Random OS freeze or hang after Sierra Upgrade

I'm getting this nearly every day, a few times a day. If I Force Quit everything and reopen it's ok, but then will go and beachball and freeze again. Finder rarely (if ever, not sure) freezes so don't need to hard reset.

How do I go back to El-Capitan without using Time Machine?!

Just for record, started experiencing this issue after upgrading to macOS Sierra v10.12.4.

Sequence of issues leading to a complete freeze:

1. Dialog boxes start appearing with black fill no buttons or text visible inside.

2. Drop down menus start appearing transparent. Clicking on them works but can't figure out much because of 1.

3. Drop down menus start showing images of applications which are already closed.

4. On mouse over the dock bar, it just shows the name of the application in focus with huge space between the previous and next icon in the dock.

5. Trackpad becomes unresponsive, tactile feedback stops.

6. Keyboard backlight is on but none of the buttons respond.

7. Only way out is to hard reboot by long pressing the power button.

Attaching some screenshots for reference.

The following workaround worked for me.

Credits to Re: macOS Sierra freeze on iMac late 2009 using Safari

1) close Safari.

2) In the Terminal app, enable the debug menu of Safari by executing this command: defaults write com.apple.safari IncludeInternalDebugMenu 1

3) Open Safari and in the debug menu go to "Drawing/compositing flags.

4) Choose "disable canvas accelerated drawing" and "disable full page accelerated drawing".

Facing the same problem after recent OS update. Hoping for some help here.
EtreCheck report is as following:

EtreCheck version: 3.1.5 (343)

Report generated 2017-04-05 17:51:19

Download EtreCheck from https://etrecheck.com

Runtime 1:52

Performance: Excellent

Click the [Support] links for help with non-Apple products.

Click the [Details] links for more information about that line.

Problem: Beachballing

Hardware Information:ⓘ

MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Early 2015)

[Technical Specifications] - [User Guide] - [Warranty & Service]

MacBook Pro - model: MacBookPro12,1

1 2.7 GHz Intel Core i5 (i5-5257U) CPU: 2-core

8 GB RAM Not upgradeable

BANK 0/DIMM0

4 GB DDR3 1867 MHz ok

BANK 1/DIMM0

4 GB DDR3 1867 MHz ok

Bluetooth: Good - Handoff/Airdrop2 supported

Wireless: en0: 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac

Battery: Health = Normal - Cycle count = 214

Video Information:ⓘ

Intel Iris Graphics 6100

Color LCD 2560 x 1600

System Software:ⓘ

macOS Sierra 10.12.4 (16E195) - Time since boot: less than an hour

Disk Information:ⓘ

APPLE SSD SM0256G disk0 : (251 GB) (Solid State - TRIM: Yes)

[Show SMART report]

EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB

Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted> [Recovery]: 650 MB

Macintosh HD (disk1) / [Startup]: 249.78 GB (39.05 GB free)

Core Storage: disk0s2 250.14 GB Online

USB Information:ⓘ

Broadcom Corp. Bluetooth USB Host Controller

Thunderbolt Information:ⓘ

Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus

Gatekeeper:ⓘ

Mac App Store and identified developers

Kernel Extensions:ⓘ

/Library/Extensions

[not loaded] com.FTDI.driver.D2XXHelper (1.0 - SDK 10.11 - 2017-03-29) [Support]

[loaded] com.paragon-software.filesystems.ntfs (14.2.359 - SDK 10.5 - 2017-03-29) [Support]

[not loaded] com.wacom.kext.wacomtablet (Wacom Tablet 6.3.18-4 - SDK 10.11 - 2017-03-29) [Support]

/System/Library/Extensions

[not loaded] com.wacom.kext.pentablet (Pen Tablet 5.3.6-6 - SDK 10.9 - 2017-03-29) [Support]

~/Documents/Sankalan/Softwares/Other/iitbvpn/Tunnelblick.app

[not loaded] net.tunnelblick.tap (20141104 (Tunnelblick build 4685) - 2017-03-24) [Support]

