Safari keeps crashing in rMPB and trackpad woes

SoldOnApple · Feb 26, 2013, 04:50 AM

I'm guessing it's a hardware problem, because I keep hearing about people keeping 50+ tabs open on their Windows computers, but it seems like 10 is enough to crash Safari. When I open it again, it loads right away and loads up the tabs up to the lat 30 seconds or so before the crash, as well as logging me out and erasing all fields. I've since adjusted my browsing habits by keeping a folder on the desktop full of TextEdit files, so when I am in the middle of filling a long field, I can periodically copy and paste it into the TextEdit file. Then, when Safari crashes I don't lose what I was writing. I also started using 1Password as a fix for being signed out of all my tabs, so then all login fields are filled instantly.

But people that see me work have started commenting and FaceBook friends are all thinking that I have a spotty internet connection. The machine is in perfect working order otherwise, except for a few issues with some apps that refuse to open unless I restart the machine.

And also the trackpad. It keeps jumping around erratically, and for some reason when I look in a list of files in Finder, it keeps jumping to the top, so my fix for that has been to keep jolting my fingers up and down while browsing a list, to stop it from bouncing up by itself. Also when just typing, the mouse will move by itself, I suspect palm rejection isn't working. Other odd mouse behaviour too.

I don't really know what to do about it. I've bad a string of bad luck with Apple products, I had a screen defect on my Air, camera defect on my iPad 2, my magic magnet cover for iPad 3 had some weird defect where it scratched off some of the coating on the iPad, I had a MacBook with a cracked keyboard case because of a defect in the design. But because there is no Apple Store in my city, and none of the authorised repair guys even want to know you, I never got them fixed and the included warranty period on all of them expired before I got around to figuring out how to claim on them. Now there is an Apple Store coming to my city in a few weeks, so is this something I need to bring it in for? Are these common problems for the rMBP, or is it just me? I feel conflicted because this computer is absolutely beautiful, even if the GPU is underpowered considering the screen resolution, it's still easily the computer I have ever owned. There is no going back to anything less beautiful than this now. It's just far less functional than my old Air or MacBook was, with the crashing and trackpad problems. Even my old PPC Macs were more stable. I'm not a rich person at all, so I get kind of cheesed off when there's problems with all the Apple stuff I buy, but I just keep buying it.

MacKid · Feb 26, 2013, 07:04 AM

What sites are you visiting?

What else are you doing with your computer when Safari crashes?

Do you feel Safari slowing down before it crashes?

Do you occasionally touch your trackpad with damp or wet fingers?

When you order Apple products that turn out to have manufacturing defects, you don't have to return them through an Apple Store. You can mail them back to the Apple Online Store. This is little comfort if you're outside of your 14-day window, but you shouldn't feel completely helpless if your computer arrives and has glaring flaws or is unusable.

MikesGravity · Feb 26, 2013, 01:39 PM

It's most likely the flash that is running within those tabs that are crashing it. Chrome is more stable IMO

SoldOnApple · Feb 26, 2013, 05:56 PM

I'll try clicktoflash.

Safari doesn't seem to run all that slow, even before a crash. The only thing that is slow is adding a bookmark, which can take ~20 seconds sometimes.

I'm usually playing music, have some PDFs and Finder windows open.

As for the trackpad, sometimes when I am drinking something I get a bit of condensation on my fingers, but I use that to clean the dirt off the trackpad. The most annoying problem, is that on my old Air I used to type things in the URL bar at the top. In fact, Safari doesn't even have a search bar anymore, it's all built into the search bar. But when typing things, it seems to somehow click "return" or something (even though I don't), meaning only the first few letters of what I type get searched for, meaning I have to keep fighting for it, or just wait for Google to load so I can retype my search term.

Now that I think about, Safari on my rMBP does seem to run pretty slow. Chrome runs quicker on it, but it doesn't have the gestures that I like in Safari. The two finger "back" gesture is THE BEST.

MacKid · Feb 26, 2013, 06:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SoldOnApple

I'll try clicktoflash.

Safari doesn't seem to run all that slow, even before a crash. The only thing that is slow is adding a bookmark, which can take ~20 seconds sometimes.

I'm usually playing music, have some PDFs and Finder windows open.

As for the trackpad, sometimes when I am drinking something I get a bit of condensation on my fingers, but I use that to clean the dirt off the trackpad. The most annoying problem, is that on my old Air I used to type things in the URL bar at the top. In fact, Safari doesn't even have a search bar anymore, it's all built into the search bar. But when typing things, it seems to somehow click "return" or something (even though I don't), meaning only the first few letters of what I type get searched for, meaning I have to keep fighting for it, or just wait for Google to load so I can retype my search term.

Now that I think about, Safari on my rMBP does seem to run pretty slow. Chrome runs quicker on it, but it doesn't have the gestures that I like in Safari. The two finger "back" gesture is THE BEST.

If Safari doesn't gradually slow down over several minutes before crashing, that implies there's a faulty plug-in (or something equally specific, and possibly reproducible) at play.

Getting any liquid on your trackpad is a surefire way to make it spaz out for 5 to 10 minutes. If it's enough water that you'd be able to smear/swipe it around, it'll make your trackpad stutter and jump all over the place. If you need to clean your computer, take the opportunity while it's turned off.

I agree that it's annoying when Finder search refreshes and it returns you to the top of the list.

cbs20 · Feb 26, 2013, 06:59 PM

Safari in Mountain Lion sucks and I had the same issue with my current retina and my early 2011 13inch. Some reason when opening new tabs (when you already have a lot of tabs open) causes a crash, but all tabs reopen. I recommend using webkit http://www.webkit.org. It is Safari with updates. It will also resolve the scroll lag on the retina.

