Since updating to OS Mojave's my Apple mac keeps on freezing 😠. Is there any way to stop this?
MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Mid 2014), Mojave
Alas. So much for the easy solution.
This list (https://www.macworld.co.uk/feature/mac-software/apps-work-macos-mojave-3678735/) might point you to some trouble spots among the big software contenders, but it's worth noting I have a pretty good spread of many of the apps listed there (CS5, Word 2011, etc), and none of them crash or burn, nor do they contribute to any slowdowns on my Air. The trouble I was having on my Mini appears to have been due entirely to a failing HD.
That is the next thing to check, by the way. Run Disk Utility on your drives and see if any of them report problems in the SMART status (bottom left of the table of info here):
If it says anything other than "Verified", you'll need to replace the drive soon.
In addition to that, run over your Mac with a fine-tooth comb. If there's any third-party stuff loading in your system menu, or anything loading under "Login Items" with your user account, make sure it's up to date. Also, older software that was not cleanly uninstalled might have left something behind that's interfering with your system now — though tracking that down might be extraordinarily difficult.
Some third-party apps require you to disable SIP (system integrity protection) to install and run. If you don't remember ever booting to recovery and entering this command in the Terminal:
csrutil disable
…then you probably don't have any such software on your machine. Nevertheless, try loading Terminal (you don't have to reboot to do this) and enter this command:
csrutil status
If you see anything other than "System Integrity Protection status: enabled.", you'll need to boot to recovery, select Terminal from the Utilities menu, and enter this command:
csrutil enable
…Followed by a reboot. You can only enable or disable SIP from recovery. You can't do it from safe boot or even via sudo.
Among other things, SIP keeps permissions on files and folders what they ought to be. If those permissions get munged, some programs (and possibly macOS itself) might have trouble functioning.
Do you have a third-party peripheral, such as a keyboard, mouse, printer, scanner, or some other hardware element? Confirm its drivers are up to date.
If you have Flash, make sure it's the most recent version. (Check it via the Flash Player item in System Preferences; if it's not there, you probably don't have Flash.) I got a system dialog today telling me the Flash updater daemon was 32-bit, not 64-bit, and so I needed to run an update (the default is for it to auto-update, but I turned that off years ago). Apps that have daemon programs like that, running in the background periodically, are likely suspects in quietly causing trouble in a largely-untraceable way.
Also, take a look at Font Book and see if there are any fonts listed that appear to be damaged or poorly coded. Problematic ones should show the yellow caution triangle next to them in the fonts list. Consider turning those off, or removing them, if there are any.
I've seen problems like software-extension incompatibility before, and it always results in unpredictable system performance somewhere. The trick always is finding out which program is the source of the problem. You've probably seen EtreCheck referenced in other posts in this forum. It might be worth running a report on your machine, seeing if there's anything noted in it, and removing the problematic software, if any.
in addition, the fact that the company has not at least made forward facing statements regarding the issues with their products, and instead now practice the ‘fix it behind the scenes and don’t say anything about it’ .... just not willing to sign up for that.
I know that is weird but to me it is 99.9% sure it not exclusively related to Mojave.
I know that, because when I updated to the latest High Sierra (10.13.6) from 10.13.3 I got the exact same freezing-beachballing bug. So Apple has BACKPORTED the issue!
As I've seen in the thread the issue might be hardware specific, but it is weird that different Macbooks from 2012 to 2018 might all share the same hardware problem.
Did you try to go to customer service with that issue? I have AppleCare but I am afraid that they would not replace my Macbook, because their tests would pass and what can I do after that? Stay in the store and wait until it freezes? Any ideas? I am desperate.
i have experience with this issue since sierra. so you’re probably right its not mojave specific.
between all that’s changed under the hood, which is hard to determine except for the change in file system - could be one factor or another or many together.
hard to isolate this source and thats what really ticks me off. the logs dont show anything because nothing is recorded from the moment of binding to the point the user forces a restart.
