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Mac Mini 2018 system freeze within one hour of usage..

Hessel89

Hessel89

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Sep 27, 2017
594
328
Netherlands
Just got my new 2018 Mac Mini core i5 (literally just got back from the Apple store) and it already had it’s first system freeze within one hour of usage.. is this normal? This never happened on my 2012 MM.. I installed it as a new Mac btw. (not using a timemachine backup)

Luckily I just managed to catch it on video. here's a link.

https://twitter.com/MoneyWatcherNL/status/1072987294691459073

As you can see the screen completely froze. no spinning beachball or whatever. It didn't react to any mouse, trackpad and keyboard input for about a minute.
 
All these reports of people having so many problems with their minis make me want to cancel my order. I am really debating canceling.
 
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DomKud said:
All these reports of people having so many problems with their minis make me want to cancel my order. I am really debating canceling.
Click to expand...
Don't respond to other people's issues. You will have the opportunity to return if your machine has any problems.
I have not run into a single issue with mine and have used it every day since release. This forum is great for troubleshooting, so you will see a magnification of problems because this is a place to ask for help or complain, but that doesn't mean there is a high probability you will have problems.
 
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dmsea1 said:
Don't respond to other people's issues. You will have the opportunity to return if your machine has any problems.
I have not run into a single issue with mine and have used it every day since release. This forum is great for troubleshooting, so you will see a magnification of problems because this is a place to ask for help or complain, but that doesn't mean there is a high probability you will have problems.
Click to expand...

So you never had any freezes like this? what's your exact setup? oh another weird glitch is that when I boot it up the screen (LG Ultrafine 5K) turns black for 6/7 seconds before giving me my full desktop..
 
Hessel89 said:
So you never had any freezes like this? what's your exact setup? oh another weird glitch is that when I boot it up the screen (LG Ultrafine 5K) turns black for 6/7 seconds before giving me my full desktop..
Click to expand...
Zero freezes on my end. I have a 34" LG Curved 3440 @ 60hz Widescreen connected via HDMI-USB-C cable from Amazon and a 60" 4k Vizio TV connected to the HDMI port. My Mini is an i7/16GB/1TB setup. When I turn on the 60" TV, it will flicker for about 2-3 seconds (which I was expecting) then connects fine. I don't have it mirrored, which i heard puts pressure on the iGPU - I have it setup as a second screen. I can watch Netflix on the TV while doing music or video editing on the monitor and have not had any issues from day one. Been a very stable and very simple plug and play system for me. No scaling or resolution issues, keep it native and just zoom in when needed using Trackpad 2 -
 
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dmsea1 said:
Don't respond to other people's issues. You will have the opportunity to return if your machine has any problems.
I have not run into a single issue with mine and have used it every day since release. This forum is great for troubleshooting, so you will see a magnification of problems because this is a place to ask for help or complain, but that doesn't mean there is a high probability you will have problems.
Click to expand...

I guess. Reading the comments isn't reassuring however :|
 
Hessel89 said:
Just got my new 2018 Mac Mini core i5 (literally just got back from the Apple store) and it already had it’s first system freeze within one hour of usage.. is this normal? This never happened on my 2012 MM.. I installed it as a new Mac btw. (not using a timemachine backup)

Luckily I just managed to catch it on video. here's a link.

https://twitter.com/MoneyWatcherNL/status/1072987294691459073

As you can see the screen completely froze. no spinning beachball or whatever. It didn't react to any mouse, trackpad and keyboard input for about a minute.
Click to expand...

How much RAM does your new Mini have? If you are running more power intensive or modern professional applications I would recommend having at least 16GB system RAM. Remember that 1-2GB is generally needed for video. Mojave likes to have 4GB to run efficiently. Those applications like audio or video editing usually require 4GB minimum extra just to run well. When the system runs out of RAM it's going to be swapping memory on the SSD which is better than with a HDD spinner but still very inefficient compared to using available system RAM.
 
Hessel89 said:
Just got my new 2018 Mac Mini core i5 (literally just got back from the Apple store) and it already had it’s first system freeze within one hour of usage..
Click to expand...

Did you check the system console for clues as to what was happening?
 
SoCalReviews said:
How much RAM does your new Mini have? If you are running more power intensive or modern professional applications I would recommend having at least 16GB system RAM. Remember that 1-2GB is generally needed for video. Mojave likes to have 4GB to run efficiently. Those applications like audio or video editing usually require 4GB minimum extra just to run well. When the system runs out of RAM it's going to be swapping memory on the SSD which is better than with a HDD spinner but still very inefficient compared to using available system RAM.
Click to expand...

I know all thus but I was literally running nothing but a 3 channel Logic Pro project. That’s it!

Btw this never happened on my 2012and I’ve ran some heavy 100 channel + projects plus other apps on the background. Sometimes it would give me the spinning beachball but never an actual systemfreeze
[doublepost=1544693523][/doublepost]
HDFan said:
Did you check the system console for clues as to what was happening?
Click to expand...

