High Sierra freeze

Two things to test,

—Start in SafeBoot mode and see if it is isolated to extensions in your User

SafeBoot https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201262

—open a guest account and see if the problem is universal

macOS Sierra: Set up users, guests, and groups on your Mac

With this information you can figure a way forward.

@alex349 I've seen same and agree with your assessment of Metel being part of or all of the issue; if it looks like a duck...

One other big change has been the file system of course - maybe it's looking up? I've seen a lot from the spinny-beachball lately.

I've reported Mac Pro version of this at:

Re: Mac Pro (late 2013) randomly freezes after update to High Sierra

But I've seen exactly the same scenario where the screen stops updating except for mouse pointer movement... I wonder if they're still implemented in hardware?

Here's what I reported/found in logs:

The 'display' becomes unresponsive or freezes after some hours of inactivity - it doesn't appear to me during a working day. The machine is still alive as I can remote in via ssh and call for a shutdown - it doesn't end in a power off but does shut down the OS - the trackpad stops clicking and the caps-lock light stops responding. But the screen is left displaying whatever was there at the moment of failure.

If the problem occurs whilst the screen was sleeping, the screen(s) power up but display a black image - basically what was probably last on the frame buffer. I would describe it as a video driver issue where the current frame buffer just stops updating.

Here's what I've tried:

1. Disabled computer from sleeping - no change.
2. Disabled screen power-down - no change other than the freeze occurs with a screen filled with information.

Upon failure, the system log fills with:

Oct 3 21:27:29 Ambroise com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.DumpGPURestart): Service only ran for 0 seconds. Pushing respawn out by 10 seconds.

Oct 3 21:27:34 Ambroise com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.preference.displays.MirrorDisplays): Service only ran for 0 seconds. Pushing respawn out by 10 seconds.

Before finally closing with:

Oct 3 22:20:17 Ambroise com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.DumpGPURestart): Service only ran for 0 seconds. Pushing respawn out by 10 seconds.

Oct 3 22:20:19 Ambroise com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.preference.displays.MirrorDisplays): Service only ran for 0 seconds. Pushing respawn out by 10 seconds.

Oct 3 22:20:24 Ambroise shutdown[7447]: SHUTDOWN_TIME: 1507083624 549748

Incidentally, I'm getting a lot of these all the time:

Oct 3 19:43:43 Ambroise com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.preference.displays.MirrorDisplays): Service only ran for 0 seconds. Pushing respawn out by 10 seconds.

Really looking forwards to a fix.

I’ve been experiencing what seem like similar freezes to you. Every now and then the screen freezes, except for the mouse. If I’m playing music that continues to play, so the Mac hasn’t fully frozen or crashed. I haven’t been able to pinpoint anything specific as the trigger, sometimes I’m in Safari, sometimes Finder, usually always when more than one window is on the visible Space, except that I’ve heard that WindowServer (the process that manages everything on the screen) has had some issues since High Sierra, the going theory is that it is as a result of the complete rewrite to be atop Metal 2 that High Sierra brought. That said, forcing WindowServer to restart (using SSH from another Mac or iOS device to get to the command-line of my iMac, which is still fully functional via SSH even when the screen freezes) doesn’t actually clear the problem for me. I can safely shutdown my iMac over SSH (sudo shutdown now), but then still need to force shut down my iMac using the power button because the screen stays frozen even after the command-line on the other machine indicates that it has shut down. At least this means I know that everything is safe regarding my files, as the iMac has been shut down normally prior to the force shut down. Upon restart everything is okay. I’ve gone at least a week or a week and half between instances of this happening, but it has still come back. I’m pretty sure this isn’t a hardware issue, because it started alongside High Sierra, which being that it brought Metal 2 means that it brought a total rebuilding of the graphics infrastructure in macOS. I’d really like to find a way to resolve this, but I guess if that is waiting for an update to macOS High Sierra that’ll have to do. I hope my experiences, though they don’t provide a fix, at least might provide some more insight, and certainly add another person that is having similar issues to the list here.

