Macbook Pro 2013 yos, screen freezes

Question

Macbook Pro 2013 yos, screen freezes

For the past few days, I've had this problem, and it just started with no real reason or warning. Every so often, my Macbook screen will freeze. It's a 2013 500gb HDD with disc drive model, running yosemite. Everything on just the screen will stop. I say just the screen because apparently, the programs will continue to run. I'm usually on Safari when this happens, so the mouse cursor will still move and change as I move over things, and anything clicked or moved will process, just the screen will not show it. I know this because after I hard restart (which appears to be my only option to get things going again), the screen comes back to reflect those changes. If that makes any sense. I did a complete wipe of the HD a few months ago, so I doubt its some software issue that I caused. Why is this happening, and how can I stop it?

Posted on Mar 17, 2016 11:42 PM

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Answer 1

Nubz N.

Community Moderator

Mar 19, 2016 10:50 AM in response to BasilioBoy777

Hi BasilioBoy777,

Your explanation does make sense. When the screen freezes the cursor still moves and changes to reflect what it's over (arrow, hand, insertion cursor), but the rest of the screen doesn't get updated. The screen is otherwise frozen and changes you make, like moving a window, aren't seen until a force reboot.

To monitor the computer operation I like to display the time in the menu bar with seconds (Is the core system frozen?) and for details keep the Activity Monitor running on the side.

Set the date and time on your Mac - Mac Help

Activity Monitor overview - Activity Monitor Help

If you can bring the Activity Monitor to the forground when this happens you may be able to see what is hanging up and troubleshoot from there.

For troubleshooting details then, see

Isolating issues in Mac OS X - Apple Support

Take care.

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