Running OS X 10.11.4 and Safari 9.1.
Since updating, Safari now frequently freezes MacBook Pro and cannot be force quit.
Must power down and restart in order to use machine!
Fix?
MacBook Pro, OS X El Capitan (10.11.4), safari 9.1
Please post the results of your EtreCheck report. It's a diagnostics tool developed by a trusted and respected contributor here, and it allows us to see what is installed on your hard drive.
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 10.8 ("Mountain 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, please 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 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 who understands the code 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 many times over a period of years. 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.
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 the text of a particular web page (not this one) 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 intermittently 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 before running it. If you can only test in safe mode, do that.
6. If you have more than one user, and only one user is affected by the problem,, and the affected user 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.") Press the key combination command-A to select all the text, then copy it to the Clipboard by pressing command-C.
8. Launch the built-in Terminal application in any one of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name ("Terminal") 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'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 the test is taking much longer than usual to run because the computer is very slow, you might be prompted for your password a second time. The authorization that you grant by entering it expires automatically after five minutes.
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.
10. 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:
Test started
Part 1 of 4 done at: … sec
…
Part 4 of 4 done at: … sec
The test results are on the Clipboard.
Please close this window.
The intervals between parts won't be exactly equal, but they give a rough indication of progress.
Wait for the final message "Please close this window" to appear—again, usually within a few minutes. If you don't see that message within about 30 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. Then go to the next step. You'll have incomplete results, but still something.
In order to get results, the test must either be allowed to complete or else manually stopped as above. If you close the Terminal window while the test is still running, the partial results won't be saved.
11. When the test is complete, or if you stopped it manually, quit Terminal. The results will have been saved 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 "close this window" message. 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.
12. 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 software that runs this website. Please post the test results on Pastebin, then post a link here to the page you created.
If you have an account on Pastebin, please don't select Private from the Paste Exposure menu on the page, because then no one but you will be able to see it.
13. When you're done with the test, it's gone. There is nothing to uninstall or clean up.
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 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.
15. The linked UNIX shell script bears a notice of copyright. Readers of ASC may copy it for their own personal use. Neither the whole nor any part may be redistributed.
Hi ...
You may have a third party Safari plug-in or extension installed that's causing your Mac to freeze up.
Troubleshooting instructions here.
Same issue with same device. I tried everything but not fixed.
Check this forum please:
Thank you. Link to PasteBin: http://pastebin.com/srHu0ECS
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
A
From the Safari menu bar, please select
Safari ▹ Preferences... ▹ Security
and uncheck the box marked Allow plug-ins. Your plugins, including Flash, won't work. Test.
B
Please open the iCloud preference pane and uncheck the box marked Safari. Test. Then check the box again, if you wish. Test again.
C
Please back up all data before proceeding.
Launch the Font Book application and validate all fonts. You must select the fonts in order to validate them. See the built-in help and this support article for instructions. If Font Book finds any issues, resolve them.
Start up in safe mode to rebuild the font caches. Restart as usual and test.
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.
If you still have problems, then from the Font Book menu bar, select
File ▹ Restore Standard Fonts...
You'll be prompted to confirm, and then to enter your administrator login password.
Also note that if you deactivate or remove any built-in fonts, for instance by using a third-party font manager, the system may become unstable.
D
According to Apple's specifications, your model can use at most 8 GB of memory, but you've installed 16 GB. The results are unpredictable. See, for example,this ASC discussion.
The manual for the product gives instructions for adding aftermarket memory that read something like this:
You can add two 4 GB memory modules for a maximum of 8 GB of memory.
I know that the aftermarket RAM vendor says that the out-of-spec configuration will work. If you accept that assurance, please ask the vendor for help with any problems that arise. Otherwise, reinstall the original memory, or new memory that complies with Apple's instructions.
E
The machine is running very slowly, and there has been one abnormal shutdown in the last few days. A negative shutdown code may indicate a hardware problem. The precise meaning of the codes is not publicly documented.
If you haven't already done so, you can try resetting the System Management Controller. Otherwise, or if the reset has no effect, see below.
Make a "Genius" appointment at an Apple Store, or go to another authorized service provider. You may have to leave the machine there for several days.
Back up all data on the internal drive(s) before you hand over your computer to anyone. There are ways to back up a computer that isn't fully functional—ask if you need guidance.
If privacy is a concern, erase the data partition(s) with the option to write zeros* (do this only if you have at least two complete, independent backups, and you know how to restore to an empty drive from any of them.) Don’t erase the recovery partition, if present.
Keeping your confidential data secure during hardware repair
Apple also recommends that you deauthorize a device in the iTunes Store before having it serviced.
*An SSD doesn't need to be zeroed.
F
The test results show another issue, probably not related to the original question.
In the sidebar of a Finder window, or on the Desktop, please select the icon of the startup volume ("Macintosh HD," unless you gave it a different name.) Open it. Inside, there is a folder named "lost+found". It contains one or more corrupt files that are wasting a lot of storage space. Back up all data, then drag the folder to the Trash and empty. You may be prompted for your administrator password.
Thank you for your analysis. Lots for me to address. Back to you as soon as possible with results.
Thank you!
You are welcome. Glad to help.
Running OS 10.11.4 and Safari 9.1. Since updating, Safari now frequently freezes MacBook Pro and cannot be force quit. Must power down. Fix?
