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16 inch MacBook Pro freezing?

Mx2323

Mx2323

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 16, 2019
3
0
Boulder, CO
Has anyone else in the past week had their new 16 inch MacBook Pro freeze on them?

when it happens, it’s like the screen freezes completely, but the Touch Bar and the speakers are still going... I have to hold the touchID button down And hard restart the laptop.

It has happened to me a couple times during zoom calls - but tonight it happened even though I didn’t even have the zoom app open...

Anyone else...? Seems to only have started the past week
 
Mein freezes randomly, after a few seconds the screen goes dark, then the fan gives a sudden turbo, finally it restarts itself. Several times already, no rules can be found. Staff from apple told me there is a conflict zwischen apps. So I have uninstalled all apps, but the problem is still there. After updating the latest version of Catalina, frustrating that the problem is not resolved. Yesterday I returned my new macbook. I think I should have to wait a little while
 
I have a 2019 15” mbp that froze on me last night. It restarted on its own and when I ran the terminal command to see the shutdown cause, it gave a code -20. I tried finding what this code means to no avail. It was running 10.15.2 when it happened.

I also have a 2019 mba that restarted on its own while it was sleeping. That one was running 10.15.1. I’m baffled by the instability of Catalina. Never had these issues while on Mojave on either of them.
 
I have this issue as well.

16-inch MBP. 32GB RAM // 2.3GHz 8-core // 2TB // 5500M 8GB // Catalina 10.15.2
I migrated from my previous machine, which was a 2012 15" rMBP.

Anything in common so far? @Mx2323
 
I have had this issue once one day after receive my MBP 16. I called Apple phone support and they ask me to reset NVRAM, SMC and run MBP in secure mode. Since then this issue want happen again.. yet ;)
 
I've had this exact issue since I received my laptop.

16 inch, 32GB RAM, 2.3 GHz 8-Core, 1 TB, 5500M 4GB

I found some threads on reddit and YouTube that suggested it may be related to graphics card switching, so I disabled it, but I still continue to experience freezing. The most common freezing happens for just a second or so, but can last up to 5-10 seconds or so. I've noticed that closing and reopening the lid may help wake it up during the long freezes, or maybe it's just coincidence.

Will try resetting NVRAM and SMC next. About ready to just return this thing... not happy that I spent so much on something that's less stable than my 2012 MBP, which I upgraded from.
 
Did you migrate any data from an older machine? Putting it another way, did any of the freezes occur on a fresh install without migrating data from an older machine?

Could be a graphics driver bug.
 
@topcat001 This was on a fresh install unfortunately. I had heard some issues people experience with migration, and I think a new machine is a good time for a fresh start anyway, so I did a clean install!

Did an NVRAM and SMC reset just now, will be sure to update if I see any more freezing.
 
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Huh, have been using it for many hours now and I haven't noticed any freezing at all! Will of course post back if that changes, but I'm considering this fixed (for now) thanks to the NVRAM and SMC resets.
 
Same issues here. So ridiculous, on my 3rd machine.

Some quick fixes:
Amphetamine - Keeps your mac awake but allows screen to sleep. Stops a lot of freezes.

Recovery from freeze - sometimes after freezing, you can close the lid, wait 5 seconds, open it and the macbook is unfrozen.

Bootcamp - for some reason Windows 10 seems to run for days without a restart, so if you need stability out of the system while apple sort themselves out, maybe consider a bootcamp install.

Again, this is totally ridiculous.

Here is a video of my GPU making my screen flicker rapidly, video sent to apple.


Some other forums discussing the same issue:
Reddit - 16 inch freezes
Apple Forums - Macbook Pro 2019 16" freezing
Apple Forums - GPU Panic
Apple Forums - BAD MAGIC! (flag set in iBoot panic header)
 
insited said:
Same issues here. So ridiculous, on my 3rd machine.

Some quick fixes:
Amphetamine - Keeps your mac awake but allows screen to sleep. Stops a lot of freezes.

Recovery from freeze - sometimes after freezing, you can close the lid, wait 5 seconds, open it and the macbook is unfrozen.

Bootcamp - for some reason Windows 10 seems to run for days without a restart, so if you need stability out of the system while apple sort themselves out, maybe consider a bootcamp install.

