Mac Os Mojave freezes

Although I have posted before on this subject I thought it may help if I described my issue in detail and steps I took to identify the source of the problem - other users may find this useful even if the cause isn't exactly the same.

Initial Problem: When changing App accessibility settings in "Security and Privacy" settings on my iMac (21.5", late 2013, 1Tb Fusion drive) the system "froze" - even my desktop clock app stopped. This problem never occurred prior to moving to Mojave (I'm currently on version 10.14.2.

What did I do next next? I tried switching to different apps, quit apps etc. I then got the "beachball". I couldn't force quit or even get the iMac to shut down and eventually had to just switch the power off. Restarted in safe mode, and tried again to change app accessibility with same effect. After a couple iterations I rebooted and, once I'd tried to tick an app accessibility box I then didn't touch anything else. The box remained unticked and the system froze as before, but after a delay of several minutes the box suddenly showed as ticked and the system unfroze. Any further attempts to change app accessibility permissions had exactly the same effect. However once unfrozen the iMac works perfectly in all other respects

Initial conclusion: I have a specific issue that freezes the iMac. The additional problems of beachball, inability to quit/force quit apps etc. are due to my attempting to use the iMac while frozen, and subsequently on unfreezing the system being overwhelmed by stored keystrokes/activities. So I can use the function, but only if I wait for several minutes for the system to unfreeze - not ideal. This has also hampered Apple and other technicians from running diagnostics as in most instances their remote access software requires accessibility granting for it to run. Note that this issue occurs regardless of which app I am trying to switch permissions for. I did find that listing my connected external NAS drives and backup SSD in the Privacy area in Spotlight did reduce the time taken before the system unfroze, so kudos to the poster of that tip.

Next Stage: Apple suggested that McAfee LiveSafe was a possible culprit. There had been an Apple "32-bit alert" regarding McAfee LiveSafe, but My LiveSafe is on version 4.5.8.0, 64-bit having been introduced at 4.5 some time ago. I uninstalled McAfee LiveSafe, and immediately the freezing issue was resolved. On re-installing I found that the problem returned. I then individually disabled and re-enabled McAfee's various functions, and isolated the Real-time anti-virus scan as the culprit. So now I have at least a viable work-around in that I can disable Real-time scan, make my changes to Accessibility for any app as required (or when downloading 3rd party apps needing permissions to install) and then re-enable the McAfee LiveSafe real-time scan.

Where am I now? McAfee tech has set up a logging file to try and pinpoint what the actual cause of the issue is (primarily in terms of high occurrences of CPU time) and how it can be resolved; in reality I'm pretty sure that I'll end up with McAfee saying that the problem is Mojave and Apple saying it's McAfee LiveSafe. And maybe the next update on one or the other will fix it...or not.

Anyway, main reason for posting this was to point out that in my case I have identified a single initial point of failure and have been able to develop a work-around. The starting point is to just wait and see if the system unfreezes before touching anything else.

Status update: I have seemingly stalled the panics for a few days (although every time I make this claim here, destiny rewards my impertinence with a crash soon after). What I am attributing the crashes lately is an incompatibility between Mojave and my Nvidia GPU drivers. So I installed an app that disables my discrete GPU and forces the Mac to use only the integrated Intel graphics. No crashes so far. Some of you might want to try this. I used gfxCardstatus 2.3. It's a free tool you can easily find online.

Slower performance in some apps is probably a better option than having your Mac shutdown in the middle of something.

Probably not crashing, but running s l o w.

Please create new thread and post

I'd run etrecheck. Etrecheck will analyze your machine and software and generate a report. Post results here so others can view.  Experienced users have found the reported information useful when diagnosing problems. The proprietary stuff in the report gets filtered.

Install and run

-- Download etrecheck.  Goto the  EtreCheck  download page.  The download link is at the bottom of the screen

-- Install etrecheck. Goto your download folder. Double click on EtreCheckPro.zip

-- drag the app to the application folder if you wish.

-- Double click on etrecheck to run.   The first five runs are free.

• An alternative explanation how to install, run and report output for the EtreCheck Application
• Using EtreCheck to Troubleshoot Potential… - Apple Community
• -- Explanation of EtreCheck  output by etresoft, the author.
• Using EtreCheck - Apple Community

How to report etrecheck data.

When the report is done, click on the export icon.

click on "Copy report" to copy to the clipboard

Get back in your web browser and access your discussion. Create a new reply. Click on the <> code icon. Paste you etrecheck output into the code block.

which results in...

