High Sierra freeze

I think I found where the issue is. WindowServer on High Sierra seems to leak memory quite fast when Scaled resolutions are used. This is with both internal retina display and external display. Specially with 4K displays. With internal retina and scaled resolution the memory leak seems to be quite moderate and you probably get only one freeze per day. But with attached 4K display WindowServer seems to leak memory as fast as 0.2GB/10min and grows beyond some limit quite fast.

Setting all display resolutions to "default" solves the problem. I guess nobody at Apple QA runs scaled displays.

The problem is most likely an application that does not match the new requirements of High Sierra 10.13. Does not matter if you have installed 10.13 or the update 10.13.1. The problem will not be solved, just because that is not the real problem. Several things are already mentioned, but I will summarize the best methods to tackle the problem with an explanation why you have to do them. Check your filesystem.

1. Check your filesystem for errors.

Boot is safe mode (Re-start while holding Cmd-R), Choose for the DiskUtil and run First-Aid over the Partition and the HardDisk. In case of error repair them. Obvious filesystem errors are a killer and may cause freezing of the OS.

2. Check your system using a new clean user.

Isolate the problem by creating a new user, log-out and and re-login as this new User.

A new user us clean and uses the bare system. If you have a freeze using this new user, the problem has to do something with the new High Sierra update. Contact Apple, keep the new user for reference and the optional sending of the system.log.
If the freeze does not happen immediate, most likely the problem has to do with some applications you are using.

3. Start with your own account without any Apps loaded at Startup.

Login with your own credentials and go to System Preferences -> Users & Groups. Choose the tab 'Login Items' and remove all items that are listed there (write them down so you can re-enter them later). Restart and login with your own credentials. Now test your system. First do nothing and see if you get a freeze. If not try an app, test it for a freeze. Most likely you don't have any or you get one using a specific app. At that time you know the problem.

4. Re-enter the login items.
If your system is still stable after performing all the steps above, you can try to re-enter the login items (System Prefs -> Users & Groups).

I hope this will help to track down the real problem.

I have found several apps that cause problems (my list is very limited because I am still testing). Please note the apps below does not necessarily cause a freeze.
- MySqlWorkbench, the latest versions will not, try version 6.1 instead.
- Microsoft Office, Excel decimal point settings are not recognized anymore.

I did not have time yet to test the possible freeze, because I need to finish another task and can not have a freeze now. When I have time I will update with a list of freeze-causing-apps.

For now my uptime is :

$ uptime

12:05
up 2 days, 19:09, 5 users, load averages: 1.35 1.00 0.88

landy2005 wrote:

So, updated to 10.13.2..

I agree, issue not fixed!..

Guys, funny, before start to downgrade I was try to disable NVIDIA Web driver..

.... and issue was gone!

Currently I have 10.13.2 with integrated nvidia driver and no freezes for more than 2 days.

I tried to switch again to NVIDIA Web driver - issue returned,

back to internal driver - issue gone!

I will remind I have Macbook Pro 2013 late (with Nvidia 750M).

I have MacBook Pro retina 2013 and it was the worst nightmare few weeks ago. I was absolutely sure that the update killed the GPU. But now I can say that the problem is fixed permanently. I had all those freezing all of a sudden after I upgraded to High Sierra. At first, I thought 'clean install' would magically help so I did it. I wiped it out and install High Sierra simply by using MacBook recovery menu. No luck. But then after I read GeorgeW751's comment and I did exactly what he did. I thought for seconds the problem is gone but it was happening again. So I boot up with safe mode and restart, but this time I ran the diagnostic by just pressing D key during the startup to make sure the GPU is malfunctioning. It took more than half an hour so I thought it was freezing again because it says it is 90% done and stuck in there forever. But at that time I was too tired to turn it off and try other method so I gave it more time. Fortunately it was moving again and finished the job but it said there was no problem found. It didn't even say it fixed few stuffs. But after it finished it, the freezing is magically gone. Not even glitches and all, better than ever. I don't know if GeorgeW751's solution was necessary or not because I didn't try the diagnostic after the first re-installment. And just few days ago, my father's MacBook upgraded to High Sierra and had similar problems. So I just ran the diagnostic and it fixed again.