SoldOnApple · 03:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cbs20

Safari in Mountain Lion sucks and I had the same issue with my current retina and my early 2011 13inch. Some reason when opening new tabs (when you already have a lot of tabs open) causes a crash, but all tabs reopen. I recommend using webkit http://www.webkit.org. It is Safari with updates. It will also resolve the scroll lag on the retina.

I've never heard of webkit, but it sounds good. I'll install it shortly. Does it help with bookmarking? I have a lot of bookmarks, all in folders under the Bookmarks menu.

EDIT: It's not worth it if you rely on extensions like Lastpass.

cbs20 · Feb 27, 2013, 10:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SoldOnApple

I've never heard of webkit, but it sounds good. I'll install it shortly. Does it help with bookmarking? I have a lot of bookmarks, all in folders under the Bookmarks menu.

I don't know what you mean by does it help with bookmarking, but it will have all data that you have in safari including bookmarks. The only problem is your icloud open webpages doesn't work and some extensions aren't compatible.

Feb 26, 2013, 04:50 AM	#1
SoldOnApple macrumors member Join Date: Jul 2011	Safari keeps crashing in rMPB and trackpad woes I'm guessing it's a hardware problem, because I keep hearing about people keeping 50+ tabs open on their Windows computers, but it seems like 10 is enough to crash Safari. When I open it again, it loads right away and loads up the tabs up to the lat 30 seconds or so before the crash, as well as logging me out and erasing all fields. I've since adjusted my browsing habits by keeping a folder on the desktop full of TextEdit files, so when I am in the middle of filling a long field, I can periodically copy and paste it into the TextEdit file. Then, when Safari crashes I don't lose what I was writing. I also started using 1Password as a fix for being signed out of all my tabs, so then all login fields are filled instantly. But people that see me work have started commenting and FaceBook friends are all thinking that I have a spotty internet connection. The machine is in perfect working order otherwise, except for a few issues with some apps that refuse to open unless I restart the machine. And also the trackpad. It keeps jumping around erratically, and for some reason when I look in a list of files in Finder, it keeps jumping to the top, so my fix for that has been to keep jolting my fingers up and down while browsing a list, to stop it from bouncing up by itself. Also when just typing, the mouse will move by itself, I suspect palm rejection isn't working. Other odd mouse behaviour too. I don't really know what to do about it. I've bad a string of bad luck with Apple products, I had a screen defect on my Air, camera defect on my iPad 2, my magic magnet cover for iPad 3 had some weird defect where it scratched off some of the coating on the iPad, I had a MacBook with a cracked keyboard case because of a defect in the design. But because there is no Apple Store in my city, and none of the authorised repair guys even want to know you, I never got them fixed and the included warranty period on all of them expired before I got around to figuring out how to claim on them. Now there is an Apple Store coming to my city in a few weeks, so is this something I need to bring it in for? Are these common problems for the rMBP, or is it just me? I feel conflicted because this computer is absolutely beautiful, even if the GPU is underpowered considering the screen resolution, it's still easily the computer I have ever owned. There is no going back to anything less beautiful than this now. It's just far less functional than my old Air or MacBook was, with the crashing and trackpad problems. Even my old PPC Macs were more stable. I'm not a rich person at all, so I get kind of cheesed off when there's problems with all the Apple stuff I buy, but I just keep buying it.
	0

Feb 26, 2013, 01:39 PM	#3
MikesGravity macrumors regular Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Southeast MI	It's most likely the flash that is running within those tabs that are crashing it. Chrome is more stable IMO __________________ 15" Retina Macbook Pro iPhone5 black 32GB Airport Extreme / 2x AppleTV / iPod Classic 80GB
	0

Thread Tools	Search this Thread
Show Printable Version Email this Page	Search this Thread: Advanced Search
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode

Feb 26, 2013, 07:04 AM	#2
MacKid macrumors 6502 Join Date: Jan 2003	What sites are you visiting? What else are you doing with your computer when Safari crashes? Do you feel Safari slowing down before it crashes? Do you occasionally touch your trackpad with damp or wet fingers? When you order Apple products that turn out to have manufacturing defects, you don't have to return them through an Apple Store. You can mail them back to the Apple Online Store. This is little comfort if you're outside of your 14-day window, but you shouldn't feel completely helpless if your computer arrives and has glaring flaws or is unusable.
	0

Feb 26, 2013, 05:56 PM	#4
SoldOnApple Thread Starter macrumors member Join Date: Jul 2011	I'll try clicktoflash. Safari doesn't seem to run all that slow, even before a crash. The only thing that is slow is adding a bookmark, which can take ~20 seconds sometimes. I'm usually playing music, have some PDFs and Finder windows open. As for the trackpad, sometimes when I am drinking something I get a bit of condensation on my fingers, but I use that to clean the dirt off the trackpad. The most annoying problem, is that on my old Air I used to type things in the URL bar at the top. In fact, Safari doesn't even have a search bar anymore, it's all built into the search bar. But when typing things, it seems to somehow click "return" or something (even though I don't), meaning only the first few letters of what I type get searched for, meaning I have to keep fighting for it, or just wait for Google to load so I can retype my search term. Now that I think about, Safari on my rMBP does seem to run pretty slow. Chrome runs quicker on it, but it doesn't have the gestures that I like in Safari. The two finger "back" gesture is THE BEST.
	0

Feb 26, 2013, 06:59 PM	#6
cbs20 macrumors newbie Join Date: Feb 2013	Safari in Mountain Lion sucks and I had the same issue with my current retina and my early 2011 13inch. Some reason when opening new tabs (when you already have a lot of tabs open) causes a crash, but all tabs reopen. I recommend using webkit http://www.webkit.org. It is Safari with updates. It will also resolve the scroll lag on the retina.
	0