Robert Alexander5

Q: Safari Makes Mac Unresponsive

I have a Mac Pro (Early 2008) running the latest updated versions of everything Mac (El Capitan, Safari, etc), and this issue actually followed me from Yosemite, I was hoping upgrading to  El Capitan would solve, but but did not.

 

Behavior: My Mac will become partially unresponsive.  Specifically.

 

- I can move the pointer around anywhere on the screen, but clicking on any window, menu, anything does nothing.

- Click keyboard key combos likewise does nothing

- At times this has occurred, if there is a video running from a website, etc. it continues to run, with sound.  Can't stop it or anyhting because of what I mentioned above

- The only think I can do is hit the power button and restart

 

Trigger: Safari.

 

- This will only happen with safari open, not always though.  There needs to be a website, or combination to make it happen.  So far, I've noticed behavior when I have websites such as Amazon, Ebay, I think Google image search (not sure).

 

- If I restart the computer allow Safari to open with the same website windows, the freeze will happen, every time, and in short order

- If I open Safari but close all websites, or all the shopping type ones, the freeze does not happen again

- The freeze never happens when Safari is not open

 

HAs anyone seen this, or have a solution in mind?  I love all my wonderful Apple gadgets, and I love having all my information (bookmarks, websites, etc.) synchronized automatically, but if I can't solve this I'll have to move to Chrome.  I'm in law school, and if I didn't automatically hit 'Save' every 5 or so minutes while writing papers and briefs, this would have cost me dearly on more than one occasion.

 

Tank you in advance.

 

Bob A.

Posted on Mar 14, 2016 11:53 AM

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Q: Safari Makes Mac Unresponsive

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  • Helpful answers

  • by Margaret Robison,

    Margaret Robison Margaret Robison Mar 14, 2016 1:46 PM in response to Robert Alexander5
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Mar 14, 2016 1:46 PM in response to Robert Alexander5

    I too have a Mac Pro (early 2008) and been having the exact same problem with Safari. Everything freezes except I can move my mouse cursor. At times the cursor turns into line with two arrows. This problem started a few months ago and today I restarted four times so I've resorted to using Chrome. I have no answers as I have found none. Looking forward to see if you get any responses.

  • by K Shaffer,Apple recommended

    K Shaffer K Shaffer Mar 14, 2016 2:07 PM in response to Robert Alexander5
    Level 6 (14,350 points)
    Desktops
    Mar 14, 2016 2:07 PM in response to Robert Alexander5

    Often enough, some of the older add-ons, extensions, apps, or other parts that were OK in

    an earlier OS X will be brought forward into a newer system and any or all incompatibilities

    between them and anything newer will evidence themselves in issues such as you face now.

     

    • If Safari is slow, stops responding, quits unexpectedly, or has other issues - Apple Support

    • Stop pop-up ads and adware in Safari - Apple Support

     

    And this probably was happening before a latest new system was added to an older OS X.

    Also, various scanning anti-virus software among other things can add problems while the

    maker could use pretense of solving a non-existent problem, to sell you a bad idea.

     

    If you create a backup (several ways, Time Machine is part of a backup plan and would have

    archives of content that may or may not duplicate other duplicates of your saved work files)

    some of that content with outdated or incompatible content may be carried forth to a newer

    OS X upgrade via Migration or other update over older system where your Admin user has

    added things over the years. Be careful when upgrading to avoid older and no longer useful

    applications & system modifiers whose presence adversely affects OS X no matter the version.

     

    You may find some odd effects, some glaring issue-causing additions to your OS X by use of

    http://etrecheck.com/#about create simplistic report of your computer; may be enough to get

    ideas of cause of the present situation. -- Since the problem happened before El Capitan, the

    answer may be to work toward a new installation of just El Capitan and avoid older content.

     

    A report such as the suggested item, can be added to a reply in these ASC discussions.

     

    Good luck & happy computing!