[not loaded] net.tunnelblick.tun (20141104 (Tunnelblick build 4685) - 2017-03-24) [Support]

System Launch Agents:ⓘ

[not loaded] 6 Apple tasks

[loaded] 185 Apple tasks

[running] 91 Apple tasks

System Launch Daemons:ⓘ

[not loaded] 42 Apple tasks

[loaded] 172 Apple tasks

[running] 104 Apple tasks

Launch Agents:ⓘ

[not loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist (2017-04-02) [Support]

[running] com.adobe.AdobeCreativeCloud.plist (2017-04-02) [Support]

[loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist (2017-01-14) [Support]

[loaded] com.oracle.java.Java-Updater.plist (2017-01-19) [Support]

[not loaded] com.paragon-software.NTFS.fsnotify.agent.plist (2017-02-08) [Support]

[loaded] com.paragon-software.facebook.agent.plist (2017-02-08) [Support]

[not loaded] com.paragon.updater.plist (2017-02-08) [Support]

Launch Daemons:ⓘ

[loaded] com.adobe.ARMDC.Communicator.plist (2017-01-13) [Support]

[loaded] com.adobe.ARMDC.SMJobBlessHelper.plist (2017-01-13) [Support]

[running] com.adobe.adobeupdatedaemon.plist (2017-04-02) [Support]

[running] com.adobe.agsservice.plist (2017-04-02) [Support]

[loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist (2016-10-24) [Support] - /Library/Application Support/Adobe/Flash Player Install Manager/fpsaud: Executable not found!

[loaded] com.google.keystone.daemon.plist (2017-01-24) [Support]

[loaded] com.microsoft.autoupdate.helpertool.plist (2016-08-03) [Support]

[loaded] com.microsoft.office.licensingV2.helper.plist (2015-09-11) [Support]

[loaded] com.oracle.java.Helper-Tool.plist (2016-12-13) [Support]

[running] com.paragon-software.NTFS.fsnotify.daemon.plist (2016-07-04) [Support]

[loaded] com.paragon.NTFS.launch.plist (2017-03-23)

[loaded] com.paragon.ntfs14.refresh.plist (2017-02-08) [Support]

[loaded] com.teamviewer.Helper.plist (2017-03-14) [Support]

[loaded] com.wacom.displayhelper.plist (2017-03-23)

[loaded] net.tunnelblick.tunnelblick.tunnelblickd.plist (2017-03-24) [Support]

User Launch Agents:ⓘ

[loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist (2017-04-02) [Support]

[loaded] com.dropbox.DropboxMacUpdate.agent.plist (2017-03-25) [Support]

[not loaded] net.tunnelblick.tunnelblick.LaunchAtLogin.plist (2016-11-18) [Support]

Internet Plug-ins:ⓘ

AdobeAAMDetect: 3.0.0.0 - SDK 10.9 (2017-04-02) [Support]

FlashPlayer-10.6: 23.0.0.205 - SDK 10.9 (2016-11-07) [Support]

QuickTime Plugin: 7.7.3 (2017-03-29)

AdobePDFViewerNPAPI: 15.023.20056 - SDK 10.11 (2017-01-20) [Support]

AdobePDFViewer: 15.023.20056 - SDK 10.11 (2017-01-20) [Support]

Flash Player: 23.0.0.205 - SDK 10.9 (2016-11-07) Outdated! Update

WacomTabletPlugin: WacomTabletPlugin 2.1.0.6 - SDK 10.9 (2016-10-11) [Support]

JavaAppletPlugin: Java 8 Update 121 build 13 (2017-01-19) Check version

Safari Extensions:ⓘ

Adguard AdBlocker - adguard - http://adguard.com (2017-03-26)

WhatFont - Chengyin Liu - http://chengyinliu.com/whatfont.html (2016-10-16)

Muzli - Stay Inspired - Muzli - http://muz.li/ (2016-10-09)

SaveFrom.net helper - SaveFrom.net - http://savefrom.net (2017-03-20)

Save to Pocket - Read It Later, Inc. - http://getpocket.com/ (2016-10-01)

URL Advisor - Kaspersky Lab - http://kaspersky.com (2017-02-17)

AdBlock Ultimate - Secure Download - https://adblockultimate.net/ (2017-03-26)

3rd Party Preference Panes:ⓘ

Flash Player (2016-10-24) [Support]

Java (2017-01-19) [Support]

Paragon NTFS for Mac® (2017-02-08) [Support]

PenTablet (2016-10-25) [Support]

WacomTablet (2016-10-11) [Support]

Time Machine:ⓘ

Time Machine not configured!

