Safari keeps crashing/freezing after install of El Capitan

Thanks for the update, I've about given up on resolving this issue myself. After inumerable etrecheck scans and deleting files, I surrender. I've tried chrome and it beachballs, not as often and as long as safari which can't be deleted. I will try Firefox and then hope that 10.11.4 fixes the issue.

I'm on 10.11.4 beta 4 now.

Safari - 9.1 (11601.5.17.1)

com.apple.driver.AppleIntelHD5000Graphics - 10.1.4

I've watched a fair amount of YouTube in tabs, paused, closed etc. So far no freezes. Wish I had a more scientific metric - but I can't think of anyway to really get that.

Wish I had a more scientific metric - but I can't think of anyway to really get that.

There doesn't seem to be any public knowledge of how to trigger the issue other than a tab being switched or closed that has an embedded YouTube video playing in it at the time. You're familiar with that so all you can do for now is try and get it to freeze by switching and closing tabs containing a playing video - which I think you've been doing.

Thanks for the update.

So far no freezes.

Best news we've had! Please keep the updates coming!

Best news we've had! Please keep the updates coming!

The same discussion about freezing Safari tabs issue in the beta of 10.11.4 in a different discussion brought up the following:

And what about the latest 10.11.4 beta? No improvemennt?

No, there's no change through all 4 of the betas. If anything, the betas of 10.11.4 elicit more freezes than some of the previous releases with El Capitan.

Which has brought my hopes back down. However, this person may have not read the freezing problems in-depth and may be assuming their problem matches others, as @vom hasn't had a reoccurrence so far?

I'm having the same problem of Safari locking up the whole system when using YouTube. I have a MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015). Doesn't do it all the time, rather it seems to be when I have a few tabs open. Until a concrete solution pops up, I'm using Chrome, as this works without issue.

I read all 16 pages. Really.

Same as other reports: El Capitan, Safari (no Flash installed), UI hangs when stopping/switching/mucking with YouTube HTML5 tabs. Finally got annoying enough that I found this thread.

So: me, too.

Apple Support had a look at my reports and said they're seeing a lot of activity with Dropbox, and suggested I quit it. I did, and the issue has not happened for a while now. I had to use Dropbox at some point, and the issue happened twice when I did. Then I quit it again and it hasn't happened since. Not saying this is proof, as I have not been on YouTube as much lately, but it's worth a try. Just quit Dropbox and see if the issue stops happening, and report back here.

Also, if you don't have Dropbox but have the issue, let me know, because that would mean it might not be related to Dropbox.

maybe, but i have dropbox running 24x7 and no issues

And I had the issue without ever having Dropbox installed on my Mac. I'm quite certain it's because of El Capitan because ever since I downgraded back to Yosemite I haven't experienced a system freeze. Safari would still hang a bit on Youtube sometimes but just for a couple of seconds, no need to restart or even force quit Safari...

but let's get the logic straight - it is correlated with El Capitan, but not necessarily caused by nor a bug in El Capitan.

Most of us still think it is an incompatibility between something and El Cap.

Certainly i have watched hundreds of people who blamed El Cap subsequently remove "X" and problem solved.

Then again, there is a core that has not been so fortunate and i don't mean to be insensitive - just logical

( because with subtly flawed logic one wont find the culprit)

G

I just tried it (quit Dropbox and then attempted to reproduce the issue), and I was still able to get a UI hang when closing a YouTube tab.

However, I also realized that I had also come up with a way to shorten the hang time since getting El Capitan. Since I'm in a corporate environment, I'm usually on wired networking when I'm at my desk, but also have wireless turned on (although it's at a lower priority than the wired interface, so traffic goes wired first, if present). When I get a hang, if I unplug the wired network (ethernet dongle on my 2013 retina MacBook Pro), the hang clears relatively quickly. In other words, forcing a network transition seems to have an impact for me.

I also remember somebody posting some logs earlier in the thread which contained TLS-related messages. The suggestion to disable DrobBox, plus the TLS messages, plus the apparent correlation of a network transition with the behavior of the hang, got me to thinking about potential networking interactions being involved in causing this. Usually, when I'm playing YouTube videos, I'm logged into Google (so I see the channels I'm subscribed to, etc). I don't have time to test right now, but I'm wondering if there is also a difference in the UI hang behavior when logged into Google vs. not.

Certainly i have watched hundreds of people who blamed El Cap subsequently remove "X" and problem solved.

A bunch of people have tried clean installs with no extensions, so I think the conflict is somehow related to the OS, but I also had the issue on Yosemite (although less frequent). I'm thinking it's more Safari related than El Capitan because, as I've mentioned, I don't have a problem with Firefox or Chrome.

but not necessarily caused by nor a bug in El Capitan.

I agree. For all we know, YouTube could be doing something weird.

I haven't been seeing the crash as often...but I've seen the frequency come and go.

An update for El Capitan (10.11.4) has been out since yesterday and addresses some Safari bugs. I haven't installed it yet so can't comment on personal experiences, only what I've read. But there is hope for those of us who have the HTML5 Safari YouTube tab closing problem (I'll stress that if this isn't the exact issue you're having please don't confuse it for a slightly similar problem. What I mention below only applies to this exact issue. It may coincidentally solve others but that's a separate discussion that I'm sure will happen soon).

@vom was finding that the problem was resolved in the betas he was using. I posted a comment I'd pasted from elsewhere from a person who wasn't seeing the issue resolved. However, I had my doubts about whether they were confusing separate problems when they said they had no luck with the update.

Most promising is the comment I found today and I'm pasting here:

The 2010 MacBook Pro I'm using has a faulty discrete graphics card and today's update now uses integrated graphics for video, so no crashes with YouTube embeds and going full screen, Atom doesn't crash the system on close, and iMovie opens fine without having to change the settings on gfxCardStatus, and I can actually use Pixelmator on this machine now. So whatever changes they made to make it a little stabler is working and is GREATLY appreciated!!

This doesn't confirm that everyone having the issue has a faulty discrete graphics card (also note that this is a 2010 machine). But it does suggest that HTML5 embeds are using a different technique in Safari now that likely addresses the freezes some of us have been having. I'm hopeful.

Unrelated but for those who wished that this very broad topic was split into several more particular ones, I've noticed a link at the very top of the page that says 'Branched to a new discussion.'. If I click it it tells me I'm not authorised to view the content. Odd.

Good to hear about 10.11.4 solving some issues. In my case I believe it was some kind of SW incompatibility. Finally, I have been getting the same message as you: at first I thought it was because I was not logged in, but it doesn't matter whether I am or not.

Unrelated but for those who wished that this very broad topic was split into several more particular ones, I've noticed a link at the very top of the page that says 'Branched to a new discussion.'. If I click it it tells me I'm not authorised to view the content. Odd.