No. How do I do this and what command do i type in?
[doublepost=1544693652][/doublepost]
harriska2 said:
It looks like midi software which I suspect isn’t compatible with mojave.
Click to expand...
Did you watch the video? Exact same software as on my 2012 mm. It IS compatible with mojave. The only software I’m running is Kick 2, an AU plugin.
[doublepost=1544693764][/doublepost]
dmsea1 said:
Zero freezes on my end. I have a 34" LG Curved 3440 @ 60hz Widescreen connected via HDMI-USB-C cable from Amazon and a 60" 4k Vizio TV connected to the HDMI port. My Mini is an i7/16GB/1TB setup. When I turn on the 60" TV, it will flicker for about 2-3 seconds (which I was expecting) then connects fine. I don't have it mirrored, which i heard puts pressure on the iGPU - I have it setup as a second screen. I can watch Netflix on the TV while doing music or video editing on the monitor and have not had any issues from day one. Been a very stable and very simple plug and play system for me. No scaling or resolution issues, keep it native and just zoom in when needed using Trackpad 2 -
Click to expand...

That’s great and I’m happy for you that it works without any problem. Looks like I just happen to have a faulty unit then.
 
inmnbob said:
I have the same problem ..happened again today. The device locked up (no input devices worked ) amd 30seconds later everything worked again without me doing anythign
Click to expand...

Weird right? What exact setup are you running?
Luckily it only happened once but still it doesn't give me a lot of confidence since I was actually planning on using this Mac mini for trading on thinkorswim, which will require me to act fast at certain times.
 
Hessel89 said:
Weird right? What exact setup are you running?
Luckily it only happened once but still it doesn't give me a lot of confidence since I was actually planning on using this Mac mini for trading on thinkorswim, which will require me to act fast at certain times.
Click to expand...
I am using i7/32gb/2Tb and it happens once or twice a day. Now I know to just wait a few seconds compared to rebooting
 
Haven’t had this happen with my i7 mini 32gb (2018). I use Logic Pro and Pro Tools and they both run fine.

No freezing or crashing. I love my mini!
 
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Jorbanead said:
Haven’t had this happen with my i7 mini 32gb (2018). I use Logic Pro and Pro Tools and they both run fine.

No freezing or crashing. I love my mini!
Click to expand...

seriously? You use Logic Pro X? How many channels are you using in your projects? My 2018 Mac mini is already having a hard time when I open a 50 channel (and about 300 plugins) project. it used to run fine on my Mac mini 2012! now I get audio glitches every 5 seconds or so. Definitely regret upgrading. I know I can bring it back to the store but I already bought my LG Ultrafine 5K screen in advance so I'm stuck.
 
OP:

Have you tried this yet?
1. Go to "date and time" pref pane
2. DISABLE automatic date and time updating
3. Run like this for a couple of days to see if it makes a difference

???
 
Hessel89 said:
seriously? You use Logic Pro X? How many channels are you using in your projects? My 2018 Mac mini is already having a hard time when I open a 50 channel (and about 300 plugins) project. it used to run fine on my Mac mini 2012! now I get audio glitches every 5 seconds or so. Definitely regret upgrading. I know I can bring it back to the store but I already bought my LG Ultrafine 5K screen in advance so I'm stuck.
Click to expand...

Was your old mini using Mojave?

I’ve been able to run 255 MIDI & 253 Audio channels in Logic just fine - no plugins. This is fairly well multithreaded and I get great performance while only at a 32 sample buffer (that’s insane to me).

The issues come with certain third-party plugins or virtual instruments. I’d guess this is a Mojave incompatibility issue.

Generally my sessions are between 30-80 tracks. I’ve noticed some third-party plugins seem to spike one of the threads to max while the other threads are barely being used. This is the only time I ever get any glitches, but using a higher buffer seems to fix the issue temporarily.

Try testing out a session only using stock plugins and audio tracks. Check your all of your settings and preferences too and see if there is a setting that alleviates the issue.

I’ll have to keep testing out different configurations to see what’s going on. I’m also interested if disabling automatic updates helps to fix the issue. Again, my issues are only plugin/virtual instrument related since 253 audio tracks (no plugins) runs totally fine.
 
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Hessel89 said:
No. How do I do this and what command do i type in?
Click to expand...

The app is in your Applications/Utilities folder - Console.app. Open it and choose system log.

Don't expect to understand what is happening there. That's pretty much a developer thing. Ideally look for what is happening just before and just after the freeze. If you are lucky an offending application will throw off an error message that gives you a clue.
 
Page doesn't exist.

But if i understand, you get a cold-hard freeze, no beach ball, no kp?
If so, I was getting that on my 2012 retina macbook pro.
had it on service... tried everything.

then i just wiped it clean and set it up as a new mac. Everything was suddenly fine and has been running fine for 3 years before i gave it away.

I'm often wondering, how many of these audio issues/kps/audio crackles are migrated machines, and how many are new installs.

I know one thing; when i receive mine, I'm not migrating it this time; clean install first.
 
Ploki said:
I know one thing; when i receive mine, I'm not migrating it this time; clean install first.
Click to expand...

No migration. 100% clean install. But it was a faulty unit. I've gotten a new one last week and haven't any problems with it ever since.
 
I've gotten this twice on a refurbished mini. Completely fresh install, no beachball, no response to anything for about ten seconds. Did anyone ever get this resolved, or is the resolution to get a new unit?
 
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