I think the diagnostic can also fix problems too. It just doesn't say anything to user what it does.

The solution for me was to go back to Sierra, it worked perfect. It was frustrating because I knew my iMac could run High Sierra. My (non Apple) SSD was formatted to APFS while upgrading and the freezes began. To go back to Sierra you have to erase the disk to HFS+ and I wondered how to upgrade to HS without APFS, it actually is possible (after downloading the installer from the App Store run in terminal /Applications/Install\ macOS\ High\ Sierra.app/Contents/Resources/startosinstall --converttoapfs NO ) it's going to upgrade to High Sierra WITHOUT APFS and since then it's NEVER frozen again! Hope this helps!

This is a followup on my previous posts, in which I said I would be wiping my hard drive entirely on my 2012 21.5" iMac and doing a clean install of an earlier version of macOS to see if that would solve the freezing issue for me. Well, it's been 36 hours now of normal computer usage on El Capitan, and I have yet to experience a freeze.

What's more is that not only have the freezes stopped, but I've also noticed a dramatic improvement in performance overall. Starcraft 2 now plays at much higher frame rates at higher levels of detail than I had been getting on High Sierra, and little delays that I'd been experiencing in High Sierra (eg waiting for the "About this Mac --> Storage" tab to populate with my hard drive disk usage) are now completely gone.

While this is not a real "fix" in the sense that the original problem has not been identified and addressed, it for me has been a great workaround. I don't want to just sit around with my fingers crossed hoping Apple patches the new software. I want to have a computer that works properly and performs well, and this has achieved that for me.

Important to note, however: simply downgrading the OS using a Time Machine backup was NOT sufficient for me to address the issue, likely due to the fact that as a previous commenter mentioned, certain elements of the firmware don't get reverted by doing a Time Machine restore.. Only manually saving my files on an external drive and wiping the internal drive entirely, followed by doing a clean install from a USB installer of El Capitan, was sufficient for me to achieve these results.

I hope that Apple does fix whatever appears to be plaguing High Sierra for many of us. But even if they do, I intend to stick with El Capitan on my 2012 iMac, for the performance improvements alone. It's awesome.

christopherxenyo wrote:

This is a followup on my previous posts, in which I said I would be wiping my hard drive entirely on my 2012 21.5" iMac and doing a clean install of an earlier version of macOS to see if that would solve the freezing issue for me. Well, it's been 36 hours now of normal computer usage on El Capitan, and I have yet to experience a freeze.

What's more is that not only have the freezes stopped, but I've also noticed a dramatic improvement in performance overall. Starcraft 2 now plays at much higher frame rates at higher levels of detail than I had been getting on High Sierra, and little delays that I'd been experiencing in High Sierra (eg waiting for the "About this Mac --> Storage" tab to populate with my hard drive disk usage) are now completely gone.

While this is not a real "fix" in the sense that the original problem has not been identified and addressed, it for me has been a great workaround. I don't want to just sit around with my fingers crossed hoping Apple patches the new software. I want to have a computer that works properly and performs well, and this has achieved that for me.

Important to note, however: simply downgrading the OS using a Time Machine backup was NOT sufficient for me to address the issue, likely due to the fact that as a previous commenter mentioned, certain elements of the firmware don't get reverted by doing a Time Machine restore.. Only manually saving my files on an external drive and wiping the internal drive entirely, followed by doing a clean install from a USB installer of El Capitan, was sufficient for me to achieve these results.

I hope that Apple does fix whatever appears to be plaguing High Sierra for many of us. But even if they do, I intend to stick with El Capitan on my 2012 iMac, for the performance improvements alone. It's awesome.

This sounds like the EFI problem being reported by Ars Technica

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/09/an-alarming-number-of-mac s-remain-vulnerable-to-stealthy-firmware-hacks/?comments=1&vs=b

I have a MacBook Pro retina 2012, too, and i can confirm that external monitors are the main reason for the freezes. But it seems not every monitor but 4k in particular. I switched to an older non 4k monitor and had no issues since.