Again, this is totally ridiculous.

Here is a video of my GPU making my screen flicker rapidly, video sent to apple.


Some other forums discussing the same issue:
Reddit - 16 inch freezes
Apple Forums - Macbook Pro 2019 16" freezing
Apple Forums - GPU Panic
Apple Forums - BAD MAGIC! (flag set in iBoot panic header)
Click to expand...
The freezing in OP sounds different from Bad Magic which is a kernel panic where the fans make a loud wooshing noise and then it restarts. So far it happened once on my 16 in in about a month of ownership. No one can tell if this is Catalina or the T2 or what else. Lack of communication is very annoying.
 
i ve MacBook Pro 16 1 tb thats freezing too.
when I try to open it , it freezes.
i ve installed this apps. I think one or two of them may cause this. I m suspicious about Kaspersky internet security and adguard.
i formatted MacBook Pro. and installed everything again. and after 2 day it s same freezing.
I add the apps installed screenshot below



my second issue is about "Macintosh HD- Data" drive.

when I tried to format MacBook. it showed 2 hard disks. 1. Macintosh hd(as usual) . 2. Macintosh HD- Data.
I tried to delete Macintosh HD- Data ,but it didn't allowed.
now when I start MacBook Pro it asks for a password for Macintosh hd.
what do I have to do ? is it a new feature?
[automerge]1580552303[/automerge]
insited said:
Same issues here. So ridiculous, on my 3rd machine.



Recovery from freeze - sometimes after freezing, you can close the lid, wait 5 seconds, open it and the macbook is unfrozen.
Click to expand...

this. when close the lid and wait 5 seconds. I can open without unfrozen.
what do you think? is there a solution for this problem?I think it s a general problem
 

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fulhamx5 said:
i ve MacBook Pro 16 1 tb thats freezing too.
when I try to open it , it freezes.
i ve installed this apps. I think one or two of them may cause this. I m suspicious about Kaspersky internet security and adguard.
i formatted MacBook Pro. and installed everything again. and after 2 day it s same freezing.
I add the apps installed screenshot below



my second issue is about "Macintosh HD- Data" drive.

when I tried to format MacBook. it showed 2 hard disks. 1. Macintosh hd(as usual) . 2. Macintosh HD- Data.
I tried to delete Macintosh HD- Data ,but it didn't allowed.
now when I start MacBook Pro it asks for a password for Macintosh hd.
what do I have to do ? is it a new feature?
[automerge]1580552303[/automerge]


this. when close the lid and wait 5 seconds. I can open without unfrozen.
what do you think? is there a solution for this problem?I think it s a general problem
Click to expand...
Don't know about the freezing, but the two partitions is part of Catalina. It's a security feature - one partition for the OS one for your personal data. I would just reformat and restore from a backup if you ended up deleting the data, but you should probably contact apple support.
 
Same problem here. My brand new Macbook pro 16" (i7, 5300m, 32gb) screen keeps freezing, anywhere from a few seconds to full-on frozen, needing a hard shutdown-restart.

This happens randomly, sometimes it's fine for a few days, sometimes it freezes several times a day. Happens on all Catalina versions. been formatted a couple of times already, vram reset, all that stuff. sent it to be repaired, came back after 10 days after 'they found nothing wrong with it' and on the third day of using it froze several times.

Apple c'mon... long time customer, both on business front and personal. your products used to stand for the highest quality, now you release half baked prototypes as market ready?



videos:

 
Alon Meiri said:
Same problem here. My brand new Macbook pro 16" (i7, 5300m, 32gb) screen keeps freezing, anywhere from a few seconds to full-on frozen, needing a hard shutdown-restart.

This happens randomly, sometimes it's fine for a few days, sometimes it freezes several times a day. Happens on all Catalina versions. been formatted a couple of times already, vram reset, all that stuff. sent it to be repaired, came back after 10 days after 'they found nothing wrong with it' and on the third day of using it froze several times.

Apple c'mon... long time customer, both on business front and personal. your products used to stand for the highest quality, now you release half baked prototypes as market ready?



videos:

Click to expand...

That’s crazy. Good luck, I hope you get it resolved.
 
