OS X 10.11.4 freezing and/or crashing while using Safari

Hi guys,

I believe it is a CPU/GPU overheating problem.

After HWMonitor installation (CPU / GPU temperature / etc monitoring tool) I noticed that very often CPU Core 1, CPU Core 2 and GPU have temperature above 100 C. At the same time fan speed is jumping from 0 RPM to 2000...2500 RPM.

Usually it is normal process, but in my case El Capitan 10.11.4 allows to heat CPU over 100 C! And max fan RPM can be about 6000 RPM (which in my case OS X never use).

I think OS X turns fan too late to cool down CPU/GPU, and macbook hangs.

I installed smcFanControl and set minimal fan RPM to 1500, will see maybe it helps.

Can you please check your CPU temperature at the moment of freezing?

Great news all. There's an article today on this issue: http://www.macrumors.com/2016/05/13/macbook-pro-system-freezes-os-x-10-11-4/

Seems Apple is aware, according to the article. Thank god... I've had about 7 freezes so far and it's extremely frustrating .

Mine has been getting way hot, too. Where do you find the CPU temperature? It doesn't seem to be listed in any of the console logs.

When I got my Mac (MacBook Pro Retina 13-inch, mid 2014), I took it in because it was getting really hot without triggering the fan. The test showed no problem, but the genius bar guy did say that it just had one fan instead of 2, so it might "seem" hotter. Shortly after that, I had all sorts of problems and they replaced the machine. I hadn't had more overheating until recently, and very well may coincide with El Capitan update.

I used HWSensors from here (to monitor CPU temperature):

https://sourceforge.net/projects/hwsensors

Hi. This used to be an issue with Safari that I also encounter even in the first version of El Capitan but do check your temperature (especially Apple Macs and laptops being so cramped), it's probably overheating, especially when you're in a warm and humid environment. I noticed if you use one of the OS X temperature monitor like iStat, even under full load (using GPUtest on Windows, Cinebench, Prime95) OS X which automatically controls the fan has a too low temperature, even under full load probably overheating something either in the memory area or the power supply area (it's doesn't seem to be overheating the GPU, CPU, ODD or HDD).

When I installed a manual fan control app like smcFanControl or MacsFanControl and set the fans manually ODD and HDD at 3400 and CPU at 2700, it seems to be stable (though it's being observed for a week 16 hours/day medium to heavy use) and it's not freezing so far. It's not recommended to fully max the fans (shortens life and it seems to crash more, maybe because at max the wattage's too great for the Mac). Check the app that is loads upon boot.

The site I got the idea from a site that had ODD at 1000rpm (default), HDD 2400rpm and CPU at 2800rpm. Another site has this setting:

http://www.newtothemac.com/mac-running-hot.html

If nothing works, it's probably reballing (solder coming loose) for the GPU or another part.

God bless, Rev. 21:4

Hi,

Just want to say I had experienced exactly the same issue ...on a MacBook Pro retina

Solve it by downgrade to Yosemite ....

Finally, Yosemite is definitively more stable than El Capitan ....

Hi guys, just another report of the same problem. Macbook Pro Retina 13" (early 2015) + El Capitan 10.11.4 randomly freezing.

My findings so far:

- not using Safari, not related

- happens when on battery power as well as when plugged to a charger

- not related to TimeMachine backups (happens when no external drive is attached)

- reseting SMC/PRAM didn't help

- uninstalling Flash didn't help

Yesterday I started monitoring temperature as suggested here. Interestingly, this does not happen when I play games heavy on GPU when the fan is running all the time. It happens a lot when I'm editing movies in Final Cut Pro though, more than when I'm just browsing in Chrome. There is typically no significant load when this occurs

Last crash happened when my temperature sensors showed about 60°C for both CPU cores and GPU. IMHO this is not related to overheating either.

Having this same problem. I have had multiple crashes within the month usually while watching YouTube videos through Safari. Really hoping for a fix soon.

Hi Mirek,

I also have Macbook Pro Retina 13" (early 2015) + El Capitan 10.11.4,

and after I set up min fan RPM to 1500, no more freezing. Started using Safari again. 3 days - all good so far.

I noticed Macbook doesn't freeze under heavy load, it hangs only if you have 0 fan RPM and burst load with something, like flash movie etc.

Maybe your sensor program is not quick enough to catch sudden CPU temperature increase?

Hi. I've had my iMac's fans set manually at 3400 for the ODD (this fan seems to be also cool the GPU) and HDD and CPU at 2600rpm which was stable for 4 days under long hours of use 16 hours a day, frequently running Cinebench. Usually when it freezes the screen would go garbled (sometimes it just freezes). This also happens on even on Windows (Boot Camp).

I've changed it all and set it all to your setting of 1500rpm. How many days or months has your Mac been stable (even under heavy load and how many hours usage per day) with all the fans at 1500rpm? How many Celsius is the highest temperature in your area? Usually mine would crash after long days of stability at around 4pm when it's the hottest (around 36 Celsius with high humidity). Godspeed on your all your settings experimentation. Thanks.

God bless. Rev. 21:4

Hi. I brought it back to my current fans settings on test: 3400rpm for both ODD and HDD and 2500rpm for the CPU. I just rebooted from a crash (with the screen garbling). Thanks.

Hi Alvin,

I am first time mac os x user, having Macbook Pro Retina 13" (early 2015) i7 16Gb since April (~ 4 weeks), workload ~9-10 hours per day, office programs / browsers. Two external FullHD monitors (miniDP->DP).

It is quite cold now in my area (winter is coming) - Victoria, Australia.

So far no freezing! Will let you know guys if it happens again.

iMac 27'' 2011

My downgrade from TM to 10.11.3 lasted about 4-5 days. It freezes and rebooted several times again.

to tiger-m & Alvin77:

Please advise did cooling down the mac helps i.e. how long has it been stable for you both? No more crashes?

I haven't try this yet as I have no experience with fan speed, however I know that my iMac gets very hot and can't be rebooted and if I let it rest for a day or 2. It can reboot again after running first aid through command R

Philippe BILLET

Can you advise how long has it been stable for you running Yosemite?

How do you download to Yosemite? Was it through TM backup?

Do you know how I can check which date on TM that I have Yosemite. I assume we will lost some files if we go this direction?

Has anyone from this thread solve their problem? Please please share if you have. Thank you.

Hi. Yes, only Apple can confirm but it seems to be some kind of fan or smc bug, usually it crashes heavily around 4pm the hottest part of the day. When it crashes and I reboot, the CPU, looking at iStat temp monitor it's at 61 Celsius (climate of around 36 Celsius) at idle even with fan rpms set a a constant manual speed (last was around 3400rpm for ODD/HDD and 2700rpm for CPU). My best record is 4 days after manually adjusting the fans (the first freeze with garbled screen ever in this iMac 6 year life, was around 4pm last week or so). I noticed if the fans are set too fast, it crashes even worse (black screen instead of freeze or freeze with garbled screen). External electric fans doesn't seem to help.

It's still freezing with garbled screen but my current rpm for all fans 1700rpm hopefully is the right setting but It's night time now with climate temp at only 29 Celsius. The real test would be tomorrow at 4pm and when it sleeps (usually that's also the time it freezes with garbled screen- not sure if when OS X sleeps this seemingly fan bug shuts down the fans as well/rpm is too low, overheating most probably something in the power supply). If it survives a week of 16 hours use with Safari and videos (it has no problem with stress tests, even tested the GPU memory), maybe 1700rpm is the setting for my iMac. Pray it's stable at this rpm. Hopefully if this isn't hardware, the next version of OS X will fix the fans and smc.

I've done a lot of stress tests on Windows, OS X, the Apple hardware test, memory test, it's all good. OS X 10.4.11 may have a bug that stops the fan at some point while it's running even if the fans are set manually already, more so, when it sleeps.

God bless. Rev. 21:4

Gazxan wrote:

Philippe BILLET

Can you advise how long has it been stable for you running Yosemite?

How do you download to Yosemite? Was it through TM backup?

Do you know how I can check which date on TM that I have Yosemite. I assume we will lost some files if we go this direction?

To Gazxan

Yosemite is stable for 2 weeks now. Downgrade had solved this problem and few others (like Mail hanging).

I'm quite happy with that...

I have downloaded Yosemite directly from App Store (Possible because I had already purchased it previously) and had performed a clean Install and had erased completely the internal hard disk.

Several "to do" could easily be found on the internet (search with google "downgrade El Capitan to Yosemite"). My MacBook Pro Retina was initially shipped with Yosemite, but after upgrading to El Capitan, the recovery system has been set to El Capitan. So, it was possible to downgrade directly from the Macbook.

PHB