Same for me. My MacBook Pro freezes once a day, along with UI glitches, after I have upgraded to 10.13. And from what I've been reading from others on twitter and other websites, this is not an isolated issue. Really wish Apple didn't release this update before it was ready.

macOS 10.12 was solid, but I don't have the time to downgrade.

i miss Steve 😢

True. But alongside macOS updates come firmware updates. These cannot get rolled back, even in a downgrade. So when you downgraded the OS you still kept the High Sierra firmware on your Mac. It could well be that part of what we all are experiencing is rooted in firmware, and its interaction with the OS, and not a pure OS issue. Thus, it may still be manifesting itself in Sierra once you installed High Sierra. That is part of why I’m not going to try any form of downgrading, because at this point I cannot fully downgrade anyway, none of us can, given how firmware works, so will stick it out with High Sierra and await a fix in an update. In the meantime I’ll see, if I have the time to during the next times this issue comes up on my iMac, to try and figure out more about what is going on, at least on my Mac. I develop for iOS as part of my work, so know a whole lot about the internals of macOS as well, and will try and see if I can determine what is actually causing this to send a bug report in to Apple.

Since you had the same problem before upgrading to High Sierra your problem is not the same as the OP's.

Therefore, download and run Etrecheck. Copy and paste the results into your reply. Etrecheck is a diagnostic tool that was developed by one of the most respected users here in the ASC and recommended by Apple Support to provide a snapshot of the system and help identify the more obvious culprits that can adversely affect a Mac's performance.

Or better yet start a new topic with detailed info on your problem and the results of the Etrecheck report.

I found something that's guaranteed to lock up my system 100% of the time

MBP 2017, max hardware config, dual external displays

In Adobe Premiere CC 2018, if I apply the "morph" transition, it takes some time to render in the background, when it completes, if the playhead passes over the transition, the system panics and I have to force shutdown via the power key.
Also

Sometimes when my machine boots from a panic, this is the result:

I been having the same issue after upgrading to High Sierra. Almost immediately after my upgrade I have been experiancing freezes 2-5 times daily. I also did a clean install and reformatted the hard drive. The problem still occurs. My boss had to order me a new computer because I was losing working files!

I did SSH reboot and here is what happened after attempting several times to open and close the clamshell while connected to the 5K LG (max resolution in both screens).

I am also including the crash panic report...

Anonymous UUID: B49FA1BB-81B6-352B-EF3D-B8F56F1A6E0C

Tue Oct 31 20:18:54 2017

*** Panic Report ***

panic(cpu 2 caller 0xffffff800317f7f4): "PHYSMAP_PTOV bounds exceeded, 0xffffff3f25e93000, 0xfffffe9f40000000, 0xfffffedf40000000"@/BuildRoot/Library/Caches/com.apple.xbs/Sources/xnu/xnu-457 0.20.62/osfmk/i386/pmap.h:481