Robert
PS. You may find Old Toad's write up helpful.
Error - Page Not Found - Apple Community

Based on Apple & McAfee tech sessions I do know that the issue I have is related to McAfee Live Safe Real-Time Scanning function. While it's running I get a temporary freeze whenever I try to alter an Accessibility setting for any app in the Security & Privacy Accessibility list (or when a new App arrives in the list). De-install LiveSafe and the problem goes away, re-install it and the problem returns. Installing but then turning off the Real-Time Scanning function also gets rid of the problem. The Firewall function doesn't cause any issues. Automatic Updates and Scheduled Scans functions also don't cause any issues, but then they're unlikely to be active every time I want to change an accessibility setting.

McAfee have escalated this and I have a further call tomorrow. I can't be the only one out there with McAfee LiveSafe and Mojave 10.14.2. Hopefully there will be a fix, but at least for now I know I can just temporarily disable the Real-Time Scanning function while I am granting accessibility. Whether this relates to other freezing issues such as you have described I have no idea...just throwing this into the forum in case it helps someone else.

I'm experiencing the same issue with McAfee AntiVirus Plus 4.5.8, and like you I found disabling the Real-Time Scanning solved the problem of the beach balling. What clued me in was watching the Console's system.log for a while and looking for any interesting messages whenever the beach balling would occur. What I started to notice were lines like these:

Jan 20 01:05:45 xxxxxx McAfee: [98]: Alert: LogTime: 2019-Jan-20 01:05:45 AVAS: PID: 4006 : Cache: Dead Lock found Pid: 3765 holding the lock for 706.143247 seconds. Releaseing the lock forcefuflly
Jan 20 01:10:04 xxxxxx McAfee: [98]: Alert: LogTime: 2019-Jan-20 01:10:04 AVAS: PID: 4373 : Cache: Dead Lock found Pid: 4006 holding the lock for 259.096690 seconds. Releaseing the lock forcefuflly

In other words it looks like the Real-Time Scanning processes were getting hung, and a watchdog process was eventually killing them, at which point the beach balling stopped and Finder could finally finish whatever it was trying to do with the file.

I gather from this thread that there are a number of different issues capable of causing the kind of beach balling we're experiencing, so the root of the problem may lie in Finder, but McAfee definitely interacts badly with it.

Hello,

I had freezes on video playback, cursor etc.

I have checked my logs and found that:

default	10:18:57.285074 +0800	kernel	AGC:: [WindowServer pid:176] force EG up last PID 176 WS-ready 1 switch-state 0 IG FBs 1 EG FBs 0:0 power-state 6 3D busy HDA idle system-state 1 power-level 20:20 connect-change 0
default	10:18:57.285093 +0800	kernel	AGC:: [WindowServer pid:176] force EG up last PID 176 WS-ready 1 switch-state 0 IG FBs 1 EG FBs 0:0 power-state 6 3D busy HDA idle system-state 1 power-level 20:20 connect-change 0
default	10:18:57.485224 +0800	kernel	AGC:: :::::::> PEG start powerup [0m 49.797s downtime]
default	10:18:57.485254 +0800	kernel	[key:0x1420/on:0] fPSREnablekeys: 0x00001fff -> 0x00000bdf (fullset:0x00001fff) : Will disable FIFO PSR feature in 2sec
default	10:18:57.590166 +0800	kernel	Invalid Register Offset: 0xc0500198 >= 0x40000.
default	10:18:57.590199 +0800	kernel	Invalid Register Offset: 0xc0500198 >= 0x40000.
default	10:18:57.590223 +0800	kernel	Invalid Register Offset: 0xc0500198 >= 0x40000.
default	10:18:57.590246 +0800	kernel	Invalid Register Offset: 0xc0500198 >= 0x40000.
default	10:18:57.590270 +0800	kernel	Invalid Register Offset: 0xc0500198 >= 0x40000.
default	10:18:57.590294 +0800	kernel	Invalid Register Offset: 0xc0500198 >= 0x40000.
default	10:18:57.875080 +0800	kernel	AGC:: *******> PEG powerup took: 0.390s

that was always in Console on freeze moment.

And I have disabled: System Preferences -> Energy Saver -> Automatic Graphics switching

Finally 2nd day no freezes.

I hope thats help.

I tried so many things; Time machine restore, clean reinstall, SSD Firmware (No updates), New partition, Flushing caches, Resetting PRAM & Reset SMC.... etc.

