High Sierra macOS freezing and stops

I upgrated to high Sierra and have a big problem since then. About 3-4 times a day in my worktime my MacBook Pro (i7, 256 SSD, 16 GB RAM), is lagging and freezing. I even can't move the mouse on the screen, only music is playing. I don't know what is the problem because i cant even make a report on that. This is a real problem, because I am working and this still happens. Maybe anyone have this problem too? What can I do, because untill upgrade everything worked perfectly fine.


Help please !!

Posted on Oct 5, 2017 2:15 AM

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Posted on Oct 29, 2017 2:40 PM

I posted earlier, for reference i have a MacBook late 2013 retina 13 inch, only intel iris no nvidia. As stated previously this issue was around during the beta.With High sierra I had tried everything including clean installs via usb installer. Whenever I went back to sierra all was well again.


Today, after a time machine backup I formatted the drive back to hfs and did a internet recovery back to the stock os (mavericks) i then did a full download of high sierra and did an upgrade but used a terminal command to bypass the conversion to the apfs file system. I have been running now for approx 14hours and have not had any crashes. before i was having a crash probably every hour so this is a massive improvement 🙂


I am obviously missing out of the performance increases from using apfs (which I have never noticed) but at least i now appear to have a stable system and photos is working as intended with my iOS 11 devices

454 replies

Oct 31, 2017 10:30 AM in response to sckeedoo

Hi all,


High Sierra 17A405 on a mid 2014 15", 2,5 GHz Intel Core i7, 16 Go 1600 MHz DDR3, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M 2G VRAM.

Freeze almost daily when getting it out of sleep after lunch and reconnecting my 4k display.

Had it freeze only once with a 1080p display (yesterday...). I had it running since 2 days without reboot, before that. I guess the more demand there is on the video card, the sooner it'll crash.


I sent a link to this thread to Apple Support on twitter, no word from them yet : https://twitter.com/kikangh/status/925096004147347458

it's not like my account has enough followers to make them notice, at least I tried.


Regards,

Oct 31, 2017 11:22 AM in response to sckeedoo

Has anyone with this issue on nVidia graphics tried installing the latest Web driver? After the last update it seems to have resolved most of the issues on my late 2013 15" MacBook Pro. I still get glitches from time to time in Vivaldi web browser, but minimizing the window solves it and it finally doesn't lock up the whole system anymore.

Oct 20, 2017 8:48 PM in response to sckeedoo

I had this happen on my [iMac 27"5k 3TB fusion model] whenever I tried to open one of my files with a massive amount of video files where the settings were set to "Quicklook" ... pretty much froze the whole computer although I could move from app to app and move the mouse... it was the Finder that had the spinning beachball. I found if I changed to "List view" it kinda fixed it but I really need Quicklook in this folder.


Also, I find that if I use the zoom mode with the control key and mouse that it will eventually freeze the mac with the exact same " I could move from app to app and move the mouse" but that was all... needed a forced restart again.


I've never had a mac OS update that needed as many forced restarts as this one... that and the fact they haven't even added the new way to read massive image files for the fusion drive yet... sloppy IMO. I doubt Steve would have allowed this to hit the app store without that major aspect missing [outside of beta].


Also, Safari is buggy... not so much in the way it works but in the way it looks with items in the toolbar becoming blank [i.e. the icon inside disappears after a couple of hours]... again pretty sloppy.


Another thing is that Quicklook occasionally misses item pictures [see attached image] in the window but it is actually there if you hit the spacebar. I've even had it shimmer bright red in the background.


There are loads of other little niggles that make me conclude that this is the buggiest update I have ever experienced - and that's going back to OS 6, old school!User uploaded file


when I said it shimmered red I meant that all the background grey here would occasionally turn red and shimmer if I used the arrow keys on the keyboard.


Network Diagnostics have also disappeared from System preferences... really?


Not impressed Apple, not impressed at all.

Oct 23, 2017 9:08 AM in response to Scott Bickell2

Just read your linked article at Ars.... Yes, that image they posted in the article is exactly what I see sometimes too. Happened most frequently with Slack, but noticed it in the Finder and Chrome as well.


# # #


I took my machine in to the Apple store last week and just got a call back from them a few minutes ago. After a few days of hardware diagnostics and stress testing everything... they determined that the hardware was fine. So that's good news (Late 2013 27" iMac with 16gb or RAM in case anyone is curious).


Technician mentioned that it could maybe have something to do with any number of peripheral's I have hooked up to it. So that if it happens again, try unplugging XYZ and running without for awhile to see if that helps. Only thing I have hooked up is a Logitech Performance MX mouse (with one of those USB dongle things). Aside from that, it's display port adaptors to hookup my hdmi monitor.


He said I could most certainly downgrade back to 10.12, but oye... that's a pain in and of itself setting everything back up again. Or... wait for the whatever point update comes out to fix bugs XYZ. Time is of course... unknown.



Guess I'll wait another week to see how my nerve endings can hold up.