Backtrace (CPU 2), Frame : Return Address

0xffffff81edcb2d40 : 0xffffff800306b6f6

0xffffff81edcb2d90 : 0xffffff8003196f54

0xffffff81edcb2dd0 : 0xffffff8003188c39

0xffffff81edcb2e50 : 0xffffff800301d190

0xffffff81edcb2e70 : 0xffffff800306b1cc

0xffffff81edcb2fa0 : 0xffffff800306af4c

0xffffff81edcb3000 : 0xffffff800317f7f4

0xffffff81edcb3070 : 0xffffff800317fa33

0xffffff81edcb30c0 : 0xffffff80036b1dad

0xffffff81edcb3100 : 0xffffff7f89084dea

0xffffff81edcb31d0 : 0xffffff7f8905d8bf

0xffffff81edcb3250 : 0xffffff7f89038496

0xffffff81edcb32c0 : 0xffffff7f89038111

0xffffff81edcb3340 : 0xffffff7f89036440

0xffffff81edcb3380 : 0xffffff7f89037ae5

0xffffff81edcb33d0 : 0xffffff7f85141aa7

0xffffff81edcb3420 : 0xffffff7f8514b6ad

0xffffff81edcb3460 : 0xffffff7f8514b5a8

0xffffff81edcb3490 : 0xffffff7f8515ec60

0xffffff81edcb3500 : 0xffffff7f8903f61e

0xffffff81edcb3530 : 0xffffff7f8907509a

0xffffff81edcb3620 : 0xffffff7f890523aa

0xffffff81edcb3670 : 0xffffff7f890522c1

0xffffff81edcb36d0 : 0xffffff7f8905410e

0xffffff81edcb3700 : 0xffffff7f89071d8c

0xffffff81edcb3720 : 0xffffff7f89039625

0xffffff81edcb3850 : 0xffffff7f85148f84

0xffffff81edcb3880 : 0xffffff7f8517538d

0xffffff81edcb38c0 : 0xffffff7f851138b9

0xffffff81edcb3960 : 0xffffff7f8510104e

0xffffff81edcb39a0 : 0xffffff7f8510b375

0xffffff81edcb39c0 : 0xffffff7f85106092

0xffffff81edcb3a30 : 0xffffff7f8511149d

0xffffff81edcb3a50 : 0xffffff7f85111d98

0xffffff81edcb3a90 : 0xffffff7f85111b8a

0xffffff81edcb3ad0 : 0xffffff80036cb428

0xffffff81edcb3b20 : 0xffffff7f85117871

0xffffff81edcb3b70 : 0xffffff80036d4237

0xffffff81edcb3cb0 : 0xffffff8003144514

0xffffff81edcb3dc0 : 0xffffff8003070d9e

0xffffff81edcb3e10 : 0xffffff800304dc2d

0xffffff81edcb3e60 : 0xffffff8003060d1b

0xffffff81edcb3ef0 : 0xffffff800317388d

0xffffff81edcb3fa0 : 0xffffff800301d996

Kernel Extensions in backtrace:

com.apple.iokit.IOGraphicsFamily(517.17)[05FC87E8-B78E-319E-AF08-0EBDA16094CE]@ 0xffffff7f850f8000->0xffffff7f8513dfff

dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily(2.9)[1A5661CA-0F8F-3EC1-B3B4-5A9ADDAE360F]@0xffffff 7f83894000

com.apple.iokit.IOAcceleratorFamily2(374.1)[1A14B541-7F4E-3D7A-B279-43185331BB3 0]@0xffffff7f8513e000->0xffffff7f851d3fff

dependency: com.apple.driver.AppleMobileFileIntegrity(1.0.5)[EA558F59-BDB8-3BE0-A77E-231D62 054A1D]@0xffffff7f83f90000

dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOSurface(209)[9D4ADF2A-E6F7-3BFE-B5FF-8C7317DF164B]@0xffffff7f 850df000

dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily(2.9)[1A5661CA-0F8F-3EC1-B3B4-5A9ADDAE360F]@0xffffff 7f83894000

dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOGraphicsFamily(517.17)[05FC87E8-B78E-319E-AF08-0EBDA16094CE]@ 0xffffff7f850f8000

com.apple.kext.AMDRadeonX4100(1.5.8)[5279391A-257B-302A-91EC-5269C9CF81DB]@0xff ffff7f89032000->0xffffff7f8979bfff

dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOSurface(209)[9D4ADF2A-E6F7-3BFE-B5FF-8C7317DF164B]@0xffffff7f 850df000

dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily(2.9)[1A5661CA-0F8F-3EC1-B3B4-5A9ADDAE360F]@0xffffff 7f83894000

dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOGraphicsFamily(517.17)[05FC87E8-B78E-319E-AF08-0EBDA16094CE]@ 0xffffff7f850f8000

dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOAcceleratorFamily2(374.1)[1A14B541-7F4E-3D7A-B279-43185331BB3 0]@0xffffff7f8513e000

BSD process name corresponding to current thread: WindowServer

Mac OS version:

17B48

Kernel version:

Darwin Kernel Version 17.2.0: Fri Sep 29 18:27:05 PDT 2017; root:xnu-4570.20.62~3/RELEASE_X86_64

Kernel UUID: 4B214D53-883B-3E5F-A115-9FDA17E68BA8

Kernel slide: 0x0000000002e00000

Kernel text base: 0xffffff8003000000

__HIB text base: 0xffffff8002f00000

System model name: MacBookPro13,3 (Mac-A5C67F76ED831---)

