Late 2013 13" Retina MacBook Pro freezing and resetting GPU

[mikiotty]

Hi everyone!
I've had this problem since May 2014. I already replaced one logic board and the problem is still there.
Sometimes, mainly when I'm surfing the web, the MacBook suddenly freezes and only the mouse stays responsive, but I can't click or anything. Everything else in the system is totally frozen.
After 15/20 seconds, the Mac slowly goes back to normal executing all the inputs I gave when it was frozen, and after a few minutes, it starts freezing again until I shut it down and reboot.
I already reset the SMC and everything, reinstalled the OS at least 8 times (Mavericks, Yosemite, El Capitan) so it's not OS related.

I managed to save 2 crash logs, which appeared one 10 seconds after the other. I'll upload them here.

Should I take the Mac to the Genius Bar and get the second logic board replacement? I'm sick of this Mac, it's been at the Genius Bar 5 times in less than 2 years, and the main problem is still here.
What could be the cause this time?

Thank you!

 

[treekram]

Note to those who download the OP's zip file. It has resource fork files (__MACOSX). I deleted it before unzipping. This is mainly an annoyance, not a problem.

In any case, the files in the zip is the GPU Restart logs, which tend not to be very helpful. I'll put the header of one of the two logs below.

Also note that this is the 13" MBP, which does not have the discrete GPU and as such was not covered by the repair extension program.

I would tend to think it's a hardware issue - but it could be software. It would help to know what browser you use. Is there any pattern to what you're doing on the web when the GPU restart happens? Also the times this happens when you're not using a browser, are you viewing a video - if yes, what program do you use? You might try disabling hardware acceleration - this has to be done on a program by program basis - you can do a Google search - listing the instructions here without knowing what programs you use is a bit of work.


GPU restart header:

Thu Dec 24 10:07:15 2015

Event: GPU Reset
Date/Time: Thu Dec 24 10:07:15 2015
Application:
Path:
OS Version: Mac OS X Version 10.11.2 (Build 15C50)
Graphics Hardware: Intel Iris
Signature: 8801

Report Data:

===========================================================================
Intel GPU Hang Summary
version 1.0.0
===========================================================================

-- Summary of Status for ALL Rings --
MAIN Ring is idle
MEDIA Ring is waiting on a semaphore
BLT Ring is waiting on a semaphore
VEBOX Ring is waiting on a semaphore
===========================================================================
Essential Ring Registers
===========================================================================

-- MAIN Ring --
RING_HEAD = 0x000000c8 (offset = 0x000000c8, wrap count = 0, wait_for_cond = 0x0)
RING_TAIL = 0x000000c8 (offset = 0x000000c8)
RING_START = 0x10205000 (offset = 0x10205000)
RING_CTRL = 0x000ff001 (enabled, auto report disabled (0x00), not waiting, semaphore not waiting, length = 0x100 4KB pages)

... etc. ...

 

[zepman]

The freezes have happen to me too. I also have a Late 2013 MBP.
Every time I experienced the freezes I have been watching some video on Youtube (html5) in Safari. Therefore I have assumed it's a software problem. Restarting Safari has usually fixed it. Some times it has reoccured after a short time, then a restart of the computer has fixed it.
I have not experienced the freezes very frequently and only on OS X El Capitan.

Edit: To clarify; I have a 13" rMBP. I only use Safari. No other browsers installed. I do not have Flash installed.

 

[treekram]

So if the problems of the 2 posters are the same, it's less likely to be a hardware issue. FWIW, I had a GPU restart early when I upgraded to El Capitan and I don't think I have any hardware issues so the GPU restart can be software-related. The thing about graphics problems with the 2013 13" (late or early) rMBP is that in web searches, the results will show predominantly the known discrete GPU problems of the 15" models. You may specify 13-inch, but a lot of the articles will say "the 13-inch doesn't have the same issues" so it will be included in the results. A determined person may be willing and able to sort through the results.

In any case, with Safari I haven't found a way to disable hardware acceleration Safari-wide. You can do it for certain 2D/3D pages (these would be used in some animations, not typical videos). Flash may be an issue, but I also don't know that there's any way you can actually play a Flash video from YouTube on the current Safari.

Do either of you have Firefox (or another browser) and if so, does the problem occur there? You can disable hardware acceleration in Firefox. In the Firefox menu, go to "Preferences", then "Advanced" in the left dock and then uncheck "Use hardware acceleration when available".

Maybe a Flash video is creeping in somewhere. You'd have to disable Flash for each browser to find out or uninstall Flash altogether. To disable Flash in Safari, from the Safari menu, select "Preferences", then "Internet plug-ins". Press "Plug-in Settings" and uncheck "Adobe Flash Player" in the left dock.

With my 2012 Mini, there is sometimes a problem with YouTube videos in Firefox - you can get a flashing stripe if you have hardware acceleration enabled. With Safari, this hasn't been a problem until recently (only since 10.11.2) where one video made this happen. I should have recorded the URL of the video for further diagnosis. (FWIW, the 2012 Mini and the late 2013 MBP have different graphics hardware but if it's a YouTube issue, maybe the solution is common for both.)

 

[mikiotty]

Yep, exactly the same problem in the same circumstances, except that restarting Safari doesn't fix the issue for me. I have to restart the entire OS.
Guess I'll stop using Safari then. Thank you!