:-/

Oct 26, 2017 5:11 AM in response to sckeedoo

Likewise MacBook retina mid 2013 13 inch.


freezes and restarts several times a day, both with upgrade and clean install.I have tried resetting all params


It was happening during the public beta so I rolled back to Sierra. I stupidly thought that since it was officially available and there have been a few releases that this problem was just down to it being beta. I was wrong, this happens on a clean install with no third party applications installed. I am about to roll back again but to complicate things further certain features included in iOS 11 which do not work with Sierra

Oct 27, 2017 8:12 AM in response to node_pl

node_pl wrote:


I suspect it is somehow effecting specific models of machines from 2012-2013. I can see is the discussion that it is not only about MBP but also iMac (but not MBA).


I think node_pl is onto something, but as I'm having the issue as well, and my machine is a mid-2015 15" MacBook Pro w/Retina display and the AMD Radeon R9 M370X graphics chipset, then obviously it's not restricted to 2012-2013 models.


I do, however, think it may be showing up in models with discreet graphics cards. Is anyone having the issue on a machine with only onboard Intel graphics? If not, it may be why we're not seeing it in MacBook Airs.


As an update, I've been able to reproduce a freeze by engaging Mission Control's "Show Application Windows" routine while the machine is busy doing something intensive like a large Finder data copy job. Of note is that the machine continues the copy job to completion in the background. I still have to force a power-cycle (shutdown/startup) in order to regain control.


Visual glitches and seeming to freeze even though the machine is still working "in the background." I think we're seeing bugs in Metal 2.

Oct 27, 2017 8:27 AM in response to Rex Raymond

Mine is a mid 2014 15" Retina MBP.


Video card is

NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M 2 GB

Intel Iris Pro 1536 MB


Mine isn't freezing up as much as many of you are experiencing, but I am having various visual issues. I'm also having problems with freezing occasionally. Interestingly though, if I'm watching a video, the computer freezes but the audio keeps going. I have to hard power cycle to get control back.


Wish I'd never done this "upgrade". I was hoping to benefit from the new file system improvements.

Oct 27, 2017 8:44 AM in response to Rex Raymond

My MacBook specs below. As stated in my earlier entry, I am most convinced it's to do with external monitors. As of 5 minutes ago, I was running my laptop thru an LG 4k monitor (with lowered resolution - 1920x1080) and everything started to freeze. I IMMEDIATLEY unplugged the monitor and I am now typing on my laptop with no issues - no reboot. It stopped freezing up instantly.

It might also be just added resolution. I have my laptop resolution set at the 2nd to highest setting right now.

So I recommend:

1. If using an external monitor, use a lower resolution setting (I know it defeats the purpose of an external monitor, but there really isn't another option)

2. Lower your resolution on your laptop if you are NOT using an external monitor.

3. Turn off any unnecessary bells and whistles to the operating system (night shift, window animations, transparencies, etc.)


I hope they fix this issue before the next High Sierra update or else we are still months out from a fix!

MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Early 2013)

  • 2.7 GHz Intel Core i7
  • 16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3
  • NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M 1 GB
  • Intel HD Graphics 4000 1536 MB

Oct 27, 2017 9:44 AM in response to Shannon Dannettelle

It's definitely not caused by an external monitor, discrete graphics, external peripherals, upgrading a preexisting install, or solely limited to the MacBook Pro. I'm typing this on a mid-2011 MacBook Air w/ Intel HD 3000 graphics. I have no external peripheral attached nor displays.


I blew away my filesystem, and installed off of USB to have a fresh APFS partition. The one thing I didn't do, for a full install, is wipe and rebuild the recovery partition. I honestly don't think that would have helped.


The first "freeze" happened within the hour. I still get a mouse cursor. Sometimes it disappears and comes back. Sometimes I can even put the laptop to sleep, but the U.I. wakes up frozen. It's not hard locked. It'll reconnect to the Internet and continue playing music or video in the background.


I sort of wish that Apple still charged for macOS. There would no doubt be returns and bad press by now, creating some kind of urgency. As it stands, we're left wondering if Apple will decide to fix or even address the problem. If I could imagine something I did wrong during the upgrade, I'd try it.


I even considered purchasing a new laptop, accepting that maybe mine was too old. The comments here make me believe that I might still have this problem after purchasing a brand new unit.


This experience makes me glad that I didn't rush out to preorder a new iPhone. If iOS shared the same codebase... yeah.

Oct 27, 2017 12:46 PM in response to ylemort

wow never thought about it before. you’re right. they rarely reply or solve our problems here.


So today I put my macbook pro 2017 in service because it has a “pop” sound that happens randomly.


I came home and took my mac air 2011 and replce the sierra with high sierra. One hour after installation, I had Safari and App Store opened, triggered mission control, and boom!!

it freezed, cursor didn’t move keybord was not responding,even cmd alt esc.



Now I feel stupid of how much money I have spent. Spent so much for macbook pro 2017, less than 3 month I have to put it on service.

2017 is a garbage year for Apple for sure. Or starting 2017 they will keep producing garbages?

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High Sierra macOS freezing and stops

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