System uptime in nanoseconds: 273041639274

last loaded kext at 253746763331: com.apple.filesystems.msdosfs 1.10 (addr 0xffffff7f8a7ad000, size 69632)

loaded kexts:

com.avast.FileShield 3.0.0

com.avast.PacketForwarder 2.1

com.paragon-software.filesystems.ntfs 288.2.14

com.apple.filesystems.msdosfs 1.10

com.apple.driver.AppleGraphicsDevicePolicy 3.16.19

com.apple.AGDCPluginDisplayMetrics 3.16.19

com.apple.kext.AMDFramebuffer 1.5.8

com.apple.driver.AppleHV 1

com.apple.kext.AMDRadeonX4200 1.5.8

com.apple.iokit.IOUserEthernet 1.0.1

com.apple.kext.AMDRadeonX4150 1.5.8

com.apple.kext.AMDRadeonX4100 1.5.8

com.apple.iokit.IOBluetoothSerialManager 6.0.1f1

com.apple.kext.AMD9515Controller 1.5.8

com.apple.driver.pmtelemetry 1

com.apple.kext.AMD9510Controller 1.5.8

com.apple.driver.AppleUpstreamUserClient 3.6.4

com.apple.Dont_Steal_Mac_OS_X 7.0.0

com.apple.driver.AGPM 110.23.24

com.apple.driver.ApplePlatformEnabler 2.7.0d0

com.apple.driver.X86PlatformShim 1.0.0

com.apple.driver.AppleHDAHardwareConfigDriver 280.12

com.apple.driver.AGDCBacklightControl 3.16.19

com.apple.driver.AudioAUUC 1.70

com.apple.kext.AMD9520Controller 1.5.8

com.apple.driver.AppleIntelSKLGraphics 10.2.8

com.apple.driver.AppleHDA 280.12

com.apple.driver.AppleBacklight 170.10.1

com.apple.driver.AirPort.BrcmNIC-MFG 1200.26.1a3

com.apple.kext.AMD9500Controller 1.5.8

com.apple.AVEBridge 1.0.0

com.apple.driver.ACPI_SMC_PlatformPlugin 1.0.0

com.apple.driver.AppleThunderboltIP 3.1.0

com.apple.driver.AppleIntelPCHPMC 2.0.1

com.apple.driver.eficheck 1

com.apple.driver.AppleEmbeddedOSSupportHost 1

com.apple.driver.AppleOSXWatchdog 1

com.apple.driver.AppleFIVRDriver 4.1.0

com.apple.driver.AppleMCCSControl 1.5.3

com.apple.driver.SMCMotionSensor 3.0.4d1

com.apple.driver.AppleMuxControl 3.16.19

com.apple.driver.AirPort.BrcmNIC 1200.26.1a3

com.apple.driver.AppleIntelSKLGraphicsFramebuffer 10.2.8

com.apple.driver.AppleIntelSlowAdaptiveClocking 4.0.0

com.apple.filesystems.autofs 3.0

com.apple.driver.AppleHIDALSService 1

com.apple.filesystems.apfs 748.21.6

com.apple.driver.AppleFileSystemDriver 3.0.1

com.apple.filesystems.hfs.kext 407.1.3

com.apple.AppleFSCompression.AppleFSCompressionTypeDataless 1.0.0d1

com.apple.BootCache 40

com.apple.AppleFSCompression.AppleFSCompressionTypeZlib 1.0.0

com.apple.driver.AppleTopCaseHIDEventDriver 127

com.apple.driver.AppleSmartBatteryManager 161.0.0

com.apple.driver.AppleACPIButtons 6.1

com.apple.driver.AppleRTC 2.0

com.apple.driver.AppleSMBIOS 2.1

com.apple.driver.AppleACPIEC 6.1

com.apple.driver.AppleAPIC 1.7

com.apple.nke.applicationfirewall 183

com.apple.security.TMSafetyNet 8

com.apple.security.quarantine 3

com.apple.IOBufferCopyEngineTest 1

com.apple.iokit.IOTimeSyncFamily 600.15

com.apple.driver.AppleSSE 1.0

com.apple.AppleGPUWrangler 3.16.19

com.apple.driver.DspFuncLib 280.12

com.apple.kext.OSvKernDSPLib 526

com.apple.driver.AppleBacklightExpert 1.1.0

com.apple.iokit.IOBluetoothHostControllerUARTTransport 6.0.1f1

com.apple.iokit.IOBluetoothHostControllerTransport 6.0.1f1