Top Processes by CPU:ⓘ

9% com.apple.preferences.users.remoteservice

7% kernel_task

6% hidd

5% WindowServer

4% System Preferences

Top Processes by Memory:ⓘ

736 MB kernel_task

508 MB mdworker(17)

279 MB Adobe CEF Helper(2)

221 MB Pages

197 MB WindowServer

Virtual Memory Information:ⓘ

4.12 GB Available RAM

1.67 GB Free RAM

3.88 GB Used RAM

2.45 GB Cached files

0 B Swap Used

Diagnostics Information:ⓘ

Apr 5, 2017, 05:47:55 PM Self test - passed

Apr 5, 2017, 03:10:35 AM ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/CEPHtmlEngine_2017-04-05-031035_[redacted].cra sh

com.adobe.cep.CEPHtmlEngine - /Applications/Adobe Illustrator CC 2017/Adobe Illustrator.app/Contents/MacOS/CEPHtmlEngine/CEPHtmlEngine.app/Contents/MacOS/C EPHtmlEngine

Apr 5, 2017, 02:48:16 AM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Adobe Photoshop CC 2017_2017-04-05-024816_[redacted].hang

/Applications/Adobe Photoshop CC 2017/Adobe Photoshop CC 2017.app/Contents/MacOS/Adobe Photoshop CC 2017

Apr 5, 2017, 02:45:13 AM ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Adobe Photoshop CC 2017_2017-04-05-024513_[redacted].crash

Apr 5, 2017, 02:39:22 AM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/AdobeGCClient_2017-04-05-023922_[redacted].cras h

/Library/Application Support/Adobe/*/AdobeGCClient.app/Contents/MacOS/AdobeGCClient

Apr 5, 2017, 02:26:28 AM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/AdobeGCClient_2017-04-05-022628_[redacted].cras h

Apr 5, 2017, 02:22:08 AM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Creative Cloud_2017-04-05-022208_[redacted].crash

com.adobe.acc.AdobeCreativeCloud - /Applications/Utilities/Adobe Creative Cloud/*/Creative Cloud.app/Contents/MacOS/Creative Cloud

Apr 5, 2017, 01:43:46 AM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/AdobeGCClient_2017-04-05-014346_[redacted].cras h

Apr 3, 2017, 09:22:33 PM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/com.apple.WebKit.Networking_2017-04-03-212233_[ redacted].cpu_resource.diag [Details]

/System/Library/Frameworks/WebKit.framework/Versions/A/XPCServices/com.apple.We bKit.Networking.xpc/Contents/MacOS/com.apple.WebKit.Networking

Apr 3, 2017, 02:38:14 PM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/TeamViewer_2017-04-03-143814_[redacted].hang

/Applications/TeamViewer.app/Contents/MacOS/TeamViewer

Files deleted by EtreCheck:ⓘ

Apr 5, 2017, 02:12:21 AM - ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.bittorrent.uTorrent.plist

Just had a total freeze, trying to navigate in the dock when it happened. Mouse and keyboard didn't respond, no haptic feedback in the trackpad.

EtreCheck version: 3.2.4 (365)

Report generated 2017-05-10 15:38:32

Download EtreCheck from https://etrecheck.com

Runtime: 1:35

Performance: Excellent

Click the [Lookup] links for more information from Apple Support Communities.

Click the [Details] links for more information about that line.