I was experiencing fairly frequent irrecoverable freezes. SSH as root would not trigger a reboot etc.
I have 3 external displays in addition to the one on my 2017MBP (max config)
A lot of ppl are citing the GPU/Metal2 as the culprit and I absolutely agree that seems to be related

Most of the time, the lock-ups occurred while editing in Premiere Pro CC and AfterEffects

However

With High Sierra came a number of other minor bugs that I sought to remedy and I'm not entirely sure, but I may have inadvertently stopped the GPU glitch at the same time. It's been 4 days since the system froze and it ceased coincidentally with the following:

• ran drive repair from recovery (to fix all the damage from the last few panics)

• updated all drivers

• safe booted, logged in to both root account & user account during safe boot (my root login is enabled)

-waited until all drive activity dropped to zero

• reset NVRAM

• turned off automatic graphics switching

• rebuilt LaunchServices

• rebuilt DYLD's shared cache

• rebuilt XPC cache

• rebuilt CoreDuet database

• rebuilt Mac Help

• rebooted twice

it's been 4 days of serious video and audio production/rendering across 4 displays and mysteriously no lockups
I'll report back as soon as one happens again

Correcting my own post, you can revert to previous macOS. I wish Apple would change their "recommended" solution to leroydouglas post from Oct 24, 2017 8:48 AM in response to my comment.

Since the link to post is not behaving well, I am copying it here:

The fact is a known bug, no further testing required on your part— I see the options:

1. try re-installing the High Sierra on top of your existing macOS

2. wait for macOS 10.13.1 update

3. fall back to Sierra macOS Sierra: Revert to a previous macOS version

I successfully restored to Sierra in Time Machine. It took 6 hours.

Mac Pro 2013 works perfectly again.

I had read that drivers, firmware and the like get updated with High Sierra and that they do not revert and thus reverting would not fix the issue. Reverting to Sierra worked for me.

I will not indulge in speculation as to the cause of the frequent freezes with High Sierra on my computer. It simply does not run reliably. After 2-4 hours of operation the computer freezes regardless of what is or has been running.

As I use this computer for work, it is unacceptable.

The only way to fix is downgrade to Sierra. To do that you need to do the following:

1. copy all data you need to save to backup location

2. obtain 'Install macOS Sierra.app' from somewhere. Unfortunately I can't share mine.

3. from that App, create bootable USB stick with Sierra Installer. Instructions how to do that are all over the net

4. boot from the USB stick and before starting install launch disk utility and format your hard disk

5. install Sierra from scratch

6. restore the data you need from backup

FYI, so far after I did the downgrade Apple has sent me 2 emails trying to convince me to upgrade to High Sierra and have sent 3 push notifications that I should upgrade to High Sierra. Annoying. And I can't select "I will not since High Sierra is crap"

Ok...here's hopefully my last update to the faults / damages occurred by updating to 'high Sierra' ( for the story so far see my previous post.....Re: High Sierra freeze

So.....after I degraded back down to Sierra ( with much difficulty with intense screen glitching/static.....

My laptop now appears to be working perfectly fine so far........it's important to go into the app store and download the latest updates for OS X SIERRA 10.12.6. ( Do not update to HIGH SIERRA YET...it's full of bugs ).......

....these OS X SIERRA updates have appeared to have stabilised my MacBook Pro 2015 and the screen / display glitching and SLOW CPU processing has stopped. Things feel fast and normal again thanks to current 10.12.6 updates.

Ive rebooted a couple of times and played some intensive HD videos on youtube and "touch wood* - everything is working fine.

I also had this problem and I contacted Apple Support. They had me reset my NVRAM by sitting down and then turning my computer back on, holding command, option, P, and R until the computer restarted twice. This seems to have completely resolved the issue.

I also have a late 2014 5K iMac that has been freezing up since the High Sierra Install.

I've worked with Apple support trying various resets - also did a general cleanup with various tools. Nothing seemed to work. One tech suggested I do a complete restore from an old time machine backup - but that wasn't practical.

However, last night I had a call with a senior Apple tech who suggested that we try something different. First we started up from cold with the restore Cmd-R option. First we cleaned up the file system - although we didn't see anything particularly wrong. The we reinstalled the OS. I let it go and went shopping.

Remarkably this seems to have cured the problem. I've been banging on it doing all sort of heavy image processing with Adobe bridge, Photoshop, Pictures, etc. It seems as fast and responsive as ever without any freeze ups.

I'll bang on it some more today and will followup here if the issue returns.