com.apple.iokit.IONDRVSupport 517.17

com.apple.driver.IOPlatformPluginLegacy 1.0.0

com.apple.driver.AppleHDAController 280.12

com.apple.iokit.IOHDAFamily 280.12

com.apple.driver.AppleUSBAudio 310.35

com.apple.iokit.IOAudioFamily 206.5

com.apple.vecLib.kext 1.2.0

com.apple.driver.AppleSMBusPCI 1.0.14d1

com.apple.driver.AppleSMBusController 1.0.18d1

com.apple.driver.AppleGraphicsControl 3.16.19

com.apple.iokit.IO80211Family 1200.12.2

com.apple.driver.mDNSOffloadUserClient 1.0.1b8

com.apple.driver.corecapture 1.0.4

com.apple.driver.AppleIntelLpssUARTv1 3.0.60

com.apple.driver.AppleIntelLpssUARTCommon 3.0.60

com.apple.driver.AppleOnboardSerial 1.0

com.apple.iokit.IOSkywalkFamily 1

com.apple.iokit.IOSerialFamily 11

com.apple.kext.AMDSupport 1.5.8

com.apple.AppleGraphicsDeviceControl 3.16.19

com.apple.iokit.IOAcceleratorFamily2 374.1

com.apple.iokit.IOGraphicsFamily 517.17

com.apple.iokit.IOSurface 209

com.apple.iokit.IOSlowAdaptiveClockingFamily 1.0.0

com.apple.driver.X86PlatformPlugin 1.0.0

com.apple.driver.IOPlatformPluginFamily 6.0.0d8

com.apple.driver.AppleThunderboltEDMSink 4.1.2

com.apple.kext.triggers 1.0

com.apple.driver.usb.IOUSBHostHIDDevice 1.2

com.apple.driver.usb.cdc.ecm 5.0.0

com.apple.driver.usb.cdc.ncm 5.0.0

com.apple.driver.usb.AppleUSBiBridge 1.0

com.apple.driver.usb.cdc 5.0.0

com.apple.driver.usb.networking 5.0.0

com.apple.driver.usb.AppleUSBHostCompositeDevice 1.2

com.apple.driver.AppleUSBHostMergeProperties 1.2

com.apple.driver.usb.AppleUSBHub 1.2

com.apple.driver.AppleThunderboltDPOutAdapter 5.0.2

com.apple.driver.AppleThunderboltPCIUpAdapter 2.1.3

com.apple.driver.AppleEffaceableStorage 1.0

com.apple.iokit.IONetworkingFamily 3.4

com.apple.filesystems.hfs.encodings.kext 1

com.apple.driver.AppleActuatorDriver 1004.1

com.apple.driver.AppleHIDKeyboard 203

com.apple.driver.AppleHSBluetoothDriver 127

com.apple.driver.IOBluetoothHIDDriver 6.0.1f1

com.apple.iokit.IOBluetoothFamily 6.0.1f1

com.apple.driver.AppleMultitouchDriver 1004.1

com.apple.driver.AppleInputDeviceSupport 1000

com.apple.driver.AppleHSSPIHIDDriver 52

com.apple.driver.AppleThunderboltDPInAdapter 5.0.2

com.apple.driver.AppleThunderboltDPAdapterFamily 5.0.2

com.apple.driver.AppleThunderboltPCIDownAdapter 2.1.3

com.apple.driver.AppleXsanScheme 3

com.apple.driver.AppleHSSPISupport 52

com.apple.driver.AppleIntelLpssSpiController 3.0.60

com.apple.iokit.IONVMeFamily 2.1.0

com.apple.driver.AppleThunderboltNHI 4.5.6

com.apple.driver.AppleHPM 3.1.3

com.apple.iokit.IOThunderboltFamily 6.5.8

com.apple.driver.AppleIntelLpssI2CController 3.0.60

com.apple.driver.AppleIntelLpssDmac 3.0.60

com.apple.driver.AppleIntelLpssGspi 3.0.60

com.apple.driver.AppleIntelLpssI2C 3.0.60

com.apple.driver.usb.AppleUSBXHCIPCI 1.2

com.apple.driver.usb.AppleUSBXHCI 1.2

com.apple.driver.usb.AppleUSBHostPacketFilter 1.0

com.apple.iokit.IOUSBFamily 900.4.1

com.apple.driver.AppleEFINVRAM 2.1

com.apple.driver.AppleEFIRuntime 2.1

com.apple.iokit.IOHIDFamily 2.0.0

com.apple.iokit.IOSMBusFamily 1.1