However finally I resolved the problem by upgrading RAM. My ram was 8GB, it stopped on every right click on any program. However, now I don't see any beach ball after upgrading it to 24GB.

Hope it helps some people too.

So I have some good news to report finally =)... I have a iMac (Retina 4K, 21.5-inch, Late 2015) with 16 GB 1867 MHz DDR3 & An APPLE SSD SM0512G.. I think I finally found the source of my problem & it was software... For me it was Internet Protection Powered by McAfee via Optimum.. After I uninstalled that program I am going on 6 days without a single freeze and my computer is finally working the way a Mac should work =)

Hi i was facing the same problem after updating from Mojave 10.14.1 to 10.14.4, My track pad stops working the Key board stops working and the entire Screen freezes. I tried Resetting the VRAM and trying to get into the Recovery but neither the Keyboard nor the mouse would respond on startup.

So i got an external wireless mouse and an wired keyboard and was able to get into the recovery mode using those .

After that i used the Time Machine Backup and presto everything started working fine.

Tried the upgrade again and the same Problem.

So Again used the time Machine and my Mac is fine Now .

So i Have decided not to Upgrade at the Moment.

I'm Using Macbook pro early 2015.

I have been having this problem and after process of elimination and research looks like disabling Google File Stream solves the problem. Many others saying the same thing. This is a total drag as I use Google Drive all day and have to use Cloud version only.

Considering downgrading O/S so I can work as I used to.

post etrecheck as old toad suggested above.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/8565872?answerId=250507532022#250507532022

I tried pulling all my external drives out of Spotlight. It reduced the time taken before unfreezing (as I mentioned before, as long as I didn't touch any keys or make any mouse clicks) by around 50% (down to around 1.5 minutes). In my case as McAfee Real-time Scan seems to be the critical factor this would make some sense as with the Real-time Scan disabled then changes to Accessibility settings are instantaneous regardless of what I have in Spotlight...

zero, don't believe I had faulty RAM, simply did not have enough to handle the use of high-gigs apps, and or, the APFS system that started with High Sierra. I doubled the RAM from 16 G to 32 G, and doing that has stopped the freezing/re-starting. I am running Mojave 10.14.3 on my late 2015 iMac. Etrecheck and others have noted that Apple will no longer support 32bit apps in future OS. I do have 32 bit Adobe Elements apps, and a few associated with my Fujitsu scanner, and I would assume that they will update those apps to 64 bits in the near future.

i think many people jumping in the forum all saying the same thing is way unlikely

i've had a 2012 mini, a 2013, a 2015, an iphone. none of them every had a problem apple caused. (a few i caused, and one that a computer aide design app caused that the CAD company quickly fixed)

Log in as "Guest" user. see if you still have issues. If not, then your problem is /Users/you/Library, and you should look into how to deal with that without loosing your personal data that might be in there.

If you do still have issues. there are tons of articles on communities about solving freeze issues and what causes them. All of them end up caused by the user or software and very very very rarely the hardware, and never that i heard - apple's os - haven't once seen it confirmed as a cause of what is mentioned all above.

If the above didn't work, factory restore always does (if your hardware isn't damaged). BACKUP YOUR IMPORTANT FILES so that you can restore them. back them up in two different ways (time machine, and maybe thumb too). factory reset your devices. check things are now working. restore your files

etrecheck?

""Payment information collected on the etrecheck.com web site: We use an external payment processor to handle all license purchases. ""

I do not suggest etrecheck because it is not in App Store and users cannot say for sure if the binary does not have viruses in it, nor can Apple help them - because it is not in the App Store. i cannot find the source code i cannot tell you if the binary is repeatable from the source or might contain viruses and that worries me. at one time the etrecheck author posted source however i no longer see it available.

etrecheck is continually pushed in this forum, and it's time the author get in app store (and under it's license, and binary submitted to apple servrers), or stop pushing this "binary" in apple communities

ETRECHECK used to be free. i very much doubt Apple knows the author is continually pushing to sell a product in communities - they likely believe it is still free. (i believe they do not allow software sales pushes in their community help forums, no other company i know of would allow it)

Boot into Safe Mode, Use safe mode to isolate issues with your Mac, and run for a bit to see if you freeze there. Then reboot normally and check again.

NOTE: Safe Mode boot can take up to 10 minutes as it's doing some system cache cleaning, volume verifying and directory repairing.

If that doesn't help 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.

Use the Add Text button to include the report in your reply:

Before running Etrecheck also assign Full Disk Access to Etrecheck so that it can get additional information from the Console and log files for the report: