Level 1

30 points

OS X 10.11.4 freezing and/or crashing while using Safari

Hi everyone!

Have others experienced freezing and sometimes crashing of Mac OS X 10.11.4 while using Safari? Is this a known issue or is it just me?

The way this manifests itself is that scrolling and mouse movements suddenly start to get slow and jerky. Then, within 30 seconds to a minute, the keyboard stops working and mouse clicks no longer have an effect, but the mouse cursor will still move. Then it either stays that way indefinitely or the system crashes. The only recourse is to force a reboot using the power button.

This happens to me every other day, but I cannot reproduce it on demand. I believe (but I'm not certain) that the first such crash has occurred before the recent upgrade to 10.11.4.

This is on a

Mac mini (Late 2012)

Mac OS X 10.11.4

Safari 9.1 (11601.5.17.1)

Cheers

Mac mini, OS X El Capitan (10.11.4)

Posted on Mar 28, 2016 2:04 AM

255 replies

Grimsy

Level 1

19 points

May 10, 2016 6:27 AM in response to VladishMacbook

I never said calling Apple is an option, and never said it's our macs. I got this problem too, and already tried everything technically possible.

This problem cannot be fixed atm, except by coming back to Yosemite or 10.11.3.

May 10, 2016 9:36 AM in response to xjx

I've got the same issue with my Macbook Pro early 2015. I did call Apple Support and they went through the usual (check for corrupt files, PRAM reset etc), but Safari still crashed again after my call to Apple. I'm not a tech expert but the problem with my Macbook does seem to correspond with other users, it resides in Safari and is triggered by playing a video, and began when I upgraded to 10.1.4. When it does happen everything freezes, including the trackpad, and the only solution is a hard reboot.

I have been using Safari Technology Preview as a substitute browser after a bit of research online, and I haven't had the freezing problem since. I think until Apple "fix" the problem (though how do you get someone to fix a problem if it's not acknowledged, I don't know) that seems to be the only solution for me.

May 10, 2016 1:24 PM in response to ravingmad

I was having this issue about a month ago. Tried the combo update - didn't work. I have since switched to Chrome, which seemed to be okay (no more crashes). But then today my computer froze while playing a video on Chrome. Not sure what to do at this point!

May 11, 2016 2:37 AM in response to killerparamedic

Yes I have read that it is happening in Chrome too. Try Safari Technology Preview, I have been using it for about a week without any problem. Opera seems to work well as well.

May 11, 2016 2:57 AM in response to xjx

I'm having this issue since late April.

My 5K iMac (late 2015) is freezing or rebooting at random since updating to OS X 10.11.4, behavior that did not occur prior to installing the update.

As a freelance artist the random system freezing issue is incredibly annoying and time consuming.

This is not a subtle problem, the Mac freezes completely and becomes unresponsive to any keystroke, the mouse won’t move, and nothing works at all. It requires a force reboot using the power button.

I've been to the Apple store 3 times, 2 times I brought my iMac there for repairs.

Some users found the problem to arrive from Safari, but what specifically causes the freezes and crashes does not seem to be consistent enough to identify.

May 11, 2016 6:46 AM in response to xjx

It just froze again and rebooted soon after that,

Apps I had open:

Mail

Premiere Pro

After Effects

So it's not a Safari issue for me...

Any suggestions what it could be?

Is it just somewhere in the OS X where it goes wrong?

May 11, 2016 7:33 AM in response to nicksotgiu

I'm stuck with brand new iMac that I can't afford to use due to the fact that it will completely crash at any given moment. Good times.

May 11, 2016 7:48 AM in response to sloppy joppy

sloppy joppy wrote:

I'm stuck with brand new iMac that I can't afford to use due to the fact that it will completely crash at any given moment. Good times.

Sorry that you are having trouble, but this thread is now too long and in a cursory read it is clear to me that several people are having different problems, so it has become nearly impossible to track who has tried what.

My recommendation: start a new thread, post specific details of your model and describe specifically what you are experiencing.

In my experience most problems turn out to be associated with incompatible software, antivirus and cleaners. Every mac has different software installed, and problems can have different causes.

May 11, 2016 7:53 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

It doesn't really matter at this point who has tried what as long as the only solution to get rid of the issue is to go back to another version of the os x.

It's pretty clear that 10.11.4 is faulty.

May 11, 2016 7:58 AM in response to VladishMacbook

VladishMacbook wrote:

It doesn't really matter at this point who has tried what as long as the only solution to get rid of the issue is to go back to another version of the os x.

It's pretty clear that 10.11.4 is faulty.

If you have decided that already, there is nothing further I can do to help. So I will go back to using my mac, running 10.11.4 with no crashes. I guess I'm lucky.

May 11, 2016 7:59 AM in response to xjx

Just froze again, and rebooted on it's own...

This time only Premiere Pro and After effects where open.

May 11, 2016 8:00 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

The common thread is El Capitan, Luis. It is SO faulty that it affects a number of different functions.

Does anyone from Apple actually read these boards?

May 11, 2016 8:16 AM in response to Lynnie Henderson

Does anyone from Apple actually read these boards?

This is user-to-user forum.

There is a feedback page, which is the way to contact Apple:

http://www.apple.com/feedback

Usually they do not reply but they do read it, and may reply if they need additional information. They do take it seriously.

In my experience, almost all of the problems that people have blamed squarely on El Capitan end up being caused by 1) old and incompatible software; 2) antivirus; or 3) "cleaners". That is not to say there are no bugs in EC, I am sure there are, as in any piece of software.

May 11, 2016 8:27 AM in response to xjx

I hope everybody with this issue is reporting it to: http://www.apple.com/feedback

In my opinion it must be 'OS X 10.11.4' because I'm running no old or incompatible software, antivirus software or any cleaning software.

xjx Author

Level 1

30 points

May 11, 2016 8:43 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

The thread has indeed become a bit unwieldy, so as I am the one who started it and read all the responses, here's a summary:

We seem to have three seperate issues (the third is open ended):

a) OS getting laggy, then soon afterwards everything freezes but the screen doesn't go dark. It simply shows a static image with the clock stopped. The mouse cursor can still be moved, but neither mouse clicks nor the keyboard has any effect. Using the power button to reboot is the only way to move forward. It may or may not be related to video and/or web browsing (Safari or Chrome). There is no solution. Resetting/reinstalling the OS doesn't work. Betas don't work. Safari preview doesn't work. Most who have this problem are seeing it once every few days or hours but not right away after booting up.

b) Similar to the above but fixable by manually updating to the latest version of Flash player. This is something everyone who is experiencing crashes should definitely try first. However, there are many people who are experiencing (a) and do not have Flash on their machines at all. So it's a separate issue.

c) Other random OS crashes. If your screen simply goes dark or your system shuts down/reboots automatically, especially if it happens very frequently or immediately after booting up, you have a different problem. You can run hardware diagnostics, do the PRAM/SMC reset song and dance (it is almost always useless though), and if you have the nerve for it try to backup, wipe and reinstall the OS. I don't know if this has helped anyone from the (c) group, but we know it is definitely useless for (a) and (b).

This thread has been closed by the system or the community team. You may vote for any posts you find helpful, or search the Community for additional answers.

OS X 10.11.4 freezing and/or crashing while using Safari