Mx2323 said:
Has anyone else in the past week had their new 16 inch MacBook Pro freeze on them?

when it happens, it’s like the screen freezes completely, but the Touch Bar and the speakers are still going... I have to hold the touchID button down And hard restart the laptop.

It has happened to me a couple times during zoom calls - but tonight it happened even though I didn’t even have the zoom app open...

Anyone else...? Seems to only have started the past week
Click to expand...

Happens to me but never noticed the speakers or anything else still working. Happens while browsing mostly.

Can not duplicate it and last night I noticed closing lid and reopening allowed it to go back to normal.

Must check log files next time to see if any hint what’s up with this freezing.

Real PIA when it freezes as I’m not usually doing anything taxing to machine at time. Also no external monitor or any app running that isn’t part of OS running when it happens. Though I'm setting up Activity Monitor to run at start to help with troubleshooting this.

2.4/32gb/8gb/2tb Space Grey (bought 1/18/20) Catalina 10.15.3 I do believe it came with 10.15.2? {As I did gave to update at first opening}. Clean install from start. Did a fresh OS install last week.

***problem wise on this laptop freezing is the one issue that pisses me off along with being a confounding problem***

----Fixed my issue regarding Safari/mbp short intermittent freezes, I installed adware add-on and Safari back to normal
 
Last edited:
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Still waiting for my replacement to be sorted, probably up to a 4 week wait with return of mine and then shipping of a new one. My main problem with all the board swaps was since Novemeber till around now I'd never been able to make a full battery cycle without the system freezing & crashing.

That destroyed the battery, diminishing over 6 months worth of total design capacity (500mAh).

Now to add insult to injury, this company forces us to only use them for repairs if there's a problem. I'd imagine going by this article, same goes for the macbook pro. Imagine spending $100,000 for their top tier mac pro and having these issues:

www.techradar.com

Apple probably doesn’t know how to fix your broken Mac Pro

Report reveals staff are not adequately trained to deal with problems
www.techradar.com www.techradar.com

Is this bad magic or a bad joke. Company seems to have trashed itself with arrogance and blaming users. I bet the staff from this article were met with Apple's company policy of softness & acceptance, 'it's not your fault, all our users are idiots for even buying this stuff'.
 
I'm also curious to know how many users that get a board replacement or full replacement are truly having their issue resolved or have 'given up' and will just be a random complainer here and there.

From my perspective I'm metephorically reaching in to the phone and twisting apple's ear and saying 'oi khunt, I just paid you thousands of dollars for this and you're giving me a machine that works. stop blaming me for your ********.'

And by 'works' I mean something that doesn't freeze or restart for up to 3 months or even longer (as was my record with 2016 macbook pro on catalina with no T2 chip, then I restarted myself to install some software).
 
update: just got my MBP16 back after a logic board & top case replacement. seems like they swapped the battery too as it has 1 cycle on it, unless they just reset the cycles?. I'll report back in a few days if the freezing problem is solved.
 
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My post that was removed from Apple forums (truth hurts!):

Apply the situation to an iPhone. The software makes it constantly restart and freeze. Can't even make calls properly. You can refund that as non-functional since it's tied to the OS it comes with.

Same situation for macOS and macs. Locked in system that out the box isn't working as advertised. Hiding behind that scenario also causes actual hardware faults to get overlooked since the system itself is in such a shambles.

Buggy software from a trillion dollar company isn't an excuse and causes their products to not function as advertised (a good reason for refund under lemon law).

A fine example of this are owners of top-spec macbook pro 2018 15" machines. For 2 whole years they've had to put up with the "bad magic" bug that causes the computer to restart during sleep while something is plugged in to usb-c, basically making it unusable from a reliability perspective (main selling point of macs). No more server ops in that scenario. Apple has been telling those users the same thing..."technical team is aware of the issue and they are fixing it".

That was 2 years ago.

Apple can expect if I get my 5th replacement and it's the same I'll be doing a full refund and stepping away from what appears to be a totally arrogant company and a completely failing OS structure.

You can see here that macOS zero day vulnerabilities have spiked up to overtake Windows 10, a great sign there is no care in the system anymore, just sales and moving on to next feature regardless of how the system behaves after. Holes everywhere:

https://www.cvedetails.com/top-50-products.php

That's right! macOS is now less secure than Windows!
 
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