solution. Maybe El Capitan will resolve the problem - hopefully.

  • by Wolfgang E,

    Wolfgang E Wolfgang E Sep 24, 2015 4:50 AM in response to Timo Bader
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 24, 2015 4:50 AM in response to Timo Bader

    I found out that 10.10.0 to 10.10.2 is working without any problem and 10.10.3 to 10.10.5 is causing freezes.

    After the monitor is un and reconnected it´s working again but very slooooow.

    B.t.w. I have a 4 core 6.1 with D300 video card.

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