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macOS Sierra freeze on iMac late 2009 using Safari

Hey guys,

Since the installation of macOS Sierra on my iMac 27 inch late 2009, I'm experiencing freezes of the computer with the following symptoms:

- the freeze occurs when I scroll a webpage in Safari.

- The mouse cursor still moves but I can't click and manipulate the system ; the keyboard doesn't work, as well.

- A force reboot is mandatory to recover.

- I can establish a ssh connection from my MacBook to the iMac, suggesting that Darwin is still running well.

- The log indicates "userspace_watchdog_timeout.spin report for WindowServer version", suggesting that the problem is related to a crash of the WindowServer.

Somebody here with the same machine has the same problem?

Thanks!

VIN,iMac (27-inch Late 2009), macOS Sierra (10.12)

Posted on Sep 28, 2016 11:13 AM

Top-ranking reply

riadfromhabsheim Author

Level 1

91 points

Posted on Feb 3, 2017 2:50 AM

Hey guys,

I have a good news. I asked through my bug report when this problem is supposed to be fixed.

Bug report team told me that the bug is still under investigation BUT they say also that I should test this issue on macOS 10.12.5.

Hopefully, a fix will be proposed in the coming macOS 10.12.5 update. 🙂

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473 replies

Nov 2, 2016 4:34 PM in response to riadfromhabsheim

Hi there. Have the same issue as described: computer freezes, only the mouse moves, cannot click on anything and the only way out is a force reboot. Freezing definitely happens when scrolling or changing tabs in Safari. I did follow instructions to generate a sysdiagnose file upon crash and generated a file today. Tried to send it to Apple, but I'm not a developer and do not know how to get access to bugreport.apple.com. Any suggestions as how to send them the file?

Today I've been using Chrome and have had no problems so far. Prior to that my system would crash two or three times per day.

I'm using a iMac (21.5-inch, Mid 2010), 3.06 GHz Intel Core i3, ATI Radeon HD 4670 256 MB.

Thanks!

Nov 2, 2016 4:38 PM in response to Lucholeco

I'm dealing with a senior support person and she is aware of this thread and forwarding to engineering

Sent from my iPhone

Nov 2, 2016 4:41 PM in response to Lucholeco

I'm dealing with a very senior support person, she is aware of this and other similar threads, I've replicated the issue while they were monitoring my computer and she is sending all of this to engineering. I'm hopeful for a solution.

Nov 2, 2016 10:10 PM in response to CaptShazbot

I was wondering; did anyone notice any relationship between the sites visited & the crashes? If the problem truly is WebKit, it might have to do with a common feature on these sites.

zielint

Level 1

4 points

Nov 3, 2016 4:59 PM in response to riadfromhabsheim

Same problem. iMac 27, core i7 - 2.8 GHz, ATI Radeon HD 4850.

I opened a bug report with sys diagnose file, but still waiting for reply.

Nov 3, 2016 5:48 PM in response to zielint

I crash at approx the same TIME every day. Between 3-3:30. No, I do not use time machine. Could it be a maintenance script running?

This happened last year after El Capitain. My IT guy said the way we fixed it last time was to give me a new user. I suspect something doesn't full transfer. Or the permissions get irvericably messed up.

arudhir

Level 1

13 points

Nov 3, 2016 10:08 PM in response to MC Taz Man

This has happened to me twice so far in the same day, reading this thread makes me think that it's only going to persist or get worse.

But both times, it was clicking something on Facebook in the chat box that seemed to trigger it - once from clicking a video and once from clicking a link.

Edit: I don't know if this is related because I wasn't able to see this before macOS crashed, but my kernel_task has been occasionally using an obnoxious amount of RAM (>2gb out of 8gb).

Nov 4, 2016 3:20 AM in response to riadfromhabsheim

Strangely, since posting here, I haven't had it happen once. As far as I know, I haven't done anything different but I'm not complaining.

Nov 4, 2016 4:31 AM in response to ChazThePhoenix

We had two 21" 2010 iMacs doing the same thing, replaced one with a new one... even have webgl and google suggests on and no issue. I'm starting to think it's a software conflict with the older Radeon graphics chips.

Nov 4, 2016 12:24 PM in response to stevesko64

Yes, that's right. It must be a problem with the combination of Safari and the drivers of the older ATI Radeon graphic chips.

Nov 4, 2016 12:31 PM in response to miguelOSX

So could there be an update for this driver?

I had two crashes this morning. I can't work like this

Nov 4, 2016 4:24 PM in response to ChazThePhoenix

We hope they fix it in a next system update, because is a serious error.

Meanwhile, you can use Google Chrome or another browser until they solve the problem... 😐

cre8_

Level 1

4 points

Nov 4, 2016 4:58 PM in response to riadfromhabsheim

Same thing happens to me on 10.12.1 when using safari hasn't happened with anything other application yet.

- the freeze occurs when I scroll a webpage in Safari.

- The mouse cursor still moves but I can't click and manipulate the system ; the keyboard doesn't work, as well.

- A force reboot is mandatory to recover.

However if I just leave the mac instead of doing a force reboot by holding the power button, what happens is interesting it will go to energy saving sleep or at least start to then after 3 mins of blank screen it will restart. Then on restart I will be presented with a "Sleep Wake Failure" error.

I already did a clean install and wiped the HDD. To no avail.

I've been using Chrome with smooth sailing so far.

iMac 27" Late 2009

Graphics - ATI Raedeon HD 4850 512MB

10.12.1

Nov 4, 2016 4:58 PM in response to miguelOSX

Oh it's not just a browser thing. I crash with no browsers open. Todat was 5 times. IT is installing a new user on my machine now. Let's see if the conflict goes away. It was much worse after Creative Cloud 2017 but I honestly think it's a firewall issue, since CC constantly connects to Adobe. We will see Monday

Nov 4, 2016 4:59 PM in response to cre8_

I have that too. Random restarts when asleep.

macOS Sierra freeze on iMac late 2009 using Safari