Problem: Apps are crashing

Hardware Information: ⓘ

MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Early 2015)

[Technical Specifications] - [User Guide] - [Warranty & Service]

MacBook Pro - model: MacBookPro12,1

1 2.7 GHz Intel Core i5 (i5-5257U) CPU: 2-core

16 GB RAM Not upgradeable

BANK 0/DIMM0

8 GB DDR3 1867 MHz ok

BANK 1/DIMM0

8 GB DDR3 1867 MHz ok

Bluetooth: Good - Handoff/Airdrop2 supported

Wireless: en0: 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac

Battery: Health = Normal - Cycle count = 104

Video Information: ⓘ

Intel Iris Graphics 6100

Color LCD 2560 x 1600

System Software: ⓘ

macOS Sierra 10.12.4 (16E195) - Time since boot: less than an hour

Disk Information: ⓘ

APPLE SSD SM0256G disk0 : (251 GB) (Solid State - TRIM: Yes)

[Show SMART report]

EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB

Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted> [Recovery]: 650 MB

Macintosh HD (disk1) / [Startup]: 249.78 GB (227.74 GB free)

Encrypted AES-XTS Unlocked

Core Storage: disk0s2 250.14 GB Online

USB Information: ⓘ

Broadcom Corp. Bluetooth USB Host Controller

Thunderbolt Information: ⓘ

Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus

Configuration files: ⓘ

/etc/hosts - Count: 1

Gatekeeper: ⓘ

Mac App Store and identified developers

Kernel Extensions: ⓘ

/Library/Application Support/VirtualBox

[loaded] org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxDrv (5.1.22 - 2017-05-10) [Lookup]

[loaded] org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxNetAdp (5.1.22 - 2017-05-10) [Lookup]

[loaded] org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxNetFlt (5.1.22 - 2017-05-10) [Lookup]

[loaded] org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxUSB (5.1.22 - 2017-05-10) [Lookup]

System Launch Agents: ⓘ

[not loaded] 6 Apple tasks

[loaded] 185 Apple tasks

[running] 91 Apple tasks

System Launch Daemons: ⓘ

[not loaded] 42 Apple tasks

[loaded] 170 Apple tasks

[running] 105 Apple tasks

Launch Daemons: ⓘ

[loaded] com.malwarebytes.HelperTool.plist ✔︎ (2017-05-10) [Lookup]

[not loaded] org.virtualbox.startup.plist § (2017-05-10) [Lookup]

User Launch Agents: ⓘ

[loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist ✔︎ (2017-05-10) [Lookup]

[not loaded] org.virtualbox.vboxwebsrv.plist ✔︎ (2017-05-10) [Lookup]

User Login Items: ⓘ

iTunesHelper Application (2017-05-10)

(/Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunesHelper.app)

Internet Plug-ins: ⓘ

QuickTime Plugin: 7.7.3 (2017-03-23)

3rd Party Preference Panes: ⓘ

None

Time Machine: ⓘ

Time Machine not configured!

Top Processes by CPU: ⓘ

60% VBoxHeadless

24% kernel_task

4% WindowServer

3% AddressBookSourceSync

3% fontd

Top Processes by Memory: ⓘ

1.12 GB Google Chrome Helper(10)

852 MB VBoxHeadless

771 MB kernel_task

131 MB Sublime Text

115 MB Google Chrome

Virtual Memory Information: ⓘ

11.62 GB Available RAM

9.01 GB Free RAM

4.38 GB Used RAM

2.61 GB Cached files

0 B Swap Used

Diagnostics Information: ⓘ

2017-05-10 15:36:22 Self test - passed

MacBook Pro-15”, Late 2016 macOS Sierra 10.12.2 Chronic Freezing and Spinning Beach Ball

Using Thunderbolt Display and Lacie 1 TB external hard drive for Time Machine

I had constant freezing problems to the point that I couldn’t even log in on some start ups. Constantly having to force restart, the computer had been rendered completely unusable and I struggled with a variety of solutions for three days until finally this combination of items seems to have solved my problem. No freezes for the last week, hopefully this may help others.

*Restored macOS Sierra from Recovery Mode. backups.

*Deleted all Log-Items (opened those items manually after log-in)

*Changed default browser from Safari to Chrome

*Started up with lid open on laptop, logged-in with lid open then after log-in completed closed lid to go to Thunderbolt Display

*Moved all peripherals ie. printer, keyboard, external drives connected to Thunderbolt Display directly to MacBookPro

Mid 2014 MacBook Pro 13 In Retina. Since Sierra, Random Freezes... even on Guest account. Reboot. Launch Pages, Freeze.... wait for 90 seconds... everything works again. I can do this more or less on demand... Reset all the PRAMs and whatever else support put me through....

The freeze isn't a hard freeze. Sometimes I can still move my mouse or alt tab to another app. But the dock freezes for sure. I put my mouse on top of the frozen open dock and when the dock disappears is how I know my mac has come back from a coma.

This may be unrelated.. but to be honest, I think this issue has to do with video drivers... I have had a lot of graphics wonkiness since the upgrade. Random graphics issues also especially with MS Office apps like Excel where huge blocks of pixels fail to redraw.

If I could go back to Capitan I would have.. but I didn't do a time machine backup before upgrade.

Similar problem.

New macbook pro 15 with touch bar. Random freeze. I don't know what is cause.

I can move cursor with trackpad but click is like disabled. Sometimes i can close app with command + w, sometimes this not work.

Hi all,

No change with OS X Sierra update 10.12

I perform Apple Hardware Diagnostic yesterday. the short one and the long one (1 hour!!).

ALL IS WORKING ! ZERO DEFAULT !!!

I also perform test with non official diagnostic tool (TechTool) and no graphic default.

This is definitely a software issue.

For remember : My MacBook Pro 15" Mid-2010 freeze randomly to the reason of "GPU Panic"

15" rMBP Late 2016 (2,6Ghz, 16GB RAM with touchbar). Random freezes. However, freezes seem linked to use of touchpad, particularly the expose view. If I use the three finger gesture to enter expose view I sometimes get the freeze. Then I'm unable to get out of the view, yet each app will continue to work within the expose (so I'll have lots of miniature windows with Excel, Chrome etc and they all work...). I can't exit it. Restarting Finder makes no difference. Sometimes i can open new apps using CMD+Space but the new apps don't respond to the mouse or keyboard. Reboot is the only option.

same problem here with 2 macs - a 2015 macbook pro and a 2010 iMac 27" both running Sierra. Problem only happens in Safari. Has anyone here tried re-installing/re-setting safari or is it simply a Sierra bug that requires me to go back to el capitan? It's weird, Sierra has been fine on both macs for months but now this happens??

Hi,

Try first to repair files permissions via disk utility and if it's not enough disable all checkboxes in the system settings for Spotlight.

For me Spotlight scan all files and does the system lagging even after days of letting it does its job.

Hope it helps.

My Mac crashes at least 3 times a day. I'm not technical and I don't have the time or knowledge to download apps and figure it out on my own. This problem is *clearly* because of the Sierra upgrade -- no further testing needed. When I download an update I want to have some level of confidence that it won't be a huge inconvenience!

I'm in total agreement.

On the outside chance that someone from Apple actually is reading this can you indicate What device are On the outside chance that someone from Apple actually is reading this can you indicate which hardware are you are using?

Yes!

I tried replacing ram chips. Sent the computer to the apple store 2 times. Once for several weeks.

I took the computer to a certified MAC repair center and paid for private service from mac experts that have been servicing apple machines since the first one came out.

My computer passed all tests and HD video etc.

Finally I decided it was a hard drive failure and installed a new drive. Things seemed smoother and fixed. WRONG!

This is a software issue and its caused by Safari. Since I have quit using Safari I have not had anymore symptoms. ***** - because I like the idea of being able to use anything I want when I want to.

I am mac 2010, sierra OS, 12 GiG ram, New 1 TB hard drive by western digital

Started locking with same specs but with OEM samsung hard drive @ 500gb.

IT IS SAFARI AND ITS INCREDIBLE THAT THIS IS A PROBLEM. LOSING THEIR MOJO?

Come on Apple, your better than this!