com.apple.security.sandbox 300.0

com.apple.kext.AppleMatch 1.0.0d1

com.apple.iokit.IOBufferCopyEngineFamily 1

com.apple.driver.DiskImages 480.1.2

com.apple.driver.AppleFDEKeyStore 28.30

com.apple.driver.AppleKeyStore 2

com.apple.driver.AppleUSBTDM 439.20.7

com.apple.driver.AppleMobileFileIntegrity 1.0.5

com.apple.iokit.IOUSBMassStorageDriver 140

com.apple.iokit.IOSCSIBlockCommandsDevice 404.20.1

com.apple.iokit.IOSCSIArchitectureModelFamily 404.20.1

com.apple.iokit.IOStorageFamily 2.1

com.apple.driver.AppleCredentialManager 1.0

com.apple.driver.KernelRelayHost 1

com.apple.iokit.IOUSBHostFamily 1.2

com.apple.driver.usb.AppleUSBCommon 1.0

com.apple.driver.AppleBusPowerController 1.0

com.apple.driver.AppleSEPManager 1.0.1

com.apple.driver.IOSlaveProcessor 1

com.apple.iokit.IOReportFamily 31

com.apple.driver.AppleACPIPlatform 6.1

com.apple.driver.AppleSMCRTC 1.0

com.apple.driver.AppleSMC 3.1.9

com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily 2.9

com.apple.iokit.IOACPIFamily 1.4

com.apple.kec.pthread 1

com.apple.kec.Libm 1

com.apple.kec.corecrypto 1.0

EOF

Model: MacBookPro13,3, BootROM MBP133.0233.B00, 4 processors, Intel Core i7, 2.9 GHz, 16 GB, SMC 2.38f7

Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 530, Intel HD Graphics 530, Built-In

Graphics: Radeon Pro 460, AMD Radeon Pro 460, PCIe, 4 GB

Memory Module: BANK 0/DIMM0, 8 GB, LPDDR3, 2133 MHz, 0x802C, 0x4D5435324C31473332443450472D30393320

Memory Module: BANK 1/DIMM0, 8 GB, LPDDR3, 2133 MHz, 0x802C, 0x4D5435324C31473332443450472D30393320

AirPort: spairport_wireless_card_type_airport_extreme (0x14E4, 0x15A), Broadcom BCM43xx 1.0 (7.77.37.2.1a3)

Bluetooth: Version 6.0.0f1, 3 services, 27 devices, 1 incoming serial ports

Network Service: Wi-Fi, AirPort, en0

PCI Card: pci1b73,1100, USB eXtensible Host Controller, Thunderbolt@196,0,0

USB Device: USB 3.0 Bus

USB Device: iBridge

USB Device: USB 3.0 Bus

USB Device: USB3.1 Hub

USB Device: Hub

USB Device: LG UltraFine Display Camera

USB Device: USB2.1 Hub

USB Device: Hub

USB Device: USB Controls

USB Device: USB Audio

Thunderbolt Bus: MacBook Pro, Apple Inc., 22.2

Thunderbolt Bus: MacBook Pro, Apple Inc., 22.2

Thunderbolt Device: UltraFine 5K, LG Electronics, 1, 9.4

My MBP seems to be working stable, no more slowdowns and crashes - nightmare has gone 🙂

I switch external screens several times within last few hours - it would have already killed it for sure.

Unfortunately I did more then one thing in the same time:

1. Run Onyx.app and rebuild as on the picture below:

2. And installed 10.13.1 (17B48) - I guess this one is really the solution.

I've been getting freeze-then-crashes on my iMac (27-inch, Late 2013) since I first bought it.

After upgrading to High Sierra, it got worse. I was getting about once or more every day.

BUT High Sierra is showing a Graphics Driver icon in my menu bar. It was put there by the NVIDIA Driver Manager System Preferences panel.

When I switched from NVIDIA Web Driver, to OS X Default Graphics Driver, the crashes stopped!