macOS Sierra keeps freezing

I have a 2012 15" MBP which ran fine on El Cap and then I did a Sierra upgrade. I was testing some of my logitech mice and decided to install a new/updated device controller. Bad move. I ended up with the laggy mouse and slow system problems, and system freeze mentioned above. I removed several services and startup apps, checked that my most common apps were updated, but still system would freeze up. I installed lcc3.9.5.66 device manager tonight. The mouse is definitely is working better that with the version I installed before the end of December (lcc3.9.4???). Hopefully this fixes the problem.

This worked for me. Granted, I had ~40 tabs open in Safari, but I've moved them to Firefox, and since I stopped launching Safari (about a week ago), no freezes.

They were happening about once a day before I ditched Safari.

Update your Logitech mouse drivers. My problems really began when I tried to update the mouse software to support the universal receivers. I was rebooting every few hours. Have not had to reboot since I updated. Install LCC Connection Utility.app - I am using Logitech Control Center 3.9.5-66. No problems with this.

I was having this problem as well, where my iMac would suddenly freeze while using Safari and I could do nothing other than move the mouse. I was always forced to power down my Mac and then power it back on. Originally this would happen once every two to three days but at the beginning of January it was starting to happen multiple times a day, just like my old Windows XP machine. This was unacceptable and was costing me work productivity.

I switched to Chrome two weeks ago and have not had a freeze since. It does seem to leak memory a little and once a day I kill it and restart it, but the problem is nowhere near as bad as Firefox (which is the reason I went to Safari in the first place).

Hopefully Apple fixes the issue with Safari because I really like it's integration with the Keychain and the ability to share bookmarks and history with the iPhone and iPad. For now I just cannot run it on my iMac.

I was having a similar-sounding problem on my MBA (June 2013, 1.3 gHz, 8gb ram) not long after I upgraded from to 10.12.3. I'd open an application, it would work for a time then freeze, sometimes with the spinning beachball sometimes not, sometimes I could command-tab back to finder, but sometimes not, but the OS would let me force-quit so I'd have to force restart the computer. I thought a clean reinstall would help but the computer kept getting stuck near the end of the installation process.

After 2 trips to the local Apple Store it seems to be fixed. Eventually, after the technician tried a new clean reinstall, the computer wouldn’t even see it’s own internal drive while booted into recovery mode, so they opened up the computer, cleaned out some dust, tried putting in a new drive, which recovery mode did recognise, Then they tried putting the original drive back in, and it worked too. So OS 10.12.3 reinstalled successfully, the applications that were freezing before now work. It’s been a few weeks now and I haven’t had any trouble with freezing. Sorry this isn’t a definitive solution, maybe there was dust inside the connector between the SSD and the logic board causing an intermittent fault, that only coincidentally started when I upgraded to 10.12? The Apple technician couldn’t say for certain what happened.

Back up your Mac if you have not done so already. To learn how to do that please read https://www.apple.com/support/backup/. To learn how to use Time Machine read Use Time Machine to back up or restore your Mac.

Then, shut down your Mac and restart it in "Safe Mode". To learn how to do that please read: Try safe mode if your Mac doesn't finish starting up. Compare how your Mac works in Safe Mode to how it has been.

Then, restart normally. If the same problem returns, please read the section If an issue doesn't happen in safe mode for Apple's recommended actions.

Finally, you can temporarily create a new User Account, and log in to that account to determine if the problem also exists when logged in to that Account. To learn how to do that read How to test an issue in another user account on your Mac. When you are finished troubleshooting, you can remove the temporary User Account by following these instructions: macOS Sierra: Delete a user or group. Before removing it, confirm you don't need any of the files you might have created in that Account.

Let me know what you determine.

Were you able to fix this? I am having the same issue.

I'm having this exact same issue, started when I installed the Sierra beta, and has continued with the GM. Updating to Beta 1 now to see if it helps.

When it freezes I'm using an external cinema display, and a USB mouse. It freezes, so I flip open my macbook to use the trackpad, and seconds later that locks up too. Music will continue to play, but I've see things like the App Store never finish loading (the window was open when it last froze).

cpu utilization over 100% can mean a couple of things.

What exact model of mbp do you have?

I had a similar issue and my advice is to disconnect your peripherals to see whether that solves the problem. In my situation, I had a MBP 15' 2010 connected to USB mouse and external monitor via DisplayPort, and reconnecting either seemed to induce a kernal panic.

Same here. Whenever I have my MBP mid-2015 connected to an external display,the issue comes up.

I have the same Issue ! It's a real ****** too !!!! 😠

I have Two LG monitors one is LG ULTRAWIDE Display 2560x1080 and the other is LG IPS FULLHD Display 1080P After updating to sad *** sierra the ultra wide would only read 1080p and look horrific. My workaround was to purchase a third party app $16 Switch ResX it works but the highest refers rate I could get it to set to was 54mh not 60 like it should be. Now after working for about 20-30 min the mouse would freeze and then 30 sec later the track pad and mouse internal freezes and I have to reboot. It’s a real ****** as my MBP keeps getting very hot and the fans keep running .....My set up was working with no issues and now its a crap shoot ! I wish apple would freaking get their shet together before releasing a new OP system... I have probably been on the phone with tech over 5.5 hrs the past two weeks... THIS IS NOT GOOD APPLE ! My apple has a worm! 😢

I have an Acer 34" and Logitech G502. The kernal_task spikes to 1300%+ sometimes. If I disconnect my mouse and my monitor, the kernel_task CPU utilization drops down to the average level.

What "login items" did you remove?