macOS Sierra freeze on iMac late 2009 using Safari

Afaik the issue has to do with the Safe Browsing (sandboxing etc) in Safari. That's why Chrome does not have this issue (as most do not). It is sent as bug message already. 10.12.2 did not solve it. Talking about beta's is not allowed here. But there may come a special bug update.

This may be nothing about nothing, but I recall the same issue in Windows awhile back and found that disabling hyperthreading fixed the issue. I was wondering if anyone would test this in OSX and see if there's any effect.

Thank you so much! I'm testing Safari again and my iMac doesn't freeze for the moment (fingers crossed 😀).

Just loaded 10,12,2 and had a crash within 5 mins, total reboot and absolutely no solution to the problem. Gone back to Chrome which has the occasional crash once per week but nothing like Safari. Seems like us 2009 26" owners have been abandoned with this problem by Apple as too long now without a fix

I have had hard crashes while using both Safari and iTunes, since the Sierra upgrade on a 2010 iMac. I was able to work around the crashes by using Firefox. The new 10.12.2 patch has fixed the problem for me. I have had 4 days uptime since the patch, while using Safari. I took the following corrective action to fix the issue, over a number of months:

-disabled all browser plug ins and removed any extensions (no effect)

-Booted the Mac in safe mode (no effect)

-Patched to 10.12.1 (no effect)

-Patched to 10.12.2 , this fixed the problem.

I hope the information helps.

ironically, I had a hard crash 6 minutes after the above post. It would appear that stability has been improved, but not sure the problem is fixed. Since patch 10.12.2 I have gone from 1 to 3 hard crashes per day consistently, to 1 hard crash in 4 days, while using Safari. I will run some further tests. It is interesting that it crashed while using the apple support site.

I tried all your suggestions disabling plug ins and extensions but almost as soon as I launched Safari, it locked, back to Chrome for me until I hear that there is a fix that works

Just to add my two cents:

I've been using @ClarkDV configuration since I installed my computer months ago. I am running El Capitan with the very latest updates and almost no extra Apps installed and just the AdBlock extension. After the last El Capitan update, Safari (version 10.0.2) started freezing the whole UI non-stop (except the mouse pointer). It freezes for about a minute and unfreezes... just to freeze again after some seconds until I close Safari. Sorry @ClarkDV, but it's nice to know your solution is working for you.

The latest solution by @riadfromhabsheim (disable accelerated drawing) is working perfectly for me so far. I've been testing it for only 12 hours, but I got no freezes whatsoever.

I have also been using the @riadfromhabsheim (disable accelerated drawing) for several days with zero crashes. Without it I was crashing hourly, or more.

Hello all,

Just registered, to say, the workaround from

riadfromhabsheim (thank you man!!)

is working also quite well for me.

I'm on a Macbook Pro Early 2011 and experienced everyday freezes, sometimes 10 times in one hour with safari & iTunes.

I've applied the workaround yesterday and since then, no freezes in safari and one freeze in iTunes (which would fit to the theory, that the workaround described is only applied to safari).

Moreover I can say the following: For me, the freezes definitely started before upgrade to sierra. I was on Yosemite before and also had freezes there, which let's me assume, this issue came in with a safari update. I decided to upgrade to Sierra, because I was hoping, the issue would be fixed there..

Disabling the accelerated drawing settings in the Safari Debug menu seems to have worked for me, too. I've been using Safari to the same extent I would normally in the last two days, and have not experienced any freezes. I've even done some iTunes store browsing without issue, though it was limited compared to Safari use, and it should not be inferred the fix addresses any freezing issues others may be experiencing in iTunes.

I had not noticed much difference in browsing performance until this morning, when I went to Google Maps and used Street View. It is very choppy, almost to the point it's not usable. Browsing the same satellite and Street View imagery in Chrome is smooth as expected. So the fix is not without its caveats, but this is minor compared to the system-wide freezes we would be experiencing otherwise. Thank you, riadfromhabsheim!

Has anyone provided details of this apparent fix to Apple?

Thank you!!

Disabling accelerated drawing stopped the GUI freezes on my late 2009 iMac with ATI Radeon HD 4850 512 MB.

My symptoms were exactly as described before (frozen GUI with mouse cursor still alive, network access still working fine).

I had tried all the other voodoo before (and every time it seemed the iMac was cured -- for a while -- until it happened again), but your workaround finally worked (I've been testing it since the day you posted it, and no freezes since). So, again, thank you!!!!!!