  • by notcloudy,

    notcloudy notcloudy Mar 14, 2016 2:11 PM in response to Robert Alexander5
    Level 4 (1,190 points)
    Desktops
    Mar 14, 2016 2:11 PM in response to Robert Alexander5

    Robert Alexander5 wrote:

     

    I have a Mac Pro (Early 2008) running the latest updated versions of everything Mac (El Capitan, Safari, etc), and this issue actually followed me from Yosemite, I was hoping upgrading to  El Capitan would solve, but but did not.

     

    Behavior: My Mac will become partially unresponsive.  Specifically.

     

    - I can move the pointer around anywhere on the screen, but clicking on any window, menu, anything does nothing.

    - Click keyboard key combos likewise does nothing

    - At times this has occurred, if there is a video running from a website, etc. it continues to run, with sound.  Can't stop it or anyhting because of what I mentioned above

    - The only think I can do is hit the power button and restart

     

    Trigger: Safari.

     

    - This will only happen with safari open, not always though.  There needs to be a website, or combination to make it happen.  So far, I've noticed behavior when I have websites such as Amazon, Ebay, I think Google image search (not sure).

     

    - If I restart the computer allow Safari to open with the same website windows, the freeze will happen, every time, and in short order

    - If I open Safari but close all websites, or all the shopping type ones, the freeze does not happen again

    - The freeze never happens when Safari is not open

     

    HAs anyone seen this, or have a solution in mind?  I love all my wonderful Apple gadgets, and I love having all my information (bookmarks, websites, etc.) synchronized automatically, but if I can't solve this I'll have to move to Chrome.  I'm in law school, and if I didn't automatically hit 'Save' every 5 or so minutes while writing papers and briefs, this would have cost me dearly on more than one occasion.

     

    Tank you in advance.

     

    Bob A.

    If you are using top sites or not using top sites  - make sure you only keep the ones you want -- as they refresh.

     

    Open spotlight preferences and put your caches into private so the spotlight finder will not index them.

     

    open activity monitor - (Utilities menu) - show active processes and look for MDS jobs - those by spotlight/finder are indexing your drive. 

     

    Best option - disconnect from internet -- close all your applications - and let the housekeeping jobs run --  

     

    What you are experiencing - has happened to users since tiger - and from my own experience happens when finder/spotlight is trying to catch up (along with unix cleanup) 

  • by notcloudy,

    notcloudy notcloudy Mar 14, 2016 2:14 PM in response to Margaret Robison
    Level 4 (1,190 points)
    Desktops
    Mar 14, 2016 2:14 PM in response to Margaret Robison

    Margaret Robison wrote:

     

    I too have a Mac Pro (early 2008) and been having the exact same problem with Safari. Everything freezes except I can move my mouse cursor. At times the cursor turns into line with two arrows. This problem started a few months ago and today I restarted four times so I've resorted to using Chrome. I have no answers as I have found none. Looking forward to see if you get any responses.

    The Safari freezes are caused by top sites updating - you don't mention what version of os you are on but its there.

     

    Try bringing up the force quit by pressing option/control/escape at the same time -- if you can then open the apple menu - restart.

  • by Eric Root,Apple recommended

    Eric Root Eric Root Mar 15, 2016 6:22 AM in response to Robert Alexander5
    Level 9 (71,467 points)
    iTunes
    Mar 15, 2016 6:22 AM in response to Robert Alexander5

    Safari/Preferences/Advanced - enable the Develop menu, then go there and Empty Caches. Quit/reopen Safari and test. Then try Safari/History/Show History and delete all history items.  Quit/reopen Safari and test. You can also try try Safari/Clear History…. The down side is it clears all cookies.Doing this may cause some sites to no longer recognize your computer as one that has visited the web site. Go to Finder and select your user/home folder. With that Finder window as the front window, either select Finder/View/Show View options or go command - J.  When the View options opens, check ’Show Library Folder’. That should make your user library folder visible in your user/home folder.  Select Library./Caches/com.apple.Safari/Caches.db and move it to the trash.

     

    Go to Safari Preferences/Extensions and turn all extensions off. Test. If okay, turn the extensions on one by one until you figure out what extension is causing the problem.

     

    Safari Corruption       See post by Linc Davis