Since sierra? That is weird? Which version? I mean does it happen to you (on sierra) since mojave came out? Because the first time it broke for me is 10.13.6 (might be 10.13.4, did not try it explicitly) - which is available from Jul 9, 2018.
dont recall exactly which version of sierra, but do recall that was whenabouts general freezing and hiccups started. it was not until mojave where the frequency got so noticable that its a problem.
before sierra i really enjoyed using macOS on the mbp, it was mostly trouble-free.
What's the longest period anyone has waited before re-starting? As I've reported in the past I have identified one specific action that always causes an immediate freeze, and as long as I don't do any further actions the system unfreezes (after a couple of minutes), the task completes and then everything goes back to normal - but if I start hitting keys while frozen the system still unfreezes eventually and implements all of the keystrokes made during the freeze (which can be very messy).
in my case, elements on the screen slowly disappear and it does not restart. just stays in limbo.
i recommend you keep backups of your stuff. not wise to put all eggs in the apfs basket.
if anyone knows how to access the full el capitan installer .... i would def go back to that. i would say most ppl could care less about apfs to begin with, if it's causing these problems, i'd want to get off of it
zero7404. Noted above and computer still freezing, restarting after a minute or two, when using multiple applications. Noticed that occurrence always when scrolling quickly. Happened with all of my Photo's, Aperture and iPhoto apps. Happened with MS Office Excel, Adobe Elements, printing (HP), games (Full Deck Solitaire),Disk Utility. No freeze noted on Safari, MalwareBytes, AppleMail, or saving documents to folders. Is this a graphics problem? File system problem? Spoke with Apple tech, and he maintained that either all of the previous solutions I have tried caused the problem, or 3rd party app's are the problem. First time called Apple about this, and it will be the last time.
im wondering what the practical benefit of apfs actually is.
its moving files pretty quickly, but other than that is likely presenting problems to the user.
i guess thats a free ‘gift’ from apple when you spend several k on a spec’ed out mac. lol.
"I disabled Spotlight indexing of HD, both external HDs. [...] reenabled Spotlight indexing of the HDs."
What is the purpose here? How did you do that step by step?
"Today I slowed mouse, slowed down scrolling in all apps."
How do you mean that? Could you please tell step by step?
"Thankfully, none of activity today was interrupted."
Is it still OK?
also keep in mind, html5 is replacing flash and metal is replacing opengl
i frequently get flashing ‘rips/tears’ across my screen when a safari window is open on the desktop and im browsing a site.
i’ve uninstalled adobe flash completely from my mbp.
cannot do much else in the way of opengl and metal interoperability
i did not touch my efi part, not sure if others in this thread have ....
dont see how its related to the issue here, that partition is not interacting with the os during normal use.
concerning backups and images, i used to use clonezilla to capture all my partitions verbatim and it worked well .... however since the introduction of apfs, i instead decided to resort to time machine for macos-side and use a different tool for windows-side backups.
just for fun, i was messing around and decided to revert back to the original mavericks that came with my computer.
from there i upgraded to high sierra and prevented apfs conversion by using terminal to initiate the install.
so now on high sierra with hfs+
i plan to stay on it, do not want to introduce opengl issues by installing mojave.
not much luck with this config (High Sierra with HFS+) ... to date i've encountered 4 freezes.
given the file system is NOT APFS anywhere on my SSD or anything else that I connect to this computer - I would rule out APFS as the issue - even though it is probably far from perfect. I noticed disk utility would spit weird messages when I do a first-aid, but conclude that my volumes had exit code 0.
so far, here are the apple-specific elements that are not the cause, according to my experiences:
apfs
flash player
spotlight
hardware
i'm at a loss to figure this out, and having gone thru the trouble of multiple installs/erases/reinstalls of macOS, I'm not willing to go back and try something like el capitan right now.
to exacerbate the problem, the logs are basically non-existent during the beach balling and freezing.
many ppl will cry ‘conspiracy theory’ to what youre suggesting, but its believable honestly, given the company’s behavior in recent years in the absence of Jobs.
i guess the moniker ‘you get what you pay for’ is not holding true for this niche brand.
i would have liked to have replaceable ram, but alas i have a macbook pro and that is only possible with a logic board swap. i may consider that as new models they offer just dont appeal anymore in the wake of all those defects apple wont even compensate their customers for.
Mac Os Mojave freezes
